Unexpected Daddy

By Brenna Lyons

When twenty-six-year-old Joey Beirs is summoned to the emergency room one evening, the last thing he expects to find is that his twin brother and Jeremy's wife have both been killed in a car accident, leaving him an unexpected daddy to his newborn niece, Abby. Closing in on the end of his leave from work, Joey has to find suitable childcare for Abby. After yet another interview turns south, Joey is accosted by homophobic bigots and saved by Geoff Allread.

Geoff is in his forties, an out-of-work carpenter whose unemployment is running out, soon to be faced with working in fast food or retail to keep food on the table in the recession. He's also late to come out of the closet, a wounded man who has lost everything by admitting what he is... including his daughter from his ill-fated marriage. Geoff is good with kids and adores Abby. It's a match made in heaven. At forty-three, Geoff needs a job that doesn't mean asking if someone wants fries, and Joey needs someone who's good with Abby.

But can both of them overcome their hurts and accept that the age difference doesn't matter as much as finding what they've both lost... a stable family?

CONTENT ADVISORY: This is a re-release title.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fireborn Publishing
• Release date: Jan 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781946004536

Brenna Lyons

Brenna Lyons wears many hats, sometimes all on the same day: ex-president of EPIC, author of more than 100 published works, teacher, wife, mother... She's a member of ERWA, IWOFA, Broad Universe, and more than 60 other author groups. She's taken Spinetingler's Book of the Year for 2007, and she's also finaled for multiple times for the EPPIE, PEARL (including one HM, second to Angela Knight), CAPA, and once for a Dream Realm Award. Brenna writes in 25 established worlds plus stand-alone fiction books and stories, poetry, articles, and essays. She's a bestseller in indie/e fantasy and horror, straight genre and cross-genres thereof. Brenna has been termed "one of the most deviant erotic minds in the publishing world...not for the weak." (Rachelle for Fallen Angels Reviews) Milieu-heavy dark work is practically Brenna's calling card, with or without the erotic content. She teaches classes in everything from POV studies to advanced editing, networking to marketing.

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Fireborn Publishing Copyright Statement

Unexpected Daddy

Copyright © 2014/2018 by Brenna Lyons

eBook ISBN: 978-1-946004-53-6

eBook Publication: January 2018

Cover Artist: Brenna Lyons

Photo Credit: 123rf

Editor: Anne Logston

Logo copyright © 2014 by Fireborn Publishing and Allison Cassatta

Licensed material is being used for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted in the licensed material is a model.

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All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

This book is written in US English.

PUBLISHER

Dedication

To Beth M… Slow down and let the baby get dirty. There's always a bath later.

My children, who teach me almost as much as I teach them.

Chapter One

Joey Biers sprinted through the ER doors and to the desk. Jeremy and Alison Biers, he panted out.

If you'll have a seat, Mister—

They said it was an emergency.

She shot him a look that said Joey was an idiot.

I know everything here is technically an emergency, but—

If you'll just take a seat, sir, she suggested. I'll see what I can find out for you.

The urge to pound his fist into the desk was overridden by the fact that he wouldn't learn anything about his brother and sister-in-law while sitting in a jail cell. Joey swallowed his pride and murmured his acceptance. That settled—for the moment—he ambled to the closest empty seat and all but collapsed into it.

The mad dash across town, coupled with a long day at the office, had taken its toll on him. Joey waited long enough to see the secretary at the desk dialing the phone before he closed his eyes and laid his head back on the cement block wall.

Sounds became muted, and he drifted in a semiconscious state. Rushing feet and announcements faded into the background. If it weren't for the acrid smells of sickness and antiseptics, he would surely have fallen asleep almost immediately.

As it was, it seemed he sat there for an inordinately long time. He was on the verge of going back to the desk to ask for an update, when a soft, female voice spoke from very close to him.

Mister Biers?

Joey levered his eyelids up and took stock of her. The doctor wasn't much older than his own twenty-six years, he'd wager, a petite brunette that would have been just his twin's type a few years ago.

Before he met Alison. Yes. I'm Joey Biers.

If you'd come with me, please. She turned without waiting for an answer and led the way through the double doors into the treatment area.

Joey tried hard not to peek into any of the alcoves. She would stop at whichever one was important to him, and the misery of others was none of his business.

It wasn't until they stopped at the elevator that he started to question where they were going. They've been admitted? Why hadn't anyone told him that? How bad were their injuries?

Bad. They said it was an emergency and I shouldn't waste