by Sharan Daire
Her head only came up to my shoulders. Killer curves that made me want to get lost for days worshipping her body. Whether she wore fancy designer clothes and makeup or went natural in jeans, she'd take my breath away.
And my brother's.
My body was more than ready to dive straight in and lay all our cards out on the table. My head—and my heart—had learned better long ago. I wasn't the typical single guy interested in getting laid in a one-night stand, though yeah, I'd be up for that if that was all she was interested in. But we'd been down this road so many times already. I'd felt the attraction. Even dared to hope a little. Only to have all those dreams come crashing down in a flaming fireball.
But delicate hints weren't exactly my forte. "Has Derek told you about the lodge yet?"
She nodded. "A little."
"He said we might go fishing tomorrow," her son added.
Smiling, I glanced back at him. "Really? Now that's impressive. Derek takes his fishing very seriously. If he's offering to take you to some of his secret places on the lake, then he must really think you're something special."
"I've got one very secret fishing hole that we can try tomorrow," Derek said. "It's pretty lucky. We may catch something even if the temperatures drop again."
The kid's eyes rounded with awe and a touch of hero worship. "Really? Cool. I'd love to catch a fish, even a small one." He looked over at his sister and frowned a little. "What about Allie? Can she go?"
His sister stuck her tongue out at him. "It's too cold to fish, silly. I'd rather play with Wally any day."
"Wally would like nothing better." I laughed softly despite the heaviness in my chest. I felt like the Grinch whose heart had grown three sizes too big. In a matter of minutes, I had everything I'd ever wanted right here in this car. A family. Sweet, cute kids. A gorgeous, sensual woman to take care of, treasure and tease so I could watch the way her eyes would fire up.
I was in fucking trouble. Five minutes and I was a goner. If she rejected us...
Derek glanced over for a second and I knew he felt the same way. There was something uniquely special and wonderful right here between us, and god help the man who fucked it up.
DEREK
Two down. Two more to go. I’d known Kaleb would be as interested as me. We had similar taste in women, though our personalities were very different. We were like a romantic good cop, bad cop scenario. He could flirt and tease with the best, keeping the mood light and fun. I brought the intensity and explosive passion to the mix, and I was definitely more of a hard ass.
I tried not to glower, but I couldn't help the worry pumping adrenaline through my body. We were almost to the lodge. She'd meet our other two friends. I didn't have a single doubt that they'd be just as smitten as us. With four men suffering from loss of blood flow to their brains, one of us would say something idiotic or too forward and blow it. She'd be done before we even had a chance to convince her to stay.
And I'd lose my fucking mind worrying about her and her kids. Wishing she was mine. Ours. Forever.
"I can't wait for you to meet Chris and Everett," Kaleb said far too casually. He was trying too fucking hard. "We all own a piece of the lodge, but Chris is the primary investor. We've known each other since kindergarten, believe it or not."
"Wow," Shelby replied. "That's rare for people to stay friends for so long. We moved around way too much for me to keep in touch with friends from school."
"Why'd you move so much?" I asked. When she flinched slightly against me, I realized that I was trying too fucking hard, too. I softened my tone from the hard-ass cop to hopefully an interested new friend that she wasn't afraid of. "Sorry, I know that's a personal question."
She was silent for a moment, and I didn't think she'd answer. She'd been prickly and closed off from the beginning. It didn't surprise me in the slightest that she didn't want to divulge anything of her past. She had every right to be wary of a stranger. Let alone two. Add in her vulnerable situation...
"Mom didn't have the greatest taste in men," she finally answered. "She was only sixteen when she had me. Granny raised me for the most part when I was younger, because Mom was out a lot, either working or dating. She wanted to have fun and live her life. She never really got over that desire, you know? But it didn't matter to me. She was so pretty and so much fun to be around. Of course, men wanted to date her and take her out. We moved around a lot because she always had a new boyfriend. Some good, some not so great, but it was always an adventure."
"I wish I met her, Mommy," Allie said. "I want to put on a dress and take funny pictures with her."
Shelby laughed softly with a touch of sadness in her voice that made me want to put my arm around her and draw her close against me. "One of her boyfriends was an actor of some kind. He took us on set, and we got to play dress up in the costume room. That's one of my best memories of her. She died in a car accident before Bubby was born, but I still miss her."
"I'm sorry, Shelby," Kaleb murmured, pressing her tighter between us. "It's hard losing a parent. I cried like a baby at Pops' funeral last year, but Mama is still with us. Did you know your father?"
She shook her head. "No. They were so young, and the last thing Mom wanted to do was settle down. I don't even remember his name, though I'm sure it's on my birth certificate."
My cop instincts wanted to do some digging for her, maybe surprise her with a visit from her long-lost father or something. But that could go south in a hurry. The man might be a deadbeat like her ex, or it could stir up old wounds and sadness that she wasn't ready to handle yet. Besides, it dawned on me that I still didn't know her full name, whether she'd been married to the asshole or not.
"About our friends..." Kaleb began.
I shot a hard warning look at him, which he ignored. Of fucking course.
"Everett is fun like me, but Chris is even more grumpy than our sheriff." Kaleb turned around to see the kids. "He might sound like a grouchy old grizzly who just woke up from his winter sleep, but I promise that he's like a teddy bear on the inside. So don't be scared of him, okay?"
"He likes to pretend that he's mean when he's really not?" Bubby sounded skeptical. Smart kid.
Kaleb nodded. "I tease him all the time. I'll say something like, 'Gee, it sure is a pretty day," and he'll complain that it's too sunny. But then we'll go out and enjoy the sunshine anyway."
"He sounds like Eeyore." Allie giggled. "Does he like kids?"
"Oh yeah, he loves them! If he tells you to be quiet, that means you should run around and laugh and play more, okay?"
I barely suppressed a groan. We were so screwed. Chris was going to kick our asses before this was all over.
Shelby turned toward me and every muscle in my body clenched down with anticipation. "What do you say about all this?"
“Uh, yeah,” I stuttered, drowning in her eyes as I dared a quick look at her face.
“The kids won’t annoy him too much?”
They would, I was sure. Not that I would tell her. Though I couldn’t find it in me to lie, either. “Chris and I go way back.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Kindergarten.”
I nodded like an idiot. God, she took my breath away. I loved the inquisitive light in her eyes. I could almost see the thoughts rapid-firing in her mind. She knew damned well that I hadn’t answered her question.
“Chris does have some issues,” Kaleb added, taking the heat off me. “He’s the reason we’re all here.”
“Oh?”
“When we graduated from high school, Everett and I went off to college. Chris and Derek joined the military.”
I kept my eyes straight ahead on the last curve to the lodge, but I felt the warmth of her glance flicker over my face. “I joined the Army. Chris went into the Marine Corps. I got out after four years with money for college, which was why I’d enlisted in the first place. But Chris signed on for another tour. Then another. He saw stuff in Afghanistan that really messed him up.”
“I was worki
ng for a marketing firm in New York when I got the call that Chris needed help,” Kaleb said. “I was on the next plane home. Everett left a partnership in a law firm on the west coast.”
“Wow,” Shelby whispered. “That's so sweet of you all to do that for him. Was he wounded?”
“Not physically,” I replied grimly. "He suffers from PTSD and it almost killed him. If I hadn't texted him out of the blue one night..."
My jaws tightened and I swallowed a hard lump in my throat.
"A lot of veterans don't make it," Kaleb said softly. "But Chris did. He's stronger than all of us put together. Even if you think he's a jerk sometimes, just remember that he's the kind of guy that his friends dropped everything to help."
"I get that you were friends..." Her words fell off as the lodge came into view. Set like a jewel on a rocky outcropping framed by tall pine and oak, the long two-story building commanded impressive views of the rolling foothills out of every window. And there were a ton of windows, capturing the rustic scenery from every angle. "Oh my god."
"It's awesome, isn't it?" Kaleb grinned at her reaction. "Chris designed everything down to the smallest detail. We're mostly self-sufficient with solar panels and wood-burning fireplaces. All of the buildings are handmade from Ozark pine and stone quarried just a few miles away."
"This isn't a lodge," she said, shaking her head. "This is a mansion. I couldn't afford a piece of bread at a place like this."
I pulled into my parking spot near the front door. As a joke, Kaleb had a sign printed that said, "Chief Donut Sniffer." So I'd made him a sign that said, "Grease Monkey." "Like I said earlier, don't worry about it. You're our guest. This is the best place for you and the kids to stay until Kaleb can get your car running again."
"But... but..." She sank down in the seat, drawing in on herself. "Don't you have guests? We'll take a room from someone who can pay. Or we might break something that's irreplaceable."
Kaleb opened the passenger door and got out, though he bent down and glared down at her. "Wally makes himself at home. So can you."
She winced. "Maybe you could give me a job while I'm here? Like housekeeping? Or washing dishes?"
I tried to think of something to say that would put her at ease. My prickly, proud mama bear didn't want to depend on anyone. She wanted to make her own way. I could admire that, even while I wanted to drag her into my arms and carry her like a princess inside the mansion that she'd deny herself.
Kaleb huffed like she'd called him a filthy name. "Why the fuck would we make you clean toilets or scrub dishes? Sorry, kids, for the language."
"That's okay," Bubby said. "Mom says fuck a lot too when she doesn't think we're listening."
She groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Liam Robert Kent, you're grounded."
I couldn't help but laugh. At least now I had her last name. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving. I got off work late, and then I found this pretty lady alongside the road who needed help, with two kids who sure look like they could use a burger or something. What do you think we can find in the kitchen?"
"Ice cream!" Allie squealed as Kaleb opened the rear door. Wally jumped out but didn't head for the door until his new friend walked alongside him.
The kids went running along with Kaleb, leaving us alone in the front seat. Shelby looked up into my face, her dark, liquid eyes gleaming in the starlight. "Sheriff—"
"Derek," I whispered, daring to rub the back of my knuckles lightly across her cheek.
She looked away, trying to hide her reaction, but her eyes and face were too expressive. She wasn't used to anyone helping her. Let alone caring about her or her kids' welfare. In the trenches day and night, she'd done everything alone.
Bands of iron tightened on my chest. I fought the urge to pull her into my arms and swear to take care of her. Forever. If she'd only allow it. She didn't know me from Adam. I certainly didn't know her. I couldn't explain the instant, deep connection I felt with her. The overwhelming urge to step in and take care of her every need before she could even think of it. "Let us help you. Please."
"You're offering to let me and my kids stay for free in a mansion," she replied in a flat, dry tone of voice that made my jaw tighten with determination. "Indefinitely. While your mechanic brother works on my crappy car. That might need hundreds or even thousands of dollars of work that I can't afford."
Maybe I'd been playing this game all wrong. I'd been trying to soften my edges and take some of the bite out of my words... but maybe that was exactly what she needed and wanted to hear. A man who'd fight for her. Who'd beat the shit out of anyone or anything that stood in his way of getting to her.
"Abso-fucking-lutely," I growled, letting some of my bad cop perk up.
Her gaze snapped to mine. Her chin inched up and she gave me a furious mama-bear stare that made my dick harden even more. "What's in it for you? Why would you help me?"
It was probably the stupidest thing I could possibly do, but I clamped my hand on the back of her neck and sealed my lips over hers.
4
Shelby
The sheriff I'd known a matter of minutes was further up in my grill than even my ex-husband had been toward the end of our marriage, let alone anyone else. Time seemed to freeze a moment. Or maybe I was having an out-of-body experience.
Literally, I felt like I was an invisible ghost watching two people lip-locked in the front seat of a patrol car. My brain insisted this was the stupidest thing I'd ever done. The scariest. And that was true.
No sane woman went around kissing strange men. Let alone a man who was so huge and powerful. He dwarfed me. His palm engulfed my neck. He could snap my spine like a twig. Palm the back of my head like a basketball. Smash me like a bug.
Oops. Smash was an unfortunate choice of words. My mind immediately leaped to the idea of being smashed beneath this man. His incredible weight wrapped around me, like his leather coat around my shoulders. Warm. Comfortable. Safe.
"You don't know if he's safe or not," my mind warned.
But oh, I wanted him to be safe. I wanted this to be real. Because the way he touched me...
He cradled me in his hands like I was a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest. He might have inscrutable cop eyes and a mean growl, but his lips promised nothing but tenderness. He stroked my mouth. Sucked my bottom lip into his mouth. And I was gone.
Instant heat flared inside me the likes of which I'd never known. His teeth gripped my lip a moment, a playful little bite that somehow made my mouth fall open even more. With a pleased, low rumble of pleasure, he slid his tongue into my mouth and laid claim to my senses. The glide of his tongue was somehow both commanding... and gentle. His kiss said he knew exactly how to treat me. He knew what I wanted, what would send me soaring into the stratosphere.
Even if I had no idea what that was.
Yeah, I know. Me, the mother of two children. I didn't have much positive sexual experience. I'd only ever had sex with the man I'd gone on to marry, and what a mistake that had been. Shame crawled through me, twisting deeply like knives.
I twisted my mouth aside, but at the same time, I didn't want to lose this moment of connection. I had been alone for so long. Even before the divorce. I'd begged Rob to help me with the kids or the house, but he'd insisted that his job was his job, and that was all he needed to do to support our family.
Even though I, too, worked. And still somehow coordinated the kids' schedule and homework, cooked dinner, cleaned the house, did the laundry...
I'd done everything in an effort to save our family and marriage. Only to realize that I was the only one who cared at all. I'd compromised and given up all my hopes and dreams. I'd even given up on requiring basic human decency. Compassion. Friendship. Let alone passion and tenderness and a strong shoulder to lean against.
I buried my face against Derek's shirt, thoroughly embarrassed and horrified—but also desperate for even a moment of human touch that wasn't my child. He didn't drag my face back up
and insist I meet his gaze. Or try to force me to admit that my heart thundered with adrenaline.
He gently worked his fingers against my scalp. I didn't realize what he was doing until I felt my hair slide across the back of my neck. He'd taken the ponytail holder out.
Suddenly I felt as shy and awkward as a teenager on her first date. Every day, I got up, brushed my hair, and put it in a ponytail. It was my going-to-work look, whether at home or at the diner. The only time my hair was loose... was in bed.
I so did not want to think about bed right now. Not at all.
"I'm not going to say I'm sorry," he murmured against my ear. "Because I'm not. I've been wanting to do that all night."
"You don't know me."
"I know enough."
His calm assurance perversely pissed me off and gave me the courage to dare and meet his gaze again. It wasn't a surprise that his heavy-lidded eyes smoldered. "You don't know anything about me beyond my name, my kids' names, and a few basic facts about Mom and Granny. I could be a... a... crack whore for all you know!"
His lips quirked, revealing a dimple in his cheek that begged me to press my lips to his cheek and sample his skin. I already knew him well enough to recognize that he rarely showed a smile wide enough to reveal that wicked dimple. "You forget that I'm an officer of the law. I'd know in a second if you were using drugs."
I scowled at him. "I certainly don't know you, Sheriff." Deliberately, I refused to use his given name. "How does a county sheriff afford to live in such an incredible lodge anyway?"
Instead of being offended, he had the audacity to wink at me as he opened his car door. "Let's just say I have incredible friends. Come on. I'll introduce you to them."
