by Stacey Lynn
I was in Jasper Bay to save my kid and hopefully my home. Our lives.
With remembered purpose, I smiled as pleasantly as possible. "Nice to meet you, Finn."
Heading toward the coffee pot, I helped myself to a mug in the cupboard above the stainless steel machine that still held a half pot of coffee before I gathered my strength and my nerves and turned around.
Resting my hip on the counter, I took my first sip of coffee, closed my eyes, and moaned softly as the first hit of caffeinated goodness sparked my system.
When I opened my eyes, I caught a glance of Finn's eyes snapping up to mine. Looking down, I realized I looked naked underneath the oversized sweatshirt.
Hoping like hell my olive skin hid the blush I felt threatening to stain my cheeks, I ignored the way my pulse flickered happily at having a man's eyes roaming my bare skin. I slowly took a seat at the kitchen table, as far away from Finn as I could.
"So," I said. "Have any idea where Ryker and Faith are?"
"Club business, and Faith's at the garage helping out. Ryker put me on babysitting duty." He tipped his head in my direction and something about it unnerved me. Maybe it was the way his voice rolled the words as if he found them distasteful.
Regardless, I didn't like it. And I didn't like the thought that Ryker had someone watching me—even if he had warned me that he would start having a man guarding Brayden and me at all times.
But I was still a guest, and smart enough to know I'd walked into a world where I didn't fully understand the rules.
So I said nothing until my coffee was gone.
Finn didn't speak either. We looked out opposite windows, and I tried like hell to ignore the way his presence made me want to constantly shift in my seat. As it was, with one leg thrown over my other knee, my foot was tapping erratically against the chair legs.
Besides the quiet sips of our coffee, the rhythmic tap, tap, tap of my foot against the wood echoed in the quiet room.
"Have you eaten?" I finally asked when I couldn't stand the silence anymore.
Finn looked at me and grinned…looking like we'd just been fighting some silent battle and I had lost.
My lip twitched in displeasure.
"You cooking?"
I rolled my eyes and pushed off from the kitchen table. After a quick dig through Ryker and Faith's fridge, feeling only slightly unsettled that they'd left me alone with a man I didn't know and the fact I was stealing their food, I found a package of bacon and grabbed the eggs.
"Eggs and bacon okay?" I asked, holding up my findings.
Finn's lips pursed and then he smiled. Somehow, he seemed to relax a bit. I didn't realize he'd been tense until his shoulders loosened and he slouched in his chair just slightly, but enough for me to tell he'd been tight before.
"They got cheese? I can make omelets."
My eyes widened. "You cook?"
He pushed off his chair and walked toward me still standing in front of the open fridge.
"Yeah, I cook." He looked down at me, and holy heck he was tall. My neck ached as I looked up at him only to see his eyes crinkle in amusement. "You think I got this big by not cooking?"
I tried to ignore his quiet rumble. It was already doing funny things to my brain and my stomach. I caught a whiff of something that smelled delicious and manly. Leather and…oil, maybe? I moved out of his way as he leaned over and dug through the fridge doors. He pulled out a block of cheddar cheese and shut the door.
My eyes dropped to his large chest, clearly defined although the leather vest showing the Nordic Lords MC patches all over it tried to hide it.
I didn't think anything could hide how hard and large Finn was.
Swallowing a lump so I didn't say something stupid about how physically appealing he looked, I shrugged my shoulders and set the eggs and bacon on the counter.
I started digging through cupboards and dishwasher until I found a couple of frying pans while Finn cracked the eggs.
Somehow the monotony of a typical morning task with the company of a man who seemed too large for the small space had my entire body warming. I couldn’t look at Finn as he began grating the cheese and dumping it inside the eggs frying in the pan, but I felt his occasional glances my way.
With lips pursed so I wouldn’t blurt something insanely stupid, like how much I loved his accent, I kept my eyes focused on the bacon sizzling in the pan.
We were silent for what seemed like forever when Finn broke the silence first.
“Ryker wants me watching you and your kid until he can get your shit taken care of.”
He propped a hip against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest with a spatula in one hand.
There it was again, a tone he used that somehow said he wasn’t exactly pleased to be put on “babysitting duty” as he’d called it earlier.
My spine stiffened with displeasure. “I gathered that,” I said and clamped my lips together again.
I flipped four of the pieces of bacon with a pair of kitchen tongs, careful to avoid the splattering oil and grease.
“You gonna make this hard for me?”
My hand froze above the pan and I turned my head.
When I looked at Finn, I caught his eyes snapping from my bare thighs up to meet my glare.
I raised my eyebrows. He flashed me a grin that said he didn’t care he got caught checking me out.
“Are you going to be a jerk about it?” I asked, not answering his question.
“I’m not known for being nice.” He shrugged like this answered anything. Based on the narrowed eyes and tight jaw, I figured there was a lot he wasn’t saying.
Transferring the bacon to the pan, I reminded myself that this was a world and a group of men I didn’t understand.
“I don’t want to cause anyone trouble,” I said, placing more bacon into the frying pan. “I just want Brayden to be safe when we go back home.”
Finn snorted, but I didn’t ask why.
I was just flipping the last few pieces of bacon, lost in my head and trying to ignore the man who I could tell was still watching me, when grease from the pan jumped and splattered on my hand.
“Damn it,” I hissed, clutching my hand and dropping the tongs onto the counter. Grease burns, even if small, stung like something fierce.
“Here,” Finn said and grabbed my arm. I tried to pull away, but he tugged my hand under the faucet and turned on the cold water.
“Thanks,” I murmured as the icy water chilled my burning hand.
He pulled it back after a while and it was then I realized his hand was clutching my wrist. “Let me look at it,” he muttered.
I flinched in his grasp. “It’s just a small burn. It’ll be fine.”
Finn brought my hand up and I sucked my lip in between my bottom teeth. Something about the way his eyes softened, or the tender way he twisted my hand to see the four small circles on the back, left my head spinning.
For the first time, he seemed gentle…caring. Like his comment about not being nice was a bunch of bullshit.
He caught my eye and winked. “I think you’ll live.”
“Thank goodness,” I said, but my voice was breathy and something hot was stirring inside me.
His grip on my wrist tightened and the warmth from his touch traveled up my arm. Goose bumps broke out on my skin and I was thankful for the heavy sweatshirt that covered my body’s reaction to him.
By the way his grin twisted into something else, he knew the effect he had on me anyway.
“Can I have my hand back?” I asked.
He held it for moments too long before finally dropping it. As if nothing had happened, he finished the bacon and plated up our omelets while I stood frozen in the kitchen.
“Thanks,” I said, feeling foolish and off-balance when he handed me two plates.
He led me to the table, and we dove silently into our breakfasts.
I had just put a bite of my omelet in my mouth when a small, groggy voice that I’d recognize from mile
s away called my name.
I smiled at my plate and leaned back in my chair. “In the kitchen, Brayden.”
As I turned my head toward the doorway, I caught a small movement from Finn and frowned.
Looking at him, I saw that his knuckles holding his fork had gone tight and white and he was staring at his plate like he suddenly wanted to devour his food and get the hell away from me.
“Mom?” Brayden called again, and I heard his soft, padded steps enter the kitchen.
“Good morning, sweetie,” I said and held out my arm.
With a slow blink of his little blue eyes, he walked toward me and I wrapped my arm around him.
Shifting him, I got him in my lap and held up a piece of bacon. “Want some?”
He shook his messed-up full head of blond hair into my shoulder and yawned.
“Juice.”
I lifted my eyes when I heard the scratching of a wood chair on the kitchen floor.
Finn looked at me, shoulders tight, and nodded. “I’ll get it for you.”
I smiled, grateful I didn’t have to get up. Brayden was like a heavy, worthless log of wood when he woke up. Some days it took him twenty minutes before he was capable of speaking in more than indecipherable phrases and grunts.
“What do you say?” I whispered to him when Finn slid the juice onto the table and in front of Brayden.
“Thank you.”
I laughed quietly at his muffled voice. Rubbing the back of his head with one hand, I went back to eating my breakfast one-handed, trying to wake Brayden up in a way that wouldn’t cause him to become fussy and whiney later. Mostly, I tried to ignore the heated stares directed at us from across the table.
As he reached out and chugged his juice, Brayden finally noticed Finn. I watched as he looked at him nervously before he recognized the familiar vest that Ryker had been wearing the day before. Brayden’s eyes paused on the Nordic Lords MC patch on the right side of his chest just below the name “Finn.”
“Are you Finn?” he asked.
Finn nodded, his hands still tight on his knife and fork. “Yup. Friend of Ryker’s.”
“Ryker wants Finn to hang out with us when he and Faith have to work during the day,” I said.
Brayden reached out and stole a piece of my bacon. “Cool,” he said over a mouthful of food. “You ride four-wheelers like Ryker did with me yesterday?”
I smiled, not knowing if I should tell him he was being rude by eating with his mouth open.
Finn stopped any further conversation when he abruptly pushed his chair back and stood up. My eyes flew open with surprise as he tossed his plate into the kitchen sink. I jumped from the loud clanking and sudden movements.
He headed toward the back door and didn’t look back at us as he threw it open. “I’ll be outside if you need anything. Don’t go anywhere without me.”
Then he left, the door slamming shut behind him.
“He’s mean,” Brayden said quietly, his little hand shaking. “Does he not like four-wheelers?”
“I have no idea, baby,” I muttered, soothing him and running my hand through his hair again.
But the sudden departure and change in temperament left me reeling.
And pissed.
If Ryker wanted someone to have our backs when he wasn’t around, he could give me some guy who wasn’t going to be a dick to my kid.
3 Finn
The sun hit my face, and my hands flew to the back of my neck. I pulled in a deep breath and closed my eyes.
I had been a jerk—a complete prick—to the kid, but damn if I could help it. Kids did that to me. They were a constant reminder of not only what I had lost, but also what I never wanted to have again…
Someone depending on me.
I tilted my head to the sky before I exhaled.
My hands fell from my neck and I leaned forward, gripping the railing. What Ryker wanted from me was impossible.
The fact that he’d put me in charge of one of his closest friend’s safety was dangerous.
I’d never been able to save anyone.
Certainly not Piper once I knocked her up.
But damn it if something didn’t flood my chest as soon as Meg entered the kitchen.
It could have been her sexy as fuck legs that she didn’t bother to hide from me. Or the way she was tiny and petite under a sweatshirt that hid every curve I knew she had to have.
Mostly, it was her eyes—scared and innocent at the same time. I noticed her attention on me.
And that was more deadly than dangerous.
I’d left responsible shit behind the day I’d fled Australia years ago and made my home with the Nordic Lords MC.
Being a biker had never been something I wanted, but when I was floundering and lost, Bull Masters had saved me.
Granted, the guy turned out to be a fucking prick and the club—especially his daughter Olivia—was better off now that the asshole was buried six feet under.
But he’d given me something no one else in my life had bothered to give me.
He’d handed me a gun and told me to go for it.
He gave me the power and the ability to unleash the darkness that constantly tightened my chest until it needed an outlet. Shooting and killing and avenging wrongs that occurred in our world provided me a freedom—a way to unburden myself from everything that threatened to drag me down and pull me under.
Meg’s innocence and pure presence threatened to change that.
Not to mention Ryker had already warned me to keep my fucking hands to myself.
I had laughed when he told me that over the phone when he’d called me in. The woman sucking my cock at the time hadn’t approved of my ability to be so easily distracted while she gave me head.
But who the fuck cared about her? Not me. Probably not anyone.
Ryker throwing down that command to keep my hands off Meg before I’d even met her had me curious. We all knew he’d had a life in New Orleans, and I had heard Faith mention Meg before.
But nothing prepared me for the tiny but confident woman I had seen this morning.
“Shit,” I muttered, my head falling forward.
This next week was going to fucking suck.
Seven days.
I could do my job and avoid her for seven days until it was time for her to get the hell out here.
My sanity depended on it.
“Finn?”
Meg’s soft voice surprised me. I turned my head so I could see her.
She looked uncomfortable as she opened the door just wide enough to stick her head out and get my attention. A part of me felt like a dick for the way I’d reacted to Brayden’s presence, but it couldn’t be helped.
Women were bad enough. Add a kid into my life and I was a ticking time bomb.
No one in the club knew anything about my past or why I’d left Australia—except Olivia, who knew about my dead son, but she had never spoken a word.
“Yeah?”
“Brayden wants to go play at the park we saw yesterday on our way into town.” She looked away and chewed her bottom lip.
Fuck. Playtime at the park? Might as well call me the fucking nanny.
“Let’s go, then.” I pushed off the railing.
“Are you sure it’s okay? We can wait.”
I stopped in front of her and pulled the door open. Looking up at me, her cheeks flushed before she quickly glanced away.
I smiled. Making her nervous and scared seemed like a good way to keep distance between us.
Leaning down, I got close enough to smell her body soap and noticed how she’d gotten dressed in the few minutes I’d been outside.
Nothing special, just a T-shirt and tight jeans, but hell if my dick, barely satiated from earlier, didn’t like what it saw. Large chest…tight ass.
The woman was made for sex.
“Ryker told me to follow wherever you wanted to go, Meg. Your kid wants to go to the park? We’ll go to the damn park.”
Her eyes narrowed and h
er lips pursed. “Fine,” she clipped, her eyes flashing irritation.
I smiled wider.
“But can you try not to be a jerk to my kid?”
“Already told you that no one ever said I was nice.” Walking through the door, I brushed past her and heard the quick intake of breath she made as her chest brushed against mine.
The door closed behind me as Meg whispered, “No shit.”
* * *
I had never been given the freedom to play at a park when I was kid. Watching Brayden dash and hide on the large wooden pirate ship made me clench my teeth together.
My jaw was going to fucking hurt.
I swear a damn pain hit my chest every time the kid laughed while Meg chased him in and out of hidey-holes and down the slides.
Girls had always been easier to be around.
Boys reminded me of the kid I’d had who died—constantly comparing the one in front of me with a vague, disappearing image of the one I’d lost way too fucking soon.
I couldn’t compare Sophie’s blond locks and blue eyes to my son.
Being around Brayden for the last hour had brought all the shit to the surface.
I stood on a far edge of the park, my eyes darting around the empty playground save for Meg and Brayden. It was early on Monday and most of Jasper Bay was most likely at school or work. There was absolutely no threat to Meg or Brayden where we were.
That wasn’t the reason my shoulders stayed tight and my jaw stayed clenched.
It was their damn laughter.
It smacked me in the face, reminding me that my life had never been easy. It’d been filled with horrors worse than anyone I knew had seen.
I wanted to despise the sounds echoing through the air.
Too bad the kid was fucking cute. His curls whipped into his eyes every time he threw his head around, screaming as Meg chased him.
Especially when their laughs were easy and free and too frequent to be normal.
I tried to fight my own laugh as he flew down a slide headfirst and landed into a pile of mulch at the bottom, his head buried under the wood chips.
I couldn’t help it.
The damn sound escaped my lips and caught his attention.
Before I could blink, Brayden took off running, heading toward me.
