“She was really mad at me, ya know? So, I just…I went into work and asked my boss for an advance, but he hates Ally. When he figured it was for her, he told me he isn’t going to give me a dime, and I got a little antsy when he started coming onto me again. I kinda…got fired, and now, I don’t have a job or money and…and they’re going to put Tam into care unless I can prove that I am a stable, safe home for her. And I can’t even do that because even if I get that stupid air unit to work some, I can’t…”
She groans and drops her head on the table, not crying anymore, thank God, but she’s just so defeated I feel horrible. This is not my problem, and I know it, but I can’t turn a blind eye to this, and I want to kick myself when I find myself taking her hand to get her attention.
“I can give you a job. No, don’t argue, Teeny, because honestly, you don’t have the luxury. F pride right now. I need…a housekeeper. Someone to come in and do the stuff I can’t get to.”
As saves go, this one is the only one I can think of in a pinch. Not that I haven’t been considering it, but come on. Who looks at a five three scrap of nothing and considers her viable for labor-related work?
“Housekeeper?” she asks hopefully, squeezing my hands so hard I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing.
“Yeah. I was gonna put an ad in the paper, but to be honest, I don’t like the thought of a stranger in my house, pawing through my things. I know you though, and if you’re game, I could really…use a hand.”
Suspicion lights up her eyes then, probably when she looks around and sees the spotless kitchen and sparkling floor.
“You don’t—”
“Come on.”
Pulling her to her feet, I take a minute to relieve her of the sneakers and run to the laundry just off the kitchen to grab two towels from the drier. She follows me, and I grin when she gasps at the state of the room.
I do laundry when I get home sometimes, maybe once a week, but that’s as far as it goes. The baskets with the clean stuff are piled high, and the washer still has yesterday’s load in it.
It’s a mess, clothes on every conceivable surface, and I thank my slovenly nature for this save.
“See?”
“Wylder, what the hell?”
I shrug and give her a grin, praying Mom won’t ever talk to her or I’d be deader than dead.
“I’ve been here for a year. At first, I didn’t really have time to mess around because I was always away on jobs for Bear and my brothers, and then, in the last few months, I’ve been busy building up Wylder Builds. I try to keep up, but honestly, I just can’t give a shit about keeping things clean and packing away laundry when I get home after seven most nights.”
Teeny looks around again, and I see her reach for a crumpled towel on the floor before she clenches her fist and huffs.
“Come on.”
“There’s more?” she asks hopefully, drying her hair with the towel while we take the tour.
“Living room.”
There’s an accumulation of dust on almost every surface because I never come in here, preferring to watch television in my room on the odd occasion that I do watch.
Since the house is open plan on the lower level, all it takes for her to see the mess is a flick of light switches.
“God, Wylder, this is great!”
I laugh at her happiness on seeing my slovenly ways and almost shit a brick chuckling when I take her upstairs to my bedroom and en suite bathroom.
“Good God! This is…” she trails off when she sees the bed, and I do grin then because I know that Teeny’s attracted to me and seeing my rumpled sheets is—
“Gross, Wylder! I’m poor, and even I wash my sheets,” she huffs, sniffing at the end of my duvet with a sneer that makes me blush.
“Hey!”
“I’ll start tomorrow and then—God, what am I saying! I can’t start anything. I need to fix my air and then clip a shit-ton of coupons from stolen papers so I can get food and—”
“Teeny,” I mutter, taking her shoulders in my hands and giving her a shake. “Stop and listen to me.”
She looks so fragile and feels so soft where I’m touching her that I have to stifle a sudden surge of arousal and protective possession. No, Lynx, not happening, I snarl, stepping away even when my dick decides to give a salute.
What! She’s soaking wet, and she’s not wearing a bra under that shirt. I’m only a man, and seeing her little nipples beneath the wet fabric reminds me that I haven’t touched a woman in three months.
“I can help you with the other stuff, and I’ll give you an advance to get food. Now, what else do we need to do to—”
“But I can’t let you do all that! We don’t even know each other, Lynx, and…and this isn’t your problem,” she mumbles, swallowing when she looks at me and once again glances at the bed.
“Teeny, you don’t really have a choice here. You need work, money, and a livable home for your niece. Let me help you. You can pay me back if it’s really all that important to you.”
Never! Look, I hardly know her, it’s true, but I really like her. She’s small and feisty, and she’s in need. She needs me, and I haven’t had anyone need me for so long that it feels good to stand here and be the big strong man for once.
People don’t see me as the go-to guy. That’s Bear. All I am is the comic, the little brother who just floats around. Being needed right now is so nice that I feel the restlessness and uncertainty I’ve been carrying around melt away.
Teeny needs me, and I will help her, even if I have to fight her every step of the way. Won’t touch her though, I tell myself, shifting when my dick yells a denial.
“But…I…what if…”
“Teeny, we’re doing this.”
Chapter Seven
Teeny
I’m woken from a sprawl on the couch the next morning by the sound of men and the jingle of tools. Leaping up, still confused and fuzzy with sleep, I run to the door and throw it open to see a clutch of men milling on my porch drinking coffee while Lynx barks out orders and peers down at the list he snatched from me when he walked me home last night.
I seriously tried to stop him from just barging in and taking charge because this is so freaking embarrassing for me, to have someone see just how pathetic my life is. Especially a hot guy I want to…
But the man is a tyrant, and after closing all my front windows and dragging the sofa into the hallway where the open back door provided some cooler air, he trotted off with a smile that made my knees weak.
“Oh, hey, Teeny! Come on out here and meet the guys,” he says when he looks up and sees me loitering in the doorway, my arms crossing when I remember that I’m not wearing a bra under the cotton sleep shirt and shorts I threw on last night.
Gulping, I push the screen door open and squint at the sky, the dawn light making me blink. It must be five o’clock!
“Lynx?”
“Come out here and meet the guys. Guys, this is my neighbor Teeny. We’ll be installing the pine cupboards in her kitchen today. Harvey, you and Miller will be tearing everything out of there this morning while Conor and Gabe take care of the flooring. Remember what I said. If there’s wood under the flooring, it stays.”
He keeps barking out orders while I shake hands with ten guys, all grinning at me while they listen with half an ear to the dictator taking up space on my porch.
It’s while he’s barking at them to get to it that a car pulls up and a tiny little woman comes barreling out, followed by a very pregnant imp and a golden-haired woman in four-inch heels.
“Ah! Ma, I told you eight.”
Oh sweet Jesus, please let me die now, I beg when those words hit me square in the kisser and I realize I’m standing on the porch in my pajamas while Lynx Wylder has men all over my house and his family come my way.
“Lynx, I—”
“It’ll be fine, Teeny,” he murmurs, giving me a shoulder squeeze before his mom throws herself at him and then turns to do the same to me.
“Good God, she is tiny!” she laughs, looking me up and down with soft eyes. “Come on now, honey. We’re all going over to his place—”
“Er, well, I, can we eat here?” I ask when Lynx’s eyes go wide and I remember his house.
I’d laugh because the man looks afraid, but then I remember that he’s effectively taking over everything in my life and highlighting exactly how sad it is to a hoard of his friends.
Grateful. Be grateful, Teeny, I tell myself when it comes back to me exactly why I stopped arguing with him last night. I can’t afford pride, just like he told me, and the truth is that part of me feels really relieved that I have some help.
“Sure! Come on.”
I manage to get away long enough to change into clean shorts and the only decent T-shirt I have, in a soft pink. I look okay and feel a little less shitty as I walk into the small dining room and see the three women and Lynx tucking into pancakes and bacon.
“Hey, there you are. So, I was telling Mom you need to get to the hospital this morning to see Tammy, and she and the girls want to go with to meet the kid.”
Sliding into a seat beside him, all I can do is nod because that was another obstacle I had that he’s just taking care of. Eventually, I’ll have to go get my car out of the impound lot.
“Thanks, I appreciate that, and she loves attention from anyone, so she’ll be tickled.”
“Great! And the air guys are coming this afternoon to check out what needs to be done, so you’ll need to be here to okay whatever you want.”
He keeps up a steady itinerary of what is happening today, and my brain whirls with the list he has in mind for just one day. Kitchen demo, flooring, air, putting up a fence with childproof safety latches on the edge of the property, his and mine so that we don’t have to fence off between our houses…
“Er, you really don’t have to—”
“It’s so much safer, Teeny, and I don’t really want a fence in the middle because Tammy would come swimming sometimes, maybe with Elliot, and it would just be too hard for us to have to latch the fencing too. Oh, that reminds me. Is Wolf coming over to do the pool cover install, Lori?”
The pretty, only slightly pregnant Lori throws him a thumbs-up because her mouth is too full to speak and she’s going at those pancakes like she had supper at my place and needs nutrition stat.
It’s adorable, watching her attack her food that way, and I see Lynx’s lips quirk at her growl when he tries to spear the last pancake.
“Jesus, what are you growing in there?” Lynx rasps, pulling his hand back just as her fork slams down and scrapes across the plate.
“A wolf,” Danny laughs. “I get the lazy little bear who sleeps all freaking day and only really comes out at night, while poor Lori has a ravenous little cub eating her insides.”
My own giggle can’t be contained, and I peek up at Lynx, wondering what his wife would have to go through and what the baby would be like. She’d probably walk around with cotton wadding as a protective barrier against the world.
“I know what you’re thinking, all of you, but you can quit that shit right now. I am not ever having a wife and child. Just look at poor Wolf and Bear. You women drive those assholes nuts, not that they don’t deserve it, but come on,” he laughs, throwing us all a look and running out when we heckle him.
Well, I just laugh because the others heckle him, and I bite my lips because if that wasn’t a warning to steer clear of him and any thoughts my libido may have, I don’t know what is.
“Don’t pay him any mind. He’s my only son who thinks love is something to be avoided. The rest are all sane, and even Hawk isn’t averse to it.”
“No, he’s just too damn scary for a woman to approach,” Danny laughs, stealing the last slice of bacon while we all stand and start clearing up.
“Now, honey.”
I look over at Rain Wylder, the little woman with the blue eyes so beautiful all I can do is stare when her eerily blue eyes look back at me.
“Is there anything you need to get to take to the hospital for the little angel?”
Well, yeah! I need pajamas and all of her toiletries, if she has any, and…
“I should probably go to Ally’s place to see what she has. I don’t have anything of hers here.”
Rain and the others nod and walk out to the car to put the Tupperware in the trunk, and I almost come out of my skin when Lynx sidles up beside me and throws an arm over my shoulder.
“This should be enough to grab Tammy anything she needs.”
“But—”
“Don’t argue, Teeny. I don’t want you girls driving into that neighborhood, and I don’t care if I sound like a snob. I can’t go with you all, because I have to go back to the site and make sure Pop’s got everything installed and on track. And I need to be here as well to make sure they don’t remove anything you want to keep. Take this, and go grab Tammy some essentials, and remember, I need you back here by two o’clock to give the okay on the air system.”
I’m struggling to compute it all and stand gaping when he pecks my cheek and turns to walk back into the kitchen where I hear hammering and a lot of demo going on.
That’s how the Wylder women find me, gaping and trying not to freak out when I look down to see a thousand dollars in my hand.
“I—”
“Don’t argue with him. He may be the happy-go-lucky son but that boy has a stubborn streak a mile long, and he’d just shove more money at you,” Rain laughs, shaking her head.
I’m blushing and so embarrassed I don’t know where to look when they traipse me out to the car and Lori hip-checks me.
“I—”
“We know what’s going on with you, honey, and trust me, we don’t judge. Unless we’re speaking about that sister of yours, and then I think I should just keep my opinions to myself. Don’t be embarrassed or feel shame for what’s happened. Bad things happen to good people all the time, Teeny, and from the sounds of it, it isn’t your fault. Let Lynx help you. You need it, and to be honest, I haven’t seen him this enthusiastic in a while.”
Rain snorts at that and winks at me as she pulls away from the curb.
“That boy loves solving problems. He’s the only one of my sons that gets bored when things are going well. Remember when he and Alric started the company and everything just worked out? I thought he was going to start breaking things to make a problem he could fix.”
And that right there is my problem, I think. I fix things. Me. I don’t ever…well, I haven’t ever had anyone to fix my problems, and I’m feeling out of sorts and a little unsteady while a man I hardly know hops around me solving one problem after another.
I am happy to accept the help though because just as suddenly as I was beating up a broken air-conditioner and planning newspaper theft on my block to steal coupon sheets, I now have nothing to worry about but what the hell happened to Ally.
I won’t think about that now though, not until this anger I feel towards her dissipates and I’m in a place where I don’t want to throttle her and watch her eyes bulge out of her head.
“Teeny? You okay?”
I look over at Lori beside me and find a wobbly smile inside where the freaking mortified horror that has become my life is seething just beneath the surface.
I’d have run a mile last night if not for the glaring certainty that I will lose Tammy the minute those people set foot inside my house. I don’t have the option of keeping my pride and saying no, and I also can’t tell Lynx Wylder that the way he’s swept into my life and taken over is freaking me out.
“I’m okay. Just worried about Tammy. She’s had an ear infection three times in as many months, and if Ally hasn’t been getting it treated, I’m afraid of what could happen with her hearing.”
“Don’t you worry, honey. We’ll talk to the doctors when we get there, and if there’s a problem, we’ll get it fixed. You just relax and focus on the fact that you’re about to become a full-time mom,” Rain says, pulling into a
parking spot outside a baby boutique.
Oh hell.
“Er, Wal-Mart?”
They all start laughing like hyenas, and Danny shakes her head at me.
“Lynx finds out you clothed his little Tammy Lee from the sale section at a Wal-Mart and you’re in deep shit, honey. Our men may not be snobs but when it comes to what they provide…let’s just say it’s the good stuff or they do it themselves. And trust me, gardening in silk is not easy.”
“What?”
“I went shopping for maternity stuff a few months ago and went to Gap because I just don’t see the use in buying all these things if I’m outgrowing it in weeks. Bear came home the next day with clothes made of silks and satins and God knows what else and told me never ever to shop for myself again. I haven’t had the credit card in months, and I wear whatever Bear likes. Lesson learned.”
I laugh with her because it sounds strange and yet sweet as well and almost groan when we walk into the shop and I just feel money fall out of my pocket.
“Welcome to lifestyles of the men who go caveman on their women.”
Huh, but I am not Lynx Wylder’s woman, and I’m sweating when Rain starts holding up clothes that look handmade and made of freaking silk.
Oh brother. I’ll be paying this guy back for the rest of my life at this rate.
********************************************************************
“An’ nurse Ginny gived me some jelly an’ den she telled me I could get a choc’wat too, Teenwy. An’ my eawah don’t huwts anymow coz da docows puts medsin in my eawah and tooked it ‘way.”
I want to cry as I listen to Tam talk and talk and talk as if having her ear infection clear up and people giving her treats is a miracle in and of itself. All after having to listen to her tell me that hospital food is practically gourmet because Ally’s idea of nutritional food is Ramen.
God, I could kill my sister with my bare hands and not blink at the judge at this point. I fucking hate her right now. Hate her with everything in me as the Wylder women all watch me struggle not to bawl because my niece, my two-year-old niece, is just so…neglected!
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