Except the look on his face crumpled those words and tossed them away.
He didn’t look sad or angry or even cocky. Instead, chocolate eyes filled with serenity traced across my features, and the slightest smile lifted the corners of his lips.
“Be safe on the road,” he said, deep voice traveling through the glass with ease. Settling around my chest like something warm and sticky. I pulled at it, and only got more of me stuck instead.
Shards of my broken heart sneakily slotted themselves right back where they belonged.
Burying those feelings as deep as I could—which, to be honest, wasn’t nearly deep enough—I pulled away from the curb, glancing at him in the rearview mirror.
He stood there for only a moment, watching me head slowly down the street. I told myself I was barely leaning on the gas because it was a school zone, even though the school was technically like, three blocks over. It made me feel better than admitting how much I’d missed something as simple as looking at him.
Something as simple as taking in that handsome face and knowing a guy like him existed in a world like this.
Then he turned away, and I tapped the brakes in the middle of the street. Watching like a total and complete stalker. There was something ironic about this moment that I couldn’t grasp right then. Not as I watched him lower his tall frame into a familiar muscle car painted a gorgeous, glossy black.
Finally, hearing the engine from yesterday made sense. Not seeing his bike around made sense. He wasn’t driving it. Riding it? Whatever.
The point was that he had finished working on the car that meant so much to him. And instead of taking it on the joyrides he told me he was planning on...he had brought it here.
Hours up the road. To me.
That meant something.
Instead of risking comprehension dawning, I turned up the radio as loud as it could go. Drowning those hopeful thoughts in a torrent of blaring rock.
***
“I know I said I wasn’t going to be nosy.” Maria poked me in the side, nearly making me drop the Danish I was trying to bag. Or maybe I almost dropped it because I hadn’t been able to focus for the entire shift. “But...”
“Don’t be nosy,” I told her. “Problem solved.”
I reached the pastry over the counter with a smile, and the gum-chewing teen at the handoff rolled her eyes. She actually scoffed at me and pocketed her phone angrily before snatching the bag from my hands.
After all, how dare I interrupt whatever groundbreaking revelation she was exposing to the rest of the world on social media by giving her something she had ordered?
It almost made me more annoyed that I wasn’t as mad I should’ve been.
You know, because of the whole focus thing.
“Come on,” she pleaded, giving me big, puppy dog eyes that probably worked on her husband all the time, if the multiple Gucci bags in the back room were any indication. “My sales for the day are being affected. Don’t you think I have a right to know?”
I narrowed my eyes at her, but it was useless. With her auburn hair twisted up in a bun, she was too annoyingly cute for me to be mad at. There was also the aspect of her even giving me these hours to begin with.
Still, I couldn’t just roll over without putting up a fight.
Making things easy wasn’t in my nature.
“If by ‘affecting your sales,’ you mean that this is probably one of the best days you’ve had since Christmas, then sure. We can go with that.”
She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. I offered her a lazy smile and shrugged, turning my head from side to side. We both knew I was right. Taking a quick look around would confirm as much.
Her little bakery tucked on the outskirts of town was on and popping. And it wasn’t like some huge surge of regulars had been showing up either. People neither of us had seen before were constantly coming by, drawn in by the spreading rumors.
Being directly in the heart of Oakdale had numbed me to seeing bikers day in and day out. But it was safe to say that having one of the state’s most notorious outlaws in attendance was drawing a crowd.
Peeking over my shoulder towards the very back of the cafe, I spied on Tone. He had followed me here. And I mean followed in the most literal way I know to use the word. The man had run red lights to make sure he was always the car behind me.
Why even bother telling me to drive safely when I was pretty sure he would’ve run anyone off the road who looked as if they might get in my way?
The spot he had claimed sat elevated on a stage, and kept his back to a bright, mural-covered wall. That seat was usually reserved for open mic nights. Of course, it wasn’t like Maria or her husband, Cody, were going to tell him to get down from there.
In his leather jacket, jeans and boots, he seemed to belong to some entirely different world than the soccer moms and artsy types that usually came through the door. God, he looked so freaking delicious sitting there, long legs stretched out beneath him while he continued to make my heart melt.
Now, why exactly was my heart melting?
Because despite the adults giving the intimidating man an incredibly large berth, Maria’s son, Jamie, had gotten in from school. Spotted the biker. And decided he was going to play chess with him.
They were still going strong a good two hours later. Every chance I could, I looked their way. How could I not?
Each time I caught them with their heads huddled together while Tone pointed patiently at the board—explaining moves he made and why he made them—I saw the man I had fallen in love with a little more.
It wasn’t even a question in my mind that he was teaching him either, even though I couldn’t hear over the soft jazz. That was just the kind of man he was. He put others before himself.
Even when it was inconvenient to him.
“You’ve got a little something.” Maria wiped at the corner of my mouth. I jerked away from her, cheeks flaming at being caught. My mouth opened, but she shook her head. “You’ve got it so bad I don’t even have a way to measure it. So, I’ll just say...you better lock it down before one of these other leeches decides to try. Just look at them. They’re already doing the math on how many babies he can give them.”
I followed her pointing finger, noticing not for the first time how many women were sipping at drinks long since gone cold. Even the girl who had copped an attitude with me over her pastry was leaning against a wall, phone forgotten. Her iced drink was completely empty, but she was still rolling the straw between her teeth, lost in a daze.
Do not throw something at her. He’s not yours.
The second thought was much weaker than the first. He felt like mine. Especially because electricity jolted me each and every time his gaze swung this way, dark eyes seeking me out.
Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I grabbed Maria’s arm and pulled her towards the humming refrigerator on the opposite side of the counter. It wasn’t exactly inconspicuous, as evidenced by Tone’s head lifting and following me across the room.
But it was also the one place I figured I could ask her something without having my conversation be overheard.
“If you revealed something to Cody that freaked him out, and he walked away from you...what would you do?”
She studied me for a moment, tucking away the playfulness for a look that was all business. One of these days, I was going to tell her she was my role model for wanting to go into business as a woman. Maria held things down.
But that wasn’t going to be today. It would be when I was far enough away for the vast shadow cast by her inflated ego to fall short of me.
“Depends,” she said carefully.
I wanted to shake her. “On what?”
“On whether or not he came back.”
“And if he did?” I glanced at Tone and he caught me, just like he had that first day he decided to barge into my life. He held my stare captive, face intense and filled with purpose. And he refused to let go until the little hands beside him pulled o
n his shoulder, demanding his attention.
Her smile was small when I looked her way again. Comforting. “Then I would try,” she said softly. “Not for his sake, but for my own. Because five, ten, twenty years down the road, I wouldn’t want to look back and wonder what might have been if I hadn’t.”
We went back to work in silence, focused on finishing the shift.
I helped her lock up in silence.
I drove home in silence, an impossible to miss engine following me closely.
Without saying a word, I climbed the steps to the front porch and he came with me, bringing his pine scent with him. Today, his smell reminded me of new beginnings.
And hadn’t he been that for me so many times already?
The blinds at the front of house moved, but I paid them no mind. Pausing in front of the door, I turned to find Tone watching me the same way he had been all day. Patiently.
As if he would wait forever, until I either forgave him or told him to go away for good.
I thought about what Maria said while we stood there, forming our own bubble. It was the same as it always was. Relaxing and familiar. Protection and shelter I didn’t want to run from kicking and screaming.
The only running I wanted to do was into his arms. But I didn’t. I kept my hands at my sides and met those dark eyes I loved so much, I wondered how my heart could possibly have room left over for anything else.
I thought about what I needed to say, then realized I didn’t need to say anything. Maria was right in the grand scheme of things, but I hadn’t given her the full story either. Tone left more than once.
I needed to believe he wasn’t going to run again.
So, even though it felt like a thousand daggers sliding into my chest and twisting, I opened the door and stepped through without a word. I closed it behind me and didn’t look back as I ascended the steps. Didn’t look to the side to see what kinds of expressions Law and Dad were wearing.
Maybe I was making a huge mistake.
Maybe he wouldn’t understand what I had just done or why.
Maybe he would be gone, and I would only see him in passing when I returned to open my shop once again.
But maybe...
Just maybe.
He would be there in the morning when I came downstairs.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Tone
“Is Naomi mad at you?” Jamie stage whispered beside me, small voice traveling across the almost empty shop.
Even while I took a few more of his pawns, I saw her shoulders stiffen from the corner of my eye, and felt my lips split in a grin. “What makes you say that?” I asked the young boy, wanting to ruffle his hair and not even knowing why the fuck I wanted to do that.
God’s honest truth, I’d never given much thought to kids before these last three weeks. And yeah, three weeks was accurate. It had been twenty-one days—coming up on sixteen hours—since I laid eyes on my girl again. Time was incredibly easy to track from that moment going forward.
But I needed to get back on topic before I started counting the minutes again.
See, I got along with kids fine when I happened to come across them, but that was usually a rare situation in and of itself. Aside from Tex and Lizzy’s little bundle, it wasn’t exactly like people were lining up to bring their kids to the clubhouse. For good fucking reason as well. That was no place for a child.
The thing was, spawning little troublemakers of my own had never been a serious consideration. Not after the pitiful excuses my mom and dad had been for parents. The thought of putting some innocent kid through that kind of mess was enough to turn my stomach sour.
Yet after hanging with Cody and Maria’s kid these last few weeks, I was starting to reconsider. Which was a huge, huge fucking jump seeing as how the only woman in existence I could imagine having kids with hadn’t decided she was mine again yet.
Which was fine.
Fuck, alright.
It wasn’t fine. I couldn’t pretend like walking her up the stairs every night and watching her disappear into the house was my idea of a good time.
I wanted my lips on hers. I wanted to strip the leggings she wore to work from her body and take her right there on the countertop. I wanted to return to Oakdale with the passenger seat occupied and my hand firmly in hers.
But she needed to know I was in this for real.
No second thoughts. No running. It was going to be the two of us from here on out. Our story wasn’t over.
I wouldn’t let it be.
“She’s so nice all the time, but she doesn’t talk to you, like, at all,” he said, frowning at the board. “Mom says it’s because she thinks you’re a jerk-face.”
“Is that right?” I swear I could see her ears burning from here. “How about you? You think I’m a jerk-face?”
He got offended in the way only kids could, as if the idea was beyond preposterous.
“Nuh-uh!” he said, pouting. “She’s in denial.”
Naomi raised her voice. “I heard that you little monster.”
His eyes got comically wide, and I barked out a laugh. There was no way this kid understood what denial was, but I was glad to hear what was being said when Maria and Naomi talked in hushed voices while glancing at me.
Seemed like me and little man's mom were on the same page.
Jamie started picking up pieces at random. Pawn. Rook. Bishop. He stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth while he concentrated, and I was content to give him all the time he needed when I saw Naomi making her way towards us.
I drank her in greedily. I was a man parched and hungry for the curves she was flashing with every step. But I was careful to keep that desire in the background, and instead, I offered up a pleasant smile.
Coming up behind Jamie’s shoulder, she offered me the slightest twitch of her lips, and I thought my heart might explode.
Mine, my soul roared, recognizing its other half. The better half.
The one I could no longer live without.
Naomi tickled the back of Jamie’s neck, making him squeal and giggle as he slid around in his seat. Our eyes stayed glued together as she leaned down, whispering in the boy’s ear.
There was a teasing glint in her eyes I hadn’t seen in too long.
Jamie snickered, reaching for a horse-shaped piece. He placed it around the board at random, knocking my troops over one by one until nothing remained standing.
I raised a curious brow. “Y’all know that’s an illegal move, right?”
It was Naomi who tipped her chin up and answered. “Knights do what they have to when it means protecting the Queen,” she said, staring at me intently. “And even when that puts them on opposing paths, she knows exactly why he did it.”
She dipped down, pressing her chin into Jamie’s hair. He fussed, pushing her away. And away she went, laughing. I stalked her progress, glad she was no longer facing me.
The hope in my expression was impossible to hide.
Once she retreated behind the safety of the counter, I glanced at the boy across from me as he set the pieces back in place. “You know you can’t do that in a match.”
“Duh.” He gave me a dumb adult look. “But she promised I could have the rest of the peanut butter cookies.”
That little... Naomi knew those were my favorites. “Since you cheated, that means you’re sharing.”
His tongue came back out, and I got the distinct feeling he was counting how many were left. I knew there were four because I’d checked earlier.
Hey, when I indulged my sweet tooth, I took it seriously.
“You get one,” he said finally.
“Three,” I countered.
“Two.”
I extended my hand. “You’ve got yourself a deal. Pleasure doing business with you.”
He put his hand in mine. “Yeah. That.”
There. Now I had something to tide me over until I could claim the sweetness I truly craved.
***
Naomi paused at her
front door, making no effort to look for her keys. I stayed quiet, because the ball remained firmly in her court. But I felt the change in her. Felt how—despite the physical distance between us—our spirits brushed tentatively together, cautious and hopeful.
She tucked dark curls behind her ear and glanced up at me. I forgot to breathe, incredibly aware that the moment I’d been waiting on for weeks was finally here.
Aware that if I didn’t get this right and mend the divide between us here and now, I didn’t know when another chance might come.
Days? Weeks? Months?
I would wait, because the beautiful woman in front of me was worth waiting for. But it would be a slow, painful life as I counted each second spent without her.
“Just because I understand why you did it,” she started, tone clipped and distant. “Doesn’t make it okay. Every moment we were together felt like forever. Then I made a mistake. And instead of giving me an opportunity to talk to you about it, you walked away. You just...left me there like all those moments we stole from the rest of the world hadn’t meant anything.”
“They meant everything,” I said quietly.
Her eyes flared and I pulled my lip between my teeth, biting down. Shutting the fuck up before I ruined everything would be a good place to start.
“And you know what?” Her fingers tapped against her thigh. “I understand why you left. I really do. It was hard, but I put myself in your shoes and wondered what I would’ve done if I found out that the guy I was hopelessly lost in had an incurable illness when something similar had taken away someone I loved. But you’re not the only one who has ever lost someone.” She huffed out a harsh exhale. “I lost my Mom, and she was everything to me. She was the one who propped me up on the worst days of my life and told me I could look towards the future. She was the one who told me I could become anyone I wanted to be.”
A slight smile graced her lips, and my fingers itched. I wanted to photograph that smile. Frame it. Put it on my wall.
Paint it in the fucking sky and laugh at the rest of the world as they cried out in the realization that it would never be theirs.
Tempted by a Sinner (Seven Sinners Book 4) Page 32
