Unraveling Him: A Small Town Family Romance (The Bailey Brothers Book 3)

by Claire Kingsley

  He ran ahead again and disappeared around a bend in the trail. The beam of light glinted off something just around the corner. It looked like a bumper.

  What was a car doing out here?

  Sasquatch sat next to it, as if to say we’d reached our destination. I crept closer until more of the car came into view. Was someone in it? Who the hell would have left a car on my property?

  Wait. That was Fiona’s car.

  Fear jolted through me like lightning. Why was her car here? Was she in it? I ran, aiming the flashlight toward the back window, but her car was stuffed full. I couldn’t see anything.

  Imagining all the worst reasons her car would be out here, I hurried around to the driver’s side and shined the light through the window.

  Screaming, she sat up, raising her arm to shield her eyes against the beam of light.

  “Fiona. It’s me.”

  Blinking, she fumbled with the lock and opened the door. “Evan? What are you doing? You scared the crap out of me.”

  “What am I doing? What are you doing?”

  “I thought you were a murderer.”

  “I’m not a fucking murderer. Why are you out here? Are you sleeping in your car?”

  She pulled the edges of a blanket tighter around her shoulders. “Maybe.”

  “Why? It’s freezing out here.”

  Her teeth chattered together. “Yeah, I didn’t count on it being this cold.”

  I stared at her, a primal instinct flaring to life from somewhere deep inside me.

  Protect her. Keep her safe.

  I had no idea where it had come from, or why the urge to protect was suddenly so strong I couldn’t even fathom ignoring it. I’d have to deal with what it meant later. For now, she was cold and needed a safe place to sleep.

  “For fuck’s sake,” I muttered. “Come on.”

  She adjusted her blanket and started to climb out. Before she could protest, I picked her up—one arm behind her back, the other behind her knees—and used her feet to push the car door shut.

  “I can walk.”

  “No.”

  Thankfully, she didn’t argue. Just draped her arm around my shoulders and clutched her blanket near her chin. She was shivering. It was spring, but spring in the mountains could still mean snow. And it certainly meant cold nights.

  I carried her back to my house, Sasquatch trotting along beside me. How the hell had he known she was out there? Crazy dog.

  The pine needles crunched under my feet as I walked. Fiona didn’t say anything, just shivered in my arms.

  We got to the house and I took her inside through the back door. I’d have to figure out how Sasquatch got out later. For now, I needed to get her warm.

  Keep her safe.

  I didn’t even pretend I was going to dump her on the couch. Just took her straight to my bedroom and set her down on the bed. Sasquatch laid down nearby.

  She clutched the blanket against her chest and her lower lip trembled. “Thank you.”

  I lowered myself onto the edge of the bed next to her and gently brushed her bangs out of her eyes. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. No.” She glanced away. “Sleeping in my car is basically how my life is going, so there’s that. But right now, I’m just cold and really tired.”

  “We can talk about it in the morning.”

  She nodded. “Okay.”

  I laid my hand over hers, feeling her cold skin. “Let’s get you warm.”

  She let the blanket drop and scooted to get beneath my covers. I toed off my shoes and peeled off my flannel shirt, then slipped into bed with her. She curled up with her head on the pillow I usually used, but I let her have it.

  I could tell she was still cold. There was one way to get her warmed up quickly. Me. My body pumped out heat like a furnace.

  Memories of the last time we’d shared a bed raced through my mind. I’d woken up with her sprawled on top of me, my hand splayed over her ass cheek. If I touched her now, even just to help her warm up, what would I wake up to?

  But she wasn’t dressed in a tiny tank top and shorts. She was buried in a big sweatshirt and fleece pajama pants.

  This would be fine.

  “Come here,” I said, reaching for her. “You’ll warm up faster.”

  She didn’t protest as I gently drew her against me. Just laid her head on my chest and let me wrap an arm around her. Within seconds, her body began to relax, the last of her shivers subsiding.

  “Wow, you are warm,” she whispered.

  I took a deep breath, letting the scent of her in as I closed my eyes. “Yeah.”

  Her slow breath matched mine, and a strange thought pushed at the edge of my consciousness. I hadn’t felt this good in a long time.

  19

  Fiona

  My eyes were still heavy, but I blinked them open. For a second, I couldn’t remember where I was.

  Right, Evan’s house. He’d found me sleeping in my car and brought me back to his place. I blinked again, wondering what I was looking at.

  And why did it feel like I was lying on something other than a pillow? Again.

  Taut skin against my cheek and the slight tickle of hair. And right in front of my face—

  Oh my god.

  I was lying with my cheek on Evan’s abs, the spectacular bulge of his morning erection right in front of my eyes.

  He was wearing sweats, thank god, but the covers were gone and that magnificent morning wood was mere inches from my face. From this angle, I was practically looking up at it. It was like standing at the base of a mountain, beholding pure majesty.

  Also of note: Evan’s abs made just as good a pillow as his chest.

  Before we could have a replay of the awkwardness of the motel room—please tell me I didn’t drool on him again—I sat up. The entire bed was a disaster. It looked like we’d spent the night having wild monkey sex, not sleeping fully—or in Evan’s case, mostly—dressed. He was sprawled out diagonally across the bed, with his head in one corner, his feet in the other. I’d somehow managed to wind up perpendicular to him, using his abs as a pillow.

  I swiped the corner of my mouth. Dry. Thank goodness.

  My eyes lingered on his torso. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, leaving his broad chest and defined abs on full display. His skin was golden brown, tight against all that hard muscle. A little trail of body hair led beneath his pants and I was so glad he wasn’t waking up yet—it gave me a chance to drink in that delicious view without making a total fool of myself.

  “Morning,” he mumbled.

  Never mind.

  “Hi.” I brushed my hair out of my face.

  “Did we do it again?” he asked, a hint of amusement in his tone.

  I glanced around the disheveled bed. “We did. And apparently you make a good pillow.”

  His mouth twitched in a sleepy smile and it was so cute I thought I might die right here.

  I didn’t want to ruin it, so I pretended like I wasn’t melting inside. I jerked my thumb in the direction of the bathroom. “I’ll just…”

  “Yeah, you go first.”

  I got up and went to the bathroom. Catching sight of my reflection in the mirror, I winced. I’d slept in my makeup. Last night I’d used the restroom in a coffee shop in town before driving back out here to find a place to park so I could sleep. But I hadn’t washed my face. Now I had dark smudges beneath my eyes that made me look like I’d been doing tequila shots at a stripper’s bachelorette party.

  Not a great look.

  I washed my face, feeling entirely too naked without my war paint on. But my bag was in my car, which was out in the woods where I’d parked, hoping it would be a safe place to sleep for the night.

  Evan was outside with Sasquatch when I came out. I wandered into the kitchen, put some coffee on, and rooted through his fridge for breakfast ingredients. It was pretty sparse. For a guy who seemed to like food a lot, he didn’t keep much around. Just basics. At least he had eggs and cheese, so I got to work whipping up
a quick meal.

  I felt like I had to face the music today. Better to do it on a full stomach.

  Evan came back inside, dressed in a t-shirt and sweats. He got Sasquatch his food, then poured us each a cup of coffee. I plated the eggs and brought them to the table.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  I sat down across from him. “It’s the least I can do.”

  He didn’t say anything else as we dug into our breakfast. While I ate, I thought about what I was going to say. I wasn’t exactly proud of the fact that I’d been reduced to sleeping in my car. Evan finding me out there was pretty embarrassing.

  He finally broke the silence. “Are you going to tell me, or do I have to ask?”

  “Why I was sleeping in my car?”

  He nodded once.

  I fiddled with my fork. “Where do I even start?”

  “How about the beginning.”

  “The beginning. Okay.” I put my fork down and tucked my hair behind my ear. “I pretty much grew up in my dad’s garage. My mom left when I was little, so I spent a lot of time there. As a kid, I didn’t know his shop was a front for criminal activity. He was part of a car-theft ring and used his garage as a chop shop.”

  “Shit,” he said.

  “Yeah. Then some people he’d been working with got busted. Somehow he avoided getting in trouble, but I told him he needed to stop. Actually, I begged him to stop. He was all I had; I don’t have any other family, except my mom, but that’s… complicated. Anyway, he agreed. In fact, he promised.”

  Evan stayed silent, watching me with those whiskey-brown eyes.

  “I don’t think I ever quite believed he’d keep his promise. In high school, he had me start working for him and I figured it would be a good way to keep an eye on things. I thought if I was around, he’d stay clean. Fast forward a couple of years, I graduated high school and wanted to go to college. He disagreed. He just wanted me to work for him forever, I guess, and claimed he couldn’t help me pay for school. I still wanted to go, so I took on a mountain of student debt to pay for it. And I still worked for my dad. He wouldn’t really let me quit.

  “I thought about doing something else plenty of times, especially after I got my degree. I even got a different job once, but I ended up going back. And I put up with a lot. He was kind of crappy to me and he barely paid me anything. It was stupid of me to stay so long.”

  “It wasn’t stupid,” Evan said quietly.

  I shrugged. “Anyway, this might not seem relevant, but I’m getting to the point. My friend Simone worked there, too. Our dads were friends when we were young, but her dad died when we were in high school. I think my dad felt like he needed to look out for her—or that’s what I used to think. He gave her a job and I thought of her as my best friend, mostly because we’d known each other since we were little. Although now that I look back on it, she was never much of a friend to me.

  “When my dad and I came here, and you said he’d sold you a stolen car, I suspected he’d broken his promise. He denied it, but then I saw he’d been emailing a guy named Felix Orman. Felix was from his criminal days. He’s all kinds of bad news—really scary. There was no reason for my dad to have any contact with him, unless he was doing something illegal.”

  “Did you ask him about it?”

  “Not right then. I didn’t get the chance. Because that was when I found out my dad was sleeping with my supposed best friend, Simone.”

  His eyes widened. “What?”

  “I know. It’s as gross as it sounds. He’s known her since she was little, and he still…” I shuddered. “I was at his house and I heard them… you know. I didn’t know who he had up there. He’s been through a lot of women over the years. But then Simone came downstairs.”

  “Jesus.”

  “That was the day I left—and that’s why I came up with that ridiculous plan to help you buy the Pontiac from Walt Browning so I could use your shop to fix my car. I couldn’t stay there another day. Simone was my roommate and I worked for my dad. I’d have to see them every day if I’d stayed.”

  “I would have left, too.”

  I met his eyes, grateful that he understood. “Thanks. I’ve second-guessed myself about a million times since I packed up my car and left. But at the same time, how could I have stayed?”

  “You couldn’t.”

  “No. So obviously you know what happened then. I somehow talked you into a crazy road trip. We got the Pontiac, came back here, and I found out my car needed not only a new clutch, but a new transmission. Which leads me to why I was sleeping in my car.”

  “And that’s because…”

  “I’m broke.” I spread my hands, palms up. “I wasn’t exactly swimming in money when I left. I’ve been trying to dig my way out from under my student debt, and my dad’s a cheapskate who justified paying me almost nothing by saying he didn’t want his other employees to be jealous or accuse him of nepotism. Really, I think he was just taking advantage of me.”

  Evan growled, sending a jolt of heat straight to my core. I shifted in my chair, trying to ignore it.

  “So, that’s where I am now. I barely have enough money to feed myself for the next few days, so I figured I’d just sleep in my car for a little while.”

  “Why didn’t you ask me if you could stay here?”

  I shrugged. “You’ve already put up with me using your shop for longer than we’d agreed to, and let me sleep on your couch. I didn’t want to ask you for anything else.”

  “No more sleeping in your car.”

  I didn’t even try to argue. “Yeah, that sucked, even for just half the night.”

  “You can stay here as long as you need to. I’ve got that extra room we could clean out. It’s just full of shit now.”

  The little dip of disappointment in my stomach was so dumb. What did I think he was going to do, offer to let me mess up his bed with him every night? Obviously not.

  “The couch is fine. It’s comfortable.” I picked up my fork and pushed the last of my eggs around. “How did you know I was out there?”

  “Sasquatch found you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I got up to get some water and he’d managed to break out the back door. How he knew you were there is another question.”

  “He’s such a good boy.”

  Evan’s mouth twitched in that hint of a smile again.

  “The good news is, I’ve had some time to think and I came up with a new plan.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’ll stay in Tilikum for a little while. I can get a temporary job, save some money, and when I’m in a better position that doesn’t involve the need to sleep in my car, I’ll go to my mom’s in Iowa.”

  His brow furrowed and I wished I knew what he was thinking. “How long do you think you’ll stay?”

  “I’m not sure. A few months, maybe? I know this probably all sounds crazy, but I can’t go back to my dad. And out here, I feel like I have at least a little bit of space from him.”

  “It doesn’t sound crazy. What about your mom? Does she know you’re not coming right away?”

  I looked down at my plate. “I actually haven’t called her yet.”

  “You haven’t?”

  “No. Things with my mom are… complicated. And I wanted to be able to tell her exactly when I’d arrive. Since I didn’t know how long it would take to go get the Pontiac and then fix my car, I waited.”

  “But she’ll be okay with you coming?”

  “Yeah, of course,” I said, ignoring the needle of doubt trying to poke tiny holes in my plan. “She’s my mom.”

  He eyed me for a long moment, like he wasn’t sure he believed me. “So now what you need is a job.”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll hire you.”

  My lips parted but nothing came out. I just stared at him for a long moment. “Wait, what did you just say?”

  “I’ll give you a job. If you want it. I’m sure you’ll hate working for me, but if it’s o
nly temporary…”

  “I thought you liked working alone.”

  “I do, but I guess I can make an exception. Plus I obviously need the help.”

  The humor in those whiskey eyes just about did me in. He smiled so rarely that when he did, it felt like basking in the summer sun.

  “Okay. I accept. But there’s something you need to know, and I totally understand if this makes you want to retract your offer.”

  “What?”

  I nibbled on my bottom lip. “Luke Haven also offered me a job.”

  His jaw hitched, but to his credit, he didn’t blow up. “He did?”

  “That was the other thing he talked to me about at the diner yesterday. I wasn’t expecting that, so I told him I’d think about it. And then your brothers showed up and he left. But I’ll tell him no.”

  Taking a slow breath, he glanced away. “If it’s a better job…”

  “No. Even if it’s better, I’d much rather be here with you.”

  Our eyes met and my heart fluttered behind my ribs. I didn’t think I’d ever uttered a truer statement.

  I’d rather be here with you.

  20

  Fiona

  With a new plan made, a job secured, and a place to stay—for now, at least; I didn’t want to overstay my welcome—things were finally looking up.

  My bank account wasn’t convinced yet, but it wouldn’t take long before that started to change.

  Evan and I trekked out to my car and drove it back to his place. Sasquatch ran around sniffing things while we brought my stuff inside, and I finally got a glimpse of the mysterious spare bedroom.

  It was anti-climactic. Mostly just boxes. He used it for storage.

  Although the way he side-eyed those boxes made me wonder what was in them.

  Since everything about my temporary residency in Tilikum was more or less up in the air—how long I’d stay, when I’d find my own place—we stacked most of my stuff in the spare bedroom. He offered to clear it out and put a bed in there for me, but I assured him I was fine with the couch.