I shut the door and climbed in the driver’s seat.
“When you said bike, I thought you meant the kind with pedals and stuff.”
“Oh yeah?” I turned the key and the engine roared.
She looked out her window. “I really wanted to go for a ride.”
“When you’re big enough not to fall off, we’ll give it a go.”
I could feel her gaze assessing me as I pulled from the lot and started to drive.
“You shouldn’t make promises.”
I glanced over at her, but she was already looking back out her window. I could appreciate how she felt, not that I’d ever been promised much, but the few that were made when I was her age, well, they were all broken. And it hurt like hell.
“Okay, no promises,” I said. Honestly, I shouldn’t have suggested anything beyond the ice cream. I was supposed to be wrapping this shit up. Go get a blood test, find out the kid isn’t mine, figure out where I could return her. But I kind of liked her, and I didn’t want to be another source of disappointment. Life was hard enough without me making it worse.
There was a painting of a cat man on the wall across from me in the doctor’s waiting room. It had blue fur and a pile of dishes and household items piled up in its hands as it balanced with one foot on a beach ball. I couldn’t figure out if it was supposed to be funny or creepy. I considered asking the kid sitting in front of it, but he was busy trying to bury his second knuckle up his nose while his mother ignored him for the screen in her palm.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been waiting, but even if the clinic took ten times longer than another office, I’d pick this place every time. Dr. Webber was a shifter, a valued member of the pack, and the only one I’d trust with this task. No question, Evelyn was in good hands.
Still, I was jittery. What if the results said that she was my daughter? What if it came back that she wasn’t? It was easier if I could drop her off somewhere, be done. I told myself that was what I wanted, but what if it wasn’t?
The image of Evelyn’s trembling lip filled my head, along with the big doe eyes she’d given me as the nurse had taken her back the hall. You’re not going to leave me, right? Her voice had been so soft, so small. I promised I wouldn’t leave. Of course I wouldn’t leave.
“Mr. Greyson.” I looked up and found the nurse waiting for me in the doorway.
I followed her back the hall to one of the exam rooms. Evelyn was sitting on the table, white as a ghost.
Her expression was soft, and vulnerable. I wasn’t sure if I should offer to hold her hand or if I should sit in the chair and give her some distance. I settled on standing near the table, but still giving her space.
“Mr. Greyson.” Dr. Webber stood beside her and placed a hand on Evelyn’s shoulder. She didn’t acknowledge him, only looked at me. “Congratulations. You’re a father.”
A father.
Evelyn was my daughter.
The doctor was still talking, but I didn’t hear what he was saying. Instead, all I could hear was the fluttering heartbeat of the child in front of me. All I could see were her wide eyes, the same blue as mine, the way she crinkled the table’s paper covering between her fingers.
She was as terrified as I was.
But I felt something else after hearing those words—relief. I wanted her to be mine. Sure, it would take time to figure out how not to be a shitty parent. I’d had terrible parents of my own, but selfishly, it was nice to realize I wouldn’t spend my life alone anymore.
Chapter Four
Paige
Unicorn strapped in the passenger seat, booster seat from Linda’s place and an overnight bag for me in the back, I was hightailing it to Ashwood. It wasn’t like I had anything tying me to my place, so if this took more than one day, so be it. I could work anywhere, and the only one relying on me was the stray cat that showed up at my window sill on occasion. I’d named him Graybeard for his pirate-like missing eye and for the floof under his chin. But I’d left a note for my neighbor to leave him a can of tuna. Plus, for all I knew, Graybeard had another name and another family. Or three. He wasn’t exactly thin, which made him all the more endearing.
The flutter in my chest wasn’t from excitement. It wasn’t the too-much-coffee kind either. Okay, maybe it was a little from the coffee, but mostly it was nerves.
I’d never actually met Jett Greyson. I had heard a hell of a lot about him, though, and the memory left me with a sour taste in the back of my throat.
Back in college, Jett walked into the coffeehouse where Marla was working at the time. It was a regular thing, coffee each Friday morning. She’d come back to our dorm, flop on the bed, and shower me in details of the way the light glittered off his eyes or the way he smiled when he left her way too big of a tip. She told me how he’d brush her finger when he took his cup, and how a gentle flirtation turned into something more. It was the perfect start to a beautiful love story, or so it seemed.
One date was all it took for her to fall in love with him, if she wasn’t already. One night of passionate sex, and she was ready to do anything for him.
But then he stopped coming into the coffee shop. He didn’t return her calls.
And she found out she was pregnant.
When she finally tracked him down, he wasn’t at the law school he said he was attending, but in some shitty little town in the middle of nowhere. The bastard wasn’t even a lawyer. He was a biker, and when she found him, he was in bed with two other women.
He said he didn’t want anything to do with her or the baby. He said Evie wasn’t his.
Fucking prick.
Now it was my turn to drive to that same shitty little town to confront Jett Greyson. For all I knew, he’d left Evie alone on his doorstep to fend for herself.
Tightening my grip on the steering wheel, I dropped my foot down harder on the accelerator. I needed to find Evie. Now.
“Hold on tight, Mr. Unicorn.” I glanced down at the stuffed animal beside me, decided yes, I had consumed too much caffeine, and turned on the radio to sing my way out of some of this nervous energy. Before I knew it, I’d found the little town I was looking for.
I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d been expecting—something somewhere between a junkyard of barbed wire-topped hovels and a trailer park perched in the bowels of hell.
Ashwood didn’t look like either, at least not on the surface.
As I drove past lush spring gardens and quaint cottages, I reminded myself that appearances could be deceiving. When Marla had talked about how terrible this place was, her focus was likely on the people, and also seen through the lens of betrayal.
I didn’t know what the clubhouse would look like, or even if Jett would be there. What if Sylvia had dropped Evie somewhere Jett didn’t even live anymore? Why didn’t I think to ask more questions before I left?
No. This wasn’t helping. I needed to stop thinking and focus on looking. The clubhouse would be around here somewhere, and Evie would be fine. I’d take her home, not that I knew what would happen after that. She could stay with me until her grandmother was back on her feet. Yep. That was a solution. That was the solution.
I wouldn’t need my laptop or the extra clothes I’d packed, since I’d just be grabbing Evie and heading back. But it always paid to be prepared. I’d learned that young, to always keep extra clothes around no matter where I was headed, because sometimes a girl had to shift. And it was really unfortunate if there was nothing to wear when a yellow sundress ended up in ribbons.
Something caught my eye, and I turned before I realized what exactly it was.
Standing in a small lot on the side road was the back of a little girl with long golden hair, just like Marla’s. She had on a red dress, and she was just about the right height and build to be Evelyn.
I hit the brakes and wrenched the wheel to the right, parking abruptly by the curb.
I grabbed the stuffed unicorn from the passenger seat and ran around to the front of the building. There she was, sittin
g on a bench, completely alone.
“Evie!” I ran across the grass and fell to my knees, pulling the sweet, not-as-little-as-I-remembered girl into my arms.
She gave me a pat on the back, and pulled away.
“Hey, hon, how are you doing?” I smiled at her.
“Paige?” She furrowed her brow. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to take you home. Come on.” I took her hand in mine and pulled gently.
“Wait,” she said.
“Do you have a bag? Did Aunt Sylvia leave it somewhere?”
“Yes, but—”
“Don’t worry.” I turned back and kept walking, smiling down at her. “You’re not alone anymore. I’m going to take you—”
I smashed into something hard. Something solid and unyielding, that smelled warm like spiced cider by the fire on a cold winter day, wild like the forest, like a shifter. Something that sent a jolt of electricity straight to my core. Something wow.
A thick arm reached around me, and caught me before I could fall back. A strong, muscular, tan arm, with intricate lines of black ink swirling up the massive bicep. I wanted to follow those lines, trace them with my finger up under the sleeve of his t-shirt just to see where they went. And see what other delicious surprises I might find.
Wait, what?
I squeezed Evelyn’s hand and tried to move around the sexy bicep. But the guy attached to it stepped with me.
“Sorry about that,” I said. “Excuse me.”
I looked up and the apologetic smile on my face melted into what I can only assume was a drooling gape.
He was tall with broad shoulders, a chiseled jaw that had the perfect amount of hair to tickle and scratch in the best way, and big arms built for lifting. He had the hard masculinity that showed he didn’t take shit from anyone. His eyes were blue as the sky, and sharp as they seemed to appraise me. I had no idea what he was thinking, but I was pretty sure I needed to rein in my crazy or I was bound to lick him.
“I, uh...was just.” Yeah, it wasn’t working.
“You’re going to have to let go of my daughter.” His voice was deep and rough, and it fit him. I found myself staring, not quite comprehending the words he’d said.
“What?”
“Did you get me double sprinkles?” I turned and found Evie looking up at Mr. Sexy Ink with a glint of excitement in her eyes. She pulled her hand from mine.
“I did,” he said, still keeping his eyes glued to me. God, I melted under that cerulean gaze.
Finally, he broke the spell and leaned over, handing Evie a cone of vanilla ice cream topped in fudge and sprinkles. I enjoyed watching the way his arm and shoulder moved, the flex of his muscles, the...holy fuck.
“You’re not Jett Greyson.” I knew that sounded stupid. It sounded stupid to me and I’d been the one to produce the words.
“I am.” Mr. Sexy Ink—Jett—stood up, holding a second cone in his hand. “Do you know Evelyn, Ms.—”
Here I was thinking I was rescuing the kid, and he was taking her out for ice cream.
“This is Paige,” Evie told Jett, because apparently I’d lost the ability to speak for myself.
“Care to join us for ice cream?” he asked.
I cleared my throat and steeled my resolve. “I’m here for Evie. Nothing more.”
That’s right, don’t fall for his charm. You know better, dammit!
“How do you two know each other?” Jett’s gorgeous blue eyes scanned my face and I felt my cheeks heat. A droplet of melted ice cream dripped down over his big hand. I watched the drop of sweet cream move across his skin, and that urge to lick...well yeah.
An intense darkness flashed through his eyes like he could read my mind. Then he lifted the cone and dragged his tongue over his finger and up the side of the ice cream. A shot of desire flooded through me, as if it was my skin beneath his tongue.
“How do we know each other?” I repeated his question like an idiot, and the answer reminded me what I was supposed to be saying. I was supposed to be pissed, pissed as hell. “I’m Marla’s best friend.”
“Who’s Marla?” There was genuine confusion in the look he gave me.
What the fuck? How many broken hearts had this guy left in his wake? How many women had he knocked up and discarded?
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, assho—jerk.” I changed my words remembering that this whole thing was going down in front of a kid, but my sentiment remained the same. “You are the absolute worst.”
He blinked hard, but that was the only reaction I got out of him. And that pissed me off even more.
“I don’t know who you think you’re going to fool with this ice cream stunt, but I’m not falling for it. I’m taking Evie, and we’re going home.”
“No.” Jett took Evie’s hand, and she willingly moved beside him.
“No?”
“You’re not taking her.” His voice was a growl, low and threatening as he stepped between me and Evelyn. There it was, the true Jett Greyson, the cold-hearted killer I’d heard so much about.
That crazy jittery feeling I’d had on the way here, well, it kicked up tenfold. I leaned in closer to him, unwilling to be intimidated. “Why are you doing this? I know what happened when you found out…” I didn’t want to say too much. I didn’t want to hurt Evie.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His voice was firm, but not threatening. He also didn’t budge.
Why didn’t I hear the lie in his words?
Evelyn stepped out from behind him, concern marring her brow as she looked first at Jett and then at me. There was chocolate all over her face and a frown on her lips.
“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but some...a biker clubhouse isn’t any place for a child.” I didn’t have any legal right to Evie, and it seemed like he wasn’t going to give her up. Maybe he actually cared where she ended up and wanted to make sure it wasn’t with some whacko, which to be fair, was exactly how I probably seemed. “I’ve known Evie her whole life. I’ve been there for her. When you’re ready to talk, I’ll be here. Staying somewhere…”
“There’s a bed and breakfast a block over.”
“Well I’ll be there, then.” I pulled a worn-down business card from my wallet and held it out to Jett.
His fingers brushed mine as he accepted, and a shot of heat flashed across my chest. I sucked in a deep breath. Jett Greyson was not my mate. No way. Never.
He slipped the card into his pocket, and I knelt down. “Hey, Evie.”
She looked down at her ice cream and then at me. She was still frowning, and I hated if me coming here had made this harder on her. I was trying to do the right thing. I was trying to protect her.
I gave her my business card too, and the stuffed unicorn I’d brought for her.
“You know you can always call me, right?”
She nodded.
“I’ll be there as fast as my legs can carry me.”
“I know.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her glossy eyes.
I wrapped my arms around my best friend’s daughter, and I squeezed. I didn’t want to let go, but I knew I couldn’t just take her. Though I could try to pick her up and run...no.
“I’m not leaving Ashwood without you.” I meant it, too.
As I walked away, I noticed a stripe of fudge on my shoulder, a badge from the battle. I lost this round, but I wasn’t giving up—even if it meant facing Jett Greyson again.
Chapter Five
Jett
Bittersweet like fine chocolate with a hint of earthiness, Paige’s essence remained even as she hurried away. She was tall, almost as tall as me. Her hair was black and straight, her skin a creamy tan. It was her big chestnut eyes and her full lips that filled my head even after she turned. That and the pop of her ass in those loose yet hot-as-fuck pants.
Her strides were long and quick, like she was running late. More likely, it was just a hasty retreat.
I considered the words exchanged, and de
cided there had to be some kind of miscommunication. I hadn’t been a dick, even when she’d tried to take my daughter.
My daughter and my mate. I’d found both in one hell of a day, and I still couldn’t believe it. My whole life, I’d been alone, and now…
“She hates you.”
I looked down at Evelyn, who seemed to have taken a bath in her ice cream. Chocolate was smeared all down the front of her shirt and across half her face. “You think so?”
“Big time.”
I turned my attention back to Paige, who was already driving away. “I didn’t do anything to her.”
“Sometimes you don’t have to do something wrong to get in trouble.” Evelyn nodded and shook her finger as she spoke.
Sage wisdom from a pipsqueak. “How would you fix it?”
“Oh, that’s the easy part.” Evelyn smiled. “Tell her you’re sorry and give her a hug.”
“That might not work as well for me as it does for you.”
“You could cry.”
I laughed.
She looked at me like she had no idea what was so funny. That was another tool that would work a hell of a lot better for her than it would for me. A ploy I’d have to watch out for now that we were going to be involved in each other’s lives. This together thing wasn’t going to change. I’d figured out at least. The rest was still a mystery.
The sun was low in the sky. Before long it’d be dark, which meant we needed to go home.
“Let’s head back so we don’t miss dinner.”
“This wasn’t dinner?” Evelyn placed her hands on her stomach and looked down. “My tummy’s so full.”
I had to admit, at her age I would have been thrilled to have ice cream for dinner. And breakfast and lunch, too.
“I’m going to need to eat more than that.” I tapped her on the shoulder. “Come on.”
The lot was packed when we returned to the clubhouse, so I parked Brick’s truck on the street. The sun was setting, casting the world in a soft, ethereal glow. Evelyn ambled out of the passenger side all by herself, fearlessly, just as she had at the doctor’s office. With the distance down it was for her, it was quite a feat. She was a tough little squirt, and I admired that.
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