Danny (Big Northwest Book 1)

by Janice M. Whiteaker

  “Really?” Craig glanced at the boy who was proving to be a much different child than most he’d come across. Not that there were many. “What’s your favorite?”

  “Brussels sprouts maybe?” Jude leaned over the bin of bright-red strawberries. “Can we get some of these?”

  “Of course.” Craig helped Jude pick out the best-looking pack before making their way through the rest of the section, adding in broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and two packs of Brussels sprouts.

  Jude frowned down at the plastic bags. “Those don’t look like the ones my mom grows.”

  That explained a lot. “Your mom grows Brussels sprouts?”

  The boy nodded. “She and my aunts grow a bunch of stuff for us to eat.”

  “That’s impressive.” Craig rubbed at his stomach as a pang of jealousy bit his insides.

  His mother couldn’t even be bothered to open a can of soup to feed him. Not that he ate canned soup as a kid.

  The house cook was always ready and willing to make him anything he wanted.

  But sitting across from an overweight middle-aged man being paid to care for him was nothing like what Jude had.

  “Have you ever grown Brussels sprouts?” Jude watched as Craig loaded the cart with all the things he normally ate. Fruits, vegetables, lean meats.

  “I’ve never grown anything.” Craig added in a few boxes of pasta. “But it sounds fun.”

  Way more fun than butchering a hog. Definitely something he could handle without dropping like a fly.

  “It’s almost time to start I think.” Jude eyed the row of pre-packaged cookies.

  “You want to get some Oreos?” Craig reached for his favorite indulgence, smiling as Jude’s eyes lit up.

  “Can we?”

  Craig grabbed a second pack. “Don’t tell your Aunt Sam. She’ll be mad I didn’t buy cookies from her bakery.”

  Jude chewed his lip, eyes sliding to one side.

  “What?” Craig added the cookies to their already-full cart.

  “You can’t tell anyone.” Jude looked around like he was about to disclose the location of the holy grail. “My mom’s cookies are better than Aunt Sam’s.”

  Craig laughed. “I don’t doubt that.” He pushed the cart toward the registers. “Is there anything your mom can’t do?”

  Jude thought for a minute as they waited in line. Finally his eyes moved to Craig. “There is one thing.”

  ****

  “WHAT IN THE hell are you doing?”

  He was starting to like the way that sounded on her lips. The irritation Danny used to hide the way she really felt.

  “What does it look like I’m doing?” Craig turned to peek at her from where he was perched at the top of the ladder he and Jude found in the back of the detached garage behind Danny’s house.

  “It looks like you’re trying to earn another trip to the emergency room.” Danny frowned up at him from the ground. “You don’t have to do that.”

  Craig turned his attention back to the gutter he was clearing out. “I mean what I say, Danny.” He fisted a handful of wet leaf debris and slopped it into the bucket hanging from the ladder. “And I’m happy to pull my weight around here.”

  He planned to pull more than his own weight. Danny had been doing this alone for far too long. Sure she had her sisters, but it wasn’t the same as having a partner.

  And that’s what he wanted to be to her. A partner.

  Craig hefted the bucket off the karabiner holding it in place and carried it down the rungs. When his feet were on the ground he faced her. “How was your day?”

  Her lips pressed together. “Fine.” They barely twisted to one side. “No one passed out, so that was nice.”

  He laughed. “Excellent.” Craig nodded toward the spot in the backyard where Jude pointed out his mother’s compost pile. “Let me toss this out and we can have dinner.”

  She snorted. “Not even waiting for an invitation already?”

  He pulled off one of his work gloves and tipped the underside of her chin with his finger. “Guess not.”

  Danny followed behind him as Craig made his way up the side of the two-story house. “I thought you were letting me be in charge of this.”

  He stopped short, making sure she ran straight into him, catching her with one arm when she did, and holding her body close. “You get to be in charge of this part.” He skimmed his lips up the side of her neck. “Not everything.”

  Danny’s sigh caught him off-guard and tested Craig’s commitment to the laws he’d laid down between them. “You make me weak as hell, you know that, Danny Girl?”

  Her hands gripped his shoulders tight, holding on as his lips gave way to teeth and tongue. Her skin was like silk, smooth and soft. Begging to be marked by the man she called her own.

  But he wasn’t that man yet.

  Craig gently sucked the spot just under her ear. “I want to taste more of you tonight. Can I do that?”

  Her hold on him tightened and she barely whimpered as his lips closed over the lobe of her ear.

  “Jude might—” Her words cut off as his teeth scraped over her skin.

  “In your bed.” He wanted her spread out and unafraid. Relaxed and ready to receive all he wanted to give her. “With the door locked.”

  Craig pressed against her, pushing Danny’s back against the clean white siding of the house as he dropped the bucket to the ground. He slid both hands up her sides, spreading them across her ribcage, letting the pads of his thumbs skim the underside of her breasts. She sucked in a breath as his touch dragged higher, nearing the tight nipples he could barely see through the soft fabric of her shirt. “Let me take care of you, Danny. Let me give you what you deserve to have.” He eased higher, stroking over the puckered peaks, making his mouth water in anticipation.

  If it wasn’t for Jude he would be hiking her shirt up right here, right now to run his tongue over the pebbled tips. It took everything Craig had to keep it to what it was, mild necking, even though every cell in his body screamed for more.

  And Danny wasn’t helping his cause any.

  Her body rubbed his, pressing against his dick in a way that made it strain to get closer. She held onto him with a grip that would hurt under different circumstances, but the digging of her short nails into the skin of his shoulders through his shirt was a welcome distraction.

  Craig wanted her to be his. In body, mind and word.

  And it would happen. He just had to dig deep, and find every bit of patience and control he possessed.

  Then he had to find some more.

  Craig lowered his hands to her hips, holding them in place as he stepped back, fighting to catch the breath she stole with nothing but the press of her perfect body to his.

  “I have to stop.”

  Her full lips pulled into a pout. “I thought I was the one who decided when we stopped?”

  It never occurred to Craig he might lose his life in Shadow Pine, Washington. But the way it was looking, chances were good it would happen.

  Because this woman was going to kill him. Make him spontaneously combust. Burn up from the need blazing across his skin.

  And he loved every fucking second of it.

  A smile fought its way onto his lips. “You’re gonna be a handful, aren’t you, Danny Girl?”

  Her chin lifted. “Gonna be?”

  Every time Craig thought she couldn’t be more perfect for him, Danny went and proved him wrong. “I think you’ve been pretty easy-going so far.”

  He wanted to push her. Get Danny to see that he could handle all that she was.

  That he liked it.

  She snorted out a scoff. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that I’m ready for whatever you have to dish out.” Craig stepped in close and caught her lips in a quick kiss. “But you should probably make sure you’re ready for what I’m about to bring to the table.”

  TEN

  “WHAT’S GOING ON?” Danny stared at the table sitting b
etween the great room and the open kitchen. Three place settings sat on the mats they’d never used.

  She and Jude always ate at the breakfast bar. Maybe because when they first bought the house and had it brought in and assembled, the spot seemed fancy.

  To them it was. Up until two years ago, they’d all lived in either campers much less impressive than the one parked behind her shop now, or together in the building that was now her shop. Then Frankie started her private logging company and the money she and her sisters had been living on blew up.

  She and Jude were the first to get a house, with her sisters following every six months as they had the money.

  Now they all had homes of their own.

  Except James. But she was always the exception.

  “Craig wanted to eat at the table.” Jude glanced up from where he was setting a glass of milk in front of one of the plates.

  Danny pulled in a breath, ready to let it out on a groan at the man who was turning everything upside down in ways that were both exciting and terrifying.

  But the groan clogged on the savory scent of cooking meat and vegetables.

  She went to where her slow-cooker sat on the counter and peeked through the glass top. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Don’t like pot roast?” Craig stepped in beside her, the scent of fresh air and man fighting with the beefy aroma filtering up from the pot. “Jude said it was your favorite.”

  Her son was a traitor. Possibly even a conspirator.

  Craig went to wash his hands at the sink and her feet longed to follow him. To brush away the tiny bits of leaf clinging to the fabric of his flannel shirt.

  How could someone so clearly urban look so perfectly suited for a flannel shirt and dirty jeans?

  He rolled the cuffs up over his forearms, revealing the flex of corded muscles as he scrubbed away the dirt and debris sticking to the skin his gloves didn’t cover. She swallowed hard as his hands worked the soap into a lather, fingers sliding together as they ran under the water.

  Craig wanted to put those same hands on her tonight.

  Give her all she deserved.

  She hadn’t gotten what she deserved in years.

  Maybe ever.

  And the thought of getting it from Craig had her thighs clenching and her breasts tingling at the memory of what he’d given her just minutes ago.

  Without the safety of a closed door to make him bold.

  “Danny?” Craig’s eyes rested on hers.

  She blinked, trying to keep from panicking at the knowing smile tugging across his lips.

  He knew what she was thinking.

  “I like pot roast. Pot roast is good. Fine.” Each word snapped out as her brain kept trying to wander its way back to thoughts of Craig’s long body tangled with hers.

  And those hands doing scandalously delicious things to her.

  “Told you.” Jude stepped in between them on his way to the fridge. “Craig got you some of that gross water you like.” Her son pulled out a can of fizzy water and held it up. “The mango flavor.”

  Jude was definitely working with the enemy.

  Not that Craig was seeming as much like the enemy as he did a couple days ago. In a short time he’d gone from one more man trying to find the legendary Backwoods Beauties and make one his own, to something completely different.

  A man who wanted her.

  Not the little girl who grew up in the woods, unknown and unkempt until their secret became front page news.

  Craig seemed to just want her. The woman she was now.

  Strong. Independent. Nothing like the whisper of a child she’d been taught to be.

  “Thank you.” Danny took the drink from Jude, watching as her son went back to work finishing up the table.

  They’d eaten dinner with her sisters a million times. One big family with laughter and food and fun.

  But this was different.

  This was something her son only knew about from television and books.

  Craig’s hand came to rest on the small of her back. He leaned in, bringing his warmth and calm close enough she fed from it. “Just breathe.”

  Danny sucked in air, straightening. “I’m fine.”

  “I didn’t doubt that for a second, Danny Girl.” He pressed a kiss to her temple while Jude’s back was turned. “You will always be fine.”

  Craig stepped to the counter as Jude came their way, his hand moving to the slow-cooker. “Are we ready, Buddy?”

  “Yup.” Jude grinned at her. “Come on, mom. Craig says you get to pick where we all sit.”

  Danny barely glanced his way. Even last night she would have been trying to put herself between Jude and Craig, doing her best to hinder their blossoming closeness.

  But now it was obvious it wouldn’t matter what she did. Craig was not only interested in building a relationship with her.

  She pointed to the seat on one side of the square table. “Why don’t you sit here, Ju-Ju?” Danny slipped into the chair at one end of the table, leaving the other for Craig, putting Jude between them.

  Her stomach twisted a little, unease and fear threatening to ruin a night her son had very clearly worked hard to help make happen. Danny smiled as Jude sat beside her, shoving the emotions down. “I am very impressed.”

  Jude grinned back. His teeth still seemed too big for his sweet little boy face, but every day he seemed less babyish. Less the child she’d protected with every fiber of her being for the past ten years.

  And soon all signs of him would be gone. Replaced by a teenager and then a man.

  Her throat closed, aching with a sadness all mothers must experience.

  Jude was her whole life. Always had been. When he was grown and gone she would have nothing.

  “Danny?” Craig stood from his seat, leaning across the table to take her plate. “Let me help you.”

  She nodded. “Thank you.”

  Craig’s eyes held hers as he filled her plate with meat and vegetables, then added a roll before setting it back in front of her. “Just eat. Then we can have popcorn and watch a movie together, okay?”

  She picked up her fork, breathing deep. “Yup.”

  “Craig bought one of his favorite movies for us to watch.” Jude was chewing through his dinner at top speed. “It’s called The Princess Bride.”

  Danny paused, a hunk of potato hovering in front of her mouth as she eyed Craig across the table. “Your favorite movie is about a princess?”

  His expression shifted from the amusement it held as he watched Jude, to one of confusion. “Have you seen The Princess Bride?”

  Danny shook her head. “Never heard of it.”

  Charlie was the only one of the sisters who watched movies, so unless Charlie told her about it, chances were good she’d never seen it.

  Craig’s eyes didn’t leave her. “Maybe we should let your momma watch it before we make it a movie night choice.” He finally turned his attention to Jude. “What else do you have to watch?”

  “We have a movie called Pixels. It’s about video game players.”

  Craig’s dark eyes found their way back to hers. “A big Adam Sandler fan?”

  “My sister likes him.” Charlie was quiet and calm, but had a penchant for stupid humor that would shock most people. “She sends over the ones she thinks Jude will like.”

  “I do like them. That guy in them is funny.” Jude swiped the last bit of his roll through the roast juice on his plate and shoved it in his mouth. “Can I be excused?”

  Danny nodded. “Sure.”

  At this point she just wanted a minute to regroup without her son’s watchful eyes boring into her. It was a luxury she didn’t usually have the opportunity to partake in. If she wasn’t working or taking care of Jude, then she was passing out before her head hit the pillow.

  Jude rinsed his plate and put it in the dishwasher. “I’ll run to Aunt Charlie’s and get the movie. Be right back.”

  “Be careful, Ju-Ju.” The need to watch him and m
ake sure he was safe crawled over her skin.

  The town was isolated. Impossible to sneak into with the single road running through it. But still.

  “I’ll go watch him.” Craig stood, grabbing the pile of mail Charlie gave him earlier as he went. “I need to go through this anyway.” He gave her a soft smile. “I’ll stall him as long as I can.” He didn’t wait for her answer. Just walked from the room, leaving her alone.

  Staring at the evidence of what Craig’s presence would do to her life.

  The dinner she didn’t have to make still sat on the table. There was no dishwasher waiting to be unloaded and refilled. No shopping that had to be done.

  No gutters to guilt JD into cleaning.

  Her son was being protected, watched by someone who appeared to be trustworthy and true.

  Someone who wanted her. As a woman.

  A man who was so very different from most of the ones she’d known in her life.

  “Danny?” Craig’s voice was low and deep from the hall. He stopped in the doorway he’d vacated only seconds before, his dark brows pulled together. “Who are the Backwoods Beauties?”

  Her stomach dropped. “Why would you ask me that?”

  He held up a paper. It was a copy of a news article over twelve years old. The bold headline screamed at her from across the room.

  Backwoods Beauties Disappear

  Craig turned the paper back toward his scanning eyes. She watched as they moved down the lines of the article, her chest tightening more with each passing second.

  Now he would know the truth of what she and her sisters really were.

  The secret Craig thought he knew was the least of the ones they hid.

  The one that barely mattered.

  But this secret was different. This was the one she and her sisters fought to overcome.

  To conquer.

  Their past.

  “This is you and your sisters.” His eyes finally lifted from the paper to lock onto hers. “This is why I couldn’t find you.”

  Danny swallowed hard before barely nodding.

  He shook his head in an almost non-existent move. “So, no one knew you existed? Not a doctor, nobody?”

  It was a story so sensational it littered papers across the state for years. Long after a kind attorney helped Danny and her sisters establish legal identities that would help them hide from curious eyes. Allow them to finally live the kind of lives most people take for granted.