Once he was back in the living area, she sat down across from him in an armchair she’d gotten at a garage sale. It was almost as good as new. “You’re good at that,” she said.
“I have two nephews and two nieces in Texas. As the only non-parent in the family, I do lots of uncle-duty so that their parents can go on date nights.”
She wouldn’t have expected that from the Brennan she’d met five years ago, but judging him by that one night wasn’t fair. He’d been on vacation.
He rubbed his hand over his face. “So. It’s good to see you again. I can’t believe we have a kid together.” He smiled at her, bright and open. “He’s an awesome kid.”
“I wish you’d found us sooner,” she said.
“Me too. I keep trying to picture what he was like each year.”
She bowed her head. He had missed so much, and so had Rowan. Her head jerked up as she felt pressure on her knee. Brennan had gotten up and was crouching in front of her. His blue eyes, so like her son’s, were focused on her face with grave sincerity. “Don’t beat yourself up. He’s young. And yeah, I wish I’d been around since his birth, but I’m going to make up for lost time now.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she murmured.
Brennan frowned. “Why are you afraid?”
“I’m afraid that you’ll want him full time. That he’ll want you full time.” She sighed. “Hell, I’m afraid that him being with you full time is the right thing to do.”
She wasn’t going to let on that she knew he was a shifter. She wasn’t ready for the discussion of how and why she knew about shifters. She waved her arm, pointing at the room. “You’ve seen my house. You’ve seen me cleaning all day, taking my kid to work with me. You know I don’t have a car. You’re a sheriff with a steady job and a bunch of family. I have no one. It’s just me and Rowan. And maybe that’s not fair to him.” Her voice broke on the last word, and she pressed her hands to her eyes.
“Hey.” Brennan’s voice was gentle for such a big guy. “Don’t say that. You’re a great mom.”
“You don’t know that.” She loathed that she was letting him see her like this. No wonder her family was horrified by her lack of emotional discipline.
“You are.” His hand gripped her wrist in a soft embrace, and he pulled her hand away from her face. “He’s an amazing kid because of you.”
She swallowed hard as he lifted his other hand to skim over her cheek. “Fallon. Please don’t doubt yourself.”
She sniffed. “I usually don’t. I’m usually pretty sure of myself—I’ve had to be. I even had a big speech prepared about how you wouldn’t be taking my son from me, and then I saw you with him. I realized that he’s been missing you all along, and we didn’t even know it.”
His handsome face was serious as he continued. “Me not being here wasn’t your fault.”
He was still assuming she was human, with a human’s lack of ability to track someone down. It was true that a human in her situation, living from paycheck to paycheck, wouldn’t have the time or the inclination to search out a long-lost lover. She could have, but now was not the time for that conversation. “I still won’t let you take him from me.”
“I don’t want to take him from you. Never.”
She put her hand over his. It was large and warm, and she remembered all too well how he’d made her feel with those strong hands. It had been five years since she’d been with a male—five long years. The desire wasn’t there most of the time, but with Brennan here, it was reigniting inside every cell in her body. She saw the desire creep into his eyes as he gazed at her. She licked her lips, and the concern on his face faded.
His thumb brushed over her cheek. “Are you sure you want this?” he asked.
“What’s the worst that can happen?”
He chuckled. “Well, I’d say we might end up with another child, but I would not consider that a negative in any way.”
“That’s a good point.” A sibling would be good for Rowan, but she couldn’t afford to raise another child. She also didn’t want to raise another child without a father, but she supposed that wouldn’t be an issue.
As if he were reading her mind, Brennan pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her. “Hey. I won’t lie. The night we spent together was one of the best of my life, but we don’t have to do anything.”
“I know, but it was good for me too. I want this. I want you.” She was going to take control back. “We’ll take precautions.”
“I want you too.” A low growl resonated in his chest. If she’d been human, she probably wouldn’t have noticed. “And I’m going to have you.”
He pressed his lips to hers. She opened her mouth for him, relishing the feeling of him. Immediately, one of his hands gripped her backside, pulling her flush against him. His arousal was obvious.
A static buzz filled her head as she rocked her hips against his. In the long years since she’d touched a male like this, she’d tried to fantasize occasionally, picturing a faceless man or a celebrity she’d seen in a movie. But the image always returned to Brennan.
Heat flowed through her veins, igniting her body. Fae were not passionate beings. They were known for their ethereal beauty and their detached manner. So maybe whatever part of her was human fueled the desire she felt for Brennan, both five years ago and right now.
His hands came up to frame her face. “I’ve thought about you so many times,” he said. “I never did get you out of my head.”
She let her head fall back as he mouthed along her jawline and down to her neck. “It was the same for me,” she said.
As soon as his warm lips caressed the skin on her neck, a wave of sheer need crashed through her. The space between her legs ached, ready to be filled. It was a desperate need, and so far, Brennan had been the only male who had ever filled that ache.
“I need you,” he said. “I want to see you.”
He tugged her top off and then pushed her pants off until she stood before him in her plain pink cotton bra and panties. She couldn’t afford the fancy undergarments now, not like she had the last time they were together. Besides, there was no one to see them—until now.
He pushed his hands up under the fabric of her bra and cupped her breasts before reaching around with one hand and unhooking her bra. He let the fabric fall away. He caressed her breasts, kissing each one before stepping back.
“Lie down,” he said.
If anyone else had told her what to do, she’d have kicked him right out of her bed. But Brennan was different. He knew what she wanted at just the right moment. Dragon shifters weren’t mindreaders, as far as she knew.
“Spread your legs,” he said.
The command made her stomach flip over. Her pussy pulsed, ready for him. He stood next to her bed, staring at her, raking his eyes over every part of her body. Still fully dressed, he climbed onto the bed next to her. While he kissed her, he pushed his hand between her legs. He ran his hand between her breasts and then down her stomach to her clit. He went lower, parting her slick folds, then circling his finger over her entrance.
“You are so wet,” he said.
She lifted her hips. “I’m ready for you.”
He dipped one finger into her pussy. “You are. I can’t wait for you to come on my cock.”
She let her eyes fall shut as he pressed a second finger into her body. “I still remember that you like it slow like this,” he said, carefully easing his fingers in and out of her body in a steady rhythm.
She sucked in a deep breath. The movement of his hand felt so good. “You remember that?”
“I do.” He licked over her throat. “I remember every second we were together.”
The walls of her pussy quivered as he curled his fingers upward, seeking her sweet spot. She writhed, thrashing wildly against the mattress. He pressed his thumb over her clit, rubbing circles as he latched his mouth back onto her breast. He sucked on her nipple, pausing only to flick his tongue against it a few times.
<
br /> “Brennan. I’m close,” she panted.
“Come now,” he said.
She let go, and instantly, her climax crashed over her, rolling in waves as her pussy throbbed against his fingers. Once she’d recovered, she grabbed him and tugged him closer. “Now I want to see you naked.”
He laughed and sat up on his knees. He shucked his shirt and threw it on the floor, then unbuttoned his shorts, flinging them to the floor too.
“I don’t have a condom,” she said.
“I do,” he said, grabbing one from his wallet. “If I didn’t, I’d leave now to get one. I can’t wait to get inside you.” He kissed the side of her ear. “I can’t wait for you to come on my cock.”
She moaned. “I can’t wait either.” How could one male make her feel this way?
7
Brennan
Brennan dropped his boxer shorts to the floor and rolled a condom onto his thick cock. How had he gotten so lucky? He’d found a son he didn’t know he had, and his son’s mother was the one woman he’d never been able to forget. Now she was lying naked in front of him. He’d just given her one orgasm, and he was planning to give her several more during the night.
He stared at her heart-shaped face, her delicate features, her high cheekbones, and her vivid green eyes. She even smelled sweet, like peaches. He ran his hands over the places where her waist curved in, resting his hands on her hips. Entranced, he stayed there, just staring at her.
She lifted her hand and wrapped it around his bicep. “I’m ready for you to fuck me,” she said.
Her colorful language had shocked him the first time they were together. He didn’t expect the graphic words to come from her feminine lips. But he liked it. A whole fucking lot. He pushed her knees open and spread her legs further apart.
Her pussy gleamed, slick from the climax he’d just given her. He lined his cock up and pushed into her body. She clung to him, moaning words of encouragement into his ear. He pulled nearly all the way out until just the tip of his cock was inside her, and then he rolled his hips, thrusting back into her, spearing her with his cock.
She gasped. “You do remember,” she said.
Of course he did. He’d slept with plenty of women, but none had ever made him as aroused as Fallon had that night five years ago. He did it again, making the same motion, aiming for her sweet spot. Her hands gripped his biceps while her back arched. He slammed into her, over and over, using the same slow movements she preferred.
When he was on the edge of coming, he put his hand between her legs. He rubbed his fingers over her swollen clit while she cried out. “Brennan!”
He pinched her clit, tugging on it as he fucked his cock into her. “Fallon. Come for me,” he said.
She did. She turned her head and bit the pillow next to her while her pussy fluttered against his cock.
The last time Fallon was with Brennan, they didn’t spend the night together. They didn’t wake up together. They just fucked all night for twelve hours straight. Waking up with her was better than he’d imagined. Her golden-red hair lay fanned across the pillow. Her creamy skin gleamed in the early light of the sunrise. She always smelled of wild cherries, something he associated with home.
He brushed a lock of her hair away. He kissed her bare shoulder. She scooted closer, snuggling into his side.
The doorknob rattled, and she sat up with a start. “Hang on, Rowan,” she called out. “I’m so glad I thought to lock the door,” she whispered to Brennan.
Although, Brennan wasn’t sure it mattered. Even at four, a hatchling would know that Brennan had been in his mother’s bedroom. Luckily, he was still too young to know what that meant.
“Momma! Mr. Brennan! I’m awake!”
Fallon laughed. “We know, buddy. I’m coming.”
“Do you care if I make him breakfast?” Brennan asked.
“That actually sounds really nice. He’s hard to fill up sometimes.”
Brennan wondered if she’d had trouble paying for groceries in the past. He would make sure that was never a problem for her again. As soon as he was home, he’d have Liam draw up some official papers that declared Rowan as his beneficiary. Liam could help with getting Brennan’s name on Rowan’s birth certificate too. This would ensure that in the very unlikely event that something happened to Brennan, Rowan would be taken care of. He could even talk to Fallon about setting up his brothers as guardians in a will in case something happened to both of them.
Maybe today was too soon for that, but it would all need to be done sooner rather than later.
Brennan kissed Fallon on the cheek and hopped out of bed. He flung open the door to the bedroom. “Little man! Good morning!” He scooped Rowan into his arms and turned him upside down, swinging him from side to side, knowing the motion would never make him dizzy.
Rowan squealed happily. “Don’t stop, Mr. Brennan!”
Brennan flipped Rowan up to his shoulders. “You can call me Brennan. I don’t need the mister part.”
“Brennan!” he shouted.
“Do you like pancakes?”
“Yeah!” Rowan nodded with vigor. “And bacon.”
“We have to have bacon, for sure.” Brennan put his son down and pulled one of the kitchen chairs up to the countertop. “Do you want to help?”
The answer was a very enthusiastic affirmative. Cooking with Rowan was beyond messy. Brennan thought he even had Declan beat in that department. Yet the experience of getting to make breakfast with his kid was worth every crushed egg on the stove and every blob of batter on the floor. He’d just have to make sure to replace these items for Fallon before he left.
I don’t want to leave without him.
His dragon agreed. He wasn’t sure if Fallon would or not. He was going to have to find a way to get her to Texas. As he poured the batter into the shape of an R for Rowan, he saw Fallon out of the corner of his eye. When he glanced back at her, she didn’t look happy.
Her expression was pensive and not at all welcoming. He doubted her concern was over the mess they were making in her kitchen. Maybe she didn’t like the intrusion into her life. She’d had Rowan to herself, and she was used to making his breakfast alone.
Brennan was the interloper here.
Well, too bad. He liked Fallon a lot, but he loved his son. He was going to cherish every second with him, and Fallon was going to have to deal with it.
As if sensing his thoughts, Rowan peered up at him. “Where do you live?”
“Have you ever heard of Texas?”
Rowan shook his head.
“It’s a big state. And it’s hot, and it’s flat, kind of like it is here.”
“Do you have a beach?”
“We do, but it’s not nearly as pretty as the one you’re used to. We do have a nice big lake, though.”
Rowan wrinkled his nose. “Can I see it?”
Brennan’s heart thundered in his chest. It felt as if his kid knew on some deeper level that he belonged in Texas with his cousins and his aunts and uncles. And with Brennan, his father. Rowan’s life as a dragon shifter would be so much richer if he could have that bond with them.
He had to find a way to get both Fallon and Rowan to Texas. Then once she got to know him, and once she trusted him, he could tell her the truth about who he was.
About who her son was.
8
Fallon
Thanks to the Fae blood coursing through her veins, Fallon didn’t tend to experience panic in the same ways that humans did. But that morning, as she listened to Brennan, her son’s father, speak to Rowan about his life in Texas, she might as well have been human.
She should have known that he would try to take Rowan away from her. He’d indoctrinate him so that he was only loyal to the dragon shifter clans. He would behave just like her Fae relatives had. He would try to control Rowan and turn him against his own mother.
She’d seen it happen before back in Ireland with her own family.
After she saw the way Brennan tal
ked about Texas, she got all their cash together. She’d hoarded it in case something like this ever happened. She had enough money for a plane ticket out of the country for them both. She stuffed the cash in her bag along with her passport and her birth certificate. Rowan was young, but she already had a passport made for him too. She threw in an extra outfit for each of them and zipped the bag shut.
What was the best way to leave the country without being caught? It was just her luck that Brennan was a sheriff. He would have resources and connections and ways of finding her that other men might not have, and it was obvious from the Jeep he rented and the clothes he wore that he had extra money to spend.
An airplane was going to be too obvious. That meant Ireland was out. Her best chance was probably going to be to get to a Caribbean country. If she could get to the port, there were cruise ships that left every day, and if she could get on a cruise, they could get off on an island excursion and never get back on the ship.
But the cruise lines kept notorious records, just like the airlines did. Her name and Rowan’s name would appear on a list, which meant they could easily be found. Would Brennan try to have her arrested? Surely not. He didn’t have a legal claim to her son, not yet.
A cruise wasn’t the answer, but maybe a ferry was. She wouldn’t have to use a big commercial ferry. She could find someone who did it on the side, and she could use some of her cash to keep her name and Rowan’s name off the records.
“Are you staying here, Mr. Brennan?” Rowan asked.
“I’ll be here all day today.”
A huge part of her felt terrible. She was ripping her kid away from his father just as he’d found him. It was a cruel thing to do. Maybe later on, when Rowan was older, she could take him to Texas and to the town called Cedar Lake, where Brennan lived.
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