“But he doesn’t live with us.”
“Not all kids live with their dads. Not all kids live with their moms. Families are all different.”
“Will I get to see him all the time?” Rowan asked.
“Do you want to?” she asked him, even though she already knew the answer.
“Yes! I want to see him all the time.”
“Then we’ll make sure that happens.”
Rowan grinned at her and gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. “I love you, Momma.” He ducked under the water and then popped back up. “I see fish. I can catch one. Can I?”
“Sure.” Why not? There was no one around to see a small boy dive under the ocean and come back up with a giant swordfish or whatever else he might find in the water off the coast.
The conversation about Brennan being his father had been surprisingly easy and anticlimactic. She was glad that they’d had it when he was four, not fourteen when he might not have been nearly so forgiving about the long absence of his father, an absence that she could have prevented if she’d put her mind to it.
She swam back to shore and watched as Rowan dove over and over until, at last, he caught a fish. He kicked his way back to the beach, holding onto a large fish. It was close to half his size. “I got one!” he yelled through a mouthful of water. Brennan jumped up and went to meet him.
“Wow. This is a marlin.” He took the fish from Rowan and did something that made it stop flopping. “Do you want to cook it tonight?”
“Yeah!”
“I’m going to go put it in the refrigerator in the house, then,” Brennan said and took the fish inside. When he came back, he lifted Rowan into the air and spun him around. “Congratulations on catching such a big fish! I thought I’d have to teach you, but you just knew how to do it.”
Rowan beamed with pride. “I practiced at home. But I never saw a fish that big!” He held his small arms apart to indicate the length of his catch.
Fallon hugged him. “That was amazing. We’ll have a great dinner tonight when we cook the fish.”
Despite his excitement, Rowan couldn’t keep his eyes open. He passed out in a hammock that hung between two of the palm trees.
“It really is impressive that he caught that marlin at four years old without any help, and in his human form. My nephew learned to fish at five, but his dad worked with him all the time.”
“He’s a natural,” Fallon said.
“He really is.” Brennan reached up and touched her cheek, brushing a piece of sand off. At the barest hint of his touch, arousal sparked deep in her belly. “I want to go for a night swim. Would you like to join me?”
“Yes. I would. But Rowan’s right there.”
They both walked over to the hammock where he was sleeping.
“Should I put him to bed?” Brennan asked her.
“Yes.” She stepped back and let him handle it. He seemed to treasure fatherly moments with Rowan.
Brennan carefully scooped Rowan into his arms, then they both tucked him into bed. “I’ll hear him if he wakes up,” Brennan said.
Fallon would, too, but he didn’t need to know that yet. She left the door open just a bit to let a sliver of light in as a nightlight, and then they went back out to the beach for some privacy. The moon was bright and illuminated the dark water. The waves rolled in, crashing over the cool sand.
“It’s pretty romantic out here,” Brennan said.
It was. “It’s a beautiful place.” She wasn’t feeling much of anything other than numb. She had accepted that Rowan needed Brennan, but she couldn’t stomach the thought of sending him to Texas without her.
Now that she’d left town without a word, she’d probably lost at least four clients because she hadn’t called to cancel their appointments. She hadn’t shown up for work because she’d assumed she was never going back, but she’d spent her savings on the ferry ride to Cuba, so she couldn’t afford to move to Texas.
“Would you consider moving to Texas?” Brennan asked.
That was a good sign. He wanted her near Rowan. Maybe she could send Rowan to Texas with Brennan for a month or so. Parents did that all the time, right? It was a normal thing to do. And she could bust her ass and work as much as she could. If Rowan wasn’t with her, she could take bartending jobs or waitressing jobs where she’d make a lot of money in tips. Maybe in a month, she’d have enough saved to move.
She was going to have to let go of her own visceral gut-reaction to being separated from her son. He’d know she still loved him. She’d call him every day. It wasn’t the same situation as she’d had, where her Fae relatives loathed the fact that she existed and didn’t want her around as a reminder of her impure blood.
She carried that feeling of rejection and knowing she’d never be good enough around with her all the time. She never wanted Rowan to feel abandoned for even a second. But if Brennan’s description of the dragon shifter clan he’d created in Texas with his brothers was accurate, then Rowan would never feel the way she had. He’d only feel love and acceptance. She could hardly argue with sending him when she thought about that.
“Yes. I’d move to Texas. I don’t have any strong ties to Florida right now. If Rowan is with you, then there’s nothing keeping me in Rosemary Beach. I’ll move once I have enough money saved up.”
Brennan nodded. “We’ll figure it out. Just as long as you won’t try to run off with him again.”
Again, she was struck with how calm he was. Most parents—mothers or fathers—would still be furious that she’d tried to flee and take their child away. But Brennan seemed to view it as an expected outcome. Or maybe he felt confident that she couldn’t actually hide from him.
“I won’t. I promise. I panicked. I was afraid you’d take him to Texas, and I’d never see him again.”
“I know.” He held his hand out. “I lost my mother when I was seventeen. I still miss her every day. I would never inflict that kind of pain on my son. Rowan loves you, and he needs you.”
She could sense his sincerity. She’d lost her mother too. She tried not to think about it most of the time. She was impressed at how Brennan was capable of putting Rowan’s needs before his own and that he realized how detrimental losing her would be.
“I’m sorry you lost your mother,” she said. “I’m glad you wouldn’t do that to our son. I can see now how much he needs you, and I won’t make the same mistake again.”
He pulled her in closer and rubbed his hand up and down her bare shoulder. Awareness shot through her body. She was fortunate. With his level of connection with Rowan and with his connection to a billionaire shifter in their clan, Brennan could have taken Rowan, and she’d never have seen him again. Yet he wanted to work something out. She could live with that. She had no other choice.
Brennan’s hand came up to rest on the back of her head. “You know I’m not going to take him. Why are you still so sad?”
How could she put it into words? Should she even try?
“I made a life for my son. It’s over now.” She’d structured her life around predictability and routine. It was all she’d had, and she’d clung to it. Humans liked routine, but Fae liked it even more. They did not do well with change, which was part of the reason they couldn’t accept her human father into their midst.
Brennan turned to face her. His eyes weren’t yellow, but their human blue. They glinted in the moonlight. She might not see at night as well as a dragon shifter did, but her eyesight was far better than a human’s. He was shirtless, and she took a minute to admire his sculpted pecs and defined abs.
He brushed his hand over her cheek. “You’re so beautiful. You always are, but here in the moonlight, it’s even more striking.” A crease appeared between his eyebrows. “Your skin glows. It’s ethereal.”
Fae were beautiful to humans. There were none who weren’t. Their skin was always clear, and their features were always symmetrical. She’d met Fae from all over the world, and they were all tall and had a willowy build. Brennan
had to know some of them. Was he noticing how much she resembled the Fae? Was she human enough to blend in?
Maybe he didn’t want to see the truth. She would have to tell him—eventually.
He moved his fingers to trace over her lips. “I can’t take my eyes off you. That hasn’t changed.”
She wanted him. It would always be complicated with him. Would sleeping with him again make it more so?
She would have tonight, at least. They were in paradise. She could let herself enjoy one last night with him before she sent her son to stay with him. She could be the person she was before Rowan was born. Young, carefree, and full of life.
She darted her tongue out and licked his fingers. His blue eyes darkened. His breathing picked up. He grabbed her face between his hand and pressed his mouth against hers. He kissed her, licking along her lips, tasting every part of her mouth.
“I want you,” he said. He lifted her into the air and pulled her legs around his waist.
She hooked her ankles behind his back, and he carried her to the edge of the water. With one hand, he shoved his shorts down and threw them behind him. He waded in, still kissing her until they were waist-deep. Then he sat her down. Once her feet touched the floor of the ocean, he tugged her sundress over her head. He flung it toward the sand. Her bra was next, and then he stripped off her panties and tossed them as well.
He lifted her again, pulling her naked body close. His rock-hard cock brushed against her leg. He yanked the rubber band from her bun, letting her hair fall loose around her shoulders.
One of his strong arms wrapped around her, and the other tangled in her hair. “God, you always taste so good.” He kissed along her neck, her jawline, and down her collarbone.
He lifted her higher and closed his mouth over her breast. He licked and sucked, flattening his tongue against her nipple.
Between her legs, her core throbbed. She arched her back.
“I can’t wait anymore,” he said. He carried her to the beach, where he’d laid a towel under a palm tree. “You smell so good,” he said. He hopped up quickly, grabbing a condom from the wallet in his shorts and rolling it on. Once he was between her legs, he pushed his cock inside her body.
He rolled his hips back and forth, thrusting into her here in this outdoor paradise. She blinked up at the night sky, at all the bright, twinkling stars, while he covered her body with his own.
13
Brennan
Brennan woke up with Fallon in his arms once again. He breathed a sigh of relief. She’d promised she wouldn’t run. He’d believed her, but it was nice to have the confirmation.
Despite having a child with her, Brennan didn’t want to rush into any type of relationship with Fallon. Not because he wasn’t interested—he absolutely was—but because she was so skittish. He’d spooked her enough to make her run once. He wasn’t going to do it a second time by pushing too hard.
If she were interested, he would be one-hundred percent into giving it a shot. She was so damn committed to her kid. It killed him to think of how she’d had to scrape by for the last four years while she should have been pursuing her education.
God, the attraction he felt for her too. It went beyond her beauty. She was prettier than any model he’d ever seen. She radiated light—until she’d thought he wanted to take her kid away. Since then, her mood had been melancholy. He wanted to make it better.
The thought of leaving her in Florida while he went back to Texas was appalling, and as he told her, he had no intention of separating her from her child. She’d mentioned staying behind and saving up money so that she could join them. Did she not realize he wanted her around too? He wasn’t going to be the one to explain to his four-year-old why his mom wasn’t coming with them.
Nope. She was coming, and she’d just have to suck it up and let him cover the cost. If she refused, then he’d move to Florida long enough to convince her that she could trust him. He didn’t want to live in Florida, not even for a few months. He needed to be in Texas, near his brothers. But his kid came first.
He thought maybe a nice breakfast would put Fallon in the right mood. He’d noticed that she didn’t eat much meat, so he slipped out to a fresh produce market. He picked up avocados, mangoes, bananas, oatmeal, and yogurt. He inhaled, enjoying the wide variety of scents in Cuba. So often in Texas, he only smelled grass in town and hay or cows on the outskirts. For him and Rowan, he got a sausage and some potatoes. For himself and Fallon, he got coffee beans that he could grind in the fancy machine in the kitchen.
He made breakfast for the three of them, and then at about nine o’clock that morning, he started gathering up his belongings.
“I need to get back to Cedar Lake. I left my deputy in charge, and he needs a break,” Brennan said to her as she came out of the bedroom.
“Do you stay busy?” Fallon asked.
“Yes, I do, but there’s not a lot of serious crime. It’s mostly vandalism, teenagers shoplifting, or the occasional fender bender. We do a lot of outreach, too, with the local health clinic and work with anyone at risk for suicide, addiction, or domestic violence. So there’s a mountain of paperwork.”
“That sounds like a great program.”
“Thank you. It is. We’ve worked hard to make it that way. But I need to get back, and I want you to come with me.”
“Come with you?”
“Yes. You said you don’t have strong ties to Florida. If you did, I’d move here and get a job as a private security guard or something like that. But I’d rather be in Texas, and I think being around other dragon shifters will be better for Rowan.”
“I think so too.”
“Like I said, I’m not interested in leaving you behind. I think it’s better for him if you come too.”
“I don’t have any—”
He held up his hand. “The money is not a problem. I get that it’s hard to accept help. My brother Kellan made a lot of money a few years ago. He’s an actual billionaire, and he likes to give us stuff and pay for stuff for us all the time. It was weird at first, but now I’ve accepted it. So if you feel like you’re going to impose on me, it’s not possible. Kellan paid for my house when I became sheriff, so I don’t even have a mortgage.”
“Oh, wow.”
“Yeah. It’s weird, but I think it’s easier for me because, in the dragon shifter clans, we share property. We don’t see money in the same way. But I know it’s a hard thing for humans to swallow.”
Her eyes held a faraway look. “Yes. It can be.”
“So you can stay with me for as long as you want,” he told her.
He really couldn’t believe the words that just came out of his mouth. Was he inviting a human woman to live in his house? He really fucking valued his time alone, which was why he’d never pursued women beyond sharing a few nights with them. She was the mother of his child, though, and he definitely wanted Rowan there. He had to admit that having Fallon in the house held a certain appeal.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Yes. Come back to Cedar Lake with me. Meet my family.”
The crease between her eyebrows reappeared. The corners of her mouth turned down. “Maybe they’d better just meet Rowan.”
“They’ll love you.”
She didn’t say anything.
“They will. They’re the best. And you’re going to love them too.”
“I don’t have the best experience with families,” she said at last.
What the hell had happened to her? Had she been abandoned by her family? It didn’t sound like she’d lost them tragically, the way Brennan lost his. “Then we’re going to change that with my brothers and my sisters-in-law.” He kissed her nose. “Come on. Come back wirth me.”
“Okay. I’ll have to get back to Rosemary Beach first.”
“I’ll have Kellan send a plane for us.”
“Is that how you caught up to me so quickly?” she asked.
“Yes. As soon as I woke up, I knew you were gone, but since I c
ould feel Rowan, I knew you’d headed south.”
“Can all shifters do that?”
“To an extent. I can feel my brothers when they’re in town. My brother Liam is mated to a shifter, and they can feel each other across the world.”
Now that she’d agreed, he could get started. He called Kellan, got a plane, and got them back in the air, headed toward Florida.
14
Fallon
“And there’s the clinic.” Brennan pointed out the window of his Jeep. The Jeep was a familiar theme with him. He’d rented one in both Florida and Cuba, and he owned a white one here in Texas. She was in the passenger seat, and Rowan was in his car seat in the back while Brennan gave them both a tour. “My brother Quinn is the doctor in town.”
Rowan was quiet for the moment because Brennan had bought him a giant grape-flavored snow cone. Rowan wasn’t particularly interested in the town landmarks, but he seemed happy to be riding around with Brennan.
Cedar Lake, Texas, was flat. And hot. And it also contained a startling number of dragon shifters. She hadn’t met any of them yet, but she could feel Brennan’s family, all eight of them, spread out across the town.
It hadn’t taken her long to pack up her belongings in Florida. There were no words to describe how lame she felt to be moving in with Brennan. Her aunt and her sister would have been appalled. Her sister would be just as horrified to see her consorting with a dragon shifter.
She’d say, “You’re disgusting, Fallon, allowing yourself to depend on a man who turns into a giant lizard.”
Fallon shuddered. She didn’t need to be reminded of her family. The truth was, Brennan was a pretty awesome guy, and the longer she was around him, the more she liked him. She found herself falling for him.
He’d helped her pack up her small house in Rosemary Beach, and he’d been careful with all of her sentimental belongings. He’d even gotten distracted looking at all of Rowan’s baby books, and she’d promised to make copies of all the photos for him.
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