by Anna Brooks
Without wasting another second, I yank the door open… and run. I do what’s saved me in the past. What’s familiar. It’s pitch black except for the light of the moon, and though I don’t hear him behind me, I can sense him.
He’s over a foot taller than me, so his strides are longer. I have to hurry. With no clue where I’m even going, I redouble my effort, sucking in air that burns my out of shape lungs. My toe catches on something hard like a branch, and I scream, a burning pain in my ankle causing me to fall to the muddy ground. The apple in my hand smashes, taking the brunt of my fall, and chunks of the sticky fruit land on my face. Using my forearms, I try to crawl, but it’s pointless, so I give up trying to fight.
My breath hitches with a pathetic sob, and when I hear his footsteps stop, I curl myself into a ball.
“Get up,” he commands, and I hate the disappointment directed at me. This is why I’m not good for him. I’m already messing up, so he should just let me go. And in any other circumstance, I’d tell him that. Shaking my head, I grab my ankle, hoping he understands the reason for my surrender.
“Hurt yourself, did ya?” He squats down, pushing my rat’s nest of hair off my face.
I nod, sniffing but not crying. I can hide physical pain; it’s the emotional exhaustion that gets me. “Yes.”
It’s too dark to see the gray of his eyes, but I can only imagine they’re shadowed with anger. His voice sure is. My body is lifted, and he cradles me against his bare chest. I want to accept his comfort and curl into him, but I’ve already embarrassed myself, so I hold my shaking body away from his as much as I can.
He doesn’t try to soothe me like before. He simply carries me like it’s a chore or a requirement. When we arrive back at his now dimly lit log home, he sets me on the couch. I stay put, fearful that I’ve angered him beyond reason and unsure what to even say.
A moment later, he comes back from the bathroom and sits next to me. “Take your jeans off.”
“What? No?”
He sighs, clearly at his wits’ end with me already. “Take them off so I can wrap your ankle.”
I eye the blanket on the back of the couch that I tossed off my body earlier, and he impatiently reaches for it. I’ve avoided looking at his broad chest thus far, but I can’t help it when his muscles bulge as he throws the plaid fleece over my lap.
He has a sculpted and naturally smooth chest with dark nipples over toned pecs. My gaze is drawn up to his bandaged arm, and I immediately feel ashamed for checking him out when I caused him an injury earlier. But it’s not enough to stop me from admiring the five o’clock shadow that I get the feeling is intentional because it’s trimmed at his neck. Dark hair that I just know would feel amazing if I ran my hands through it.
When I continue my perusal of his lean, strong, tall frame, I find silver-gray eyes watching back at me with no emotion behind them, and I realize I’m checking out my dead best friend’s father.
So I quickly scramble to do what he asked and hope he doesn’t see my cheeks flaming. After I’m covered, and I slide my jeans off, he pats his lap. “Give me your leg.”
I comply, wincing at the throbbing pain, and whimper when he touches it. “Ouch.”
“That’s what happens when you run through the woods in bare feet in the pitch black, Brinley.”
He shows no compassion as he applies a compression bandage. Wordlessly, he walks to the kitchen. The light from the freezer flashes, and he returns a moment later, silently lifting me into his arms. He tosses me over his shoulder, and I struggle, kicking with my good leg. His big paw swats my butt. “Be still.”
I’ll only hurt myself worse if I fight, so I stop trying. It’s a short walk to the bedroom, but when we arrive in what is obviously his room, I scramble to get down. “Let me go.”
He pulls the covers back and sets me in his bed, applying a bag of ice over the bandage. His fists sink into the mattress on either side of me, and he leans his handsome face so close our noses brush. “I should take my belt to your behind, Rinny. But I’m assuming the pain in your ankle is enough for you to have learned your lesson.”
I nod in reply, my breath coming faster and heart beating impossibly hard. I’m not scared, but at the same time, I’ve never been so afraid of another person in my life. At least, not in this way. Not in the way he makes my stomach flutter and my legs quiver.
“Since I can’t trust you, you’ll sleep in here tonight.”
“You can trust me. I won’t try to leave again. I promise.”
He pushes away. “I don’t believe you.”
“Where are you sleeping?”
One of his thick brows raises. “I’ll give you one guess, and if you say the couch, you’re wrong.”
I’m stunned silent now, and as he turns around, I swear I see a smirk on his face. He throws a shirt at me and reflexes have me catching it. “Put that on.”
The moment a protest tickles my lips, a trace of him drifts up from his shirt. I lift the worn cotton, then press it to my face and inhale the woodsy, smoky, sexy smell that only can be described as Noble, and then I quickly pull my shirt off over my head and toss it aside while I slide his on and drown in it.
Like he can see what’s happening behind him and know that I’m changed, the room is quickly drowned in darkness, and I gasp when the bed dips on his side. I pull the covers up to my chin, and the smell of him, the feel of him beside me, the sound of his steady breathing all assault my senses, and in minutes, I’m fast asleep, safe and sound.
Chapter 4
Noble
“Morning.” I keep my eyes downcast on the newspaper in my hands when she walks into the kitchen with a slight limp. “Help yourself to whatever.” I motion toward the stove where I have pancakes keeping warm, giving her a minute of privacy while she adjusts to being around me. “I washed your clothes. They’re in the dryer.”
From my peripheral vision, I see her nod and hesitate before she grabs the empty plate and sets one pancake on it. As she’s pouring some syrup, I bend my newspaper down the center, and my eyes catch on her bare feet. So tiny. Her legs are smooth and look longer than they are since the hem of my shirt hits her mid-thigh. Her ivory skin is a harsh contrast to the worn black tee. Her arms are slender, and her waist is trim, and when I reach the swell of her breasts, I snap my eyes up to the back of her head.
She’s my daughter’s best friend. She’s just a baby. A girl. A young woman. No, a woman who has a fantastic rack and thick, shiny hair that I want to sink my fingers in.
Fuck.
I always liked solitude, and I thought it’d irritate me to have someone else in my space, but I like having her here more than I ever thought I would.
“You can sit, Rinny.”
Her dainty bare feet are quiet on the hardwood floor, and she sits across from me at the circular table topped in the same linoleum as my countertops. They’re both old, probably the original that came with the house, but I’m not the kind of guy to update something unless it’s broken. She brings one knee up and tucks some of her beautiful fucking hair behind her ears. “Thank you.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Okay.”
“Your ankle?”
She shrugs and moistens her plump lips. “It’s sore.”
Not surprised. I grab some ibuprofen from the cupboard above the sink, then pour her a glass of juice before setting two pills and the cup in front of her. “Take those.”
“No thanks.”
I shrug, not about to argue with her about something as dumb as anti-inflammatories. “Suit yourself. After you’re done eating, I’m going to take you shopping. Get you some clothes and stuff.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t have any.”
She protests, “I do. They’re just in, uh, my car.”
“Yeah, and you’re not going to be living out of your car anymore.”
“Where am I going to live?”
I stare at the ceiling, gathering patience. I thought it was
obvious. “Here. You’re going to be living here, with me.”
“For how long?”
“No clue. Long as you need, as long as it takes.”
She continues picking at her food, not making any sort of eye contact with me. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Try to fix me or whatever. I’m a charity case, but I’m fine with it.”
I set my cup on the table and lean closer to her. “You’re not charity, Rinny. You just need some help, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Whatever,” she mumbles, but I ignore the attitude because her breath hitches.
“You can look at me, Brinley.”
When she raises her head, wet, troubled eyes find mine. Her bottom lip quivers. “I’m sorry.”
“Okay, now stop apologizing.”
“I stabbed you.”
I glance down at my bandaged arm and shrug. “It was a graze. I’m fine.”
“I don’t know what happened at Erik’s. I’ve never done anything like that before. And I don’t know why I ran last night.”
“We’ll talk about what happened at Erik’s later. And I don’t care why you ran as long as you don’t do it again.”
“I won’t. I promise, Noble.”
God, the sound of my name rolling off her tongue is so good it’s bad. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Pressing her lips together, she stands, taking her practically untouched plate to the garbage, and I literally have to tell myself not to look at her ass when she bends over to put it in the dishwasher.
“That’s all you’re eating?”
“Yes, I’m not really hungry.”
I already ate since I’ve been up for a while. In fact, I didn’t sleep hardly at all last night. After she fell asleep, it took some convincing because I absolutely loved the feel of her next to me in my bed, but I eventually lugged my ass to the couch.
But that wasn’t what I wanted. No. I wanted to stay in my bed, even if just to be close to her, to soak up the feel of her soft hand on my arm when she rolled to her side. To admire the smooth, creamy skin on her thigh when she hitched her leg. To inhale the sweet, sweet smell that radiated off her and drowned me.
Yeah, I wanted that. I wanted more, but I’m a bastard for even thinking it. It’d been so long since I had a woman in my bed—eight years, to be exact—that I forgot how much I missed it.
I was never planning on having her so close, and I wasn’t expecting her to make me feel what I thought was dead come to life so quickly. I needed to make sure she was safe, not comfort myself with her presence. Especially because it makes me a dirty, sick bastard for wanting it so badly.
Pushing up from the table, I clean up to distract myself.
I hesitate, not wanting to leave, wanting to keep her here with me and not share her with anyone else. She’s not mine, but she is. Christ, what is wrong with me? She was always a funny kid, but in a way that was mature for her age. She had no problem holding a conversation with me or with Cora and in a totally innocent way made me feel like I was a good dude when she’d tell me she wished she could live with us. Like I was doing something right in my life to have my home be a safe place for her.
She lived in our neighborhood for almost three years and immediately became friends with my daughter even though she was older. The thing about Brinley, she was mature for her age, but she also was young for her age, too. It was hard to describe back then. I think she was forced to grow up, but when given the opportunity to be a kid, she jumped on it.
Hence why she liked Katie so much even though she was a couple years older than her.
After I grab Brinley’s clothes for her, she goes to the bathroom and gets ready, then comes out only a few minutes later looking fresh and sweet with absolutely no makeup on, and looks more beautiful than the photoshopped women in magazines. “I’m ready.”
“Let’s go. I need to run to the grocery store, too, to get some more food in this place. You still like Pop-Tarts, right? We’ll get you some of those.”
Her eyes light up, but then she drops her head and follows me outside, slipping on her dirty tennis shoes on the way. Her short legs can barely reach the running board, so I put my hands on her slender waist and lift her. I let them linger a second longer than I should because I like my hands on her even though I shouldn’t. “Thank you.”
“Welcome.”
The truck shakes when the engine rolls over, and the bumps only get worse as I drive down the gravel path that leads to the main road. I’m in a pretty secluded area not too far from the city, but far enough away that it’s a drive.
There’s a general store in town that I always shop at to support local, but I need to go farther into the city, so it’s about a twenty-minute drive. The radio station plays classic rock, and though she only stares out the window, her presence is thick and hot in the cab.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“You’re quiet. Last I remember, you never shut your mouth.”
She laughs with no humor. “Lots of things have changed, Noble.”
At the stoplight, I look over at her. “Yeah. They have, haven’t they?”
“You’ve got no idea.”
Deciding not to push my luck today, I turn the volume up and head to the store. I’m not sure what kind of clothes she normally wears, but I’d assume whatever she does you can get from Target.
When I pull into a parking space, she unlocks her belt, and by the time I walk around the back of the truck, she’s already hopped down but is shifting on her bad ankle. Habit has me resting my hand on her lower back to steer her into the store, but my palm spanning her feels a hell of a lot different than any client I’ve ever touched. I grab a cart, and she stays next to me when I make a point to walk slowly for her.
“Do you want to shop on your own?”
Her head shakes. “No. Please.” The panic in her voice hits me in the fucking gut, and I wonder not for the first time if I was too harsh with her last night.
“Okay, Rinny. I’m right here. I won’t leave you.”
Her hair shields the side of her face, and she whispers, “Thank you.”
I head in the direction of the women’s sections. The first display is swimsuits, and I pause. “I live on a lake, so you might want to grab a couple of suits.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I don’t know how to swim.”
“I’ll teach you, and even if you don’t go in the water, don’t chicks like to lay out and get tan or something?”
She shrugs. “Uh, yeah. I guess.”
“Okay, go ahead then. Pick some.”
Her fingers glide across the fabric of a neon pink one-piece, and she flips the price tag over to look at it, then drops it. I follow her through the maze of racks where she stops and grabs a flower-patterned bikini.
When she tosses it in the cart, I’m hell-bent on telling her it’s too small, but then she smiles, and I’m tempted to buy one in every color if it’ll make her happy.
“You’ll need more than one. Grab a few.”
“But I don’t have enough to pay you back for a lot.”
Ignoring that she thinks she’s paying me back and making a mental note to ask her how and where she has money, I drop my chin. “I have money, Brinley. A fuck of a lot of it. Get whatever you want. Not what you need, but what you want.”
After a very small nod of agreement, she gets two more suits. We continue the pattern of me following her as she throws items in the cart. I see she’s picking smalls for shirts and size four for shorts, so when she’s not looking, I toss a bunch of other shit in there because she’s being very selective.
We get to the section that has bras and panties, and her face flames. I walk over to the corner and lean against the wall, then grab my phone to look busy so she’s not uncomfortable with me watching her pick out delicates.
After several minutes, I lift my eyes to make sure she’s doing okay and see her walking toward me with a
white cotton bra and package of underwear. “No.”
She jolts and whips her head up to look at me with surprise on her face, and I wonder if she can see the shock in mine at the dominance in my voice.
After a calming breath, I tell her, “Put the package away and get some good shit. You’ll need more than one bra, too.”
“But this is enough.”
“It’s not, Rinny. You have nothing, darlin’.”
Her tongue darts out and moistens her plump bottom lip. “Yeah, sure… but I don’t need anything more than this.”
“I don’t care. I want you in better shit than that. So get it or I will.”
“Okay, Noble.”
It only takes her about ten minutes to load up with a bunch more stuff. She grabs a few pairs of shoes and some pajamas too before we get shampoo and all that stuff as well. We get to the aisle with female products, and she stops in front of the rack, nervously rocking on her feet. “Am I, uh… I don’t need this stuff. I won’t be with you long enough to need it.”
“You’re gonna be with me for a long time, Rinny. I already told you that, so get whatever shit you’ll need.” I ignore the way her eyes become saucers and walk a bit farther up to look at the other side while she chooses what she needs. Of course, I end up looking at lube and condoms by accident. The twitch in my dick startles me, but at the same time, it doesn’t, and I shake my head. No way. I can’t think about sex with Brinley. Not with her but with her around, I mean. Jesus. She’s too young. Too vulnerable. Too innocent. But damn is she tempting in every single way possible. She’s like a part of me that’s been missing finally showed up and is starting to fill the void.
She sets a couple of items in the cart that’s now almost overflowing. “I don’t think we can fit anything else in there.”
Those are the first words she’s spoken to me that actually seem… light. Happy. I chuckle. “I think you’re right, but I want to get you some things to occupy your time. An eReader, computer, cell phone, that kind of thing.”
