The little blonde head pulls up, and the kid watches me approach from beneath her long lashes. It’s clear that she’s been crying, and I can tell from where I am that her eyes are filled with concern. On any other day, I bet this kid with her bright blue eyes and loose hanging blonde ringlets would usually be full of life. She’ll be a heartbreaker one day.
I slow my stride to not frighten her, knowing that while little boys may be in awe of all this, little girls tend to get a bit intimidated.
Ax and Jet start unloading things from the truck as I reach the little heart breaker and drop down to one knee in front of the railing so the kid can see me straight on. “It seems you got yourself a little stuck,” I tell her.
Her bottom lip drops, and I suck in a breath, terrified she’s about to hit me with the waterworks. I can’t handle tears. They’re not my thing. Chicks crying, no thanks, no matter what size they come in. My niece, though, her tears fucking kill me.
The little girl nods, and I see a determination come over her that nearly knocks me back on my ass. She’s a tough little firecracker. Tougher than her little blonde ringlets let on. Though, something tells me that this isn’t the first time this little girl has gotten herself into a tricky situation. She is probably a magnet for trouble.
“What’s your name, pretty girl?”
Those big blue eyes stare up at me, pleading with me to hurry the fuck up and get her out of this shitty situation. Her voice comes out as a broken rasp and is sweet enough to bring even the hardest man to his knees. “Ryan.”
“You’re such a brave girl, Ryan,” I tell her, pushing up to get a good look at the situation and taking in the mess around her. Is that fucking butter, oil, and soap? “Ryan, did Mommy put butter all over you?”
“Uh-huh,” she says with that pouty lip. “Mommy wanted to squeeze me out like a tube of toothpaste.”
“Oh, did she just?” I laugh, loving how kids come out with the most ridiculous things. I walk around to get a view of the other side before reaching for the poles to see what kind of flexibility they have. I give a hard pull and quickly realize that we’ll be cutting this kid out. There’s no doubt about it.
Now, I guess we have to break the news to her mom.
I hear Ax and Jet moving in behind me, and I don’t doubt they have a grinder ready to go. Those boys are always prepared for the worst. It’s what makes them so damn good at their jobs.
I step back to join the boys and watch as they assess the situation with the same trained eyes that I did. As the boys work out the best places to make the cuts that would be safest for little Ryan, I hear Chief walking up with the mom.
I turn around to take her in, and my fucking world stops. I can’t believe my fucking eyes. It’s her. My stalking victim from the hardware store.
Her eyes widen as she instantly recognizes me, and I all but puff out my chest. Of course she fucking recognizes me. Who wouldn’t? Was I in her head just as much as she’s been in mine? Hell, I haven’t stopped thinking about her for the past three days, and it’s more than obvious she’s been doing the same.
I fucking knew it. The way her body screamed for me in the store, she was more than interested. It’s just that damn wall she put up. Judging from the fact she has a baby on her hip, another stuck in the railing, and she is living in Old Man Jackson’s place, I’d dare say she’s a kept woman.
“Well, if it isn’t my hardware store stalker.”
“I thought we cleared that up,” I tell her, unable to remove the cocky, excited smirk from my face.
“I don’t know,” she teases. “The more I think about it, the more I’m leaning towards you being a creepy stalker.”
My grin only widens, and I momentarily forget that I'm standing amongst my boys with a kid desperate to be saved. “So, you've been thinking about me?”
Angel rolls her eyes, and something tells me that her panic over her daughter's situation has her walls temporarily down. This is the real Angel I'm seeing right now, the one who’s not busily trying to guard herself, unlike the one I met in the store the other day.
She tilts her chin up, giving me a cocky grin. “Kind of hard not to,” she murmurs, her body practically screaming at me to touch her, though I won’t dare, not until she’s begging me for it.