“I imagine to go get your father and call in a forensic unit,” Rhett answered, watching her awkwardly try to hop up. His hands found her waist and he hoisted her up onto the table, the world immediately drifting away. One touch, and he was right back to their incredible night together. She smelled so good, like a fragrant garden made especially for him. He vividly remembered kissing those hips he’d just touched when he explored every inch of her. His groin tightened and his cock swelled as he recalled how she’d laughed so freely when he kissed along her rib cage. And as he looked into her lust-filled eyes, he knew he wasn’t the only one remembering that night.
He loosened a breath and opened the first aid kit. Then he got to work, forcing his mind to clear away those memories. He cleaned the wound, her hiss haunting him. “How long have you known about the baby?” he asked, reaching for the small flashlight in the kit.
“Two weeks,” she said.
Two goddamn weeks. He felt the tremble of her hand in his, and dark shame rolled over him. “I should have been there,” he said, putting a voice to the realizations he’d come to last night on his run. He looked up into her eyes, finding them even wider than before. “You should not have had to deal with this alone.”
She shrugged. “I’m okay about it now.”
Her answer suggested she hadn’t been okay. She’d been scared and alone, and Rhett had done that to her. He’d sworn to himself that his messy life would never touch her, but it did. The only way forward now was to ensure it never happened again. He shifted her hand from side to side. “I don’t see any glass in there.”
“Thank God,” she drawled and gave him a quick smile. “I imagine this is going to suck enough without y
ou digging in there with tweezers.”
He hastily pulled out the gauze and antiseptic cream from the kit to avoid her. She always had a way of lightening the mood.
Silence settled in between them. But what was once an easy, comfortable silence now seemed strained while he tended to her wound.
When he’d finished up by placing a large bandage over the gauze, he braced both hands on either side of her legs. Only then did he look into her eyes again. The intensity there sent a hard-hitting blow to his chest, but he pushed through the iciness that trickled into his veins and the alarms in his head telling him to run. “You always say that you know me. Do you really?” he asked her.
She gave a soft nod. “Yes, I know you.”
Her quick answer startled him. “Then you know being a father, having a baby, was so far down on my list of what I wanted for my life.” Hurt crossed her face, so he swiftly continued, “I’m here for you, Kinsley, whatever you need, whenever you need it, but”—he pushed past the tightness of his throat—“I can’t promise…I can’t promise that I’m going to get this all right, and I want to be up front about that.”
Her eyes softened and her sweet touch landed on his arm, easing the ache in his chest. “I don’t expect you to promise me anything. I also don’t expect you to swoop in and become overjoyed about this news. I know this is a gigantic shock. I’ve had weeks to process it all. And I’m still not even sure how all of this is going to work, or what really happens now, or if I’m being honest, if I can even believe that this is happening. You deserve time to figure this out, and I’m okay with giving you that time.”
Most times, her strength totally blindsided him. Today even more so. “We’ll take it day by day,” he clarified. “One step at a time.” That’s all he could do right now. “You tell me what you need, whatever it is, and I’ll do that, okay?”
She nodded and grinned. “That works but get ready for late-night calls for egg salad sandwiches and ice cream sundaes.”
She meant it as a joke, but he took a mental note. He couldn’t be what Asher was to Remy, or what Boone was to Peyton, but he could make her egg salad sandwiches and bring her ice cream sundaes.
Feeling like he had taken at least a small step forward with her, he helped her off the table. She all but slid down his body, dragging her round breasts down his chest. They both knew the move was entirely unnecessary. She was playing with him, like she always played with him. Teased him, tormented him madly. He should back away, and yet his feet weren’t moving. Her cheeks flushed deep in color, and the memory of those stained cheeks when she orgasmed blasted across his mind. She nibbled her bottom lip, and he recalled how those pouty lips tasted and felt, especially when they slid across the hardest part of him. And when her breathing grew rough, he forced himself to take a full step back in fear of what he’d do next if he didn’t.
She smiled, like she knew she had him wrapped around her finger, and held up her bandaged hand. “Thanks for fixing this.” He was saved by sudden loud voices from the main bar area. “That must be the Cavalry.”
She moved around him, and he let out a long breath, calling after her, “Kinsley.”
“Yeah?” she asked, turning back to him.
“You’re not alone anymore in this,” he told her. “I’m here.”
Her brows drew together, the heat gone from her pretty eyes. “You mean that?”
“I mean that.”
She inhaled slowly and blew it out even slower, regarding him intently. “Well then, as long as you continue to want that, then okay, but let me be entirely clear. You’re in this because you want to be, and if that changes, you need to man-up and make that decision before the baby gets here. I know what it’s like to have a parent jump in and out of your life. I won’t have that. Do you understand me?”
The air sucked out of the room. “Yes, ma’am.”
Chapter 5
Everything felt different when Kinsley returned to the main bar. She hoped Rhett meant what he said, but she knew better than to blindly believe him. He couldn’t commit to anyone, maybe not even his own child. One day at a time. That was the only way she could move forward with all this, and the first step was finding out who had destroyed her bar. Glass crunched beneath her winter boots as she stopped in the middle of the room. She scanned the damage again, wishing her eyes had betrayed her. Sure, she had insurance to cover some of this, but the entire place was in shambles. Every single item she’d spent weeks picking out and placing had been ruined.
Back when she was a child, her dad would bring her into the pub where all the cops went after their shift to let go of their day before going home. Those memories were full of laughter and football games and friendships. She’d realized at a very young age the importance of having a place for people to go when they needed that feeling of home and comfort. She’d known ever since she was eighteen years old that she wanted to own such a place, so she’d gone to college to get her business degree. And now, here she stood, in the middle of the ruins of her dream, thinking that a month ago, life had been normal, and now it was as if every day brought a new change and challenge.
Boone waited near the front door with two guys Kinsley had met before. They were the forensic unit. The room wavered a little, wanting to swallow her up. Maybe that would help her wake up from this nightmare.