On high alert, I hurried out of bed and grabbed my gun from the safe. I’d do whatever was necessary to protect my little girl.
Quietly I headed down the stairs, one step at a time, to make sure the intruder couldn’t hear me. Gun drawn; I kept my back to the wall of the stairwell.
Coming around the corner, Declan gasped and held up his hands in surrender. “Careful, Jax. Don’t shoot.”
“What the hell was that?” I asked, lowering the barrel of the gun as I turned on the safety.
“Avalanche. Earthquake. Who the hell knows,” Declan said. He rubbed at his eyes and ran a hand through his short-cropped dark hair. “Woke my ass up, and clearly, it did yours as well.”
I doubted it was an avalanche or earthquake based on the sound. “I wasn’t asleep.”
“You came home late,” Declan said.
“Did you get my text from the restaurant?”
“Yes. Lincoln called and told me all about the pretty girl you were having dinner with. So, who is she?” Declan headed for the fridge and grabbed himself a beer, bringing it to the sofa to have a seat. He was awake and expecting to converse.
I wasn’t in the mood for a drink. I put the gun on the coffee table and sat down on the sofa with my brother. “Ariella. She’s the new buyer of the cabin on the river, my next-door neighbor.”
Declan smiled, and his grin widened. “Is she as hot as Lincoln made her out to be?”
I tried my best not to grin, but it was hard not to reveal at first glance how she made me feel. Being around her made my heart soar like a balloon high above the clouds.
“You’re smitten,” Declan said and laughed under his breath.
I didn’t need my friends ganging up on me and teasing me about Ariella. It was likely that I’d see her again, and not just tomorrow morning. “I was just being friendly and helping a neighbor out,” I said, trying my best to change the subject. “By the way, she had no idea the cabin didn’t have electric.”
“Damn,” Declan said. He sipped his beer. “I bet she was pissed when she found out.”
That was an understatement. “Yeah. I offered her my generator, and I was going to go into town with her in the morning and bring back a fridge. She’s going to need to do something if she plans on living here year round.”
“You don’t have to take care of her, Jax. She’s a grown woman,” Declan said.
I knew that, but I didn’t care. In part, it was my responsibility. I always seemed to clean up after my buddies made a mess of things. I was the responsible one. “I realize that,” I said and stood. I didn’t need a lecture from Declan. He was younger than me, only by a year, but it still irked me when he tried to give me advice.
“Who’d you think was going to buy the place?” Declan asked.
“Honestly, I thought it’d be some rich folks from California. Some lavish city people who wanted a second home in seclusion, off-grid, where they could spend a few weeks a year in the outdoors.”
“That was wishful thinking. No one comes out here for just the summer. Well, almost no one.”
I sighed and stood up. The unspoken name he was referring to was the mother of my baby girl. Emma was a summer fling, a woman who had come to Breckenridge to get away from her wild city life and unwind for the summer. She’d done more than relax. She’d found her way into my bed and ended up pregnant.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring her up,” Declan said.
He knew I hated talking about her. It wasn’t that I was in love with the woman; it had no doubt been a summer fling for both of us, but I hadn’t been too fond of hearing she planned on giving up Isabella for adoption. Showing up on my doorstep, it hadn’t been to tell me she was pregnant or ask about my involvement. No. She’d shown up that day to ask me to sign my parental rights away, something I refused to do.
“I’m going to head out, get a few hours of sleep before work,” Declan said. “Do you need me for anything else before I go?”
“Tomorrow, on your way down the mountain pass, Ariella’s car ended up in a ditch. Can you pull it out and tow it over to the shop? I’m not sure it’s in mountain weather shape, but she’s going to need something to get her around town.”
“You got it.” Declan owned the tow shop in town. When we decided to start Eagle Tactical, he hired out help, bringing in a mechanic and a crew to support him.
“You’re welcome to stay and crash on the couch. It’s snowing out there, but I know that’s never stopped you before.” It was late, and while the snow had just started coming down within the past hour, it likely hadn’t lightened up any.
Declan grabbed his beanie and jacket, pulling the thick material over his shoulders before zipping his coat. He slipped on a pair of boots and then donned his gloves. “Have fun tomorrow with the new girl.” He winked at me.
“Her name is Ariella,” I said, correcting him.
“Whatever. I hear she’s cute from Lincoln, and the blush on your ears gives it away that you like her. I can’t wait to meet her. If you don’t sink your teeth into her, I might have to.”
“It’s time for you to go.” I ushered him out the door and shut it behind him. I ran a hand through my hair, gasping for breath. Just the thought of Declan trying to steal her away pained me. Why was that? She wasn’t mine. She wasn’t anyone’s, well, as far as I knew. She hadn’t exactly told me her story, why she was in Breckenridge, and whether or not she was single—not that I was looking. I was a father which came first and foremost.
I took the gun back upstairs and secured it in the safe before stripping down to my boxers for bed. Climbing under the covers, morning would come soon enough, and my little girl would wake me at the crack of dawn. For a few scant hours, I could dream of Ariella, of her smile and laugh, and let the nightmares that haunt me vanish in the night.