Fearless (Broken Love, #5)(50)

“Keke, can you read another?”

“That depends… Are you going to make me moo if I don’t?”

“No, silly. That’s a cow.”

“Pick a book.” His innocent surrender drew me in until I found myself sitting between his legs with my own crossed and my hands on his shins. I needed to be in his space.

This was Keiran in rare form and something I may never see again after Kennedy grows older and Dash and Willow’s son follow.

“This one!” She shoved the book in his hand and crawled back into his lap. When her bright brown eyes rested on me, she slammed her head back against his chest and held my stare as if laying claim. My own narrowed, challenging her, even as I secretly cried a river of amused tears inside.

“Enough, ladies.” Keiran smirked but his gaze never even left the front cover. He was always aware of me even when he wasn’t watching me. “At least rabbits are quiet.”

“Yes, but they make this cute little wiggle with their nose,” I snitched.

“Yeah! Like this—” She wriggled her nose and turned her eyes to see. Keiran met my gaze and promised retribution. Maddie looked up with a wide smile, but he only stared back at her. “Try it,” she encouraged, unperturbed.

I pulled out my phone and hit record, needing to capture this moment to use as a bargaining tool later when he got me alone.

“No.”

“Pleeeeease.”

“Yes, pleeeeease. Wriggle your nose like a good little bunny.” My hole only got deeper, but it was worth it. I was hidden behind my phone, but I could see his face perfectly as the video recorded.

“Later,” he mouthed and wriggled his nose.

Maddie cackled and wiggled in his lap with glee. She even reached up to squeeze his nose, and I could practically see steam coming from his ears.

“You make a cute angry bunny,” I cooed.

His eyes narrowed, and I knew I’d gone too far. “Maddie, will you excuse us?”

Shit.

She jumped down off his lap and skipped out with the book, which had been my only chance for a weapon. As soon as the door was closed, Keiran stepped forward. I countered by taking two steps back.

“Come here.” His nostrils flared.

“No.” I giggled even though I was scared shitless. When he lunged, I squealed and turned to run. I managed to get the door open, but his hand above me slammed it closed. He smashed me against the door with his hard body and exhaled against my neck.

It wasn’t fair to be that pissed and so fucking sexy at the same time.

“The reason—the only reason—I don’t bend you over and make you scream and cry how sorry you are for pissing me off is because I don’t want to traumatize the girls, but don’t push too far, Lake. There’s always my car.”

Like the time he overheard me agreeing with a classmate that one of his teammates was pretty cute. She had a crush on him and wanted me to introduce them. Of course, I never got to explain any of this. He dragged me from the party and managed to stay pissed until we reached our rental. He bent me over the hood of his car right there in the yard for anyone to walk past and see, and pounded me until my cries became hoarse, and I admitted that Brian Hinkley was the ugliest fucker alive.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” I whispered with as much sultriness as I could.

He groaned and turned me around, no longer appearing as pissed as he had been sixty seconds before.

“So what happened with Cassie?”

I was put off by the abrupt change in topic but answered anyway. “Not much. We talked but it occurred to me that she could just solve her daughter’s ‘Ryan’ problem if she moved her to another school. Why doesn’t she just do that?”

“She said she didn’t want to uproot them too quickly with changing homes and leaving their father.”

“And you agreed with her?”

He stared until I began to squirm. “I had other things on my mind.”

I immediately knew what he alluded to—me killing his father and going missing in the middle of the night. He opened the bedroom door and led us to the front of the house where the girls were arguing over which cartoon to watch.

“It just seems like Cassie would be better off. Maddie isn’t in school yet so she would hardly be affected.”

“It’s none of our business.”

“You made this your business.”

“Do you really want to fight about this? They are safe and she won’t testify.”

I was prevented from arguing with him by the front door opening and the woman I recognized from the facility entering.





Chapter Seventeen


KEIRAN



I could tell she wanted to argue so I was relieved when the front door opened and Laurie appeared. I was also thankful to see store bags in her hand, or I would have gone postal.

“Where have you been?” I asked anyway. I didn’t have the right to question this woman or what she did with her kids. Not to mention they weren’t my responsibility. I felt it anyway.

She held up the grocery bags, but her eyes weren’t on me. She stared at Lake who stared back. I did a double take because I couldn’t fucking recognize the look in her eyes. Whatever it was made Laurie pale and lower her gaze. I couldn’t let it go on another second. I gripped her elbow hard to catch her attention and pulled her away.