Say It's Forever (Redemption Hills #2)(90)

I touched her nose. “You’re welcome, Juni Bee.”

Shutting her door, I moved to help Salem step up into the high cab, then I jogged around to climb in on my side. I started the engine and began to pull from the curb, though I stopped when I saw the black truck slow as it approached from the opposite direction.

Salem tensed, and Darius glared as he passed, that barely constrained rage burning in his eyes.

“Crap,” she mumbled when he disappeared behind us.

I reached out and squeezed Salem’s hand. “Baby, it doesn’t matter what he thinks. It’s you and me now, and he’s gonna have to get used to it.”





TWENTY-SEVEN





SALEM





“Are you sure you don’t want to put these on?” Nervously, I held up the training wheels that had come with Juniper’s pink bike. “I think we might want to start there since your bike is brand new,” I encouraged.

It was futile.

Juni had already shot the idea down about five million times since we’d returned, and Jud had spread a work blanket out on the driveway and gotten straight to work.

He chuckled low.

Dark and deep and sweet.

“Worrier.” He grinned up at me.

“Obviously.” I was happy to take the title. It’s what I did.

Juni had of course picked the frilliest bike there was at the store. Pink with flower accents and ribbons coming off the handlebars.

From where she was kneeling next to Jud on a work blanket helping, Juni looked up at me like I was clueless. “Um, Mommy, doncha know I’m alreadys so big and I has to go fast so I can keep up with my best friend? Otherwise, he’s gonna leave me rights in the dust.”

Doncha already know? Jud mouthed it from behind her as he worked a ratchet to place a screw.

My stomach tilted.

Apparently, I knew nothing.

I was clueless.

Foolish.

Reckless.

Letting myself get absolutely swept away by this bearded, mountain of a man. He fought a grin where he knelt in front of the bike with a wrench in his hand, almost finished piecing it together.

He had a tool bag that he’d pulled from the back of his truck, and he continually rummaged through it to find what he needed, the man focused and intent and still patient, answering the gazillion questions Juni lobbed at him as he worked.

So gorgeous in his jeans and tee. The material stretching over the lines and planes of his back. The muscles in his arms flexing as he cranked and screwed, and damn…

I had to bite my lip when he glanced up at me again. In an instant, a smirk took to his face.

Crap. He totally knew I was enjoying the show.

Sure, I’d seen him working over plenty of bikes at the shop.

But this? This was different.

It was personal.

Intimate.

As if he were building something from the rubble.

Breathing it back to life.

With it? I didn’t know how to stand there without letting my mind wander to the places I shouldn’t let it.

Into a fantasy where this was normal.

Where it was right.

Where I didn’t have the urge to look over my shoulder to make sure it was safe.

That my daughter could play outside without an ounce of fear.

Where loving this man wouldn’t put him in danger.

It was that hope that bloomed and blossomed and became something terrifying.

Because forever whispered in my ear.

Taunting me with what the rational side of myself knew I could never keep but I wanted, anyway.

For him to touch me the way he had last night.

Ruin me.

Keep me.

This man who’d wormed his way in so thoroughly, I could literally feel his heart beating through my being, as if he’d become the blood in my veins.

This fierce, hard, intimidating man who was so incredibly sweet.

One who was broken and carried a guilt so dark and ugly I could almost physically feel the outline of the scars on his spirit.

And I wanted to heal it—heal it the way he was healing me. Like Mimi had said, the scars and the vacancies would never fully fill, but there was someone out there who could help hold them so they didn’t hurt quite so bad.

Jud eyed me like he’d felt the crash of reservations as he angled up to secure the basket on the handlebars. “You good, darlin’?”

“Yep.”

A smirk slanted at the edge of his mouth.

So sexy.

My stomach twisted.

“Huh, you look like you’re itching to take a run.” He said it like a tease, though there was no missing the current that ran through it. “And here I would have thought you’d have had plenty of exercise last night.”

“Nope, still plenty of energy,” I tossed out, popping up on my toes.

“Good thing,” he grated, so low, the words a promise that slicked across my flesh.

Shivers flashed.

He chuckled a dark sound.

Damn him.

He knew exactly what he was doing to me.

“And why’s that?” I cocked my head, mock innocence in my voice. “Did you have something in mind?”

Yeah, I should probably keep my mouth shut.

Balancing the bike upright, he reached over and tipped up my chin. “Sweet Enchantress…but now you’re not playin’ so sweet.”