Wild Man (Dream Man #2)(112)

“Brock!” I cried, fingers curved around his biceps.

“Food, rest, hang with the boys until they go to sleep then I’ll make your day go away.”

“Okay, fine but you got the bathroom all wet and you all wet,” I informed him.

“I got dry clothes and the floor’s tile, sweetness, it’s not a big deal. What is a big deal is I can’t keep an eye on you and a finger on the pulse of your state of mind and my boys with you hidin’ in the bathroom, turnin’ yourself into a prune.”

“I’m fine.”

“You had a shit day.”

“I know but I’ll survive.”

He shook his head. “My job is not to help you survive, Tess. It’s to make it safe and sweet when you walk through my door. Now, my woman is not goin’ to bed hungry because my ex-wife is a cunt and her ex-husband is a motherf*cking dickhead. She’s gonna eat, she’s gonna curl close to me, she’s gonna show my boys she’s okay and then we’re gonna go to bed and I’m gonna make her day go away. Yeah?”

That sounded like a good plan. Actually a great plan. Actually, I should have thought of it myself.

So, of course, I agreed and I did that by saying, “Yeah.”

He smiled. Then he dropped his head and kissed me lightly.

Then he said, “See you downstairs.”

He was at the bathroom door and I had a towel held up in front of me when I called his name and he turned back.

“Vance said you were the reason he was there tonight.”

“Yeah,” he confirmed.

“You didn’t tell me you’d –” I started but he interrupted me, his brows drawing together.

“Yeah I did, Tess. I said the bakery is on radar.”

I stared at him.

Then I told him, “I thought you meant the cops.”

“Cops, Lee’s boys, f**k, I even called Hawk f**kin’ Delgado and asked him to keep his ear to the ground and his eyes open.”

To that, I blinked. This was because I knew Brock was not the still unknown (even though he was Gwen’s man) Hawk Delgado’s favorite person but also because Brock had told me Hawk was not his favorite person either mainly because he screwed the pooch on the Darla deal and both of them were not over that situation as in way not over it and, now knowing the details, I got why on both sides.

“Really?” I whispered.

He crossed his arms on his chest and stated, “Babe, you think I found the woman of my dreams at forty-five years old and I’m gonna let anything happen to her, think again. That’s a long f**kin’ time to wait for what you want. I waited. I found it. I’m pullin’ out all the stops to take care of it. I know you feel the same for me so I’m doin’ the same to keep me safe for you. So yeah, really, I called Delgado. I made peace and asked a favor. His woman is in your posse so she wouldn’t be doin’ cartwheels, he said no and something went down with you or, for you, me. And he isn’t dumb, he’s a man who knows to collect favors and he’s a man whose business means he often has the need to call markers. So his ear’s to the ground and his eyes are open so if a cop isn’t cruisin’ by your house or bakery, one of Lee’s boys or one of Hawk’s commandos are. Smart people pay attention to who’s cruisin’ around people they want to f**k with and smart people will see cops, Nightingale’s men and Delgado’s crazy motherf*ckers and, my hope is, they’ll steer clear. So, there you go. Now you got a full explanation of what I mean when I say you’re on radar.”

I heard all he said, I really did.

But I was stuck at the beginning part where he told me I was the woman of his dreams.

And that made me feel so warm and gushy, I was mostly incapacitated.

So the best I could do was force out an, “Okay.”

“Okay,” he replied.

Then I forced out, “I’ll be down in a minute.”

He jerked his chin up.

Then he walked out.

I stared at the door. Then I did it a little while longer as I heard him moving around in the bedroom changing out of wet clothes. Then I did it for longer after he’d left the bedroom.

Then I toweled off, got dressed in loose-fitting, drawstring lounge pants, a camisole and a light hoodie and I went downstairs. Brock fed me grilled cheese and oven baked tater tots. It was really good, Brock grilled a mean cheese sandwich and the tater tots were baked perfectly, crispy on the outside, soft in the middle. Then I hung out in front of the TV curled into Brock until he sent the kids to bed at ten. Then I hung out longer, curled into Brock.

Then, finally, Brock took me to bed and spent more than a fair amount of effort in taking my day away.

He succeeded magnificently and I knew this because, seconds after he curled me into his arms when he was done expending this effort, I fell into a peaceful sleep filled with really, really good dreams.

Chapter Twenty

I Take It I’m Movin’ In

“I’m telling you girl, I think it’s perfect,” Martha declared from beside me in my car and she was right. It was perfect. Terrifyingly so.

We’d just come from viewing some space in Writer Square in LoDo. It was fabulous, great foot traffic, sandwiched between 16th Street Mall and Larimer Square, visibility from 15th Street and Larimer, sidewalk seating opportunity.

But the rent was a whack.