“I’m sorry about all this. Shayla wasn’t always such a bitch,” I tell her, shaking my head. “Maybe it’s partly my fault. God knows I wasn’t always the easiest man to be married to. I’m kind of a handful.”
A smirk covers my face almost despite myself. I don’t tell her that the work I do is far from legal. I just don’t profit off the backs of innocent people. The men I deal with know exactly what game we’re playing.
“I believe you are a handful.” Poppy’s words are breathy, with a hint of something more. The electric current in her voice travels through my body like I’ve stuck my finger in a socket.
We fall silent, the tension in the room thick andsensual as smoke. Then Holly knocks on the glass door, breaking the moment.
We both look up and see a pickup idling.
“That’s my ride,” I tell her, turning to leave. “Remember what I said. I’ll cover their bill. No questions asked.”
I don’t know how soon they’ll need to come back, but it won’t be soon enough. Seeing this woman be so sweet to my girls moves something in me, something I’ve kept locked down hard deep inside. I turn away from it, from her, and head toward the door.
“You didn’t tell me your name,” she calls after me. “Or should I just put ‘Holly and Daisy’s dad’ in my contacts?”
I stop at the door and look her over from head to toe, then back at her stunning face. “Phantom,” I tell her. “You can call me Phantom.” I’m about to leave when I turn back. “I’ll be seeing you, Poppy.”
She looks flustered, and I give her a grin before heading out to the lot, slapping Shadow on the shoulder, and handing him the keys to my bike. Then I get into the truck with my kids.
As we pull away, I look through the glass window of the salon. I see Poppy at the door, just watching. Before the warmth pooling in my gut makes me do something stupid, I look over my shoulder, back up the truck, and pull away.
3
POPPY
I don’t knowhow long I stared out the front doors after that pickup truck pulled away. Maybe I’m dehydrated or just plain exhausted—God, I hope it’s not this flu—but my body is doing funny things. I keep thinking about the man who just came into my shop. All Holly and Daisy could talk about was how their dad would make it right, how he would take care of everything.
I wasn’t so sure.
But the girls seemed so sincere, so genuinely horrified by what their mother tried to do. What kind of person would I be if I didn’t give them the benefit of the doubt?
And then he did come through. Rode in here like the hero of the story and made everything right for his girls. But I have to say that man was nothing like the hero I expected.
Phantom is attractive. There’s no way around that. His jet-black hair and piercingblue eyes are otherworldly. And the way he smiles behind his thick beard makes my heart beat funny.
I’m not used to men having this effect on me. After losing Michael, I locked up my sex drive and threw the key so deep into the ocean, it would take a search and rescue team to find it.
But something about Phantom is different. Maybe it’s not just the muscles I could see through his jeans or the hint of tattoos I could make out on the tops of his hands.
After years of being in Mom mode, I know it takes more than some gorgeous eyes to make me remember I’m still a woman. The more I think about him, I realize that what makes him so undeniably attractive is that Phantom is adad. Not just a part-time, pay-the-bills, phoning-it-in dad, but he’s involved and hands on.
He didn’t just call in with a credit card. He showed up. He noticed the kids’ hair. He literally came to his girls’ rescue.
God, how I wish my son had a father like that in his life. Jax used to have that. Not that he remembers. He lost his dad when he was just a toddler. The biggest crisis Michael solved for our son was picking up dropped toys and cleaning up spilled juice. The routine stuff of daily life that now, like my husband himself, is only very, very vague memories.
I would never, ever put my child in a situation like what Shayla did today. Still, I can tell you that if Jax ever got into trouble, I know that Michael would have been every bit the hero my son deserves. No wonder aguy like Phantom has pushed all the right buttons—even the ones I didn’t know I had.
I feel like a traitor even thinking that, and I shove any dark thoughts about Michael away.
But as I stand with my face pressed to the glass like a puppy that’s been left behind, I can’t deny that Holly and Daisy’s dad didn’t just save the day for his kids. He made everything right for me too.
Without even knowing that I needed a hero, he came in and saved me from what would have been a terrible financial loss. I mean, the salon wouldn’t have closed because I couldn’t collect on three haircuts and color. But it’s not like I can afford to do all that work for free.
How long has it been since I’ve had anyone in my life who took care of something like that? Whether it’s a blocked toilet, a late bill, a hungry kid, a skinned knee—I’ve been a one-woman show for eight long and tiring years.
I try to convince myself that what I’m feeling isn’t attraction, that it’s relief. And it’s better that I focus on that—the money he saved me, the headache of having to decide whether to call the police. He took care of a messy situation. That’s all this was. Fluttery feelings in my belly mean absolutely nothing in the real world.
And just like always, the moment I have to myself ends far too soon. A buzz from my phone snaps me back to the present. Salon that needs cleaning. Stylists out sick. There’s so much work to do, it’s time to lock my libido back up and return to reality.
