ONE
Rough Start
Jack
It was snowing. Again.Fuck.
I hated the damn fluffy white stuff and the way the snowflakes stuck to my face.Goddamn. One got in my eye and made me blink several times.
I kicked at a small pile of snow and pulled on a string of lights. I despised winter with a passion, but I enjoyed the bitter chill. The warmth of my breath met the crisp air and created a foggy mist in front of my face. I had the body warmth of a man made for winter temperatures, and I rarely wore a damn parka. Too fucking puffy for me.
The ladies loved to snuggle up with my toasty body heat until I hauled them out the door. I don’t do relationships. Fuck commitment. Trust was scarce, and I preferred to be alone. I used to envision dying alone in my bed. An old, wrinkly, grouchy dickhead with not a soul who gave a shit.
Until I met my best friend.
I couldn’t stand getting close to anyone other than Gabriel Evergreen. The man who came into my life when I needed someone the most and gave meaning to the miserable existence I had created around me. In a world entirely desolate, I grew accustomed to the emptiness. Until I saved Gabriel’s world from crumbling to pieces when I rescued his daughter.
My best friend claimed the worst moment of his life was a freak accident, while I viewed the day as a blessing and a curse because I mether. Sure. I saved his nineteen-year-old child from drowning while the undertow tried to pull her out into the ocean. But after I swam her back to the sandy shore, resuscitated her, and turned her body onto its side to cough out the water drowning her lungs, she spoke.
Her whiny voice was enough to make me let go of her. Especially after she told me toget my old man hands off her. The sound of her voice had screeched its way into my bitter soul that day and still made me cringe, but her eyes swirled with hatred until my heart skipped a beat. She was beautiful yet too cheery for me, and I had to deal with her when she moved in next door, where she made eye contact with me through the fence we shared. Currently, the wooden slits revealed a small, beady brown stare watching me.
“Mr. Timber? Excuse me, Mr. Timber?” a tiny voice whispered. “What are you doing?”
Kids. Curious, nosy, and sometimes cute. Some children were goddamn ugly, and eventually grew out of their awkwardness, but not this little girl. She was born adorable, and Mr. Timber was all I ever heard after she and her mother moved in next door to me. The quiet was ruined for the rest of my days on this earth—or until the kid vacated the premises.
Faith Evergreen was eight years old with shoulder-length wavy hair and eyes as cheerful as her mother’s—a wicked woman who sparked every nerve inside of me and zapped me until I blew up in flames of fury. Her vanilla hot chocolate scent lingered in the air everywhere I fucking went as areminder that I could never escape her. The aroma was constantly stuck in my goddamn nose and wouldn’t leave me the hell alone.
“Sweetie, leave Mr. Timber alone.” Slight movement caught my attention through the fence, and sweet cinnamon eyes peeked in between the boards I had fixed in the summer. “He’s busy.”
Noelle Evergreen hated me as much as I loathed her, and the damn woman ended up right next door. Go fucking figure. Damn, I got lucky, but not in a good way where I had my cock buried deep inside of her instead. Jesus. I had a dirty mind, and I should never go there because she was my best friend’s daughter.
“What is he doing, Mom?” Faith asked curiously.
Noelle answered, “He’s decorating for Christmas.”
An excited gasp. “Just like us?”
“Yep.” Faith’s mom popped theP, and the sound irritated me.
Purposely, I groaned loudly enough little Elle heard me. She hated when I called her by the nickname I had chosen, but I got a thrill out of getting her all riled up. I loved getting on her goddamn nerves as much as she got on mine, but I was a man who preferred dominating.
Would Elle whimper?
Christ. Old fuck. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Gabriel’s daughter was off-limits, and I had no intention ofeverchanging that. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. Nope. No way. Fuck that.
“Aren’t you supposed to be happy when you decorate for Christmas?” Faith questioned as tiny fingers peeked throughthe boards, and I envisioned little wrinkles of concern creasing her forehead. “He doesn’t sound excited.”
“Yes, he’s supposed to be, but Grandpa’s best friend isn’t like everyone else. Ain’t that right,Jack?” Elle asked.
I answered with another grumpy grumble.
“Maybe we should help him?” Tiny specks of brown peered at me curiously, and those fingers disappeared as they tugged on her mother’s jacket. “We can take some of our decorations over.”
Faith was a sweetheart, but I wasn’t in a cheery fucking mood. I never was. Unless I had a delightful piece of ass in my bed, my dick wet, and was about to come on some random chick’s backside. The company of a woman made me happy, but then I was back to my miserable self when she left.
I moved the strand of lights, dragging them along the ground, and tripped over the wire. A curse shot out of my mouth. Probably not the right word for an eight-year-old to hear, but I was sure it wasn’t her first. I wasn’t a damn father figure or something. I wasn’t role model material and never would be.
