“I’m wounded,” Jagger says dramatically as he clutches his chest.
“She’s a single mom, Jagger. I think we all know that you aren’t ready to be a dad yet,” Sloane teases as she leans against her man.
Jagger winces. “I love fucking single moms, but that’s where it ends.”
Gunner sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Why the hell are we talking about the new girl when we should be working?”
“I just finished my oil change and took the ticket into the office,” Jagger tells him.
“Then get the next car and get to work,” Gunner tells him.
Jagger salutes him and wanders off.
“You know, it’s kind of hot when you go all daddy on us,” Sloane tells Gunner, making him groan and me wince.
“Can you not? I really don’t want to hear about the shit you do in the bedroom,” I tell her.
“I swear to Christ, woman, you are going to be the death of me,” he mutters.
“Hey, no dying. Not unless you’ve updated your life insurance policy and I get everything,” she quips back.
“Pain in my ass,” he tells her.
“Gunner, Mac already said he didn’t want to hear about what we do in the bedroom,” Sloane says with faux innocence.
“Trouble, we both know that doesn’t happen. Shouldn’t you be working? The faster we get done for the day, the sooner we can get home.” He grumbles.
“Go home so you can remind me who’s in charge?” she quips.
Shaking my head, I move to the car I’m working on in the bay next to Sloane’s.
My eyes keep drifting to the office, hoping to see a glimpse of her.
The truth is, I have always felt like something here has been missing, but since Jane arrived, that has faded. Now I can’t imagine being anywhere else.
I need to be here if they need me. What if they run out of food or one of them gets hurt? I could help make it better for them.
That thought right there is what scares me most. I want to be the one they turn to. Not because I am a good man, but because I want them to be mine to care for.
What started as a good deed is slowly becoming an obsession. Jane doesn’t even know the amount of times I stand at my sink and stare at their house.
I don’t want to be a creepy stalker, but the idea of anything happening to them has my chest feeling like it is going to burst.
I’m already in too deep, and the woman can barely look at me without shaking.
No, I need to play the long game. Help her heal and give her an opportunity to figure out what she wants. Then I will offermyself to her on a silver platter and hope she wants me as much as I am starting to want her.
“The teacher says I am really smart. She said she wouldn’t have been able to tell that I hadn’t been in school for a while.”
I wince at Emily’s words. The lie I told the school was that we had a very ill family member we had to travel to take care of, so the kids missed some school. They accepted it, but said the kids would need to catch up. I’m glad Emily seems to be.
I help her rinse her mahogany hair before pulling her from the bath.
“I’m glad you had fun today,” I tell her, drying her hair before I hand her the brush.
“Go wait in your room. I’ll come brush your hair.”
She nods and runs off to the room she claimed on day one. Tonight will be her first night sleeping in there. Not that I won’t let her climb into bed with me if she wants, but I figure we need to get back into a normal lifestyle. She needs to feel comfortable sleeping on her own again.
