Well I’m feeling pretty fucking desperate.
Hugging the side of the brick building I’ve faithfully visited every Sunday of my twenty-two years here on Earth, I look around to make sure nobody is hanging around the entrance. But it’s far too cold for anyone to be lingering outside, as the goosebumps on my arms can attest to.
I make a break for the van, yanking open the door with a sob and climbing inside. My fingers tremble, whether from cold or fear I’m not sure as I fumble with the latch on the glove compartment. It takes three tries for me to get it open and by the time I do my fingers are so numb I nearly drop the keys.
But I manage to get the key into the ignition and the van roars to life.
As the first snowflake hits the windshield, I shift the van into drive—and hit the gas.
Axel
“Goddammit,Dane, watch where you’re going!”
From the driver’s seat of the truck, my brother pulls his lip back in a snarl, never taking his eyes off the road—or what’s visible of the road beneath the blanket of white stretching outin front of us. “How can I watch anything with all this fucking snow?”
“Just be careful,” I growl, clinging to the handle beside me as the truck climbs the mountain we call home.
“I’m doing my best, Ax. You really think I wanna piss off Gray by crashing this damn thing?”
The thought of facing Grayson’s wrath is more than enough to keep any of us on our toes, and I offer up a grunt of acknowledgment.
I’m being an ass. IknowI’m being an ass, but after three weeks on the road I’m just ready to be home. Although the thought of “home” isn’t as comforting as it once was, a fact I blame Maxwell Stone and his ilk for. Visiting their island, watching the way they live so openly with their Little ones just served to remind me of everything my siblings and I long for, and lately that longing has become something of an itch beneath my skin.
Maybe I should take a page out of their book. Find a Little girl to claim as my own and keep her locked in the nursery attached to my bedroom until she accepts her new life as my baby.
The only problem is, I’m not sure where the fuck to find her. Our friends on the island all hail from New York City, where there are plenty of women to choose from.
Not so much in our tiny little town hidden deep in the mountains of Colorado.
A flash of something up ahead catches my eye and I lean forward, squinting to see out the windshield. “Slow down.”
“What? Why? What’s wrong?”
“I think I saw something. Just stop the damn truck.”
“All right, all right,” Dane mutters, downshifting and slowing the truck.
Without waiting for it to come to a complete stop, I throw open the door and jump down, twisting around in the swirling snow for another glimpse of what IknowI saw.
There. Just ahead. Flashing red lights.
Wrapping my coat tighter around me as the wind rips at my clothing, I forge ahead through the snow that is quickly becoming a blizzard. I can’t delay too long, or Dane and I will never make it home, but I also can’t just leave someone stranded in this.
The van is the large passenger kind churches use, but I can’t make out the decal on the side. Praying there isn’t a load of kids inside, I pull on the handle of the driver’s side door.
It pops open, and for a moment my heart stops beating at the sight that greets me. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, her dark hair hanging in loose curls around a face most certainly carved by a very generous angel, lays curled up on the reclined seat, shivering in the freezing interior of the vehicle. And no wonder—the poofy white dress she’s wearing isn’t nearly enough to provide any protection against the rapidly dropping temperatures.
Swearing under my breath, I shrug out of my coat and drape it over her trembling form before scooping her up into my arms. Eyelids fluttering, she whimpers softly as I cradle her against my chest.
“Shh, little one. It’s all right. Daddy’s got you.”
The words surprise even me. But I know, deep in my bones, that they’re true.
Fate has finally delivered me the Little girl I’ve been waiting for.
And now that I’ve found her, I am never letting her go.
CHAPTER 2
