“Hi, Ian!”
“Hey there, precious.” He grinned down at my daughter before scooping her out of her car seat and hefting her up, tossing her in the air until she squealed in delight. He finally settled her against his big barrel chest for a hug, then put her on her feet. I opened my mouth to greet him, but the words hung unspoken when the sound of the front door opening again caught my attention and Garrett came sauntering out. I quicklysnapped my mouth closed before I could make a fool of myself and drool at the sight of him.
Liddy spotted him a second later and went running across the drive, throwing herself into his arms. He caught her effortlessly, those strong, tattooed arms flexing and rippling as he curled her into him. “Hey, munchkin! Welcome home.”
“Hi, Daddy! I wanna see my room!”
It was just like Liddy to eschew proper decorum when it came to greetings. “Your daddy only just moved us in, monkey. I doubt your room’s done up yet.”
“Tell you what, kiddo,” Garrett started before she had a chance to pout. “It’s been a while since you’ve been here. How ’bout Ian takes you on a tour while I talk to your mom?”
Crap. I needed Ian and Liddy as a buffer between Garrett and me, but I couldn’t exactly say that out loud. Instead, I lifted my hand in a pathetic wave as Ian led my skipping, singing daughter into our new home.
I shifted from foot to foot, unable to meet his eyes. I felt like a goddamned adolescent with her first crush whenever I was around him.
“Come on,” he said, reaching out and grabbing my hand. Bolts of electricity shot through me at just that simple touch. “I’ll show you around.”
I barely had time to set the locks on my car as he all but dragged me into the house.
“There’s a space in the garage for you to park. I’ll get you an opener for the door so you can park there when you get home from work tomorrow,” he explained, shutting the front door behind us with a resoundingclick. Unaware—or maybe unconcerned—of the war swirling around inside of me, he kept talking like everything was copacetic. “Your furniture was kinda trashed, but I didn’t want to just throw it out without talking to you, so I got a storage locker for the stuff I didn’tbring here.”
I planted my feet and tugged on the hand he was holding, bringing him to a stop. “You… you didn’t have to do that,” I said. “I’ll pay you back. I prom—”
His fingers tightened around mind and he jerked hard enough to send my body flying into his before I had a chance to finish my sentence. He twined his free arm around my waist, holding me tight as he released his hold on my hand and placed his fingers beneath my chin, tipping my face up to his. “You won’t pay for shit,” he murmured, his green eyes so piercing they stole the breath from my lungs. “You’ve been taking care of Liddy on your own for three years. I’m stepping up to the plate. It’s the least I can do for not being there all this time.”
God, he was killing me. That Teflon-coated shield I used to protect myself took another serious blow in the face of Garrett’s sincerity. “You’re kind of freaking me out,” I whispered. My breathing escalated at the same time my heart began beating a frantic staccato against my ribs.
“Why?”
“I’m not used to you being nice to me,” I answered honestly. “I don’t know how to deal. Can’t you just go back to being your normal egotistical self? At least I know how to deal with that guy.”
His mouth tilted up in a grin that pulled my attention from his eyes to his lush, inviting lips. I stood in silence for what felt like an eternity, and I could have sworn he was just moments away from closing the distance and kissing me when a voice akin to nails on a chalkboard penetrated my senses and shattered the moment into a million pieces.
“Well isn’t this a cozy sight.”
Fucking Kimber. My head shot to the side and I narrowed my eyes in a hateful glare. I’d have given anything to have the power to melt the skin off her bitchy face with just one look.
I quickly pulled out of Garrett’s hold and put some much-needed space between us. His expression went from soft to granite in a second. The interruption and my movement seemed to piss him off, and from the look on his face as he stared Kimber down, that anger was pointed directly at her.
“What the fuck, Kimber?” Garrett growled. I turned back to him and saw him clenching his fists at his sides. “What are you doin’ here? I told you to stay the fuck away for a while.” That statement surprised me, and my gaze pinged back and forth between them like I was watching a tennis match. “After that bullshit you and Chris pulled with Liddy’s surgery, you’re lucky I didn’t can your ass, so don’t push it.”
Her demeanor went from steely to saccharine sweet in one breath. “I know, that’s why I’m here. I came to apologize to Gwen.” The lying heifer turned to me. “I’m so sorry about that. I can’t believe I forgot something so important.”
Oh, I could believe it. And there was no convincing me that it had been a simple excuse of forgetfulness. The bitch had done it on purpose.
I gave her a withering smile and then disregarded her completely, looking back at Garrett. “I’m going to unpack our stuff.”
“If you just hang on, I’ll help—”
“No worries,” I interrupted. “You obviously have”—I waved my hand between him and Kimber—“stuffto deal with. If you’ll just tell me where our rooms are, I’ll take care of it myself.”
He looked like he wanted to keep arguing, but finally thought better of it. “Liddy’s on the second floor at the end of the hall on the right. You’re right across from me,” he answered, a knowing gleam in his eye as he continued, “I’m sure you remember where mine is, yeah? Especially with how many hours you spent in it.”
The fucker. I narrowed my eyes into angry slits. “I’m sure Ican find my way,” I sneered. Then I turned and stomped away, wanting to escape the both of them.
I might have hated Kimber with every fiber of my being, but her timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Her unwanted arrival saved me from making an epic mistake.
I took the stairs two at a time, moving fast until I made it to the room Garrett indicated. Once there, I closed the door and fell against it, eyes closed. After I got control of myself, I worked on rebuilding the shield that was starting to feel more and more pointless the longer I spent in Garrett’s presence.
