Baked (Love Burns #3)

CHAPTER SEVEN

T he movie soundtrack blared from the portable radio as he snuck another peek at his sexy fairy. She was breathtaking. That dress. Her hair. The glittery stuff she’d put on her eyelids. Not to mention the excitement coming off her in waves as she stuffed more fries into her mouth. Everything about her was magic.

He’d never forget the look on her face as they pulled into the drive-in. A look of awe and wonder. It made him feel on top of the world. If only he could do things like this for her every day.

One day.

Picking up his shake, he slurped out one final chocolatey gulp. Damn, that was good. Real fricking ice cream and everything. Between the milkshake and sneaking looks at Rachel, his attention tonight had been anywhere but on the movie, which was fine. He’d take looking at his honeybun over Vin Diesel any day.

As he placed his shake back down, he felt his jeans begin to vibrate. Whoever it was would have to wait.

But as soon as the vibrating stopped, it started again. And then again.

Reaching into his pocket, he decided there was no harm in checking who had been calling.

“Shit” slipped from his lips.

He felt Rachel’s eyes on him as he scrolled through Cody’s messages. “Everything okay?”

No. It wasn’t. And it was going to ruin her night. Wipe that goddamn angelic expression off her pretty face.

“What is it?” she prompted.

Fuck. How do I say this?

“Honeybun”—he twisted to face her, tightening his grip on the phone—“something happened. Something bad.”

“Yeah, I can see that, Hunter. The steam coming out of your ears kinda gave it away.”

“Right.” He sighed. Just say it. Just tell her. “Someone broke into your apartment.”

Big blue eyes widened in horror as she whispered, “What?” Heavy pants, and not the good kind, were back to filling his truck as she struggled to control her breathing. “How? When?”

“I don’t have all the details yet.” Which right now, witnessing the anguish on Rachel’s stricken face, he was grateful he didn’t.

She nodded. Her eyes shutting as she swallowed hard.

This was a nightmare. A nightmare that was far from over. “I need to take a look at the security footage and send it over to Cody, and then ... then we need to go meet him at the apartment. Try and work out if anything is missing.”

The last thing he wanted to do was take her back to her apartment, but it wasn’t his call. And as much as he wanted to take her back to his and wrap her in as much theoretical cotton wool as he could, he trusted Cody’s judgment. He wouldn’t ask unless it was important.

When her eyes fluttered open, glistening with moisture, his muscles tensed. And when her body sagged in defeat as she whispered “Okay,” he vowed then and there he would do everything in his power to protect his little fairy from ever feeling this way again.

Her dumb fucking asshole dad.

Grasping her hand, he squeezed until sad eyes swung to his. “It’s gonna be okay, honeybun. I swear. I’m gonna keep you safe. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. And these guys ... they’re gonna be behind bars before you know it.”

She nodded rather unconvincingly.

Keeping her hand in his, he used his free one to pull up the security feed and forward the footage over to Cody. He then sent him a quick message to let him know that they were on their way.

So much for a fun first date.

***

H unter was trying to keep calm. It wasn’t working. His blood pressure had been rising ever since he’d stepped foot in Rachel’s apartment.

There was stuff everywhere. The place had been turned upside down. They hadn’t taken big items like the television, but anything of value that was small enough to fit into a bag was gone. Her laptop, jewelry, even her goddamn Kindle had been swiped.

Motherfuckers.

Cody came to a standstill next to Hunter, but he didn’t take his eyes off Rachel. She was on the other side of the room, perched on the edge of the couch, head in her hands.

“Looks like they staked the place out, waited for you guys to leave before entering.” Cody confirmed what Hunter already suspected.

“You manage to ID them?”

“Their faces were covered.” Cody sighed. “But going by their height, build, even their damn haircuts ... I’m positive it’s them. Though it’s gonna be tough to prove it.”

Again, Hunter suspected as much. It didn’t make it easier to digest though. Or make the pounding in his ears any less distracting.

“She’ll be staying at my place until this shit ends, but I need eyes on her during the day. They know where she lives, which means they know where she works.” Already trying to calculate how many days he could get off work, he continued. “I’ll see if I can take some leave, but I’d appreciate you checking on her as often as you can until I can speak to the chief.”

“Of course, man.” Cody slapped him on the back. “Anything you need. I’ll send Cat over too and speak to Zach about Libby stopping by when she can.”

“Appreciate it.” He nodded at his friend before striding over to Rachel.

Taking a seat next to her, he pulled her into his lap. She came willingly, curling up in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder.

“I want you to stay with me, honeybun. Just until this shit is over.” He felt her head move against him, nodding. “I’m gonna see if I can take some time off work. Maybe help you out at Fairy Baked. You got any work for me that doesn’t involve baking?”

Her head came up, her face just inches away from his. “You don’t have to do that, Hunter. I mean it. This is too much. I’ve taken up enough of your time as it is.”

Using the closeness to his advantage, he laid a quick, sloppy kiss on her lips. “Honeybun, trust me when I say this is more for me than it is for you.”

A flicker of light ignited in her eyes. “How did you work that out?” she sassed, not at all fazed by the kiss.

“I’m not gonna be able to concentrate knowing those scumbags are out there. So much so, I’ll be a liability at work. I think it’s best, not only for me but for the whole population of Woodvalley if I take some time off, don’t you think? For safety reasons.”

Damnit. The light was starting to dull again, sadness creeping back in as she dropped her head. “’Cause of me. It’s my fault.”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

This was exactly why he preferred to say as little as possible. Less chance of putting his giant foot in things.

“Baby, look at me.” When she didn’t comply, his knuckle nudged her chin. “Look, I’m sorry, as you may have noticed, I’m not very good at this whole communicating thing. I’m sorry if that came out wrong. I’m working on it, and I swear I’ll try harder to be clearer next time. What I meant was, yes, I wanna be able to keep an eye on you, but taking time off also means I get to spend more time with you. Which I want. Very much.”

Her face gentled. “You’re better than you think.”

“What?”

“At communicating. You’re better than you think.” Her hand came up to his face, her fingertips lightly tracing his jawline. “It’s your eyes. They give you away. When you’re mad, when you’re sad, when you want to ... kiss me. They’re your tell.”

Warmth spread from his chest all the way down to his stomach. “And what are they saying now, honeybun?”

“You want to kiss me again.” He didn’t realize how badly he needed to see her smile until her mouth tilted up. “And something else.”

He found himself chuckling, stealing a kiss on her fingertips as she dragged them back the other way over his prickly stubble. Holding each other’s gaze a while longer, he felt his chest tighten. A new feeling blooming inside of him.

“So it doesn’t bother you then ... my lack of words?” It was one of the many things his ex-wife had hated about him. And had no problem telling him. Over and over again.

Her head shook immediately. “No, sugar, it doesn’t bother me. It’s part of who you are. I don’t want you changing, especially not for me.”

He didn’t know how badly he needed to hear that. Not until this very second.

Letting his eyes close, he swallowed down all the new emotions clogging his throat and took a deep breath. It must have been at least a minute before he opened his eyes, and when he did, she was still looking at him, understanding clear on her face.

“We should go pack some stuff for you, honeybun,” he managed to ground out.

“Okay.”

***

R achel was in his bed . In his arms. He’d dreamed about this moment for a long time, yet nothing could have prepared him for the real thing.

The moment they’d arrived back at his, she’d asked where her room was. Hunter had directed her to his room, not because he wanted to trick her into sleeping with him but because it was the only room with a bed.

She’d of course cottoned on to that fact pretty quickly and insisted he sleep with her. And as much as he liked to believe he was a gentleman, nothing was going to stop him from taking her up on that offer. Especially not after what had just happened. She needed him.

So now here he was. Lying shirtless in his navy cotton sheets, a tiny fairy curled up against his chest, her warm breath on his skin doing nothing to combat the goosebumps breaking out over the entirety of his body.

“He wasn’t always a bad guy,” she whispered into the darkness.

His hand on her bare shoulder began gliding up and down the top of her arm again. “Yeah?” He knew she needed to get this out.

“Yeah. Before the ...” She stopped herself. He had a good idea what she was going to say though. “He saved up enough money to get me these ballet classes that I’d been begging for. And then, when it turned out I had like zero talent when it came to ballet, he tried his best to help me. Even went through my routines with me. And I got to say, seeing a man like Leo do a pirouette was really something to be seen.”

“What happened?” The question had been on the tip of Hunter’s tongue for a while, but it had never felt right to ask before now.

“My mom ...” Her voice wobbled. “She left. That’s when Leo started drinking.”

“Left?” He couldn’t hide the disgust in his tone.

She snuggled closer, as if trying to burrow under his skin. “Yeah. I was seven, I think. Maybe eight.” Jesus Christ. “It wasn’t much of a loss if I’m being honest ... not for me anyway. My mother had checked out long before she left us.”

Hunter squeezed his eyes shut. She was breaking his heart. Not having the first clue what to say to something like that, he kept quiet and waited for her to continue.

“At first, he would try and hide it. You know, empty whiskey bottles under the couch, behind cabinets, in the laundry hamper. But then one day, I don’t know, it’s like he stopped caring. Because they were everywhere.”

She paused, and Hunter found himself leaning to lay a kiss on top of her hair, quietly urging her to continue.

“Soon after that, he started forgetting to pick me up. From school that is. The ballet lessons were long forgotten. And ... then his friends started coming over. Friends I’d never seen before. Dodgy-looking dudes. Like greasy-looking, if you know what I mean.”

Hunter’s heart rate began to speed up. He didn’t like where this was going. But he needed to hear it. And she needed to say it. “What happened after that, honeybun?”

He felt more than he heard her swallow hard. “I think I was around ten the first time he hit me. Like really hit me. He didn’t punch me though—that would lead to too many questions. It was more like hard smacks. My back, my thighs, my arms ... anywhere marks could be covered by clothes. Oh, and he’d drag me around too. I remember he used to sink his fingers in and pull.”

A growl had started in his stomach and was now making his whole body shake. Rachel noticed, her head lifting. Even in the darkness, her sapphire eyes shimmered. But witnessing the sparkle wasn’t enough to stop him growling. Something she realized as she began to climb his big body.

Now fully on top, she curled herself around him, her head resting on his shoulder, her arms circling his torso, and her legs wrapping around his waist, until she was straddling him.

Goddamn, that feels good.

Good enough to plug the rage threatening to spill out of him and onto the mattress. And good enough to spark a new feeling. A much better one.

“I didn’t mean to upset you.” Sadness laced her quiet words.

His arms came around her. “It’s not you I’m upset with, honeybun.”

“I know.”

He didn’t need to ask her what came next; he could put two and two together. The gambling, the dodgy friends, and a lonely little girl.

But he did want to know how she got out. How he found her. Exactly how many times she’d had to pay off her asshole dad’s debts. So that’s what he asked.

Wrapped up in his hold, she told him everything. That she’d stashed cash away as soon as she was old enough to work. It wasn’t until she was seventeen she had enough to flee. And she did. Working. Saving. Moving from town to town until she ended up in Woodvalley. It was here she fulfilled her dream of opening her own bakery with the help from a lifetime of savings and a generous bank loan.

That was the good part, weaved into a whole lot of bad. Three times since she’d left home had Rachel’s dad found her. Not that she was purposely hiding. But three times he’d come around, asking for money to pay off debts. Each time, she agreed in order to get rid of him.

But this time she didn’t have the money.

When she finished, it wasn’t anger Hunter was feeling anymore. It was pride. He already knew she was strong, but now he knew she was a goddamn warrior.

“Baby?”

Her head finally lifted from his shoulder, and he got a look at the moisture pooled in her eyes. “Yeah?”

“You’re fucking incredible, you know that?”

Her head automatically started shaking, so much that the next thing he knew, his hands shot up to hold her still.

“You are. I can’t believe you went through what you did and came out the other side the amazing person you are now.”

The tears she’d been holding back finally fell, the first drops hitting his chest before his thumbs had a chance to swipe them away.

“I can’t do this anymore.” Her voice trembled. “Every time I think it’s over—that I’m finally free of him—he claws his way back into my life and screws everything up.”

No more. He didn’t know how yet, but he was going to find a way to fix this. He needed to make this right for her. She’d been through enough. One way or another, he would find a way to end this.

“He’s gone, honeybun. You heard Cody, he’s going away for a long time. And if he ever gets out, there’s no way he’s coming near you. I’ll make sure of it.”

A cute little snort left her. “He’ll be back. Meanwhile, look at the utter shitshow he’s left me with. Those guys broke into my apartment, Hunter. Went through all my things. And they’ll be back, I know they will. You know they will. As nice as my laptop and Kindle are, they’re sure as hell not worth twenty thousand dollars.”

She was right. They both knew they would be back. If they’d gone to the trouble of staking out her apartment, then it’s unlikely they would stop there. But for now, that would have to be tomorrow’s problem. Comforting Rachel had become his top priority.

Stretching up so he could lay another kiss on her, this time on her forehead, he stayed close as he spoke against soft skin. “No one is coming near you, honeybun. Not as long as I’m breathing. Do you hear me?”

She nodded but didn’t look convinced in the slightest. He didn’t take it personally. A lifetime of Leo would give anyone trust issues.

“How ’bout we get some sleep? You must be exhausted.” Another nod before she attempted to slide off him, but he held tight. “Hey, where do you think you’re going?”

“I was ... I thought we were gonna sleep?”

“You can’t sleep on me?” He was genuinely interested to know. He sure as hell could sleep like that. Would love to sleep like that.

She paused for a moment, obviously thinking. “Maybe? I guess so. I’ve never really tried sleeping on anyone before.”

“You wanna try now?” He felt his mouth stretch into a smile, one she mirrored a moment later.

“Okay.” She was back down, arranging herself on his big body. Her legs, which were no longer straddling him, came up and rested on top of his own.

Please don’t knee me in the balls.

Thankfully, she didn’t. But there was still time.