Chapter 15
“Nothing like a crying baby to ruin your timing.”
Zane
I stare at the door I closed on Sloane’s mother. What a bitch! How dare she treat her daughter this way!
Anger courses through me. Parents should love and protect their children. Not treat them as cheap toys to be discarded when they’re no longer fun or useful.
I inhale a deep breath and force my muscles to relax. I am not taking my anger out on Sloane. Something tells me she’s had enough of people taking their anger out on her.
“Zane?”
I hate how small and uncertain Sloane’s voice sounds.
“Sorry,” I say as I turn around and approach her. “Let me put Adele down and then we’ll talk.”
Her eyes widen. “Talk?”
I settle my baby girl on my hip before kissing Sloane’s cheek. “Talk.”
I place Adele in her crib and wait to make certain she’s settled. Once it’s clear she’s asleep, I nab the baby monitor and tiptoe out of the room.
I half expect Sloane to be hiding in her bedroom, but when I reach the living room, she’s sitting on the couch with Boozer’s head in her lap. She scratches behind his ears as she stares outside.
I clear my throat. “Ahem.”
When she doesn’t respond, I try again. Also, unsuccessful.
I kneel in front of her and grasp her hands. “Come back to me, Sloane.”
She startles. “Oh, hey.”
I grin. “Where did you go?”
She shrugs. “Just thinking.”
“Does she always act this way?”
She widens her eyes and blinks a few times. Great. She’s going to pretend she doesn’t know what I’m talking about. I lift a brow and she sighs. All signs of rebellion leave her.
“Yeah.”
“What about your dad?”
“My dad?”
I squeeze her hands. “Your dad.”
She scowls. “I don’t know who he is.”
“What?”
“Mom never told me who he was. The only thing she ever said was he’s a player who dumped her when she got pregnant.”
Things are beginning to make sense now. No wonder Sloane always makes nasty comments about me. She’s lumped me together with her dad.
But I’m not the same as him. I didn’t run away when Daisy dumped Adele on my doorstep. I considered it a few times, but I didn’t do it. And there’s no way I’m letting my baby girl go now. She’s captured my heart. She’s mine.
“Your mom raised you alone?”
She snorts. “Raised? If you consider forgetting to feed me or refusing to buy me school supplies or moving from state to state, raising me, I guess she raised me.”
No wonder Sloane’s flaky. Her mom never taught her any better. Her mom never taught her anything. Except, how to be unreliable and unpredictable. I’ll cut her some slack the next time she’s late.
“I’m sorry for what you went through.”
She wrenches her hands from mine. “Do not pity me. I don’t need your pity.”
I raise my hands in the air. “I don’t pity you. I commiserate with you.”
“What do you know about it?” She snarls. “You with your perfect family. Your loving mother, your five brothers who would literally stand in front of a moving truck for you.”
I hold up a finger. “Technically, it was a car, not a truck.”
“This isn’t funny.” She leaps to her feet and Boozer yelps.
She starts pacing around the living room.
“I don’t have five brothers who rush to help me whenever life slaps me down.
There’s no one to buy me an entire room of baby stuff because I found out I’m a dad.
There’s no mom to change my baby’s diaper, so I don’t have to. ”
I stand and cross my arms over my chest. “I might have had five brothers, but I didn’t have a dad. He left when I was eleven.”
She screeches to a halt. “Your mom is divorced?”
“Divorced is a nice way of saying my dad abandoned us right before Eli’s sixteenth birthday and no one’s seen or heard from him since.”
“He doesn’t pay child support?”
“He hasn’t had a thing to do with us since he began his new family.”
Her eyes widen. “His new family?”
“And now you know why I can’t be a good dad.” The words slip out but I don’t regret them. It’s a relief to actually say the words out loud.
“Hold on. You think you can’t be a good dad because your dad abandoned you?”
“I didn’t have a good dad growing up. How would I know how to be one?”
“I might not have realized your dad left when you were young, but I do know you had great role models growing up.”
“Role models?”
She rolls her eyes. “Your brothers. Eli and Rhett. Those two would do anything for you.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Maybe not. But they were there for you. They showed you how to be a good man. And your mom would literally burn down the entire island for you.” She grasps my hands. “You know how to be a dad, Zane. Let me rephrase, you are a good dad.”
“I mess up all the time. You had to teach me how to change a diaper.”
“Have you ever left Adele crying in her crib?”
I rear back. “Of course not.”
“Have you ever not changed her diaper even though you didn’t know what you were doing?”
“I’m not letting her lay in her own filth.”
She smiles. “There you have it. You’re a good dad.” Her smile fades. “Trust me. I know. Because you’re doing the exact opposite of what my mom would do.” The sparkle in her dark brown eyes fades. “My mom would have left me on the porch if someone had abandoned me there.”
I place a hand on her cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m used to it.”
“It still has to hurt.”
She shrugs. “It sucks not having anyone during the holidays when everyone else is spending time with their families, but it’s not so bad. I get the best seats at the cinema.”
My heart breaks for her. She doesn’t have any family to spend the holidays with? Did she spend Thanksgiving alone?
She won’t be spending Christmas alone. Or any other holidays for that matter. Whether she’s my nanny or not, she’s welcome at the Raider table for the holidays.
“You’re spending Christmas with my family.”
“You can’t decide I’m spending the holiday with your family.”
“I can and I did.”
“I won’t be your charity case.”
“Who said anything about charity?”
“You’re inviting me to spend Christmas with you because you feel sorry for me.”
I growl. “I do not feel sorry for you.”
“Yeah, right.”
I palm her neck and pull her near. “I never knew how strong you were.”
“You’ve seen me lift a keg at the bar before.”
“Not what I meant, and you know it. You, Sloane Wilder, are one of the strongest people I know.”
Tears form in her eyes but she blinks them away. “Thank you, Zane Raider.”
“I want to kiss you.”
She looks up at me from beneath her eyelashes. “I won’t stop you.”
I don’t hesitate. I crush my lips to hers. She wraps her arms around my waist and presses her chest to mine. I moan at the feel of her hard nipples. I want to strip her bare and feel her nipples against my naked chest.
I’ve wanted Sloane for a long time. Ever since the first time she kicked me out of Rumrunner. But she’s avoided me when she wasn’t snarling at me. Turns out her dislike had nothing to do with me. She looked at me and saw her dad. No more. Now, she’ll see me.
“Let me in,” I demand.
She opens on a sigh and I thrust my tongue into her mouth. She tastes of mint and coffee. Underneath those tastes is sweet. Pure sweetness. I groan. I’ve always loved sweet things.
As I explore her mouth with my tongue, she rubs up against me. My cock hardens and lengthens at the feel of this soft woman pressing against it.
Bedroom. We should move this to my bedroom.
I dig my fingers into her hips and she immediately hops up and wraps her legs around my waist. Now her hot center is aligned with my hard cock. Perfect.
I begin walking toward my bedroom with her in my arms. I don’t stop kissing her. I can’t. Her sweet taste is addicting. Better than the most delicate treat from Pirate’s Pastries.
“Wah.”
Not now, baby girl. Go back to sleep.
“Wah!”
I wrench my lips from Sloane’s and rest my forehead against hers. “Sorry, I need to deal with Adele.”
Her eyes flutter open. They’re full of heat and passion. But then she scans the area and remembers where we are, who I am, and all hints of heat disappear.
She hops down. “It’s… I’m…” She doesn’t finish her thought before racing away.
I drop my chin to my chest. Shit. She regrets our kiss.
“WAH!”
At least one female in my life wants me.