Chapter 2 #2
I chose not to tell Mrs. Hutchinson about the incident. What could I say? He came up behind me and touched my hips. He was the son of a powerful man. I was a housekeeper. It would sound like nothing to most people. So I kept it to myself and decided to avoid Hoffman as much as possible.
The one thing I’d strived to do for ten years was to never let Callie see when I was worried or anxious.
My mom died when I was young, but I remember her mood swings and how on edge they’d put me as a kid.
The worst day of my childhood, other than her death, was the day she’d locked me in a closet for five hours because I’d had a tantrum.
My dad had returned home from work and lost his ever-loving mind to find me locked away.
He hired a nanny, and I was never left alone with my mother again.
But I still had to endure her mood swings, and I never wanted that for Callie, not even in the smallest sense.
I pasted on a bright smile when I entered Regan and Thane Adair’s home to pick up my daughter. Thane Adair was an architect, and he’d designed his and his siblings’ fancy homes on a stretch of coastal land outside Ardnoch.
He had two children, Lewis and Eilidh, but he’d been widowed when Eilidh was a baby. When Regan visited her sister in Ardnoch, Thane hired her as his kids’ nanny. They’d fallen in love, despite the thirteen-year age gap, and Lewis and Eilidh now called Regan Mum.
The auburn-haired beauty was a supermom.
Seriously, Regan could multitask at inhuman levels.
It was impressive. Usually, I adored her and all she’d done for me and Callie since we arrived in Ardnoch.
But as Callie excitedly told me about wanting to go to tae kwon do two times a week with Lewis, I felt a teeny bit resentful toward Regan as she stood in her fancy big ocean-front house.
Regan was normally considerate, but it hadn’t seemed to occur to her that sending Callie to martial arts classes would be a strain on my resources.
Still, it wasn’t her fault, I reminded myself. Callie had jumped on the idea as soon as Lewis started talking about it. Regan had only encouraged it, thinking it was a good thing.
And it was.
I wanted Callie to have interests and passions, and being able to defend herself was an awesome idea.
It was just … expensive.
“It’s ￡40 for the first class to see if I like it. And then if I do, it’s ￡50 a month. That’s okay, right?” Callie asked as I drove away from the Adair homes down a narrow country lane toward the main road.
“Uh-huh.” I grinned at her, not wanting her to see my internal anxiety.
Monroe had helped us get a steal on a rental property on the main thoroughfare of the village.
Normally, the rent on such a place would be way outside my price range, but the cottage belonged to Brodan’s brother-in-law.
And since Brodan adored his very pregnant wife, Monroe, and she, thankfully, adored me and Callie, they’d hooked us up.
However, since moving into the lovely cottage on Castle Street, I think Callie had gotten the idea that we were doing better financially than we were.
I wanted her to think that. I wanted her to feel secure and safe.
But it had its drawbacks.
“Lewis said we’d start as white belts or at tenth gup.
I don’t know what that means yet, but he said the next rank after that is a white belt with yellow tips, and he wants to get that faster than anyone else.
I never knew he was so competitive.” She giggled.
“He’s gonna be so bummed when I get yellow tips before him! ”
Hearing the joy and excitement in her voice, I realized there was no way out of this. I’d have to find more baking jobs every month to cover the extra cost. Or stop using the hairstylists on the estate. I got a mega staff discount, but not using them would probably cover the costs of the classes.
So lost in my thoughts, it took me a second to realize my car was jerking.
“Mom?”
I glanced at Callie to see her gripping the seat, her smile gone as the car jerked harder three more times.
Crap!
“It’s okay,” I reassured her calmly as I guided the car onto the side of the road seconds before it violently jerked a few more times and then hissed to a stop. “We’re okay.”
“I think we should get out.”
Nodding, I remembered my purse as Callie grabbed her backpack and we bailed. I wasn’t even going to pretend to look under the hood because I was clueless about cars.
“I’ll call Regan,” I said as an SUV coming toward us slowed.
“Isn’t that Walker’s car?” Callie asked. Her face lit up. “That is Walker!” She waved her arms, hailing him.
Great.
Two rescues in one day?
Wearing his perpetually handsome stone-faced expression, Walker slowly drove his SUV onto our side of the road and parked in front of my dead car.
I tried to ignore the flutter in my belly as he stepped out of the vehicle with those long legs.
While I liked the black suit that made him look more like a billionaire playboy than a security guard, I liked his off-work uniform of tees and jeans more.
His T-shirts were always tight at the biceps, and I had a thing for his arms. Especially his forearms. They were all strong and veiny.
He had great hands too. Long fingers, big knuckles.
I’d imagined those hands on my body more times than I cared to admit.
God, I needed help.
Trying not to ogle him, I gave Walker a wide smile that I didn’t feel like giving anybody. But for Callie’s sake, I was going to pretend like our car dying was not a big deal. It was a huge deal. I did not know how I’d pay for repairs. The butterflies Walker inspired turned to anxious knots.
“We meet again,” I said breezily.
Walker’s gaze drifted over me and Callie as if inspecting us for injury. “What happened?”
Callie shrugged emphatically. “It started jerking and then it died.”
He looked at me.
I shrugged too. “What Cal said. I was going to call Regan, but you showed first. If you’re on your way somewhere …” Was he on his way to one of his casual dates?
“It’s not a problem.” He whipped out his cell from his ass pocket, hit a button, and held it to his ear.
“Joe, it’s Walk … aye, look, I need you to send a recovery vehicle to the A949 just outside Caelmore.
A friend’s car has broken down.” He gave Joe, whom I had a sneaking suspicion was Joe the head mechanic at Ardnoch, my car details.
Crap.
As soon as he hung up, I spoke before he could. “You didn’t have to do that. I could have called for a recovery vehicle.”
“It’s done.” Walker gestured toward his SUV. “Jump in. I’ll take you home.”
Being stuck in proximity again with him so soon after he’d basically rejected my offer for “cake” on Saturday did not appeal to me. “We really don’t—”
“Sloane.”
I clamped my lips shut at the stern way he said my name.
Fine. For Callie’s sake, I wouldn’t argue over accepting his help.
I muttered thanks under my breath as I passed him, and I could have sworn I heard him snort. But when I looked back at him, his face was expressionless.
As I climbed into the passenger seat of Walker’s very nice Range Rover, I glanced behind me at Callie to make sure she was settled. Walker got in and closed his door. “Everyone belted in?” he asked.
“Callie?” I grinned at her smile as she put on her seat belt and then shimmied in her seat.
“This is comfy,” she declared.
I shot Walker a look and saw the handsome bastard was almost smiling. Why was it only my kid who could crack his hard veneer? Why did he never shoot that smirk my way?
“Uh, my backpack’s zipper’s stuck,” Callie said as Walker did a U-turn.
“We’ll unstick it when we get home.”
“I need a drink.”
“Now? You can’t wait ten minutes?”
“Not really.”
Sighing, I unclipped my belt and stretched between the front seats to look at her backpack.
“Careful,” Walker murmured.
“Yeah, will be,” I assured him as I huffed, trying to squeeze through enough to yank on the zipper. Unsuccessful, I released it back to Callie. “I’ll look at it when we get home.”
Please, please be fixable. I just bought that backpack.
As I tried to unwedge my shoulders from between the passenger and driver’s seat, I caught my boobs against Walker’s hard shoulder and sucked in a breath at the contact.
His eyes shot to mine for a few seconds, and there was a look of such heat in them, I froze like a deer in headlights. Blood rushed to my ears.
Then he looked away just as abruptly, and when he glanced at me again, the heat had been replaced by indifference. And there I was imagining things again, like Walker giving me sexy eyes.
Disappointed, I settled back into my seat and clipped myself in.
“I’ll look at your bag,” Walker said to Callie in the rearview mirror.
If I’d been a fanciful sort, I would’ve said his voice was gruffer than usual. But this was Walker Ironside. I was beginning to think I could walk around naked in front of him and he wouldn’t even blink.
Thankfully, Callie kept up most of the conversation as we made the short drive into Ardnoch.
My once quiet and reserved daughter had really come out of her shell.
Because her father was a total asshole (and she’d never met her grandfather), Callie had never been comfortable around men.
However, with Walker, she chatted easily.
She told him all about her upcoming adventure into the world of tae kwon do.
I tried to focus on her excitement about it again and not worry myself over the cost of that on top of car repairs.
“I’m gonna be as cool as Robyn when I’m older. Lewis says she’s a martial artist and she, like, kicked some people’s butts, and she’s been shot and she saved her husband’s life. She’s like a real-life superhero!”
We’d all heard the stories about Lachlan’s wife, Robyn, Regan’s sister.
Lewis’s aunt was kind of legendary around these parts.
The woman was truly badass. A part of me felt a prick of jealousy at Callie’s hero worship, but mostly, I felt grateful I could surround my daughter with women who were such incredible role models.
As we pulled up outside our cottage on Castle Street, Walker turned to look at me as he asked Callie, “When is your first class?”
“Next Monday. Regan is gonna drive us there and bring us back ’cause it’s in Inverness. We’ve only been to Inverness a few times, and I like the bridge we cross over to get to it, so even the car ride will be cool. As long as Eilidh doesn’t hog the music.”
The whole time my daughter rambled, I held Walker’s gaze, trying to give nothing away.
However, I sometimes wondered if the man could strip back my layers and see everything I was feeling.
If that was true, he now knew of at least five different sexual fantasies I had about him.
Shaking off that thought, I gave him a small smile. “Thanks for the ride. Can you text me Joe’s number so I can deal with the car?”
“Don’t worry about the car.”
“Text me Joe’s number,” I reiterated with as much sternness as I was capable of. I jumped out, hurrying around the car to get Callie, but Walker was already out and opening her door.
“Let’s see that backpack.” He gestured to her yellow floral school bag.
Callie held it out to him, and the capable Scot unstuck it in seconds.
“Thanks!” Callie cried, looking up at Walker as if he’d saved her from something life-threatening. I did not want my kid getting attached to this guy unless he intended to get attached back. And all of Ardnoch knew that would not happen.
“Yeah, thanks,” I offered quietly, because I was grateful. Really. I was.
“Can we talk a second?” Walker asked pointedly.
After this morning, I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk alone with Walker again so soon.
The incident with Hoffman had distracted my thoughts from Walker and the elevator, but now that Walker was in front of me, I felt rejected.
We both knew I had put myself out there with my invitation. An invitation he’d ignored.
Ugh. It had been one crappy, crappy day. Handing Callie the house keys, I told her to let herself in.
She grabbed them, grinned at Walker, and waved adorably as she called, “Bye, Walker!”
“Bye, wee yin,” he murmured, wearing that tiny, imperceptible smile again.
Once Callie disappeared inside the house, I gave Walker a tight-lipped look, my eyes saying, “So, what is it?”
To my shock, he looked almost uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and scowled at me. “The tae kwon do classes are a good idea. A girl should learn to defend herself.”
Not what I’d been expecting. “Okay.”
“It’s a lot, though. I train in jujitsu, and there’s an investment involved.”
Embarrassment heated my cheeks as I realized Walker had seen right through me.
“I’d love to sponsor Callie’s training.”
Gaping at Walker, I didn’t know what to say.
Usually, I’d smile and thank him and then tell him it was unnecessary.
But I didn’t feel like smiling. My pride stung.
I’d had the day from hell. He’d already rescued us (me twice!), and now he was insinuating (correctly) that I might not be able to afford to send Callie to tae kwon do.
“That won’t be necessary, but thank you.” Even to me, I sounded cold.
Walker scowled. “Sloane, I meant no—”
His phone rang, and I glanced down at it clutched in his hand. He sighed in irritation and brought the screen up.
A woman’s name flashed across it.
Of course it did.
“Chloe is calling, so I’ll let you get that. See you around.” I turned and took the two steps required to push open my front door. He didn’t stop me, and I locked it behind me.
I didn’t know what agitated me more: that he’d jabbed at my pride and need to take care of my daughter by myself.
Or that Walker might actually be dating that Chloe person.