Chapter 7
LAUREN
Dean deserves an explanation. He drove me back here with no questions asked. Then he quietly checked the property, not asking what or who he was looking for.
For ten years it’s been just me and Kieren, and I’m not used to sharing my problems. Now, with Dean’s hand over mine and his calm gaze on me, I find I want to share. I want to open up to Dean. But where to begin?
I let out a long sigh. “My ex-husband, Kieren’s father, isn’t a good man.”
“Did he hurt you?” Dean’s voice is strained, and his body tenses.
“No.” I shake my head. “He tried to run me off the road last time he was out.”
Dean’s eyebrows shoot into his head. “Out?”
“He’s been in prison, but he was released this week on early parole.” I shake my head, still not believing he has everyone fooled that he’s reformed.
“That’s why you were nervous at the hospital.” Dean’s voice turns gentle, and his care cracks something open inside of me. I’m not used to being vulnerable with anyone, but it feels safe to open up to Dean.
“I’d just found out.”
“And the call tonight at dinner?” Dean runs his thumbs in circles over my hands.
“It was the parole officer. Mark didn’t show up for his meeting this afternoon.”
Dean’s thumbs pause, and his voice goes tense. “You think he might come for you?”
“It’s not me he’ll come for.” My gaze darts down the hall to Kieren’s room. “He wants his son. And he’ll do anything to get him.”
“Including hurting you.”
I lower my head and nod, and Dean runs his hands up my arms, then tilts my chin up. “He’s not going to hurt you, Lauren. Not while I’m here.”
I wish I could believe him, but he doesn’t know Mark.
“He’ll find us. That’s why I move every few years.
He has contacts, a network of people, and none of them are good.
I thought I had more time. He should be in for another two years.
He’s got this idea that Kieren should join him in his ‘business’ as he calls it.
But whatever dodgy dealings he’s into, I can’t have Kieren going down that road.
He’s so vulnerable at this age, so impressionable.
I can’t have him growing up like his father. ”
Dean nods and gives my shoulders a squeeze. “Pack your bags.”
I stare at him, confused. “Why?”
“You’re coming to stay with me. Both of you.” His voice is firm.
“I can’t stay with you. I don’t even know you.”
Dean pulls me against him. His hard muscles graze my soft places, and heat pools between my legs. Even at a time like this, my body responds to him.
“Would it help if we did this first?”
His lips crash into mine, warm and insistent. There’s a moment of shock, then my mouth responds.
It’s been years since I kissed a man, but my lips know what to do and my body craves more.
I go up on tiptoe to get a better angle and to wrap my hand around Dean’s neck.
My fingers tangle in his hair, and my body molds to his.
And for a blissful moment, there is nothing in this world but the two of us and the sparks of heat flaring in my body from every place that we’re touching.
I’d forgotten what it’s like to want a man, to want to open up and be vulnerable and to get lost in all these sensations.
I’m panting when we break away and am surprised to find we’re still in my kitchen. Reality crashes back around me, and fear slices into my chest, but the fear is a little less. The pounding of my heart is from the kiss rather than the anxiety about the situation.
Dean is staring at me intensely, his hands on my shoulders. “I’m looking after you now, Lauren. You and Kieren.”
The words sink in, and the fear abates a little more. After all these years of looking after myself, it’s a relief to share the burden. But it can’t be this easy.
“Where do you even live? I have to work and there’s school…”
“I’m in a cabin a little up the mountain. I’ve got two spare rooms. You can still get to work.”
“But…” It seems extreme to uproot Kieren again and go to a stranger’s house. I don’t even know if Mark is coming here. He may not have found us. This could all be me being paranoid.
“I can’t move Kieren like that. We’ve only just got settled here. He has his gaming PC…”
Before I can finish my sentence, Dean strides down the hallway and into Kieren’s room.
He gets in his peripheral vision, and Kieren slides his headphones off straight away. He glances between me and Dean, waiting for an explanation.
“You and your mom are coming to stay with me for a while in my cabin.”
Kieren nods. “Okay.”
“You won’t be able to take this.” Dean indicates the gaming set-up. “I don’t have a gaming console of any kind. You going to be cool with that?”
Kieren nods, not taking his eyes off Dean. “Okay.”
My eyes widen. The gaming desk is always the first thing Kieren unpacks when we move.
“Good,” says Dean. “Pack your bags. Bring your schoolbooks and your gym gear. We roll out in ten minutes.”
“I gotta go, guys,” Kieren says into his headset.
A moment later, he’s got the computer turned off and is reaching for a bag.
I stare at Dean, amazed at the effect he’s had on my son. If I’d asked Kieren to turn his gaming computer off and pack, he would have told me to wait until his mission was over.
This must be what it’s like to have a partner, someone else to help with the parenting. Someone strong to play bad cop to my good cop. Someone to be a father.
“You okay?”
We’re in my room now, and I lean against the doorjamb. Dean peers down at me with concern. His lips are swollen from where I kissed him. I can’t tell him I was just fantasizing about him being Kieren’s dad.
“Yeah, just shaken.”
He gets the suitcase down from the high shelf in the closet for me, saving me from having to get the step ladder, which is what I usually do to reach the high things in the house.
As I throw clothes into the suitcase, my mind is in a whirl. My ex is out and has skipped parole. I’m running with my son to a stranger’s house for shelter, and all I can think about is how soon I can get that stranger’s lips on mine again.