Chapter 8
DEAN
Lauren pulls up the comforter and fluffs the pillows, making the air mattress as homey as she can.
“Sure you don’t want to sleep in the bed with me?” she asks Kieren for the hundredth time.
“No Mom. I’ll be fine here.”
My cabin has three bedrooms, but I use one of them as my home gym.
Lauren is in the spare room with the double bed, but if I have my way, she’ll be in my bed soon enough.
Although I respect that with her son around, it’s not as easy as throwing her over my shoulder and tying her to the bedpost until she screams my name, which is what I’d like to do.
Instead, I’ve made up the spare room for Lauren, and Kieren has an air mattress on the floor of the gym.
Kieren’s bag is dumped next to the bed, and I’ve pushed my equipment to one side of the room.
“I work out at six tomorrow morning. You want to join me?”
“Yeah.” His eyes flash with enthusiasm. “I’m up for it.”
“Good. Get some sleep. I’ll see you early.”
I leave him and Lauren to settle in while I head back to the living room. Lauren wants to speak to him about what’s going on, so I leave them to it.
Besides, I have some phone calls to make.
Owen picks up on the first call. He’s a fellow veteran and also the town’s acting sheriff.
“Dean, what’s up?”
I explain the situation with Lauren, and he assures me he’ll be on the lookout for Mark.
“Do you think this has anything to do with the land grab?”
He’s referring to the suspicious activity on the Reilly property. Lexi turned up a few weeks ago to claim her father’s land, but someone wants to buy it from her and they’re using aggressive tactics. It’s since come to light that other property owners in the area have been approached.
“I don’t think so. By the sounds of it, Mark is a run of the mill thug. I doubt he has the resources or the patience for what we’re seeing at the Reilly’s place; expensive lawyers and playing a long game don’t sound like the man Lauren described. He has connections, but he’s still a thug.”
“Just be careful. It may be that whoever’s behind the land grab is more aggressive than we thought.”
“What do you mean?” I glance down the hallway. Lauren’s soft voice can be heard from Kieren’s room. “Aiden mentioned something about suspicious circumstances around Lexi’s father’s accident.”
“I’m trying to track the junkyard Vaughan’s car went to after the accident. It didn’t go to the local yard, which is unusual.”
“You think there was foul play?”
“Maybe. I want to inspect the car to be sure. But I have to do it on the down low. I don’t want word to get out that I’m reopening the case. If the person behind the land grab did tamper with his car, then they’re more dangerous than we first realized.”
“You need anything, you let me know,” I tell him.
“Same goes for you. I’ll keep a look out for Mark and will call if I see or hear anything.”
The next call I make is to Aiden. He runs security at Jake’s Retreat but has been kind of distracted lately, ever since Lexi rolled into town and claimed the Reilly inheritance. Then Aiden claimed Lexi.
I fill him in on the situation and ask him to get the guys on alert. There’s the official way to do things, through Owen and the law. Then there’s the unofficial network of veterans on the mountain who are well-trained and ready to act if needed. I may need both before this is over.
I finish the call just as Lauren comes into the living room, closing the door behind her.
“Is he settled?” I ask.
“He’ll be on his phone for a while, but he seems fine. Taking it in his stride.”
She seems tired, and I flick on the kettle. “You want an herbal tea?”
She joins me in the kitchen. “Let me get it. You’ve done so much.”
I catch her wrist, and she gasps at the touch. “You don’t need to look after everyone, Lauren.”
I spin her toward me and slide my arm around her waist. Damn, this woman feels good in my arms. She’s soft in all the places I’m hard, and I’m getting harder by the second.
Her gaze flicks to the shut door, and I release her. I get it. The last thing her son needs is to find me mauling his mother in the kitchen as soon as he leaves us alone.
“Go sit down,” I say gently. “I’ll bring the tea.”
Lauren sits on the couch with her feet tucked under her. She changed into gray sweatpants and a white cotton t-shirt. She looks vulnerable for once, and I long to protect her, to keep her and her son safe.
I never thought I wanted kids, but in the last few days, getting to know Kieren at the gym and his mother, I’m beginning to reassess.
Kieren’s a good kid, impressionable like Lauren fears, but all boys are at that age.
I wonder what it would be like to be in his life permanently, to guide him into manhood and see what kind of man he becomes.
I glance over at Lauren. I wonder if she feels it too, the shift that’s happening. That after all this is over, her family unit might be the three of us. And I like that.
I set the mugs on the table and sit down next to her. “You okay, Bo?”
She nods. “It’s nothing I haven’t been through before.
But this time…” she shakes her head. “The older Kieren gets, the more interested in him Mark gets. He didn’t want to know when he was a little boy.
But now he’s got this weird notion of his son going into business with him. It must be an ego thing.”
I slide my arm around her and pull her onto my lap. I don’t care if her son sees. When my woman needs reassurance and protection, I’m going to give it to her.
“I’ve called Owen, the sheriff and he’s on alert for any signs of Mark. I’ve also got a team of veterans ready to spring to action if needed, and half of them are ex-special forces. So whatever happens, I got you.”
She gives a thin smile. “Thank you. I hate to be a burden.”
I cut her off. “You’re not a burden, Lauren. You’re mine, and I protect what’s mine.”
She tilts her head sideways as if she doesn’t believe me. “You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough. I know you’re a good person and a great mother, and I know you do this to me.” I roll her across my lap, and she gasps as my hardness presses into her leg.
Her eyes widen and her lips part, and despite my good intentions of not mauling her when her son is in the room next door, I capture her lips in mine.
I can’t help myself. They’re the sweetest lips I’ve ever kissed.
Tentative, then passionate, and filling me with a kind of heat I’ve never experienced before.
Not just heat that makes my body ache for her, but warmth in my chest that makes my heart ache for her too.
My hands slide up her back and into her hair as I pull her toward me.
She shimmies around so she’s straddling me, and my dick leaks at every movement of her hips and every little moan that comes out of her mouth.
My fingers run over her throat and down her chest, and she gasps as I tweak a nipple through her top. I don’t dare speak or say her name, because I don’t want to break the spell.
For the first time, the lines fade from her forehead, and she’s living completely in the moment. Her expression is tortured and joyful, and I bet she hasn’t done anything so selfless in a long time.
I slide a hand under her ass and pull her hips toward me. She grinds against me, and her needy whimper turns into a cry.
Her eyes fly open, and the spell breaks. She covers her mouth as she slides off my lap, her gaze fixed on the closed door.
“We can’t…”
She’s panting and her cheeks are flushed, and a few more moments and she could have had the release she so desperately needs.
I’m sure Kieren has his headphones in while he watches videos, but I won’t push Lauren or make her feel uncomfortable. I want to claim Lauren more than anything, but when you’re looking at a lifetime with someone, there’s no rush.
My balls ache, and I won’t be able to sleep unless I crack one out, but I’m a patient man and Lauren is worth waiting for.
“I’m sorry...”
“Hey, no need to be. I’ll be here when you want to finish what we started, Bo.”
I cup her chin and kiss her gently on the lips, but pull away before we get carried away again.
“You want to watch a movie?”
“Sure.”
I pull her toward me, and she snuggles into my arms as if she belongs there, which she does. I keep one arm around my woman, and with the other I grab the remote.
Claiming Lauren would be the perfect evening, but holding her in my arms while watching a movie is a pretty good second.