Chapter 4
APRIL
My mouth drops open as realization hits me.
This is the guy. The sperm donor for my niece who’s calling himself her father, when all he did was spend one wild weekend with my sister.
He wasn’t there through her pregnancy, he wasn’t there when she gave birth or for the first year of Bailey’s life, and now he thinks he can claim Bailey as his daughter.
Neither were you, a voice inside me whispers, and guilt floods me. I push it down because that’s not the point right now.
The hot biker I’ve been salivating over for the last hour is the guy who’s got the one thing in the world that I want. My niece. The last remaining family I have. Without Bailey, I’m all alone in this world.
“You,” I whisper, “You’re Bailey’s father.”
His face sets in a grim line. The cheerful, relaxed guy from earlier disappears behind a mask of steel, and I regret the loss.
“You’re Bailey’s aunt. The one who’s been calling me and threatening to get custody.”
I nod, because he’s not wrong. I want my niece, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get her.
We stare at each other for a long time, and damn if he isn’t still the hottest man I’ve ever seen.
I push the thought aside.
He’s the man standing in the way of me and my niece. It doesn’t matter how much my body trembles with heat every time he brushes against me.
“Why are you here, April?”
His voice is hard, and I don’t blame him. It doesn’t look good turning up here, but I didn’t have many other choices.
“I came to talk.”
He folds his arms across his chest.
“Then talk.”
It comes out as a growl that makes my knees go weak.
Damn him. I’ve spent weeks rehearsing this moment, and now all I can think about is what it would feel like if those strong arms had me pinned to a bed.
My palms sweat, and I wipe them on my shorts.
“I just want to see my niece. She’s the only family I’ve got left. I thought if I came here and found you…”
I thought what? That if I explained my fucked up situation to him in person instead of letting him find out through the courts that he’d have some kind of empathy for me?
That he’d see how devoted an aunt I am and hand over my niece?
That I was hoping I’d find a man struggling to be a dad who’d be happy to hand over the baby to someone else?
But the way he’s looking at me with his gaze hard makes my heart sink.
It was stupid to think I could walk into town, find Bailey, and convince her dad that his daughter was better off with me.
“I just want to see my niece,” I say. “I miss her.”
His gaze softens, but he keeps his arms folded. “Why now? Where were you when her mother died?”
I wince at his question and look away.
I’ve just spent a carefree hour with this man.
We laughed together, and he made me feel things I haven’t felt in a long time.
He looked at me like I was someone worth looking at, someone desirable even.
Not scum, not a lowlife, and not someone to be pitied.
But as soon as he knows the truth about me, that will change.
He won’t look at me like a hungry man eyeing a juicy steak anymore, and he certainly won’t let me near his daughter.
“I was sick.” It’s a half truth. Some call it a sickness.
His eyes narrow. “I didn’t know Bailey existed. I never would have known if Karen hadn’t passed. You could have taken custody, and I’d have been none the wiser.”
“I couldn’t,” I mumble. “I wasn’t in a position to.”
The state wouldn’t let me is closer to the truth, and I thank them for their privacy laws that stop them from telling Grant the entire truth, because if they had, he wouldn’t still be here talking to me.
Grant’s still staring at me like I’m his mortal enemy, and I don’t blame him. It must look like I hijacked him in his own home, which is more or less what I planned to do.
The sound of a car pulling up outside has him frowning.
“Shit.”
He runs a hand through his shaggy hair, and I glance outside.
A vintage caddy pulls up out front. It’s a beautiful car with sleek edges and entirely out of place on the gravel drive of this cabin surrounded by woods.
There’s a baby seat in the back, and my heart leaps.
“Is that Bailey?” I say excitedly.
“Yes,” Grant grunts.
I stride to the window and then stop. “Is it okay if I see her?”
It seems a little too late to ask. I came to Wild because I found out that’s where she was. I planned to walk the streets until I found her.
“It’s not okay. None of this is okay, April.” He runs a hand through his hair, a hand that sent heat through my body only a short time ago.
“I don’t like it that you turned up here. You should have called.”
My mouth drops open, because I tried to call him several hundred times.
“You could have picked up your phone. I left you messages.”
He grunts again, and I know I’m right.
“I didn’t think you were going to just turn up.”
I fold my arms across my chest as anger simmers in my bones. “She’s my niece, Grant. I’m entitled to see her.”
Well, not technically. The courts said I can’t see her, but that was when I was sick. I’m better now. I just can’t afford the lawyer to make it official.
A woman gets out of the car and opens the back seat. There are two baby seats in there, and she unbuckles one and takes the cutest little girl out.
Her hair is dark and curly, just like Karen’s, and her smile is as mischievous, which is always what was getting Karen into trouble. My sister loved the wild life. She was wild, good-natured, fun, and pretty, a lethal combination for attracting men.
My eyes shine as I think about Karen, and I wipe a tear away.
I catch Grant looking at me, and his expression softens.
“I don’t like that you’re here,” he says. “But since you are, you can see your niece.”
My heart soars, and before I know what I’m doing I throw my arms around him. Grant’s as solid as the mighty trees that cover the mountain. He smells like baby milk and pine needles and beard oil, and it’s so distinctive that I want to bury my nose in his shoulder and breathe him in.
But it’s a stiff hug from his side, and I pull myself back before I embarrass myself by doing something stupid like sniffing him.
“Thank you,” I say.
“But you can’t stay here.” His voice is firm, and my good feeling evaporates.
Whatever connection me and Grant had going on, it’s been severed. He’s the father now, protecting his daughter, and it breaks my heart that the thing he’s protecting her from is me.
There’s a knock at the door, and it opens before Grant reaches it.
“Hey, princess.”
Bailey holds out her arms when she sees Grant and giggles. “Dadda,” she says, and my heart breaks. She’s talking now, and I missed it.
I missed all of it. The walking, the talking, her first smile. I wasn’t there for any of it. Grant’s right; what right do I have to be here now?
But all my doubts evaporate as I watch my niece, her easy smile and intelligent eyes as she tugs on Grant’s beard.
“She went down after lunch for two hours,” the woman says. She gives Grant a rundown on Bailey’s day and is about to leave when Grant stops her.
“Are you going back to HQ, Danni?”
“Yeah,” the woman says. “I need to close up the shop before I head home.”
He glances at me, and the woman looks inside for the first time. Her gaze meets mine, and she smiles.
“I didn’t know you had company.” She raises an eyebrow at Grant, and he shakes his head with a scowl.
“She’s not staying,” Grant says. “This is April, and she needs a bed for the night. Can you drop her at the clubhouse? I’ll call ahead and let the Prez know.”
I look between them with my heart sinking fast. I’m this close to my niece, but I’ve not been able to even touch her yet, and now I’m being sent away.
“It’s safe there,” says Grant. “There are rooms upstairs. You can get something to eat and stay the night, and I’ll drop you back in Hope tomorrow.”
He’s going to drop me back tomorrow. I stare at him, my heart heavy. All this was for nothing. But what did I expect? That he would just hand Bailey over?
Well, yeah. I hoped the new dad would be happy to hand over his burden. I didn’t expect to find a devoted father.
I hang my head because what choice do I have.
“Can’t I just spend some time with her first? Tomorrow morning?”
Grant stares at me long and hard, and in that look I see a spark of the connection we shared earlier, before he knew who I was.
“I’ll think about it.”
It’s the best I’m going to get out of him. Bailey’s pulling at his beard and Danni’s looking between us, probably wondering what the hell is going on but too polite to ask.
I grab my backpack and the fairy outfit I picked up for Bailey earlier.
“Here.” I hand him the Babyland shopping bag. “It’s a gift for my niece. I hope she likes it.”
Bailey grabs for the handles of the bag, and Grant takes it from me.
“Thank you.” It’s hard for him to say the words, but he manages to choke them out. “I’ll call HQ, but if you have any problems you call me.”
“Will you pick up your phone?”
A ghost of a smile appears on his lips before he remembers to be cross with me. But that smile gives me hope.
Maybe Grant will be different from every other judgy person I’ve ever come across. Maybe if I told him the truth, he’d let me have access to my niece. To give me some connection to the only family I’ve got left.