“So I see,” she replied. “Hello, Trig. I’m Mrs. Hayes. Wanda.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, and held out my hand.
“My goodness, Zoe talks about you all the time,” she told me. “She’s been missing you quite a bit these past few days.”
I nodded and ruffled Zoe’s hair. “Well, I’m gonna do my best to make sure she doesn’t have the chance to miss me from now on.”
Mrs. Hayes glanced at Eva, who blushed. “I see,” she smiled.
The three of us chatted for a couple of minutes, then Eva and I each took one of Zoe’s hands and turned back down the walk toward Eva’s place. It was something I’d never imagined doing in my life, but damn if it didn’t feel just right.
Later that night, as Eva was about to put Zoe to bed, she leaned over to me and whispered, “If you want to, you can spend the night.”
“You think you can be quiet enough?” I whispered back.
Eva giggled and swatted at me. “Shh, you!”
That night, we made quiet love until we were so exhausted we fell asleep. The next morning, I woke early and wandered out into the living room to find Zoe already up.
“Hi, Trig,” she whispered. “You stayed!”
“I did,” I nodded. “And I need help with something before your mommy wakes up.”
Twenty minutes later, I told Zoe to go upstairs and get her mom. Zoe did as she was told, then ran back downstairs. “She’s coming!” she told me, wide-eyed with excitement.
Eva came down behind her in a tank top and sweats. Her hair was tousled and her face soft and sleepy. She was more beautiful than ever.
“Ta-da!” Zoe cried. “We made you breakfast!”
Sure, the toast was a little burned, and the eggs were overcooked. But I still think Eva liked it.
I had just gotten up from the table to get the two of us more coffee when the doorbell rang. Eva looked toward the front door and frowned. “Who could that be?” she asked.
“You want me to grab it?” I started toward the living room.
“No, that’s okay, I’ll go.” She got up from the table and went to the door. She opened it and then let out a startled cry. “What are you doing here?” I heard her say.
“Don’t I have a right to see my daughter?” came a voice from the other side.
Eva shot me a panicked look and backed away from the threshold to let a tall, well-dressed man enter. He was wearing a gray suit that looked pretty expensive, and a red tie that made him look like a politician, even though I thought I remembered Eva telling me he was an eye doc.
“Well, what have we here?” Zoe’s father said, looking over at the table where we sat.
He cast a disdainful look over me, his eyes stopping at the tattoos covering my arms. “I see. Is this the man you let babysit our daughter while you were out God knows where?” he barked at Eva.
If it hadn’t been for Zoe sitting there, this guy would have had a broken jaw to stop him from shooting off his fucking mouth. As it was, I simply stood up from the table, crossing my arms in a silent challenge.
“David,” Eva repeated. “What are you doing here?”
“I have a conference in Denver this weekend.” He glanced at me. “I called to tell you about it a few weeks ago. But someone else answered the phone. I’m presuming it was this gentleman here?” His tone was mocking. “Have you hired a criminal as your live-in nanny now?”
“So you decide to just show up unannounced?” Eva’s voice was shaking slightly. I didn’t know if it was from anger, or fear, or a combination of both.
“Do I need a formal invitation to see my little girl?” he retorted. He turned his gaze toward Zoe, who had slunk down in her chair. “Zoe, honey, come here and see your daddy!”
Zoe slowly slid down off the chair and stood. She hesitated for a second. But instead of going toward her father, she hid behind my leg, clinging to me.
“Zoe.” The man’s voice grew sharper. “Come here, please.”
“David, she hasn’t seen you in over two years,” Eva admonished him. “She barely knows you.”
“You should be telling her to obey me, Eva. Not encouraging her.” He glanced toward me with a sneer. “Instead of teaching her respect for her father, you see no problem leaving her with some gang member? If I can’t trust you to not to endanger our child, I may need to rethink the terms of our custody agreement.” His voice turned threatening. “I’m sure my lawyer will have quite a bit to say about this when I get back to Seattle.”
Eva’s face grew pale. “David. It’s not what you think. Trig is… a very respectable man. He would never hurt Zoe in a million years.” She seemed to cast about for an explanation that would satisfy him, but it seemed pretty clear to me what was going on.
I detached myself from Zoe and led her by the hand over to Eva. “Let me handle this,” I said in a low voice.
“Hey. Frat boy,” I called casually to Eva’s ex. “Let’s take this outside.”
I moved toward him and he took a step back, flinching. Seeing me smirk, he tried to recover his composure. “I am not going to fight you like some thug,” he scoffed.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” I sighed. “I’m not going to beat you up. It wouldn’t be worth the effort. I just want to talk to you. Man to man.” I snorted. “Or are you afraid of that, too?”
I knew a suit like him wouldn’t be able to take someone like me insulting his ego. I walked past him out the door, not bothering to look back to see if he’d follow me. A few seconds later, I heard the screen door slam behind me. I continued down the walk to the street and stopped next to a fancy black BMW SUV that had to be his rental.
“Nice car,” I remarked.
“It gets the job done,” he said smugly.
“So. What the fuck is your problem exactly?” I leaned against the car, waiting for his response.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I came to see my daughter. And what do I find?” He nodded toward the house. “My ex-wife has no problem letting tattooed thugs into her house.”
I crossed my arms. “You don’t give a shit about that. If you cared at all about Zoe, you’d have seen her recently enough that she wouldn’t be scared to death of you.”
“It’s not my fault that Eva decided to move a plane ride away,” he sniffed.
“You look like you can afford a plane ticket every once in a while.” I nodded toward the BMW. “Surely more than once every two years.”
“How often I see my daughter is none of your concern,” he barked. “And what is my concern is that Eva is doing a poor job of parenting.” He smiled nastily. “I’ll take her to court. And I’ll get custody of Zoe.”
I burst out laughing. “You know damn well you don’t want Zoe. You wouldn’t know what to do with her if you had her full-time. You just threatening court because you want to manipulate Eva.”
It seemed as clear as day what was going on. “You think if you threaten to take her to court, you can blackmail her into agreeing to anything you want to avoid the legal battle.”
His lips pursed into a thin line. “I simply can’t imagine why I would be paying Eva the amount of child support I am, when she is doing such a poor job of taking care of my daughter.”
“Aha.” It was about child support. He was trying to get out of paying it. Of fucking course.
I straightened and took a step toward him. “Well, Eva doesn’t need your fucking money.” Somehow, for Eva’s sake, I resisted grabbing the prick by the collar and throwing him to the ground.
“Here’s what’s gonna happen.” I poked a finger in his face. He flinched and reared back. “You are gonna get the fuck out of Eva and Zoe’s life. For good. In exchange, Eva agrees to you ending your child support payments. And you sign away your rights to the kid.”
I didn’t wait for him to answer. I knew what his decision would be. It was everything he wanted.
“Now,” I said, placing my hand on his chest and shoving him back against the SUV. “Get the fu
ck away from here. And don’t come back.” Turning on my heel, I stalked back up the sidewalk to Eva’s house, slamming the door behind me.
Eva was sitting on the couch, with Zoe in her lap, looking out the window. Zoe was sucking her thumb, her face half hidden in her mother’s chest.
“What happened?” she mouthed at me.
“It’s all good,” I glanced outside just in time to watch her ex-husband get in his car and drive away. “All taken care of.” I sat down next to them on the couch. “Hey, Zoe,” I said. “It’s a gorgeous day. What should the three of us do today?”
“Is Daddy gone?” she asked shyly.
“Yeah, he’s gone. He had some stuff he had to do. He said to tell you goodbye.”
Zoe buried her face in her mother’s neck for a moment, and Eva’s arms went around her as she rocked her gently.
Eventually, Zoe sat up and looked at me. “Could we go to the playground?” she asked.
I smiled. “Sure thing. I’ll push you on the swings. Sound good?”
She nodded. “Can we, Mom?”
Eva kissed Zoe on the forehead. “Of course, baby. Why don’t we finish up our breakfast, and then I’ll help you get ready.”
I didn’t get a chance to tell Eva what had happened until Zoe met some new little friends at the park and scampered off with them to play.
“How did you manage to get David to leave?” she asked me as we sat down on a bench to watch them.
“I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse,” I replied, lacing my fingers through hers.
“Did you threaten to kill him, or something?” I think she was only half-joking.
I chuckled. “No. I gave him what he wanted,” I shrugged. “I told him he was going to terminate his parental rights to Zoe, in exchange for which he wouldn’t have to pay child support anymore.”
Her eyes grew wide. “And he agreed to that?”
“He didn’t have to. I knew he’d take it. It’s probably what he’s wanted all along, right? He clearly doesn’t want to be a dad. Right now, Zoe’s just a monetary inconvenience. Take that away, and he’ll be more than happy to pretend she never happened.”
Eva was quiet. “My God. I can’t even imagine not having to deal with him anymore. But… even though he wasn’t paying me much, it was still money I needed.” She looked at me. “I’m not sure I can make it without his payments.”
I wrapped my arm around her. “Eva. We’ll do this together. I’ll help you. Zoe is better off without him. That’s all that matters.”
For a minute, Eva didn’t speak. The two of us just watched Zoe playing with her new friends. Finally, she lay her head quietly on my shoulder.
“You’re the real deal, aren’t you, Trig Jackson?”
“I’m just a man in love, Eva Van Buren. Always have been, always will be.”
22
Eva
Trig told me he was taking me out on a surprise date, and that I’d need a sitter. Mrs. Hayes was more than happy to oblige.
“Are you going out with that nice tattooed young man?” she’d asked when I called her about it.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard the phrase ‘nice tattooed young man’ before,” I laughed.
“He has kind eyes,” she replied, undeterred. “And he’s good for you, Eva. And Zoe loves him. That’s all I need to know.”
I thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Me, too,” I replied softly.
Zoe and I walked over to Mrs. Hayes’s house, then I came back to sit on the stoop and wait for Trig. He’d told me to wear jeans and casual attire.
Not long after I sat down, the roar of an engine sounded off in the distance. As it got louder, I broke into a wide grin.
By the time I walked down to curb to greet him, Trig had pulled up.
“Hey, princess,” he called over the bike’s idle.
“You’re riding again!” I cried.
“First time out,” he nodded with a grin. “Get on. I wanna take you somewhere.”
He unhooked the helmet that was strapped to his saddlebag and handed it to me. I took it and put it on, then climbed on behind him.
The smell of his leather cut, and the clean, masculine scent of his skin, brought back so many memories. Memories that were no longer painful, except if I thought too much about how many years we had spent needlessly apart.
I should have known where he was taking me, but I didn’t figure it out until we were almost halfway there. When I realized it, I snuggled closer to him, hugging him tight and softly kissing the back of his neck.
The hot springs.
It was the perfect place for our second first ride together.
There were a lot more people at the hot springs than I had remembered the first time we’d gone there together. But it was still the same mixture of couples, families with young children, and groups of teenagers showing off for each other. Like last time, we hadn’t brought bathing suits. But like last time, we weren’t there to swim and splash.
We parked the bike, and Trig produced all the necessary items for a picnic lunch from his side bags. He had clearly thought of everything, and I silently marveled at how my tattooed, bad boy biker was secretly a hopeless romantic.
We hiked along the rocks until we found a quiet, isolated spot with a view, and sat down to enjoy the sandwiches and other treats he’d brought.
“We should really bring Zoe here sometime,” I remarked as I took another bite of my sandwich. “She’s never seen a hot springs before.”
“Neither had her mama,” Trig reminded me. “Until I showed you.”
“It’s true.” Trig had lain back against a flat rock, and I lay next to him and snuggled into the crook of his arm. “You were thoughtful and romantic even then. Too bad I was too pig-headed to see it.”
“No regrets, princess,” he murmured. “The important thing is we’re together now.”
It was true. We were together now. And nothing would ever drive us apart again.
“So, can I ask you a question?” I said.
“‘Course. What’s up?”
“Well,” I said slowly. “It appears that I’m going to be the girlfriend of a motorcycle club member.”
“Nope,” he cut me off.
“What?”
“You’re going to be the old lady of the vice-president of an MC,” he grinned.
“‘Old lady’?” My eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“Don’t take it personally,” he smiled. “It’s just a label. Doesn’t mean anything.”
“Okay,” I said dubiously. “But, it occurs to me that I know next to nothing about what an… MC… actually is.” I frowned at him. “I mean, is it dangerous? Are you in danger?”
“Eva.” His voice was deep and rich. He turned to me and caressed my cheek. “I’m not going to lie to you. Sometimes I am in danger. But I don’t think the MC is what you think it is. There are families. Children. It’s about loyalty, and sticking together.”
“There are children?” I asked.
I had to admit to myself that I had wondered more than once how Zoe’s life might be impacted by the fact that the man I loved was an MC vice president.
“Yeah, of course.” He shrugged. “It’s a lot more family oriented than you might think. Look, you’ll meet some of the women. I think you’ll like them.” His face broke into a lopsided grin. “Seton, she’s with our president, Grey. She’s an apprentice chef at one of the restaurants in town. And Cherish…”
“Cherish?” I cocked my head. “That’s an interesting name.”
“Yeah. She’s pretty great, actually. She’s Levi’s old lady. She’s working on founding a women’s shelter here in town. You’d like both of them. And I know they’d like you.”
“Huh,” I mused. “That’s not exactly what I’d expected.”
“The point is,” he murmured into my neck, “Don’t worry. You’re gonna fit right in. And so is Zoe. It’ll all work out, Eva.” He grazed his lips along the skin of my throat, his
beard sending shivers through me. “Stop trying to control everything. We’re fine.”
I sighed. “Damnit, Trig. Stop being so reasonable.”
His laugh rumbled from deep in his throat. “You can’t handle it that I’m the stable one sometimes, can you?”
We sat and watched as the sun began to dip lower, covering the mesa in colors that were nothing short of dazzling.
“So,” Trig said. “I guess we gotta figure out our living situation. It’s gonna be pretty silly for us to continue going back and forth between our two houses, especially with Zoe.” His hand went to my hair, absently toying with a blond lock. “How attached are you to your house?”
“Not very,” I admitted. “Too many bad memories. And honestly, I’d like a new start.”
I felt him nod. “I wouldn’t mind that either,” he said. “How about we get rid of both places, and start fresh? As a family? That way, Zoe gets a say, too.”
As a family.
For a moment, I was too choked up to say anything. It was the family I had always wanted. I had the man of my dreams, and Zoe had a father figure who would never let her down. I knew that as well as I knew my own name.
Instead of answering, I propped myself up on my elbow until my face was just above his. Slowly, I bent my head and kissed him. The low rumble in his chest as our tongues met and began their dance sent a familiar jolt of heat through me, all the way to my core.
Just like the first time he had kissed me here, I felt my pulse begin to race, my skin shivering with anticipation and hope.
But this time, I knew, Caleb “Trig” Jackson was going home with me. And eventually, we would be making our own home.
Together.
I was sure it would be one hell of a ride.
THE END
Turn the page for an exclusive BONUS epilogue!
BONUS EPILOGUE
TRIG
“Babe, have you seen Zoe?” I asked Eva. “I’ve got something to give her before we leave.”
I was chafing like a motherfucker in the only suit I owned and hadn’t worn in years. It mostly fit, though it was a little tight in the shoulders. But for someone who was used to living strictly in jeans, T-shirts, and biker boots, the cuffs and stiff collar were making me feel almost claustrophobic. It was obvious to me why they called this a “monkey suit.”
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