His Rebel Heart

by Amber Leigh Williams

  Words he’d spoken the night before came back to her. You had such fire...That fire consumed me...It stayed with me...

  James’s skin tightened under her hands. A second passed, then another, before he rolled onto his back and turned his head to her. His eyes were half lidded, the lines of sleep still etched across his face. His gaze was full of meaning, though, as he rolled closer to her, face-to-face. “Morning,” he greeted her.

  “Morning.” She smiled when the tip of his nose grazed hers just before his mouth came down. There he drank, nibbled. In return, she sipped, combing her nails over his bearded jaw. Drawing back regretfully, she whispered, “I should go.”

  “But I have bacon.”

  She smiled wide, feeling the engorged weight of his morning erection pressing against her thigh. Kissing him again, she lingered, tempting them both. “Kyle’s waiting at the inn. I promised to pick him up before ten.”

  James’s eyes sobered. He nodded. “I’d offer to join you, but the detective in residence might shoot me on sight.”

  She rose, looking for her clothes. They’d gone missing again in the night. She was incapable of sleeping in the same bed as James fully clothed while he...well, wasn’t. “I have something for you.”

  “Bacon?” he asked hopefully.

  She shook her head, dressing quickly. “Men and their priorities.”

  “I have other priorities, if you’re interested.”

  Chuckling, she left the room. A moment later, she returned with the manila folder. She stopped for a moment to drink him in.

  God, he had to be the sexiest man alive. With his tattooed arm raised above his head and the sheets bunched haphazardly at his waist, he looked like he belonged in some R-rated movie about pirates or gunslingers.

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, she waited until he sat up and then passed the folder to him. “It’s not breakfast. But it might be better.”

  He pursed his lips. He undid the clasp and shook out the folder’s contents onto the sheets. His hands stilled as Kyle’s face stared back at him.

  She tucked her hair behind her ear and reached over to flip some of the photos faceup, doing her best to put them in order. “I thought you might like to see some baby pictures. Well, toddler pictures, too. And some older pictures. Like this one, his first school portrait.”

  James took the photo and lowered his head to scan it silently.

  Adrian took a deep breath and reached for another. “This was when he was about two. Riding his first tricycle. And this one...this was right after his teeth started coming in. He got them a bit late, but they came in perfectly.” She watched James lift two fingers and rub the backs of them across his lips. “Ah...this was one of his first photos. He was still in the hospital.”

  James’s shoulders moved on a quiet breath as he lingered over the picture of the newborn. Adrian watched his thumb lift to stroke the baby’s cheek and blinked rapidly. Looking down at the pile of photos, she rifled through them. “I labeled most of them, the ones that weren’t self-explanatory. Like this one. This was his first ice cream cone. And this was his first horseback ride at The Farm on Stargazer...”

  “Adrian,” James said in a thick voice. “This is great,” he said, finally lifting his face to hers. He grinned wide, his eyes a bit wet around the edges.

  A bittersweet feeling passed between them with the collage of their son in front of them. She reached out and took James’s hand, squeezing it when he lowered his head again. “What about this one?” he asked, raising it to the light.

  And so they went through them all, one by one. There was laughter and a few tears on her part, though she hid them behind her hand, hoping he didn’t notice. She watched James turn into a proud papa, not for the first time, as he discovered Kyle as a baby, then a toddler and a young child. A Cub Scout. A soccer player. A junior mathlete.

  She shared anecdotes from the childhood James had missed, the notable to the silly. When they ran out of photos, he thanked her. As he began to gather them back into the folder, she stopped him. “No, no. These are yours.”

  His eyes snagged on hers, round. “Seriously?”

  “I have copies of everything,” she assured him. “I figured...you know, that you’d want these for your own records.”

  He kissed her. A quick, hard kiss she felt down to her toes. “You don’t know what you’re giving me,” he told her softly.

  “I do, actually,” she murmured, nodding. “I never thought I’d share him...especially not with you. But you’re his father. He deserves a father, James. A great one. I want him to have that. Just as I want you to have these.”

  He touched his brow to hers, closed his eyes. “He’s incredible. That’s all you.”

  Adrian gave him a small smile. “I’d love to take all credit for him...but I think there’s more of you in him than I’ve admitted to myself until now.” She felt emotions biting once more and shifted away from him. “There’s, uh...there’s just one other thing.” Reaching down to the floor into her purse, she pulled out Kyle’s birth announcement. “You can have this, too. It’s the last one. I mailed all the other copies when he was born.”

  James’s eyes raced over the newborn photos, the printed weight, the height and finally...the name. They stilled. It took him a moment to speak. “His middle name is Zachariah?”

  She bit her lip. “Yes. Kyle Zachariah Carlton.”

  When he remained silent, staring at the birth announcement, she reached for him. “James?”

  He blew out a breath. Realizing she’d broken the dam, she put her arms around him and held onto him. His brow lowered to her shoulder and stayed there for some time. Silence and emotions reigned until he inhaled and lifted his head. “You’ve kept him alive more than any of the rest of us. You know that?”

  She managed another smile. “I gave our son his name. We’ll see how much of your father lives in him as time goes on.”

  James beamed. “We?”

  She nodded. “Welcome to Daddyhood, hot rocks.”

  He chuckled, clutching the birth announcement. “Feels good here. Even better than I imagined.”

  Adrian watched him prop the birth announcement against the lamp on his bedside table so that it was angled toward the bed. The only photo memento in the room. “He’ll break your heart a little bit each day,” she warned as she stood, slinging her purse over her shoulder.

  “I’ll walk you home,” he told her as he climbed from the bed and grabbed his jeans from the floor.

  She insisted that she could manage the walk of shame just fine on her own. Still, minutes later, she found herself hand in hand with him, strolling back to the cottage. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell Kyle about us,” she said thoughtfully as they approached her door. “Not yet, anyway.”

  “Agreed.” She glanced at him, surprised, and he shrugged. “He’s just getting used to the fact that I’m his dad. It’s probably best that we give that time to sink in before telling him anything new.”

  And, by then, hopefully Adrian would have a better idea of where this thing with James was going. She turned to James on her doorstep. He pulled her in for a kiss, but she pushed back. “James. The neighbors...”

  “Screw ’em,” he said, then caught her lips and pulled her into him. After a moment’s tangle, she realized that her arms had wound their way around his neck and her knee was bent, her foot off the ground. She turned her face away, sighing a little. “Now go away so I can think properly.”

  He gave her a sexy smile. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Unlocking the door quickly she opened it and walked into the house. Shutting the door between them, she locked it, leaned against it and closed her eyes.

  Don’t hurt us, she thought. Please, don’t hurt us.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  MONDAY AFTERNOON, JAMES left th
e garage at a fairly decent hour considering the steady workload that seemed to be continuing through the second week of business for Bracken Mechanics. As a surprise for Adrian, he went by the local deli to pick up a meal for three. He owed her a decent meal, and he wanted to sit down with her and Kyle for dinner.

  It had been a while since he contemplated the meaning of family, what it was like to be a part of that solid unit he’d known in younger years. It had been even longer since he had felt any desire for it.

  Suddenly, he craved it—the bond, the unity, the ballast. He knew what it was like to be a family of three. And when he’d had it, he’d taken it for granted. With his lifestyle, he’d never thought he would consider building one for himself. Now he saw that window opening up.

  He didn’t know how long it would take to form that family. Adrian still shied away from any promises for the future, even after the weekend’s intimacy. Her trust was a fragile offering that he was determined to bolster and support until she knew with certainty that she could depend on him in every way. And Kyle knew that he could count on James the way he should’ve been able to all along.

  The pictures of Kyle and the visitation rights were gifts. They were the first step in James’s journey to becoming an integral part of both of their lives.

  If he’d had any doubt before Sunday night that he was slowly falling in love with Adrian all over again, it had gone up in flames. Great, big balls of flame.

  As he pulled into his driveway, James saw a game of baseball in progress on the green lawn of the cottage next door between Kyle, a kid James didn’t recognize who wore his hair in a Mohawk...and the cop.

  Savitt. James didn’t see Adrian’s car. She was still at work. Which explained Cole’s presence. Glancing at the deli bag in the passenger seat, James frowned.

  It’d be best to avoid Briar’s husband. But the degrees of separation between the woman James loved and Cole Savitt were limited. James wasn’t going to let the fact that he felt cagey around the man get in the way of becoming a part of Adrian’s and Kyle’s lives.

  Grabbing the bag, James got out of the car. Kyle waved and called a time-out and sprinted over. “Hi, James! What’s in the bag?”

  James held it up for his inspection. “Dinner.”

  Kyle’s face brightened. “You’re coming over for dinner?”

  Reaching out, James ran a hand over the boy’s hair and grinned. “Yeah, I am.”

  Kyle gave a whoop and a holler before grabbing James’s arm and tugging him onto the cottage lawn. “This is my best friend, Gavin,” he explained, gesturing to the kid with the Mohawk.

  “Nice to meet you, Gavin,” James said, nodding at the boy.

  Gavin lifted his hand in greeting. He had a striking face, hard-boned and unsmiling. Aside from the eye-catching hazel of the kid’s eyes, the resemblance between him and the child was as clear as the resemblance between James and Kyle.

  Cole walked over and planted a hand on Gavin’s shoulder. “Can we do something for you, Bracken?”

  James lifted a brow. “Don’t let me interrupt.”

  “You should join our game!” Kyle said.

  James watched Cole’s frown deepen. Then Gavin added, “That’s a good idea. That way, it’ll be two-on-two and Dad won’t have to pitch anymore.”

  “I’ve got no problem pitching,” Cole pointed out.

  Seeing Kyle’s pleading expression, James shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”

  The boys cheered. Cole sneered before Gavin tugged him back toward the bases. “We can be a team, Dad.”

  James clapped his hand on Kyle’s back, then hugged him around the shoulders as they followed the Savitts to take their places in the outfield. “Come on, kid. Let’s win this thing.”

  “You bet!” Kyle said, picking up his glove and handing James an extra. “Here. This is my lucky one.”

  James smiled over the battered glove as he turned it in his hands. “Thanks. You wanna pitch?”

  “Sure,” Kyle decided. “We can take turns.”

  James hadn’t counted on the game being quite so physical. Kyle and Gavin played hard, going so far as to tackle each other to tag one or the other out. And it seemed to be Cole’s sole ambition to keep James off the bases. In answer, James swung for the fences and managed several runs and stolen bases.

  It wasn’t until Adrian’s car rolled into the drive that the cop took it a step further. As James attempted to steal third, Cole shouted for the pitcher, Gavin, to throw the ball. He caught it on a flying leap before barreling into James and tackling him to the ground. James tasted grass and dirt. It took a moment for the wind to come back into his lungs. It was then that Cole’s elbow dug into his stomach and James wheezed.

  A voice in his ear, close and menacing, said in an undertone, “That’s what you get when you play dirty, asshole.”

  As soon as James regained his breath, he crawled to his hands and knees and glared at his opponent. “It’s you who’s breaking out the dirty plays, cop.”

  “Hey!”

  Adrian’s voice brought both Cole’s and James’s heads around. “Everything okay over there?” she asked.

  “It’s fine,” Cole told her as James slowly gained his feet. “Just teaching your man here a lesson.”

  James spun on him. “What the hell’s your problem?”

  Cole raised a brow. “Oh, I’ll tell you what my problem is, Ghostrider. I’m not one to sit back and watch Adrian get herself into a situation she’ll regret.”

  “Who’s Ghostrider?” Kyle asked.

  James looked over to see that he and Gavin were standing close by, listening intently to the heated exchange.

  Adrian walked up behind them. “You boys go on inside and wash up,” she told them, eyeing the men grimly as she ushered Kyle and Gavin toward the house. She waited until they were out of earshot before planting her hands on her hips and rounding on the others. “Are you kidding me, behaving this way in front of the kids? Cole, you at least should know better.”

  James’s head kicked back at the insult. “Hey—”

  “Sorry I had to bust Bracken’s chops in front of the boys,” Cole admitted. “But, Adrian, you’ve got a right to know who this guy really is.”

  “Yo, Captain Rogers,” James interrupted, “sorry to burst your bubble, but the lady’s already heard everything from me.”

  Adrian lifted her shoulders. “Cole, I appreciate your concern. More than you know. But James is right. I know everything about what happened in Huntsville. And you should know that I can take care of myself.”

  Cole jerked his chin toward her. “Did he tell you about the drugs he was trafficking?”

  “You’re out of line, Savitt,” James said darkly.

  “Drugs?” Adrian asked, looking from Cole to James. “You said you didn’t have anything to do with drugs.”

  “I didn’t,” James told her.

  “Oh, yeah?” Cole asked. “Then why, a few months after you got out of the game, did my partner tie the Harbuck cousins and their mountain warehouse to a Columbian drug lord when they found two hundred grams of cocaine in one of their wrecked stolen vehicles?”

  James’s heart pounded. “I didn’t know about the drugs.” He looked to Adrian. Her face had fallen and she was staring at him, aghast. “Adrian, I swear. I didn’t know anything about the coke until a couple of weeks before I left. That’s one of the reasons I left. They’d hidden the cocaine in the cars without telling me. They knew I wouldn’t do the job if I found out I was being used to transport the stuff.”

  She blinked. He saw the trust, that fragile thing she’d placed gingerly in his hands, dim to obscurity as her gaze lowered to the grass between them.

  James felt his world tip off axis and took a step toward her. “Adrian, baby—”

  Adrian stopped him by backing a
way, holding her hand up. “Wait. Just wait.”

  “Guess you should have been a little more truthful, Bracken.”

  James took a deep breath and expelled it through his nostrils before rounding on Cole again. “You couldn’t keep your nose in your own damn business?”

  “This is my business,” Cole asserted. “You’re not exactly the kind of guy I’d want hanging around my boy, either.”

  James jerked his thumb in the direction the boys had gone. “Oh, you mean the kid with the Mohawk?”

  When Cole took a threatening step toward James, Adrian thrust herself between them. “That’s enough!” she said. When James edged forward, she threw her shoulder into his chest to back him up again. “This is ridiculous. The boys, the neighbors...they’re all watching you two act like idiots.” Glaring at James, she jerked her finger in his face. “Back off now!”

  James sent Cole one last challenging look before backing off a step. The man appeared satisfied until Adrian started in on him. “Go home,” she told Cole sternly. “Honestly, what would Briar say if she knew you were picking a fight in front of the kids?”

  Cole had the decency to look somewhat chagrined. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I’m just trying to do what’s right. For you. For Kyle. I want you both to be okay.”

  “Thank you,” Adrian said in resignation. “But right now I need you to go.”

  Cole scanned her closely, as if he didn’t think she could handle James without him. When she didn’t waver, he drew his shoulders back. “I’ll get Gavin. Call if you need anything.” With that, he shouldered passed James and walked to the cottage.

  Adrian stood with her back to James for several, silent seconds. Then she spun on her heel. Without looking at him, she edged around him toward the house.

  He reached for her again. “Adrian—”

  “I need some time,” she said simply, still not meeting his eye.

  “You have to believe me,” he told her, winding an arm around her waist and turning her to face him. “I didn’t know about the drugs.”

  Adrian closed her eyes and shook her head. Pulling his arm away from her without another word, she walked away.