by Anya Summers
When Liam finished nursing, she covered her breast and burped him. Her little man tended to get a little irate about needing to be burped when he would prefer to go right to sleep.
“That’s it, my love,” she murmured as she got a few out of him. He snuggled in her arms and it soothed her. Regardless of her concerns about living with Carter herself, she knew deep down it was the right thing to do for her son. Liam came first in everything.
They would have to set more parameters—like she absolutely did intend to work and support herself. So Carter could forget that one. But she would compromise with him. As long as he provided her the same courtesy, they would get along… somehow.
Rising from her chair with Liam secure against her chest, she side-stepped past Carter. He sat with his elbows on his knees on the edge of her bed. It was a queen-sized bed, more than large enough for her, but Carter was such a huge man that he made it appear almost doll-sized. Sliding her closet door open, Jenna withdrew her small tan suitcase to cart Liam’s things: clothes, blankets, washcloths, and his bedding. The sheer volume of items babies needed was amazing. Then there were his binkies, her breast pump, his diapers, wipes, lotion, soap, special detergent, bottles, and so much more.
She’d use the larger suitcase for her things. This was a tentative move, temporary even, to see if it would work out. She’d pack enough to get them through the first few days. A few days with an infant and Carter might toss them both out on their butts. She wouldn’t give this place up just yet, and then they’d see how things went.
“Hey, what’s all the hubbub?” Meghan, her bright, funny kid sister asked, strolling into Jenna’s room in her black and tan waitress getup. She’d been working as a waitress at one of the nearby resorts that Jenna could never seem to remember the name of, but it had ‘mountain’ something or other in it. Yeah, that whole pregnancy brain thing and mothers losing their minds a bit due to lack of sleep—it was a real thing. She could remember everything about her week with Carter. But for the life of her, Jenna didn’t have the foggiest idea what she’d eaten for breakfast that morning.
Meghan skidded to a halt at the sight of Carter perched on the bed. Meghan was a younger, shorter version of Jenna and gave Carter a glare chock full of disdain.
“You’re him,” Meghan said, studying Carter like he was one of her science experiments.
“I’m Liam’s father, yes,” Carter said and stood, holding out one of his mammoth hands for Meghan to shake.
Meghan glared at him for a moment with an eyebrow raised, probably wondering how quickly she could draw blood if it was warranted. Jenna loved her sister, but she was not a wallflower by any means.
“Meghan,” she finally muttered and accepted the proffered hand. Jenna was tempted to laugh at the idea of her younger, shorter sister going head to head with a man twice her size, but that was Meghan: she of the ‘take no prisoners’ variety.
“Why are you packing Liam’s clothes? What did you do? Did you threaten my sister?” Meghan accused, her hands curled into fists.
“Meghan, it’s nothing like that. Carter would like for Liam to live in his house. So we are moving in with him. The three of us,” Jenna explained, trying to quash a potential confrontation before it began.
“One, I’m not going. Two, is he forcing you? Say the word and I’ll call the cops.” Meghan directed her gaze her sister’s way. Jenna knew all she had to do was say the word and Meghan would cause problems. And make good on her threat to call the police. That was why she’d been able to leave her little sister in college while she’d worked on the island. Meghan had no problem taking care of herself—or others, for that matter.
“No. He’s not forcing me,” Jenna replied.
And then Carter said, “Call the police if you want. I’m sure my buddy Jackson would love to stop by and mediate.”
Jenna fought the urge to smack the man upside the head. Didn’t he realize his response was akin to dropping a match on lighter fluid when it came to her sister?
“Bring it, big guy. Even if you do have an in with the police, that doesn’t mean you can toss your weight around like you own the place because you don’t, I know the owner and you aren’t him. So why are you moving Liam and my sister to your house?” Meghan asked, shooting Carter an even frostier glare, ratcheting up the tension in the miniscule bedroom.
Jenna wanted to thunk her head against the wall and then get more than an hour of undisturbed sleep. Yet these two knuckleheads were arguing—and over her life.
The man didn’t back down. Not that Jenna expected him to, from past experience. He stood his ground and gave Meghan a rather direct and dismissive glance and a shrug of his massive shoulders. He said, “Because my son will live with me.”
“Just like that?” Meghan prodded, snapping her fingers. Jenna knew she should intercede. When her sister blew her gasket—which, thankfully, wasn’t often—rivers changed the course of their flow for days.
Carter blithely replied like he was swatting at a fly, “Yep. If I’d known about him sooner, he would already be there.”
“Meghan, can you stop interrogating him and help me please?” Jenna asked, a bit exasperated. Between holding Liam while she tried to pack and mediate a potential skirmish between these cotton-headed morons, she was liable to start knocking heads together. Starting with the sasquatch and man of the hour.
“Let me hold him while you get yourselves ready,” Carter ordered and approached her. His long legs ate up the miniscule distance in no time and he towered over her.
Jenna hesitated as she craned her neck and looked at him. Sweet heavens, he was still the most handsome man she’d ever met. His dark stubble was shorter than it had been on the island, only a day or two’s worth of growth. But his eyes were no less magnetic and drew her in until he was all she could see. Her body softened internally at his nearness. After so much time, her body couldn’t still want him, could it? She glanced at his firm lips, remembering the ways in which he’d been able to render her brainless with merely a kiss.
Fear churned in her breast and she clutched her sleeping son to her chest. She couldn’t go there with him again. The first time, watching him walk away, had almost destroyed her.
Her life was about her son and caring for him.
“Promise that you’re not going to leave without me,” she said and cursed that her voice trembled instead of sounding fierce as she intended.
That was her greatest fear. That he would take their son and shut her out. Jenna knew deep down it was an irrational fear but it was one that had woken her up at night. Carter was stronger, not only physically, but from the sheen on his boots she knew he came from money. Money equaled power. The power to legally take her son from her. And she would fight him—to the death if she had to—in order to keep Liam.
“Jenna, you know me. I would never do that to you. Hand him to me and get your things. I’ll wait,” Carter directed, his exasperation evident. He held out his hands to take Liam out of her arms.
Jenna hesitated a moment longer before she caved. On the island, she’d trusted Carter without question. Her dad had always said she needed to have a little faith. She couldn’t pack while holding Liam, at least not quickly. Grudgingly, she nodded and transferred her sleeping bundle into his father’s arms.
The two made a picture, that was for certain. The huge, six-and-a-half-foot cowboy cradling a ten-pound infant against his wide chest. The sight of Carter holding their son stirred her. He looked almost ridiculous. And masculine. And alpha to the freaking core of his being. But it was the wonder on his face as he studied their son and walked out of the room that gave her courage.
She understood the sentiment well. The overpowering and not a little frightening depth of love for her child. All told, Carter was handling the news much better than she had expected.
Meghan started tossing Jenna’s clothes into the larger suitcase.
“Are you sure about this?” Meghan whispered furiously, keeping her voice low while she r
emoved Liam’s clothes from the top drawer of the small dresser. The walls in this place were notoriously thin.
“No, not at all. But I do know it’s what’s best for Liam. He needs to know his father, Meghan. At least for now I think it’s the right choice. Long term, we’ll see,” Jenna replied quietly so only her sister could hear her response. She didn’t want to give Carter any ideas and make him think it wasn’t permanent. They had more than their fair share of issues to work out, with living together and raising Liam. She didn’t want to add to the pot.
Meghan nodded, her high blonde ponytail swinging, and replied with a whisper, “Pack what you need for now. I’m not going anywhere. If you go and it’s all a mistake, you can come back here.”
“You’re not coming with me?” Jenna asked, her voice louder and filled with more panic than she intended. Meghan was supposed to be her buffer against Carter. Without her sister’s presence, alone with Carter, she worried she would do something infinitely idiotic. Like fall for him again.
“No offense, but no. I have very little desire to live on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. As much as I love science and nature, here’s fine for me. Just get me the address for the ranch and I will still come watch Liam for you while you do your classes,” Meghan replied.
“Are you sure?” Jenna asked, hearing the whine in her own voice. It would be bad form to beg her sister to come stand guard and make sure she didn’t sleep with the father of her child. Especially with the man in question in the other room and only paper-thin walls between them. Jenna couldn’t give him the upper hand otherwise she’d drown. For Liam’s sake, everything had to be kept above board.
“One hundred percent,” Meghan replied with a shake of her head.
Carter walked back in and surveyed what she had packed so far. “I need to go get my truck. You have way too many things that we will need to take with us and I won’t risk him with our arms full.”
“Set him in his bassinet over there. We’ll need to take it with us, too. I hope that’s all right. And I have to get his diaper bag packed. We need the car seat base out of Meghan’s car. You sure you know what you’re getting into with all of this?” Jenna asked, glancing around the room at everything she still needed to pack.
“Jenna, I’m not backing out of this, now or ever. You may as well get used to it. We’re in each other’s lives from here on out. It’ll take me fifteen minutes or so to get my truck. But I will be back and then we can go,” Carter ordered, almost daring her to defy him. As much as she wanted to, Jenna just didn’t have the energy. Liam had barely let her sleep last night and she was functioning on fumes.
“If you want, I can drive you to your truck. I have to get to work anyhow, and that way we can just transfer the car seat base into your truck,” Meghan offered.
“I’d be much obliged,” Carter said, tipping his hat toward Meghan. The man looked every inch the gentleman cowboy, and heaven help Jenna, but her knees trembled at the sound of his voice.
“Let me grab my purse and we can leave. Jenna, call me if you need anything,” Meghan said, giving her a knowing stare. That was basically her sister saying, call me if the shit hits the fan and I’ll come raise hell and get you out. Jenna replied with a slight nod.
Then she watched the two of them, her petite sister, and the man she had loved once, leave the apartment. With Liam asleep in his bassinet, Jenna walked into the kitchen with his diaper bag, grabbing extra binkies, and finally surrendered to the tremors threatening to wrack her frame.
She leaned against the kitchen counter for support. Her life had felt like one crisis after another for so long. It shouldn’t be a surprise that it was all being upended yet again. What she wouldn’t give for the teensiest amount of stability and not to continually have the firm ground she thought she stood upon ripped out from beneath her.
Would she find that on Carter’s ranch? A place she could finally call home, a sense of security and peace of mind she’d never known? Especially now that it wasn’t all about her anymore, but making certain Liam had a stable environment to grow up and thrive in. She’d sacrifice herself, her own wants and needs, if it gave Liam a proper home.
That was her purpose in life. Liam. Nothing else mattered.
Frustrated—mainly with the situation and herself, because a part of her had dreamed about reuniting with Carter, had craved him in the dead of night—she shoved away from the counter and finished packing. She knew Carter well enough; he’d want to leave the moment he returned.
And Jenna was so tired, all she really wanted was a comfortable bed and her son soundly sleeping nearby.
* * *
Carter followed Jenna’s sister Meghan out of the apartment. She looked very much like a younger and shorter version of Jenna. She was no less disarming and beautiful than Jenna, but she was also much more ‘in your face’ defiant. The woman would drive him crazy if he had to contend with her in his home. He already had Dottie ordering him about daily. Perhaps it was good that she’d opted out of living on his ranch.
Jenna would be enough of a handful. Carter folded his long length into one of the smallest cars he’d ever seen, let alone ridden in. It was one of those mini Coopers in a brilliant candy apple red that had been built for people much smaller than him.
“Sorry about the fit,” Meghan murmured, a hint of laughter in her musical voice. She started the car and the engine made the entire vehicle buzz.
Chagrined over the ride and the company, he snorted. “No, you’re not. Look, I realize you don’t know me, but know that I don’t mean your sister any harm. I just believe that my son should live with me, and that means your sister needs to come too. Head west on Broadway to Willow. I’m parked at one of the meters there.”
Meghan gave a small nod, then pulled the car out onto the road before she responded, “All I will ask is that you be kind to her. She’s been through more than you can possibly imagine. Jenna’s the one who held our family together through thick and thin. And believe me when I say there’s been a lot of thin. She’s had the weight and burden of our family on her shoulders through crappy circumstances that anyone else would have buckled under. I understand your need to know your kid. And I have to say, I’m glad you feel that way. Jenna shouldn’t be alone in raising him.”
“But?” he asked, wondering what Meghan meant about the ‘thin’. From the moment he’d met Jenna, he’d wanted to be her protector, wanted her to place her trust fully in him. And she’d tried, he knew that, but there had been parts of herself she had held back from him and kept private.
“Hurt her, and there is no place you will be able to hide where I won’t find you and bury you,” Meghan said with utter surety.
“You’re threatening me?” He barked out a laugh. She was even smaller than Jenna, although her attitude was a bit more badass and a whole lot more defiant.
And then she swiveled her gaze toward him for a brief moment, whereupon he was able to see the one startling difference between her and her sister. Where Jenna’s eyes were vibrantly blue, her sister’s were a verdant forest green. She murmured, “That’s not a threat. It’s a promise.”
Carter could appreciate how protective Meghan was being of her sister. He applauded her efforts to that end. But he wasn’t going to hurt Jenna. Mayhap he’d push her buttons and try to get to the bottom of why she’d withheld Liam’s existence from him. Discover why they were living in Jackson. That was one little nugget he could start on now. He asked, as Meghan turned onto Willow, “So why are you here in Wyoming? Jenna said you lived in Florida.”
“I did. Graduated with my science degree this past May, and am now interning with The Alpine Science Institute that researches the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. They don’t offer a graduate degree but it’s the work I really want to do. So they will train me and I can earn credit toward another college degree.”
“Go about halfway down the street, my truck is the big navy blue Chevy. You like the mountains?” he enquired, making small talk not just wit
h Jenna’s sister but his son’s aunt. By his reckoning, that made her family, even if it was of the extended variety.
“Yep. I know it’s weird, being I had the Gulf of Mexico just outside my front door, but the mountains have always given me a peace that the ocean never did. And I happen to love the science and biology of mountains and want to study climate change so we as a society will have an idea of what to expect.”
“Well, my ranch is located in the Gros Ventre Valley, with a clear stretch view of the Tetons and the Sleeping Indian. If you change your mind about living spaces, you are always welcome.”
Meghan pulled her tiny car up behind his truck, parked what he had dubbed a baby carlet that wasn’t suitable for living in the mountains, and said, “Thanks for that, big guy. I think I’ll manage on my own just fine. Granted, I might want to come take a peek at your mountains.”
“You’re welcome anytime, Meghan,” he said as he exited the vehicle and stretched his body from the cramped quarters. And he meant it. He liked Jenna’s sister. She was a bit mouthy, but he could deal with that. It was her loyalty to her sister, and need to protect her—even from him—that stuck out for him.
Meghan helped him get the car seat base out of the back of her car and into his truck. It struck Carter, as he fastened the base into the back seat of his truck, how he’d left his ranch single and unattached, and would now be returning with his son and Jenna.
As she was getting back into her car, Meghan pointed at him and said, “Just remember, be good to her or else…”
Then she climbed into her Cooper and drove off like a red flash.
Carter climbed into the cab and drove his truck, a navy blue Chevy Silverado, through the streets of downtown Jackson. His emotions were in a tumult. His cell phone beeped again but he ignored the text messages from Spencer. The man was dogging his ass, asking where the fuck he was at and why he wasn’t at the club. Carter set the ringer to silent. There was no way in hell he was heading to the club. He’d catch hell for it from Spencer and the rest of the crew, but he didn’t give a damn.