“Go lay on the couch. I’ll make you something to eat.”
“I’m okay.” Craig’s tall frame barely swayed.
“I didn’t ask.” She faced him, pointing toward the great room off the kitchen. “Go.”
Jude leaned in toward Craig. “Don’t argue with her. It only makes her more mad.”
“He’s not wrong.” She lifted her brows.
Danny knew he couldn’t handle the hog this morning and thought it would be the most effective way to prove Craig was more than out of his element in Shadow Pine. Get him to take his well-defined ass back where it came from.
But all she ended up accomplishing was bringing him closer.
And not just in the physical sense.
Craig stared her down for a minute. Long enough she thought he might keep fighting her.
But then he barely smiled. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
Shit.
“I just don’t want your death on my conscience.” That’s all this was. Making sure the man she accidentally goaded into passing out survived his first interaction with butchering a hog.
Only interaction. His only interaction with butchering anything.
Danny forced her eyes down as Craig staggered his way to the large sofa where she snuggled with Jude every night as they wound down from the day. She turned her back as he sat, taking the spot that was always empty, at least until Jude shifted their nightly popcorn bowl off his lap so he could curl up.
“How about some soup?”
“I will always eat anything you make me, Danny.”
Why did he have to word things the way he did?
Like there was already more to this.
She opened the fridge and pulled out the container of left-over chicken noodle from dinner the night before and dumped it into a pot, twisting on the flame under it. Jude was in the great room with Craig, turning on the television and moving around the pillows, just like he did every night. He stood straight, catching her attention over the couch and dining table separating them. “What movie do you want to watch?”
“How about Blended?”
Jude grinned. He loved the Adam Sandler movie as much as she did. Mostly because it was the most grown-up movie he’d ever seen. He looked to Craig. “Have you seen it?”
“I have not.” Craig leaned back a little. “But if your mom likes it then I’m sure I’ll love it.”
Jude studied him for a minute before his gaze came back to Danny. “Can we still have popcorn after Craig eats?”
Danny poured the hot soup into a bowl and grabbed a pack of crackers and a can of ginger ale before going to join the boys. “Definitely.” She set the soup down on the coffee table in front of Craig. “Careful. It’s hot.”
Craig shifted on the sofa so he could lean forward a little, his gaze never leaving her. “Thank you, Danny.”
The way he said her name slid down her spine, trying to bring on a shiver. It was low and deep.
And different from the times he’d said it before.
“Yup. You’re welcome.” She turned and escaped back to the kitchen, rinsing out the pot and container from the soup before stacking them into the dishwasher.
It had been years since she’d reacted to a man.
Appreciated the way one looked.
The way he sounded.
How he smelled.
Danny slammed the jar of corn onto the counter a little harder than she meant to, sending two sets of eyes darting her way. One was wide and surprised.
The other was crinkled at the edges with a hidden smile.
She forced on a smile of her own and pointed it at Jude. “Sorry. I dropped it.” When her son turned back to face the television she glared at Craig who simply let the smile he was containing slide free.
“Your mom makes the best soup I’ve ever had, Buddy.” He sipped some broth from the spoon. “I could eat this the rest of my life and be happy.”
Her eyes widened so far they watered.
She should have cooked it until it was boiling.
Then dropped it in his lap.
Craig slowly stood from the couch, carrying his empty bowl and the remaining crackers to the kitchen. He rinsed the bowl in the sink then put it in the washer before placing the crackers back in their spot in the pantry. When he was done he leaned in close, his lips near enough she could feel the warmth of his breath on her ear. “Can you show me where the bathroom is?”
“I would love to.” She needed to make her stance perfectly clear since the lines were getting real muddy real fast around here.
He might have almost met his demise on the floor of her shop, but that didn’t mean anything had changed.
Craig was still going to have to find his way out of Shadow Pine.
Danny marched down the hall and out of earshot of where Jude sat on the couch watching the beginning of their movie. She reached the doorway to the half-bath on the main floor and turned, ready to lay it all out for Craig, nearly tipping backward as she came face to face with him.
“What’s wrong, Danny?”
He was almost against her, his big body nearly touching hers as his eyes searched her face, full of concern.
“I don’t want you to stay.”
His face barely fell. “I will go back to my camper if that’s what you want.”
She closed her eyes against the sight of his expression. “No. I mean I don’t want you to stay here. In Shadow Pine.” She let out the breath threatening to burn through her lungs. “Jude is already getting attached to you and it’s not—”
“I’m not leaving, Danny.” Craig shook his head. “Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not the next day.” He inched closer, the lean line of his frame warm and solid as it rested against her. “I’m staying in Shadow Pine.”
“Why?” It was almost a plea. One of frustration and desperation.
Because she knew damn well what would happen if Craig stayed. If he kept doing the things he was doing. Proving he was a very different sort of man than the ones she’d been unlucky enough to know.
Jude wouldn’t be the only one who got attached.
“Because you and Jude are going to be mine.” He pressed into her, pushing Danny into the small bathroom and closing the door behind them without turning on the light. “I am the only one who can understand you. Understand him.” His face was shadowed in the dim light from the wax-warmer plugged into the wall. “I waited a long time to have what I want, and what I want is you and Jude.”
“You don’t know me.” It was a good argument. One that should have held up better than it did.
Craig smiled, slow and sexy. “Don’t I?”
She shook her head.
“I guess that means we should spend some more time together then. Give you some time to realize I know you better than you think.” One hand lifted to skim across her cheek, the brush of his fingers rougher than she expected from someone as clean-cut as Craig appeared to be. “Because I mean everything I say to you, Danny. I am here to stay. As long as it takes.” His thumb slid over her mouth, slowly tracing the line of her lower lip.
“It will take a long time.” She tried to sound as positive as Craig did. He was so damn confident. So certain in something that made no sense at all.
He had no clue who she was.
Where she came from.
How she lived.
The hog was barely the tip of the iceberg, and it had taken him out in the blink of an eye.
But Craig didn’t appear even a little deterred. His smile was still there, and it was closer than a few seconds ago.
“Sweetheart, I’ve got nothing but time.”
SEVEN
IT WOULD BE so easy to kiss her.
But that wasn’t the way this had to go. Anything that happened between them had to be her choice.
Danny had to run the physical side of this show, because she was the one who wasn’t sure.
Not that he didn’t plan to do everything in his power to tempt her.
Tease her into seeing what he saw.
Knowing what he knew.
Craig took a step back, pulling his body from the sweet softness of hers. He opened the door and stepped to one side. “I believe you have popcorn to make.”
Danny stared at him, her expression seeming a little dazed.
Good.
“Yeah. Umm.” She smoothed down one side of her hair. “I should do that.”
He had to keep her a little off balance. Make sure she couldn’t dig those heels of hers in too deeply. Otherwise she would use that leverage against him.
Craig waited until she was gone, then leaned over the sink, splashing cool water on his clammy face.
Of all the things he expected might succeed in taking him down, a hog wasn’t even on his radar.
Fucking bacon wasn’t worth all this. Especially when there was so much at stake.
He dried off with the towel hanging beside the sink, breathing in the clean, fresh scent of the fabric for a second before hanging it back in place.
The room was spotless. No little boy splashes on the seat or floor around it. No toilet paper dust clinging to the surfaces. Every bit of it was bright and clean, just like every part of the house he’d seen. Not only was Danny doing a hell of a job raising a little boy who was not just any little boy, but she was doing it while running a business, making homemade soup, and keeping a clean house.
It was amazing. A true testament to the kind of woman she was.
But Craig only really cared about the first part of it.
Danny was all a parent should be. More even.
That was what mattered most. Told him all he needed to know.
A light knock tapped at the door. “If you’re passed out on the floor in there I’m calling JD to come get you.”
Craig pulled the door open. “I’m not currently lying partially exposed on your floor.”
Danny’s blue eyes narrowed on him. “Why do you have to say things like that?”
He lifted his brows, trying to look more innocent than he was. “Like what?”
“You know exactly like what.” She leaned in a little closer, teasing him with the memory of her body against his. “Currently?”
“It was probably the wrong thing to say. I’m sorry.” He started to walk back to the great room where Jude was most likely wondering where everyone else went. Craig paused at her side and moved so close his lips barely brushed her ear. “I should have assumed you would have a bed.” He kept walking, leaving her gaping after him. Jude was peeking over the back of the couch when Craig came in. He had both arms wrapped around a big silver bowl.
“I waited for you so you could have the first bite.”
It had taken everything Craig had to get the bowl of soup Danny gave him down. The nausea from earlier was lingering longer than he expected.
But this was about proving who he was to two people who had every reason in the world not to trust him or anyone else outside their circle.
A circle he wanted to be part of.
That meant he had to eat popcorn, and he had to do it like he liked it.
Craig eased onto the cushion beside Jude, sitting in a spot that left Danny to pick between being at his side or taking the other couch.
It would be interesting to see what she chose.
He pulled a handful from the bowl and popped a few into his mouth. The corn was sweet and a little salty, with a layer of crispy crunch veiling the puffy white kernels.
It was good, even in his current state of concussion-induced nausea. “Your mom’s a good cook, Jude.” Craig didn’t have to work as hard as expected to swallow down the mouthful. “You’re a lucky kid.”
“Was your mom a bad cook?”
Jude’s question was an innocent one. Danny’s son didn’t realize the way it would dig at a wound he’d been working to hide his whole life. Kick up a fear that was almost as painful.
“I don’t know.” Craig reached for a little more popcorn. “My mom wasn’t like yours.”
It was the biggest understatement in the history of time.
“What was she like?” Jude watched him intently over the bowl, feeding himself a continuous stream of popcorn without looking down.
“She was busy.” He shouldn’t complain. He had more shit as a kid then most people have in their whole lives. Toys. Games. Televisions.
Complaining about his childhood felt wrong. A slap in the face to kids who don’t have food in their bellies or a roof over their heads.
But he’d lived without something that felt almost as important.
Jude’s eyes moved to a spot over his shoulder. “You’re busy too, huh mom.”
“All moms are busy.” Danny’s gaze barely skimmed over him, questioning. “But some are probably busier than others.”
She eyed the spot on the couch, pressing her lips together as she decided what to do.
It shouldn’t feel important, but it did.
If Danny sat beside him, it meant more than that she simply wanted to be at the best angle to the TV.
It meant she no longer saw him as the enemy.
Whether she was ready to admit it or not was another issue, one he would deal with later.
Craig held his breath as she stepped closer, a tablet in her hand. In a quick motion she dropped to the couch beside him, far enough away no part of her came close to touching him.
It wasn’t what he craved, but it was a start.
“I looked your friend up.” She swiped across the screen, pulling up her search. Lance smiled out from the front page of his company’s website. “Is this him?”
“It is.” Craig knew Lance’s existence was a lot for Danny to digest. It was why he hadn’t pushed it.
That and he had other, more important things to push.
“How do you know him?” Her eyes barely darted to Jude and her voice lowered. “Did he hire you?”
“He did, but that’s not how I know him.” Craig sorted through all the ways to explain how he came to know Lance Stafford. “I have a friend who has a lot in common with your family.” He paused, waiting to see if Danny followed the path he was taking her down.
“Is he related to,” she glanced at her son again, “Lance?”
Craig shook his head. “No.”
Danny stared at him. “No?”
“No.”
She barely edged closer to him. “A different family?”
“Their last name is Wolffsen. Two brothers and a sister. She’s the first girl in the family in generations.” His eyes moved over her face, watching for any sign he was overwhelming Danny with information. “She’s married to Lance.”
Danny’s eyes widened. “Oh. Wow.”
Craig smiled. “Imagine what their daughter will be like.”
He had. Many times. That little girl was going to be a force. Just like her momma.
Just like the woman beside him.
“So she just has the daughters then?” Danny’s eyes didn’t stray from his face this time.
“Only one of the girls is hers biologically.”
Most of Danny’s family tree was a mystery to him. The girls birth certificates and social security numbers were issued twelve years ago.
Before that there was nothing.
And he had an idea why.
“No sons then.” Danny gave him an uneasy smile. “That means mine is one of a kind.”
Jude suddenly started to cackle, rocking back and forth in his seat as he laughed so hard he couldn’t breathe.
Craig glanced his way, checking to see if he found some part of their vague conversation amusing.
“It’s his favorite part of the movie.” Danny’s smile was more genuine this time. “Adam Sandler says something about being so scared there’s a zebra stripe in his pants.”
Now Jude was repeating the scene word for word, still belly laughing over the whole thing.
Danny rolled her eyes. “When does poop stop being funny to boys?”
“Never.” Craig chuckled along
with Jude. “Farts too.”
Jude suddenly went straight-faced. “Did you know my mom doesn’t fart?”
Danny’s cheeks pinked as Craig leaned close to Jude’s ear. “Just because you don’t see a bear poop, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.”
Jude howled, his giggles knocking him back on the couch as Danny glared at Craig with wide eyes, her flush creeping across the rest of her face.
“I knew you farted.” Jude held his stomach with both arms as his eyes watered and his face scrunched up from his extended fit of laughter. “Cause James does.”
James was the only sister Craig hadn’t run into yet. He’d met Sam the baker, Alex who handled the business side of Shadow Pine, and Frankie the logging company owner, yesterday along with Danny. Today he met Charlie when JD took him to attempt to get a hunting license.
But the youngest of the Karlson girls was nowhere to be seen.
Which was surprising, considering so far they seemed thick as thieves.
“Auntie James is the exception to the rule.” Danny’s mouth thinned to a barely-there frown.
Jude’s blond brows came together. “Which rule?”
“Every rule.” Danny pointed at the screen. “Watch your movie or it’s bedtime.”
Jude’s blue eyes immediately turned to the television and they watched the rest of the movie together in comfortable silence, broken only by Jude’s occasional laughter and the crunch of teeth on popcorn.
“Craig?” Danny’s quiet voice made him jerk.
“What’s wrong?” Craig was up off the couch in a second. The quick move had him immediately pressing one hand to his head and the other to his still-aggravated stomach. “What happened?”
The television was off and the room was quiet. Jude was nowhere to be seen. The popcorn bowl was gone and the remotes were lined neatly across the coffee table.
“You fell asleep.” Danny’s head tipped far to one side in an uncomfortable-looking contortion. “Like this.” She straightened. “I didn’t want you to have a sore neck in the morning too.”
She was taking care of him again. “Thank you.” Craig took a deep breath, readying for her answer to the offer he was about to give. “I should probably head out to the camper.” He reached into his pocket for the keys.
Danny (Big Northwest Book 1) Page 7