No keys.
“JD has them.” Danny opened a chest sitting under one of the tall windows framing this side of the house, pulling out a blanket and a pillow. “I left them with him when I took you to the hospital so he could lock it up.” She laid the pillow at one end of the sofa. “He was gone when we got back so they are probably locked in the shop.” Her eyes lifted to his. “I can go get them if you don’t want to sleep on a couch tonight.”
“The couch is fine.”
Danny’s couch was more than fine. Hell, he’d sleep on the floor if it got her used to the idea of having him in her life.
She held out the blanket. “How’s your head?”
“I’ll survive.”
“That’s good.” Danny wiped the palms of her hands down her jean-covered hips. “Thank you for being so nice to Jude.”
“You don’t have to thank me for that. He’s a good kid. I enjoy hanging out with him.” Craig spent his life positive he was missing the same emotional chip both his parents were.
Knowing it meant he would never bring a child into his world.
But in the past year he’d started to have hope that maybe there was a way.
A buffer that would soften the blow of all he might be lacking.
It was what made it easy to spend time with Vanessa and Annabelle. No matter how bad he was at it, they would still be fine.
Like Jude.
Danny bobbed her head in a soft nod. Her gaze stayed on the ground between them. “He doesn’t have many men in his life, so I think he’s just sort of attracted to the novelty.”
“You think I’m a novelty?” Craig had to work hard not to smile.
Danny’s eyes finally met his. “Here you are.”
“Does JD know he’s a novelty?”
Her lips twisted to one side as she fought a smile. “We don’t tell him to his face.”
Craig laughed a little as he eased onto the couch. His accidental nap left him more tired than before. “Good idea. Might hurt his feelings.”
“Does it hurt your feelings?”
“No.” Craig kicked off his shoes and laid back against the cushions.
Danny’s brows lifted. “Why not?”
“Because I know eventually my novelty will wear off and you won’t be able to keep using it as an excuse.” He closed his eyes as the weight of sleep made it impossible to keep them open any more. He started to drift off, barely registering the words Danny said as she marched from the room.
“Pain in the ass.”
****
“CRAIG.”
It took everything he had to force his eyes open. When they finally lifted, Danny’s face was close to his, her brows low over her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Maybe he should have slept in the camper. At least he could have slept the whole night there.
“I was just making sure you weren’t dead.” Her full lips turned down at the corners. “It took a long time to wake you up.”
“What time is it?” He looked toward the windows. The sky was still dark outside.
“Two.”
She’d only let him sleep three hours before waking him up.
Craig wiped one hand down his face. “I’m okay, Sweetheart. Go back to bed.”
Danny’s head bumped back a little. “Sweetheart?”
He felt the smile but was too tired to fight it. “You like Pumpkin better?”
“I don’t like either of them.”
“How about Kitten?” He let his eyes close again, still smiling.
“How about Danny?” She snorted. “Or Ms. Karlson.”
“I don’t think so.” He rested one arm over his eyes. “I’ll think on it.”
“How about you don’t.” She shifted beside him, standing up. “I’m not waking you up again if this is how you’re going to be.”
“What if I die on your couch?” Craig peeked under his arm at her.
Danny stood over him, hands on her hips. “Then I’ll roll you up in the rug and have Sam and Frankie help me hide you in the mountains.”
Craig leaned to peek over the edge of the couch. “Looks like an awful nice rug to waste hiding a dead body.”
“Ugh.” Danny turned and stormed off, mumbling under her breath about him being a pain in the ass.
Craig smiled as he pulled the blanket higher on his chest.
He paused, peering down at the cover he hadn’t laid over himself. When he fell asleep the blanket was still folded by his feet.
Danny could say he was a pain in the ass all she wanted, but what she said and what she did told him two different things.
And he was going with the latter.
****
IT WAS ALMOST impossible to lay still.
Knowing Danny was watching him breathe.
Making sure she wasn’t about to lose her rug.
When she rested something under his nose Craig couldn’t hold it together any longer.
“If you want to know if I’m dead all you have to do is ask.” He waited until she scoffed to open his eyes.
Danny glared at him, a small makeup mirror in her hand. “Tonight you’re sleeping in your camper, Mr. O’Neal.”
Seriously?
“You don’t have to call me Craig, Sugar Lips, but you sure as hell are gonna stop calling me Mr. O’Neal.”
Danny’s eyes widened. “Sugar L—”
“Yeah. I don’t like that one either.” He slowly sat up, waiting to see if his head would throb at the change in positions. Luckily all it earned him was a dull ache at the back of his skull. “I’ll keep working on it.”
“It will be a waste of your time.” She shoved the mirror into the pocket of the silky robe tied around her lean frame.
“You look pretty in the morning.”
Danny’s long hair was loose and tousled. Her face was wiped clean of the small amount of make-up she wore during the day. She looked like the breath of fresh air she was breathing into his lonely life.
“Don’t get used to it.”
“I’m on a two day streak and I don’t plan to ruin it.” Craig stood from the sofa, going slower than he normally would just in case. He moved in closer than he should considering he hadn’t brushed his teeth or had a shower in almost twenty-four hours. “But I want to make it clear I plan to be waking up next to you when it’s all said and done.”
Danny’s eyes rolled closed and she hefted out a long exhale.
Long enough he caught the whiff of her mint toothpaste. “You brushed your teeth just to come down and check for signs of life?” Craig moved in a little closer.
“No.” Danny pressed her lips together tight.
“I think you brushed your teeth before you came down because you didn’t want me to know you get morning breath.” Craig leaned into her ear to spare her his own morning breath. “The same way you don’t want me to know you fart.”
Danny pressed both hands to his chest and shoved. “You’re a—”
“Pain in the ass. I know.” Craig went with her shove, using it to propel him toward the bathroom. When he came out she was at the island in the kitchen filling the carafe from the coffee pot, still glaring at him.
“What’s wrong?” He sauntered around the island, smirking at her.
He knew damn well what was wrong.
Danny liked him.
And it was pissing her the hell off.
He’d scrubbed his face after finding a bottle of mouthwash under the sink. Even in his current state, Craig felt fresher than he had in a long damn time.
Prepared to take on the world in rumpled clothes and an unshaven face.
Because right now Danny was the only part of the world that mattered.
“You. You’re what’s wrong.” Her glare intensified.
“Don’t be mad because you like me, Danny. It was bound to happen.” Craig followed her as she went to dump the water into the maker, loudly flipping the lid down and shoving the pot into place.
“I don’t like you and it wasn’t bound to
happen.”
“It was.” He blocked her path as she turned around. “You know why?”
She snarled at him. “Why?”
Craig braced both hands on the counter at her sides, caging her in.
“Because you don’t scare me.”
EIGHT
DANNY LAUGHED. “THAT’S the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
It was an automatic reaction to years of pretending.
Pretending she wasn’t what she was, knowing if anyone found out the full truth of who the Backwoods Beauties really were, they would have more than the occasional wannabe Romeo to worry about.
Craig was already shaking his head at her. “Don’t forget I know what you are, Danny. What you’re capable of. I’ve seen it.” He tipped his head toward the great room. “If I threatened Jude, you wouldn’t hesitate to roll my dead ass up in that rug.” He inched closer. “And you would sleep like a baby at night knowing you protected your child.”
She swallowed hard.
Dating had never been an option for her. When Jude’s father walked away, wanting nothing to do with the responsibilities tied to the life growing inside her, she’d had to hold back.
Every bit of her wanted to rip his heart from his body and feed it to him for denying her child.
Abandoning him.
It was the same day she went back home to her sisters.
The only place she could go.
And in the blink of an eye everything changed.
They changed. All of them. Turning into what they were now.
Because of Jude. He might be her son, but he belonged to all of them, and they each carried the burden of protecting him.
“Any parent would do that.” It was what she and her sisters tried to pretend. That they were normal.
That their insatiable desire to protect Jude and each other was simply human nature.
But what they were went beyond normal behavior. Deep down they all knew it.
“That’s not anywhere close to the truth, Danny. There are many parents who leave their children to fend for themselves.” Craig was so close his nose almost touched hers. “It’s why I know you’re special. Why I know I want you to be mine.”
How many men thought they wanted a woman like her or her sisters?
Hundreds that she knew of, and those were just the ones smart enough to connect the dots they couldn’t hide. Those men found their way to Shadow Pine in search of the elusive Backwoods Beauties.
The sisters who spent most of their life hidden away from the world until one day the world came for them.
And hadn’t left them alone since.
“The woman you know, Kari.” Danny took a breath, trying to find the right words to ask all she wanted to know. “What is she like?”
“Tall. Blonde.” Craig’s eyes locked onto her. “Fierce. Like you.” His hands left the counter, barely skimming up her arms. “Her daughter was kidnapped. Taken into the woods around their town.”
Rage iced through Danny’s veins, burning with a level of hate that used to scare her. “What did she do to them?” Her voice was lower, the thought of someone hurting her child, any child, making it an almost-growl. It was the side of her that scared smart men into running away, high-tailing it from Shadow Pine without so much as a glance in their rear-view mirror.
Not this man.
Craig smiled. “I like when the beast comes out in you, Danny.”
Her voice wasn’t the only one that was a little lower. A little deeper.
“I’m not a beast.” She knew very little of what her father was. Only that it was one of many secrets he kept close.
“That is technically true.” The tip of Craig’s nose trailed along the side of hers. “What you are is far more terrifying than any beast could ever be.” His eyes settled on hers. “And significantly more dangerous.”
“And yet you’re still here.”
He laughed, low and rumbly in his chest. “I’ve told you, Danny. I’m not going anywhere.” His hands continued their path up her arms and over her shoulders. The tips of his fingers slid slowly along the exposed skin of her neck. “You are everything I want.” His palms rested under the line of her jaw, cradling her face. “And I fully intend to have you.”
His breath was warm against her skin. It carried the minty bite of the mouthwash Craig must have found in the bathroom. The strength in the hands resting on her face was unmistakable, even though they held her with a gentleness she’d rarely experienced in her life.
It brought forward an emotion Danny worked hard to ignore. Tried to bury.
Need.
She and her sisters learned a lesson about need early and hard.
Needing something you couldn’t provide yourself made you weak. Needing another person was even worse.
“Don’t be scared of me, Danny.” Craig’s lips were so close they almost touched hers as he spoke. “I will prove I’m not like everyone else. Trust me. Just a little. I will take care of the rest.”
She didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.
It had been years since a man touched her like this.
No. Not years.
Ever. No man had ever touched her the way Craig touched her.
Careful and cautious, but still firm and confident.
“I don’t trust anyone, Craig.”
“You trust your sisters.” He put the lie in her words front and center, but it sounded only like a simple statement, not like an argument that he should be given the same. “That’s a start.”
“They’ve never let me down.” She and her sisters fought and argued, but at the end of the day Danny knew all of them would be at her side no matter what. Would fight for her and her son without question.
She didn’t know that about Craig.
He smiled softly. “I’m glad.” The answer was unexpected and honest. “Give me the chance to not let you down.”
It wasn’t a question.
Because he wasn’t asking.
“Are you always like this?”
His smile slipped just a little. “Like what?”
“Difficult.”
“I am when I’m going after something I want.” Craig’s eyes moved over her face. “And you’re what I’ve wanted for a long time, Danny.”
How long had it been since she’d wanted something for herself?
It was a selfish thing, and there was no room in her life for selfishness.
She had a son to care for. A family to help support. A future to build. One that would ensure none of them ever lived like they had once upon a time.
But right now, in the quiet darkness of her kitchen, Danny wanted something.
Something that would definitely complicate her life in more ways then she could count.
Craig held perfectly still. His hands on her face, his lips hovering just over hers. “Take a chance, Danny. I promise it will be worth it.”
She’d only taken one chance in her twenty-eight years on earth, and it blew up in her face. Complicated a life she’d only just begun to live. Made the mess she and her sisters had to slog through even worse.
But it was worth it. It gave them purpose and drive.
What would happen if she took this one?
Danny let her fingers barely brush against the soft fabric of Craig’s shirt. Gathering the hem in a grip that steadied her spinning head and cycling thoughts. She held tight, trying to find some sort of purchase on an unknown precipice.
That’s what this was.
The edge she’d never seen coming.
Craig hadn’t tried to hide his intentions. In that way he was the same as most men who attempted to keep something they found in Shadow Pine.
But everything else about him was very different.
“I don’t take chances.”
“Liar.” Craig’s lips barely twitched where they lingered above hers. “You and your sisters built this place from nothing. You took a million chances.” His body pressed into hers. “And they all paid off, didn’
t they?”
He was trying to find a loophole. A crack in the foundation she and her sisters built their new life on. “That’s different.”
His head was shaking before the rebuttal was all the way out of her mouth. “Not different.”
But it was. “We controlled that.”
“That made it okay?”
She lifted her head and dropped it in a definitive nod. Giving up control of any part of her life was never going to happen.
Control was what saved them.
“That makes it easy then.”
In a move that made her already muddled head spin, Craig turned their bodies in unison, switching their positions before she had a chance to blink.
He smiled. “There.” His hands slowly came off her body to hook on the lip of the counter he leaned against. “You’re in charge.”
Danny stood in place. All her life men chased her. Almost all of them unwanted.
It was invasive and irritating. Uncomfortable.
But not nearly as uncomfortable as the emotion twisting her gut now.
Disappointment.
She liked Craig chasing her. The certainty in his conviction. The unabashed way he told her his intentions.
“What’s wrong, Danny? Not all you thought it would be?”
She glared at him.
He saw right through her in a way no one ever had, and was smug as hell about it every time.
“How about this.” He straightened, bringing his body back in line with hers. “You give me a little of that burden on the understanding that the second I take things somewhere you aren’t ready to go you shut me down.”
She eyed him. “You want me to shut you down?”
“If it means I can finally touch you the way I want, then you can shut me down all day.” His body eased a little closer, but still not as near as it was a few moments ago.
“I could just shut you down every time. Then you still don’t get to touch me.” She taunted him with the control he’d handed over. The possible ramifications of his willingness to put her in the driver’s seat of a car he clearly wanted to take as fast as it would go.
“You won’t.” His voice was a little darker. A little deeper, and the certainty in his tone sent a shiver down her spine.
One of anticipation.
Craig was probably right.
Damn it.
Danny (Big Northwest Book 1) Page 8