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His smile came slowly, too seductively to avoid my body’s instinctive reaction to him. “Then Leo gets his mom back.”
Right. Leo gets his mother back and I go back to being his aunt. “Okay,” I somehow managed to reply around the bigger lump that formed in my throat.
“You needed something?” A man who looked to be around my age with shoulder length, curly black hair stopped before us, his pale blue eyes bouncing between Diesel and me.
Diesel blinked as if he forgot we weren’t alone. Which was saying something, as I noticed more people beginning to trickle in.
“Yeah. Slate, this is Ellie. Slate is our tech captain and resident cyber guru. He’s going to ask you some questions to see if he can pinpoint where Stacy has been.”
I nodded and looked up at the man who seemed more like a geeky college kid than a tough biker. “Um, sure. Okay. What do you need to know?”
Slate flashed a wide smile that showed off perfect white teeth as he pulled over a chair and flipped it backwards. “Everything,” he answered as he sat down. “Anything and everything you can think of. Where she banked, her license plate number, favorite hangouts, known associates. Why you’re still groping each other even though I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you. You know, important stuff.”
Diesel waved a hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, techie. Get on with it.”
I blinked in shock at his questions, not paying much attention to his last one as I digested what he was asking. “I told the police all of this three and a half years ago when she went missing.”
His smile was friendly but arrogant. “I’m better than the police.”
Okay, I could work with that. I looked over my shoulder at Diesel and couldn’t help but feel gratitude for what he’d done so far. He could have used Stacy’s absence to snatch Leo away from me, but instead he was helping me find her, or at least find answers. Going out of his way to help, in fact.
“Thank you,” I whispered, and turned to Slate. I answered all of his questions with as much detail as I could, ignoring the shiver that stole over me when Diesel stood, brushing his fingertips across the back of my neck as he walked away.
Oh yeah, I was definitely in trouble with his man, and the scary part was, I wasn’t as scared as I should’ve been.
Chapter Thirteen
Diesel
“One more story, Daddy! Please?” Leo clasped his hands together in a begging posture, a playful smile on his face that was damned irresistible.
“Three wasn’t enough?” After a week, the kid already knew he could bat his eyelashes or wrap me in a hug to get me to do just about any damn thing he wanted.
The boy fell backwards onto the mattress laughing like I’d told the funniest joke he’d ever heard. “But one of the stories was mine,” he insisted with a straight face.
“That’s still three stories, kiddo. If you don’t go to bed soon, your momma’s going to yell at us both.”
He laughed again. “Not at me. Momma loves me.” I loved that he was so confident in Ellie’s love for him. It was a good sign and all I wanted for him.
“Well, I don’t want her to yell at me.”
“But you’re big.” He laughed again, acquiescing when I tugged the blankets up under his armpits. “You can’t be scared of her.”
He had no idea how wrong he was. Ellie terrified me because of the feelings she evoked in me, desire and protectiveness, longing and eternity. “I’m not scared, but one day you’ll learn about picking your battles.”
His blond brows crinkled in confusion, and I distracted him with a hug. “Okay. Good night, Daddy. Love you.”
“Good night, Leo. Daddy loves you too.” I kissed the top of his head, then tightened the covers around him for one last laugh. “See you in the morning.”
I walked away with a fullness in my chest I hadn’t felt since my own brother was a little boy. The way he spoke excitedly about his whole day, the nice lady who let him drink juice from a big boy glass, and the farting dog, it all put a smile on my face, which I desperately needed after the trip to Leather & Chrome.
I walked around my house, which no longer felt empty or quiet, in search of Ellie. She wasn’t in her room or the kitchen, and I smiled as I walked down the hall towards my office. She seemed to love the room, or maybe it was just the privacy to create, that she craved, but she spent a lot of time in there, and there were even small touches in there to make it hers.
I stood in the doorway and watched as she typed quickly, stopped, and then leaned in close to read the new sentences. Sometimes she deleted what she wrote, and other times she picked up where she left off and continued to type. Her wet hair clung to her shoulders, and she seemed relaxed as she leaned back and tucked one leg underneath her, sighing as she re-read what she’d written.
“Is it my turn for a bedtime story?”
I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my face when she gasped and grumbled about oversized ninjas. Slowly, Ellie turned with a sultry smile that hit me right behind the zipper. She wore all cotton and somehow it was as sexy as silk or lace. The short shorts left damn near nothing to the imagination and the t-shirt hugged her braless tits and left a small strip of midsection bare to my gaze. It was fucking modest, and my dick didn’t care. He wanted her. Badly.
