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This was not the bedtime resistance I was expecting, but I don’t blame Luke. He’s an observant, curious kid, and I deserve the inquisition. This is the first time I’ve brought anyone home. It’s not how I wanted his first meeting with Mia to go. I never wanted to introduce him to anyone I wasn’t a hundred percent sure wanted to be involved in his life. Someone I knew would stick around and not leave after he became attached.
But one thing’s certain: I’m all in for Mia. But I don’t know if she feels the same.
Luke opens his mouth but then pauses, and I’m hoping this is the end to the twenty-one questions I’m struggling to answer.
“Okay,” he says, snuggling into his blankets.
“Night,” I say, wiping the sweat from my brow.
The lights go out and just as I’m about to shut the door, Luke says, “Dad?”
I snort, shaking my head. It was far too simple. “Yes, Luke?”
“I hope Mia’s my new nanny.”
My heart sinks into my gut. He’s only spent a few hours with Mia and he’s attached. Fallen under her spell. I get it, kid. All it took for me was one look.
“Me too,” I say, rapping my knuckles against the door frame. “Me too.”
I hear him shift in his bed, rolling over to his side, and that’s my cue to close the door, trudge to my bedroom, and collapse into bed.
I do just that, but the moment my head hits my pillows, Mia’s scent hits me. Slams into my senses. Sends me into full-on psycho mode as I shove my face into the pillow and breathe, damn near suffocating myself as I take deep inhale after deep inhale.
I’m hooked. A fucking goner. And I’ll be lost if she doesn’t take the job. If it comes to that, I might be spending all of my free time at the Inn.
I grind against the bed as I keep breathing in her scent, memories of last night surging through me. The way she felt. The way she looked. Her fucking taste. My body is on fire as my mind replays the night spent with Mia over and over again.
“Mia,” I moan into the pillow as I roll onto my back and my hips thrust uncontrollably into the air. “My fucking girl,” I rasp, grabbing my cock through my pants, stroking as I picture every inch of her in my mind.
I bellow into the pillow like a wounded animal before chucking it across the room.
No woman in the world has ever driven me to the brink of insanity like this. I’ve never craved anyone like this before. Never needed anyone like this. Like she’s an essential part of me that I never knew was missing. The one thing that would make me whole.
This should be a sign to me that hiring Mia would be a bad idea. I shouldn’t be thinking about her like this. She’s my best friend’s sister. Too young. And entertaining the possibility of her being so close only invites complication and ensures that what little self-control I have will crumble.
This path only leads to one destination. I don’t know how Damon will react but I know I won’t stop myself if Mia gives me the green light.
“Uncle Reid said he’s going to build a bomb fire next weekend,” Luke says as we near the end of our fence inspection.
It’s the first time in months that there hasn’t been a broken slat or panel. Sometimes it feels like I’m playing a game of whack-a-mole. Fix one section only to have another section broken the next day from animals, weather, fallen trees, or any other sundry of reasons. It doesn’t matter as much anymore because I’ve been transitioning away from livestock over the past few years. It’s not easy on the mind or body, and ever since Luke was born, I’ve been taking steps to move in a different direction.
Speaking of Luke…
“Could you say that again?” I ask, leaning against the fence as I remove my hat and wipe the sweat building on my brow. I don’t know when the weather shifted, but the air’s no longer chilled and that sun’s getting mighty hot again.
Luke climbs onto the fence, sitting on the top board as he swings his legs. Oink circles beneath him, grunting as he tries to hop up and join him, but eventually wanders off to nose a patch of grass.
“He’s going to build a bomb fire the next time we go to his cabin.”
I smile as I replace my hat. “Do you mean bonfire?”
“What’s that?”
“A big fire. One that doesn’t include bombs.”
“So… there won’t be any explosions?”
“Afraid not. Probably not a good idea to set off a bomb in the middle of the forest.”
