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The guys headed out, and about twenty minutes later, Oakley walked out of the big double doors, Reagan in tow. Reagan’s left forearm was wrapped in an electric blue splint, but otherwise she looked no worse for the wear. When she saw Pike, a smile broke over her face. “Mr. Pike! What are you doing here?”
Her obvious delight at seeing him there tugged at him. He stood and met them halfway. “Hey, kiddo. You’re looking pretty punk with that splint. Now you just need a blue Mohawk to match.”
“Ooh,” she said, looking to her mom. “That would be killer.”
“Don’t give her ideas,” Oakley said, ruffling Reagan’s hair.
Pike tucked his hands in his pockets to keep from taking Oakley’s hand. “And I’m here to give you two lovely ladies a ride home. Your uncles had to get back to the campsite.”
Reagan yawned. “I want to go back camping. I was supposed to sleep in a tent.”
“Another time, baby. Let’s get you home and into bed.”
Oakley looked ten times more tired than she had before they walked in, her makeup now smudged and her hair sagging out of her ponytail. But there was quiet beauty there Pike couldn’t help but appreciate. The women he was usually with were the type to rush into the bathroom in the morning to make sure they had full makeup complete and hair blown out before he got up. Women who wouldn’t go walk the dog without looking perfect. He loved that Oakley didn’t need all of those things. Dressed up or down, she was all wo
man—strength and softness colliding.
Reagan led the way, and Oakley and Pike followed behind. He reached out and touched Oakley’s elbow. “Everything okay?”
Oakley glanced over, weariness in her eyes. “Yeah. They don’t think she’ll need surgery, thank God. And she doesn’t seem to be in much pain. She’s got a high tolerance for that. But this hospital doesn’t take my insurance, so that was fun.”
He grimaced. “That sucks.”
“I’ll live. Nothing a few after-hours calls won’t fix.”
That made him grit his teeth. He wanted to give her the money right there. Whatever the bill was, he could take it off her plate. He didn’t want her to have to make more calls. But he knew how that offer would go. She’d bite his head off and be insulted.
So he opted for reaching out and giving her hand a squeeze and dropping it before Reagan could turn around and see anything. She gave him an appreciative look. “Thanks for waiting. You mind dropping me off at home instead of picking up my car tonight? I want to get Rae to bed as soon as I can.”
“No problem. I was going to suggest the same. If you give me your car keys, I can get one of the guys to follow me over tomorrow to drop it off.”
“That’d be great.”
They all climbed into the truck, and Reagan fell asleep against her mom before they even got onto the highway. Somehow even though they were in the same spots from earlier when they had their hot interlude, it didn’t feel weird to have Reagan between them now. It felt comfortable and domestic. A few weeks ago if someone had asked him if he’d want to hang out with a mom and her kid, Pike would’ve balked. But these two didn’t make him want to bail. If anything, he felt frustrated that he couldn’t do more.
When they arrived at Oakley’s house, Oakley touched Reagan’s arm to wake her, but Pike put his hand over Oakley’s. “Don’t disturb her. If it’s okay with you, I can carry her in for you.”
She looked up at him, something unreadable in her eyes. “I don’t know. She has personal-space issues with non-family members.”
“I’ll make sure I don’t jostle her too much and wake her.”
“You sure? I’d do it myself, but I feel dead on my feet and am not sure I could get her up the stairs. Tonight’s been … eventful.”
His lips tilted at the corner. “Hopefully not all bad.”
“Not at all.”
He climbed out of the truck to go to Oakley’s side and carefully took Reagan from her. The poor kid was like a rag doll in the handoff, completely spent, but when the night breeze gusted unexpectedly, she stirred. Her eyelids fluttered open and Pike stiffened, expecting her to freak out if she realized it wasn’t her mom carrying her, but when she saw it was him, she snuggled up against his shoulder and let out a little mumbling grunt as her splinted arm bumped into his chest.
The easy acceptance from her hit him right in the sternum. She was okay with him being there for her. In that moment, he had this overwhelming protective urge rush through him. Like he wanted to hug her and keep her safe. Like he wanted to break the bike that had hurt her in two.
Oakley’s eyebrows had climbed to her hairline as she watched, but she quickly smoothed her expression. “Well, that was a close one. I’ll get the door. Her room is the second on the left at the top of the stairs.”
He followed Oakley in and to Rae’s room. Purple walls greeted him along with vintage music posters mixed in with more modern ones. On the corkboard above her desk, there was her festival ticket from the other weekend, a photo of her and her cousin at the concert, and two photos of Darkfall performing.
Oakley noticed him looking. “I think you landed a new fan that day.”
“Only one?” he asked, lowering Reagan onto her bed.
