Chapter 35
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I took his hand and he pulled me up. I landed against him and he steadied me. Before I could recover, however, he leaned down and kissed me. This kiss was so frickin‘ sweet, I had to fight not to give a fangirl sigh. Instead, I fell further against him and deepened the kiss.
It was Alex who broke the connection and settled his forehead against mine. “Fuckin‘ beautiful, Payton.”
I closed my eyes. “I really need you not to be super nice to me right now, Alex. I’m trying to stick to my guns here and you’re making it really difficult.”
“I apologize,” he said, but his voice was filled with humor. “Follow me.”
We walked the perimeter of the boat and onto a deck that took in the lights of the restaurants across the Columbia. “This is beautiful,” I said.
Alex set the food on a table on the deck. “Thanks. It’s almost done.”
“What do you mean? What more could you possibly do to it?”
“Not much,” he admitted. “A few things in one of the cabins.”
“Well it looks like a very posh yacht, Alex. Not sure what it used to look like, but it’s beautiful.”
“If you’d seen it when I bought it, you probably would have wondered if it was water worthy. A douchebag who had no respect for anything nearly destroyed this boat. It was a repo and the guy was pissed. I think his weapon of choice was a baseball bat. But I knew she could be fixed.”
“How do you even go about finding a beat up yacht and get it for a dinghy price?” I asked, and sat at one of the benches against the railing. A small round table was bolted to the floor in front of me and it was where Alex had set the food.
“A buddy does repos.”
“Ah.” I unpacked the bags and sipped on my shake as Alex unlocked a door to what I assumed was where the sleeping quarters were, and turned on lights and grabbed blankets.
“You cold, babe?” he asked.
I shivered. “A little.”
He gently wrapped a blanket around me, squeezing the back of my neck sweetly when he was done.
“Thanks.” I smiled. “I didn’t plan the shake part very well. Although, I don’t regret it, even if the end result is frostbite.”
Alex laughed and sat next to me. “I know a surefire way to get warm, babe.”
“I bet you do.”
He grinned and bit into his burger while I watched the lights shine off the water and picked at my fries.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Hmm–mm,” I said, and smiled. “Just taking in the view. It’s gorgeous.”
“Yeah it is,” he said, staring at me.
My cheeks heated. “Eat your food and stop being sweet?
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“Glad you like it,” he said.
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“Technically, this is a warm place where you can take your time pointed out, internally slapping myself for bringing it up.
“Yeah, it is. I’ll take you out soon, babe and we can stay overnight
“I didn’t say it to get you to take me out, Alex.” I narrowed my eyes, although, there wasn’t any heat behind it. “You’re not getting me into bed, even with the promise of a day out on a gorgeous boat.”
He laughed. “We’ll see.”
I pulled the blanket tighter around me. “What makes you so sure of yourself?”
“Don’t know, babe.” He studied me. “There’s just something about you I can’t shake.”
I tipped my shake toward him. “Romantic.”
Alex chuckled. “I’ll work on that.”
Pulling my legs up to my chest, I wrapped my arms around them, and settled my chin on my knees. “There’s kind of something about you too, Alex.”
“We’ll get to know each other, yeah? Then go from there.”
I shrugged. “I guess I don’t have anything else better to do.”
“Nice,” he said, and sipped his pop. Setting the cup on the table, he reached out his hand. “Give me your phone.”
“Why?”
“Want you to have my number in case you need me.”
“I won’t need you.”
“Give me your phone, Payton.”
I sighed and grabbed my purse, rummaging for the phone, and handing it to him. He tapped on the screen and then handed it back to me. I scrolled through and smiled. He’d saved his contact information under ‘SMA.‘
“SMA?”
He grinned. “Sexiest Man Alive.”
I shook my head. “You’re hilarious.”
“True.” He grinned. “And I’m right.”
“We’ll see,”
“Yeah. We will.”
“Where’s Lily’s mom?” I asked.
He sighed. “I don’t know.”
“Why did you break up?”
“We didn’t.”
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I gasped. “You’re still together?”
Alex let out a snort of derision. “Babe, we had nothin‘ to break up.”
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“Look, if you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to. But we can’t move forward unless I know something about you and your situation. I hate drama, Alex, and the last thing I want is the mess of a baby mama making things impossible.”
He rubbed his forehead and then nodded. “Jenny was a club whore who I’d fucked a couple times. She wanted to be lady, I said no, so she got pregnant.”
my
old
“On purpose?”
“Yeah. She thought I’d ‘do the right thing,’ but she’s crazy, babe, and I wasn’t interested in the drama either. When Lily was born, I checked paternity and confirmed she was mine. Shocked the hell out of me, ‘cause she was sleeping with two or three other guys at the time.”
“Wow. So, what did you do?”
“I got a fuckin‘ lawyer. We worked out child support, but when Jenny figured out I wasn’t supporting her and Lily, and I sure as hell wasn’t makin‘ her my old lady, she split. Lily was almost nine months old.” He shook his head. “Bitch has been gone four years almost to the day. I don’t know where she is, don’t care. Just hope she’s gone for good. Lily’s better off.”
“How did you feel about having to take care of Lily?”
“Babe, she’s a little girl. She’s my little girl. I was happy to take care of her. I just thank fuck she looks like me, not sure how I’d feel if I was lookin‘ at her mother every day.”
I grimaced. “I guess that’s honest.”
“Life’s too short to lie or candy coat shit. I’ll protect my own. Whatever it takes, but I’ll be honest doin‘ it.”
“So what do we do about me? In regards to Lily.”
CATE
He shifted in his seat. “We get to know each other. If this is goin‘ somewhere, we’ll all spend time together. Before that, you and I’ll be alone or we’ll be low–key at the club if she’s there.”
“You’ve thought about this.”
Alex chuckled. “Yeah, babe. I have.”
“Do you know who I am? Who my brother is?”
“Yeah, Payton, I know. I did a full background check on you, so I know you more than you probably want me to.”
I shrugged. “I don’t have anything to hide, Alex. I’ll probably do the same thing.”
“Have at it, baby.”
“So
you
know who
my
brother is and that doesn’t concern you?
“Club’s clean, Payton. As am I… well, sort of. No felonies. Can’t do my job without bending the law on occasion. Your brother stays out of my business, I’ll stay out of his.”
I rolled my eyes. “Brock doesn’t typically get into anyone’s business; well, outside of his job of course, unless he’s also protecting one of his own. Then all bets are off.”
“Noted.” He cocked his head. “You really gonna make me wait?”
I choked on the shake I’d just sucked into my mouth. I slapped y chest and took a few deep breaths to calm the coughing.
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“You did not just ask me that.”
“We’re bein‘ honest, babe. Need to know where I stand.”
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“Um, yeah, I’m going to make you wait. I’ve never slept with anyone I wasn’t in love with and you won’t be the first.”
He grasped his heart. “You wound me.”
I giggled. “You wanted honest, bub. You got honest.”
He grinned and leaned forward. “I’ll wait, baby, but that don’t mean I’m not gonna wear you down.” He slipped his hand to my neck and stroked my jaw. “And kissing better not be off the table, or we’re gonna have a problem.”
I licked my lips. “No, kissing’s most definitely not off the table.”
Hawk guided my legs to the ground and pulled me against him, lowering his mouth to mine. As he deepened the kiss, he slid his hand to my neck, and ran his thumb over my pulse. I loved kissing, had kissed a lot of boys and men in my day, but Alex was by far the best I’d ever experienced.
To me kissing was like holding hands… no big deal. Sex was different. It was intimate and when I slept with a man, it was because I thought there was the chance we’d last forever. There’d only been two that fell into that category for me and they’d both lasted several years, ending amicably.
But kissing Alex was different. I felt like he was giving me everything and I wanted to give him everything back. I broke the kiss and stroked his cheek as I tried to catch my breath. “You’re freaking me out a little.”
He smiled, his blue eyes soft and sweet. “Baby, there’s no pressure. We’re gettin‘ to know each other.”
“I get that in theory, but you….” I shook my head, not wanting to finish my thought.
“What?”
Gah! I bit my lip. “You kiss me like that and I forget my manners
Alex chuckled. “Well, I’m doin‘ it right then.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re impossible.”
“Won’t ever make you do somethin‘ you don’t want to, baby, but fuckin‘ love kissin‘ you.” He smiled. “And you just admitted you love kissin‘ me, so, gonna make that work for me.
“It works, handsome. Just might work a little too well.”
He grinned and kissed me again, until his phone interrupted the moment. “Hey, Kayla. Lily okay?” he asked, and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me against him. “Yeah. Probably in a couple of hours. Put her on.” I snuggled closer to Alex as he talked on the phone. “Hey, baby. No, I’ll be home after you go to bed. You being good for Kayla?” He chuckled. “Kisses back. Love you to the moon, baby girl. Okay. Put auntie back on.” He kissed my temple and gave me a gentle squeeze. “You okay? Sure? Yeah, really appreciate it, Kay. Yeah.” He chuckled. “Okay. Bye.”
“You’re really sweet, Alex.”
“Don’t tell anyone that, baby. Bounty hunters aren’t supposed to be sweet.”
1 giggled. “My lips are sealed.”
“What’s your work schedule over the next few weeks?”
“I’m working all week.” I craned my head to look up at him. “Then the following week, school’s out Wednesday through Friday for Thanksgiving week, but otherwise, I’m typically working until about four every day.”
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“Right, Thanksgiving.”
I smiled. “Do you have plans?”
“Usually go to the club.”
“Are you committed to that?” I asked.
“Not necessarily. Why?”
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“Because you’re welcome to join us. We cook a butt–load of food and there’s football and pie. A lot of pie.” I smiled. “Plus a gaggle of kids to keep Lily occupied. Your sister’s welcome too.”
“Let’s play it by ear, yeah?”
I nodded and stared out at the water. I couldn’t explain it, but the fact that he didn’t jump at the chance to spend Thanksgiving with me really disappointed me. I’d been hesitant to get involved with him and yet, here I was sad that he wanted to play it by ear.
Obviously, I was insane.
Or a woman.
Sometimes I wondered if there was much difference.
“You okay?” he said against my ear.
“Hmm–mm.”
“You gonna share what’s pissed you off?”
I frowned up at him. “I’m not pissed off.”
He studied me for a few seconds. “Somethin’s off, babe.”
I sighed, pulling away from the warmth of his body and facing him. Settling my chin on my drawn up knees again, I forced a smile. “I’m working out my feelings, Alex. You’ve just gotta give me a little time.”
“I’m givin‘ you an out for Thanksgiving, babe.”
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