“Got it,” he agreed because, really, what else could he do? He needed her help to get back on his feet, rum wasn’t going to help him achieve his goals, and being nice to Summer aligned with his plan to talk some sense into her before sending her away.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
Angry and confused,Summer sat in the padded chair in the corner of the Hubba Bubba room, the baby half asleep on her shoulder as she rubbed her back gently. After last night’s disruption and this morning’s confrontation, they were both off their schedule and out of sorts.
They needed a nap. The smooth back and forth of the glider soothed, and she closed her eyes. Not helpful. Not helpful at all. The image of Jamie—tall, muscled, and naked—had been branded onto the backs of her eyelids.
God! She could still feel him. In that blissful moment between sound asleep and fully awake. His body pressed along every inch of hers. His cock nestled between her ass cheeks. Her skin warmed at the memory, her nipples tingled, and her body ached with a need she wasn’t accustomed to.
Her pussy throbbed. Hard. Once.
Traitor.
Last thing she needed was complicated feelings about Halia’s father. So what if he happened to be the hottest man she’d ever laid eyes on. He was off-limits. Not to mention, he hated her guts. Wanted her gone. Had said she didn’t belong.
Asshole.
She belonged, damn it. No Greek Adonis with a chip on his shoulder would tell her otherwise. The JTT might be his family, but they were hers now too, and she had no problem fighting him for them.
They needed each other. Nothing could be simpler.
And while she felt sad for him, for what he’d been through in Boston, for the death of his ex-wife. When it came to her life, her choices, Jamie Snow could go fu—
“Summer?”
As if she’d conjured him, his deep voice penetrated her thoughts, and her rocking came to an abrupt stop, her brain smashing into her frontal lobe thanks to the laws of a body in motion. Her anxiety spiking, tension wrapped around her like a weighted blanket.
She frowned. Yeah, okay. Confrontation wasn’t really her thing, but for the first time ever, she had something worth standing her ground for, and people she trusted to have her back, no matter what. She could do this. She could fight this battle. For herself. For Halia.
She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and holy crap. Good thing she had her butt parked in a chair, or the sight of him would have dropped her to her knees, her hard bones morphing into soft jelly.
Dressed in dark beige tactical pants with a gun on his hip, he leaned against the frame of the open door, loose hair tucked behind his ears, arms and ankles crossed, his eyes laser-focused on her.
Her blood rushed.No! No, no, no.Sparks flickered through her veins. A fire ignited. Her internal temperature ratcheted, and she felt a gush of liquid heat pool between her legs.Nope. Bad vagina. Very bad vagina!
“Do you have a minute?” he asked.
“Sure.”Sure? Way to go with the—I’m tougher than you are—act.She stood and walked Halia over to her crib. Hard to look like a badass with a baby in her arms. With a last nuzzle and a quick kiss, she put the sleepy little girl down for her nap. Then channeling her inner Gray, she grabbed an imaginary snow globe, steeled her spine, and turned to face her enemy.
“I’m sorry.”
Well, crap. Wind out of her sails, her shoulders dropped. She hadn’t anticipated an apology, and he’d completely disarmed her with two words in two seconds flat.
“I was an ass last night and an even bigger ass this morning.”
She huffed in agreement.
“But I’m not wrong. It’s not safe for you or Halia to be here.”
Emotional whiplash. In one breath, she’d forgiven him. In the next? She wanted to add a matching bruise to the opposite side of his chiseled jaw. Unfortunately, he looked like he could take a punch, and she’d probably break her wrist. “I already told you—”
“I’m not here to fight with you.” He straightened and grabbed a set of crutches leaning against the door.
“Then whyareyou here?” Despite his injury, she eyed him like the threat he was as he came over to where she stood.
He stopped beside her, his hair falling into his face when he looked down into the crib. “Halia’s a pretty name.”
A zing shot her straight through the heart, and thrilled she’d pleased him in some small way, she followed his line of sight as he watched his daughter sleep. “I think so too. It means—”
