Page 26 of Rugged Fox

Kati gave me a side-eye, the kind that once again was a blatant once-over of my body.

"At least it works in your favor, even if there are better ways to physically work through stress."

I normally didn't preen under a woman's praise. Though, right now I was a fucking peacock, and I didn't care what it said about me. I liked that Kati was noticing me and not afraid to say it. Or in this case, show it.

Then what she said sunk in. My cock pressed painfully against the zipper of my cargo shorts at what she could've possibly meant by that statement. It had been many years since I had to discreetly adjust myself in public so I didn't get hit with an indecent exposure fine.

"Yes, much better ways." I was trying to respond casually, for those words to be full of innuendo, but I failed miserably, and Kati knew it. The look she gave me said as much. What I didn't see was disgust though, and that was a step in the right direction. There was hope that Lyla was right after all.

We continued to move through the aisles as Kati shopped. The entire process was normal and almost couple-like. The conversation flowed naturally and all of the awkwardness from the first few encounters seemed to melt away.

I was too busy watching Kati that I hadn't bothered to shop for myself, despite the lack of food in my place. I told myself I would do it another time.

Liar! Grocery shopping was on the list of the least favorite things I liked about living alone.

I felt bad when Kati finished cashing out and I followed her to her vehicle. I was about to burst the nice little bubble we found ourselves in with my next statement.

"I'll follow you to your house. My team wanted to meet with you and discuss Alejandro."

Sure enough, the bubble popped and I watched as the gravity of her situation settled back over her like an ugly black cloud. The carefreeness of the morning disappeared in the sky and who knew how long it would take to return.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Kati

My eyes flicked to the rearview mirror for the fourth time in under two minutes. Easton was still right behind me, like he was afraid if more than ten feet separated us, I would be gone forever. That didn't bode well for whatever his team needed to discuss with me.

Easton and I had been having such a nice time shopping too. I would've even classified the time together as normal. Good conversation, laughter, and some sexual tension that promised a good time. All good things in my opinion. Then Easton had to go and ruin it by mentioning the one person that I wanted to fall off the face of the earth.

A lot of people wanted to be rid of their baby daddies but none more than me. He was one of the worst, and I was the unlucky recipient who got stuck with him.

No, not stuck. Lucien was an amazing son. I wouldn't change him for the world. Alejandro might be a piece of shit, but he gave me the best blessing, so for that, I would be forever grateful.

However, if the man himself fell over and died tomorrow, I wouldn't be upset.

Horrible thought for me to have? Yes.

Was I going to have it anyway? Hell yes.

I never claimed to be a perfect person and sometimes the truth hurt.

By the time I pulled into my driveway five minutes later, Hendrix was already waiting for me along with two other vehicles I didn't recognize. Easton's team worked fast. Not once did I notice Easton on the phone. And though Hendrix had originally followed me to the store, I didn't remember seeing his Jeep when we walked out. Not that I was paying much attention. My focus was primarily on the man who made my stomach flip any time he was near.

I used to have better situational awareness. I should probably work on that, given how my life has been going lately.

I didn't even get my car door fully open before Easton was at my side.

"The guys and I will bring the bags in if you want to go inside."

Any other time I would have reminded Easton that I was a single mother who brought her own groceries inside on the regular, but I was too worked up to care. Besides, it was kind of nice to have help. I always did the grocery shopping while Lucien was at school, so unloading the car was normally a solo act. The independent woman inside me wanted to argue but the practical side knew it was better to just accept the help when I could get it. Who knew when it would happen again?

One trip and Easton's teammates had everything in the house and were even helping me put stuff away. It made the normally mundane task go by quickly, and Lucien couldn't complain that we didn't have any food in the house. A win-win in my book.

With all the food put away and the bags stored for future use, there was nothing more I could do to stall. This conversation was happening whether I wanted it to or not.

"Easton mentioned you had to talk to me about something?"

It was bad that I didn't even want to say the name. It was like Beetlejuice; say the name three times and he would appear. My luck, if I said baby daddy's name, my life would get further complicated.

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