Page 53 of Wild Devil

Before I can agree, he lurches upright and rolls down the window enough to shout, “Hey, buddy! Think you can race me back inside and hide somewhere where I can’t find you? Bet you can’t!”

Sammy’s reply is an excitedly chirped, “Yes, I can!”

“Time bought,” Daze says with a smile. I shiver as he turns the full force of that expression on me. He is so beautiful, sometimes it hurts to meet his gaze head-on. Like standing in the path of an oncoming truck moving at full speed. There is no chance to react before…

Boom. You’re crushed against the onslaught.

I barely notice he’s moved until I feel him help me back into my shirt. Then he yanks my sweatpants back into place. Once he’s dressed, he leaves the truck and guides me up the path to the cabin and safely into the narrow bathroom before he sets off to find Sam.

I wash up blindly and then hunt for my bag of borrowed clothing. After getting dressed in a clean shirt and jeans, I find myself wandering in the main room, with Daze and Sammy nowhere in sight. Confused, I head outside and start down the porch steps.

When I hear a voice call out, I turn around in time to catch a small cherub-like figure running to greet me with outstretched arms.

“Ms. Lady!”

“Sammy?”

I stoop to catch him mid-hug, and I squeeze him tight.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, honey,” I tell him, smoothing back his blond curls. “Do you know where your daddy is?”

“Yeah!” He tugs me along behind the cabin, where a massive Daze is attempting to “hide” behind a narrow tree. As Sammy and I approach, he makes a show of lunging toward us, growling playfully.

Giggling, Sammy tries to outrun him, and they play a haphazard game of tag throughout the narrow clearing. Finally, Daze throws up his hands in surrender.

“I give up! Let’s go eat, little man,” he declares before lurching to scoop Sammy into his arms. Sammy’s elated giggles form a trail all the way to the cabin.

I follow behind them, unable to shake the feeling that something is off. Daze has been distracted ever since we left the city, not that I can blame him. If I were in his position, I’d pester me until I got an answer.

I can tell he’s dying to ask what happened with Colton and Catherine. I should tell him, but there is this selfish part of me that doesn’t want his opinion of me colored by that. Will he judge me for what I had to do to survive? Or will he hate me for letting Catherine sacrifice herself so easily without putting up a fight?

The questions haunt me as I enter the cabin and find Lyra in the kitchen, slaving over the stove. Daze leans against the wall, already eating a pancake with his bare hands, while Sammy watches him from a round table, clapping in delight.

“Oink oink, that’s the sound a piggy makes!” Sammy cackles gleefully as Daze proceeds to make those very sounds on command. “Yay!”

“Don’t forget to eat your own food, little piggy,” Lyra scolds, crouching to cut his pancake into pieces. Looking up, she spots me and nods toward the counter. “I made you a plate. You’re probably starving.”

“Thank you.”

Daze staggers to right himself, still smiling in a way that makes my heart flutter. He’s so beautiful like this, consumed only with the task of entertaining his son.

“Here.” He moves to pull out a chair for me, and I grab a full plate and sit across from Sammy, who has syrup dripping down his chin.

“Daddy said we can go play in the water!” Sammy sings. “Wanna come?”

“I said we can walk by the water,” Daze corrects, his voice gently stern. “It’s not safe to go in.”

“We can walk,” Sammy insists, batting his golden eyelashes. “Wanna come?”

“Of course.” I muster up a smile in return. “If you’ll have me.”

“Yay!” Sammy starts to push back from the table, but Lyra calls from the other side of the kitchen.

“You need to eat first, young man. Then you can go out and play.”

“Okay!” Sammy painstakingly eats the rest of his food while Daze and I trade silent glances from over the table.

I don’t know how to describe the way he looks at me. His gray eyes sparkle, open and warm—but the thoughtful tilt to his mouth conveys a vulnerability that makes my heart ache. What happened between us last night has only made the unspoken tension between us more awkward. I feel like I’m going to explode by the time Sammy finishes up and Daze takes a quick shower. When we finally head outside, the sun is shining high in the sky and the chaos in the city seems to be a world away.

---