Page 8 of Burly and Possessive

I smile, a genuine one this time. “Thanks for insisting. You’ve lifted my spirits more than I imagined possible. I owe you, Andrea. Thank you.”

She grins. “Anytime. Now, go inside and relax. I’ll see you for movie night.”

As she drives off, I linger on the porch for a moment, breathing in the cold, clean air. I don’t know what I thought life as a runaway bride would be, but it sure wasn’t this.

But I like it.

CHAPTER 4

JAX

Hey, man,” I say when Mack answers the phone. I walk away from the hammering and noise of the construction site so I can hear him better.

Mack chuckles. “Jax, how’s it hanging?”

“Not bad, man. Not bad. How’s the car looking?”

I hear Mack’s muffled voice, then the sound of a door closing. “Had to get somewhere quieter. The guys are chattier than women today. But the car. We had to order a part, and it should be here tomorrow. It’s,” he pauses, “Wednesday now. Should be ready by Monday. Does that work?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” I say, my mind racing.

Personally, I’m not upset that Leesa’s car won’t be ready for a few more days, but I don’t know how she’ll feel about it. Seems like she needs time away from the life she fled, but whether or not she wants to stay with me the entire time… A man can hope.

“There a story behind this?” Mack asks.

I pause. When I called for Leesa’s car to be towed, I gave Mack the bare minimum of details. I left it that I found a stranded woman and offered my assistance. “Not really. Saw a woman on the side of the road, car broken down. I did what anyone would do.”

Mack chuckles again. “If you say so. She couldn’t have called for a tow herself?”

I rub the bridge of my nose. “She didn’t have a purse, and her phone was dead. She’s,” I hesitate, knowing I might regret saying this, “staying with me. She had some…stuff she ran from.”

It’s Mack’s turn to be silent. “That’s unlike you.”

“Helping someone? Of course I’ll help someone in need,” I say, bristling at the implication that I wouldn’t, especially a woman in need.

“That’s not what I meant. I meant you let a woman into The Lodge? You barely let your sisters spend time there.”

“It’s…” I pause. Mack isn’t wrong, but even though I know I’ve done things for Leesa I wouldn’t usually do for anyone else, I don’t have the words to explain why. Something about her brings out the caveman in me. She’s mine, and no fucking way would I tell her to stay somewhere else. “She’s different,” I finally admit. It’s not a lie.

“Indeed, she is,” Mack says knowingly.

Someone yells loudly enough for me to hear, and Mack swears under his breath. “Hold on.”

Mack’s voice muffles again, but he’s back quickly. “Look, I gotta run. I’ll call you when the car is ready.”

“Thanks, man. Appreciate it.”

I head back toward the construction site. Waylon has us building three different cabins to use as safe houses, and two of my men are working on the first one. I stride over to Ace and Cody.

“You guys got this under control?” I ask. I can’t help anyone if I don’t focus on the work, and given the detailed security specs Jake from Ghost Security provided, this is one project we can’t call good enough.

Ace pulls a bandana out of his pocket and wipes his forehead. It’s early, but it’s June, and the sun is already high and hot in the sky. “Yeah. It’s all going to plan. We should get everything needed done today so Jake and his team can get in here and start working on security. You got someplace to be?”

I nod. “Got some things to take care of. Call me if anything comes up.”

Ace calls out to Cody, and they dive back into work.

Been a while since we built a new cabin up here, but it’s not a skill forgotten quickly, and I trust my men to do everything right.

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