Page 54 of Outlaw

Linc’s grin was more than I could deal with. I decided to stop looking at him.

“I have to leave for work sometimes, but I will always come back,” he told her.

I wondered how many people he’d killed or what illegal activity he’d participated in.

“That’s what Mommy said!”

Not exactly. I hadn’t saidalways.

His body cast a shadow over me. A warm towel hit the side of my leg as he dropped it onto the seat.

“You want to go swimming with us, Ringlets?” he asked.

Ugh. That freaking name.

“I’m fine,” I replied, not looking up at him. I didn’t correct him about the name because the bigger deal I made out of it, the more he would do it.

“Did you not look in the mirror?” He drawled the question with his southern accent coming out thick. “You are a hell of a higher level than fine.”

Okay. He was using pickup lines on me? Seriously?

I finally glared up at him through my sunglasses. “Don’t do that,” I snapped.

His gaze was on my legs before moving up to my face. “What don’t you want me to do, Ringlets?”

I waved a hand at him. “This. Flirt, or whatever you’re doing,” I paused and saw that Stevie was playing under the waterfall, not paying attention to us. “What we did was a brief lapse in judgment. We aren’t doing it again. I’m engaged.”

And oddly, the guilt I should feel about that was not one of the things I had been dealing with. I had to end things with Hudson. Break it off. It hadn’t even been a week, and I had spread my legs for Linc.

He reached down and took a strand of my hair and twirled the loose curl around his finger. “I saw you first.”

I blew out a breath of frustration, more at myself than at him because this was getting to me.

“What are we, ten?” I asked sarcastically.

He let out a deep chuckle as my hair fell free from his hand. “You keep acting like you haven’t had your hand between your legs, thinking about the other night,” he replied.

He walked over to the edge of the pool near Stevie, and I watched him do it. Because it was hard not to. His narrow waist and golden skin. Even the scars that hadn’t been covered by the tattoos were sexy. They were proof of how dangerous he was, and God help me, I wanted to lick them.

Groaning, I laid my head back and closed my eyes. I was a bad person.

“Watch this!” Stevie called out when she saw Linc approaching.

I listened but was afraid to look. Seeing him playing with her in the pool was another demon I wouldn’t be able to fight. It would gnaw at me and get under my skin. Then, I’d end up having sex with Linc again.

Tonight, I was breaking things off with Hudson. I could not let him think that we had a future.

For starters, I was lusting over another man—one I would never have, but who would always be in my life because of our daughter. Another thing was, seeing Linc with Stevie, I’d realized that Hudson wasn’t going to be a good stepdad. Sure, he’d invited her on dates, but comparing him to Linc made me see that Hudson had ignored her for the most part. Her constant talking would get on his nerves. Linc hung on every word she said.

Why hadn’t I noticed the ways Hudson was not a good fit? I’d had an excellent father. I knew what a good one was.

I’d wanted him to be a good fit. He loved me, and that’d made me feel secure.

Again, I had been selfish. When had I become that person? Ididn’t used to be selfish.

“Don’t get hewah wet. She will be mad,” I heard Stevie whisper.

Keeping my eyes closed, I continued to listen. I was pretty sure I had dozed off to the sounds of them in the water. But they were close to me now.

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