Page 38 of Thornhill Road

I’d never had a man cook me dinner before. Certainly not in my kitchen.

It hardly made sense that a member of the Wild Stallions MC would be the first.

Mustang took the seat next to mine, dressed his bun, then dove right in.

My stomach growled a second time, and I followed his lead.

“Thank you,” I murmured before I took my first bite.

His mouth full as he chewed, he answered with a jerk of his chin.

Something told me he probably would have answered the same way even if his mouth was empty.

After I was done with my first bite—which was delicious—I asked, “Are burgers your thing? Or do you cook anything else?”

“Burgers are fast and easy. Cook other shit, too. Take-out is garbage. Unless I’m on the road for an extended period, home cooked is my preference.”

I was as impressed as I was surprised. At every turn, he was proving to be equal parts badass and interesting.

“That’s very health conscious of you,” I said before I took another bite.

“Ate garbage for a few years when I was broke. Metabolism kept up with me. Not worried about me. Got a kid. Don’t want her growin’ up with some whack relationship with food.”

For a moment, my jaw stopped working. I had to make a conscious effort to keep chewing as I processed what he’d said.

He had child.

Then I remembered the two little footprints over his heart.

I spoke around my food as I murmured, “The feet on your chest…”

“MK’s.”

At this rate, it was questionable whether or not I’d ever get through my burger.

I forced myself to swallow before I inquired, “MK?”

“Mary-Kate. She’s four. And before you ask, her mother and I are cordial—barely. MK was not planned. Least, not by me.”

“But you love her,” I blurted, my brain still trying to piece together the significance of everything he was saying.

He lowered his burger, looked me straight in the eye and answered, “More than life.”

Oh, god.

He’d named his daughter after his mom. A daughter he loved more than life.

This told me three things.

First, he likely loved his mother more than life, too—and she was dead.

Second, he found out he was going to be a father to a kid he did not plan for, and rather than bail, he staked his claim on her by naming her after a woman he’d loved and lost.

Third, I was in over my head.

Mustang wasn’t just a badass biker.

He was everything I knew I wanted in a man.

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