Page 35 of The Keeper

I shook my head. “I couldn’t remember the name. What was I supposed to do? Put out an APB for every Dane with a motorcycle? Even if I had remembered, showing up alone and pregnant at a clubhouse didn’t seem like the safest option.”

“No, you’re right,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose with a groan. “Sorry, I just hate how I’ve missed out on so much already.”

I lowered my head to hide the tears welling up inmy eyes. “I swear I was working up to telling you before I got the call about her fall, but I didn’t know how you’d react.”

“You really thought I wouldn’t want her? That I’d walk away?” he asked, moving closer.

I took a shaky breath and forced myself to meet his gaze. “I never knew my father. He took off before I was born, and the thought of Avery going through that too…”

“Hey,” he said, reaching out to brush a tear from my cheek. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

It was the same thing I’d said to him the night we met, and that, coupled with the feel of his hand on my face, broke past my defenses. “You don’t hate me?”

Dane chuckled. “Darlin’, I don’t think there’s anything that could make me hate you. Hell, if I could go back, there are a lot of things I’d do differently to prove it to you. But I can’t. Best I can do is be here for Avery now. For both of you. That’s what I want—to be the father she deserves.”

“I need more than that,” I said, my voice betraying a tremor. “I need to know you’ll still be here even when it gets hard.”

Dane’s eyes softened, and he shifted closer, his large frame dwarfing mine on the couch. He cupped my jaw in his rough hand, forcing me to look him in the eye. “Not going anywhere. I know I’ve got a lot to prove, but I swear to you, I’m in this for the long haul. All I’m asking is for the chance to be a part of her life.”

As much as I wanted to throw myself into his arms and trust everything would work out, I couldn’t shake the lingering uncertainty. Bridging our world with his came with an entirely new set of risks.

“I want that, too,” I said, trying to focus on our daughter rather than the heat radiating from his body. “But I’d be lying if I said your lifestyle didn’t scare me.”

A flash of hurt crossed his face before he masked it. “You’re talking about the club.”

My gaze dropped to the patch on his kutte. “That one-percent patch tells me you’re not exactly on the right side of the law. Avery’s safety is everything to me, and I don’t know how to shield her from?—”

“From what I am?” Dane finished, his hand falling away from my face.

I reached for his hand. “Hey, I didn’t mean it like that.”

His eyes hardened, and he pulled back. “You think because I wear this patch, I can’t be a good father? That I’d put our daughter in danger?”

“No, that’s not…” I trailed off, blinking back fresh tears and struggling to find the right words in my exhausted, overly emotional state. “It’s just—I’ve worked so hard to give her a stable, safe life. I can’t risk that, Dane. I won’t risk that. Not even for you.”

He stood abruptly, pacing the small living room. The pain in his eyes made my chest ache. “You think I’d put my daughter at risk? Christ, Piper.”

“But how can you guarantee her safety?” I asked, padding over to his side. “What happens if?—”

“If what?” he demanded, backing me up against the wall. “If the feds come knocking on your door? If a rival club tries to start shit? If a deal goes south? You think I haven’t considered a million and one scenarios just like that since learning she’s mine?”

Aware we were both emotionally raw and needed sleep, I placed my palm on his chest, hoping to soothe his wounded ego. “I want us to be able to co-parent peacefully, for Avery’s sake,” I said carefully.

“Did you just offer to co-parent our daughter with me?” he asked. His low voice was tinged with anger and hurt, but the intensity in his gaze was sending conflicting signals to my brain.

I swallowed hard. “Um…yes?”

He threaded his fingers through my hair with a dark chuckle before tugging my head back. “Is that what you think I’m interested in, baby—some new-age, bullshit term divorced couples use to make themselves feel like they’re still a team? Do I look like that kind of guy to you?”

“I—”

His mouth came down over mine, hard and demanding. I gasped, my hands flying up to grip his shoulders. His tongue slipped past the seam of my lips, claiming me with a possessiveness that made my knees weak.

We had so much left unresolved and so many issues to work through. But the feel of his body against mine, the taste of him on my lips, overrode all logic, and I kissed him back.

Dane growled low in his throat, his hands roaming down my sides to grip my hips. He lifted me easily, and I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist. The hard length of him pressed against the seam of my underwear, wrenching a strangled moan from my throat.

“In case I didn’t make myself explicitly clear earlier, I’m not fucking interested in co-parenting or custody arrangements,” he rasped against my throat, nipping at the sensitive skin. “Is that what you want, huh? To keep me at arm’s length so you can play house with another man, only seeing me when it’s my turn to have Avery?”

---