Page 91 of The Devil's Scars

“Yes and yes.” She arched, just a bit, longing to feel that delicious bulge against her lower body. Sure enough, he was hard, the most male part of him reaching for her softness, her sweetness. “Are you OK? Where have you been? Can you tell me now?”

“Ah.” He kissed her again, lightly, then stepped back. “I’ll show you. Come on out.”

“But –” She glanced down at Keira. “I don’t want to leave her.”

“Bring the baby monitor and have the guys keep an ear open,” he said, taking the monitor out of the diaper bag and handing it to her. “We won’t be more than two minutes, I promise.”

“Ohhh-kaaay,” Zoe said, still not thrilled at the idea of leaving Keira alone. Though, if she thought about it, how was leaving her in the office next to the bustling tattoo work space any different than leaving her alone in her bedroom while Zoe was in the living room? Or sleeping in her own room? Or being absolutely filthy with Scars on the kitchen floor? “Two minutes?”

“Tops,” he promised her as he headed for the door. “Come on, beautiful. I’ve got something for you.”

“For me?” She turned up the volume on the monitor and trailed behind him more eagerly now, leaving the office door open. “Like… a present?”

“Yep.” He gave her one of his devastating little winks. “Like a present.”

“Viking?” Zoe paused next to his work area, and he looked up from the butterfly tat that he was inking on a woman’s lower back, his red hair as wild as ever. “Can you listen for Keira? She’s sleeping, and I think she’s out for at least two hours, but can you just stay alert? I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Two minutes,” Scars corrected her. “Scout’s Honor.”

“You were a Boy Scout?” Zoe asked him skeptically. “Tidy little uniform and badges and making fire by rubbing two sticks together ?”

“You kidding me?” Scars rolled his eyes and smirked. “Nah, baby. I was kicked out after three meetings. Mouthed off to the guy with the whistle and the idiotic Ranger Rick hat.”

“Figures,” she muttered. “So… you can keep an eye on Keira, Viking?”

“Yeah, of course.” Viking grinned at them. “And hey, that’s one hell of a quickie, Veep… two whole damn minutes! You can satisfy your girl that fast?”

“Shut the hell up, Callahan,” Zoe said in her best ‘you’re dead where you sit’ voice, even as Scars guffawed. “Unless you want to work ten-hour shifts for the next ten weekends?”

“No, boss,” Viking said, pulling out the affability card double-time. “Sorry about my hastily uttered words. They were vile and unprofessional.”

“Harrumph,” Zoe said, still giving him the evil eye. “Watch it, big guy.”

Viking snapped a salute, gave Scars a tiny grin, the returned to his client. Scars took Zoe’s free hand, tugged her towards the door.

“C’mon, Zoe. It’s just right here.”

“What is?” Zoe stepped through the door that Scars held open for her, and the blast of early-summer heat and bright sun smacked her in the face. She sighed happily, looking forward to taking Keira swimming soon, because Wolf had bought her the stinking cutest little pink and orange bathing suit. “Hey, where are you going?”

Scars was still walking across the parking lot, and about fifty feet away from the parlor front door, he stopped.

“What am I looking at?” she asked him.

“This.” Scars pointed at a car. “It’s yours, baby.”

“It’s – what?” She blinked up at him. “How can it be mine?”

“Because I bought it for you.”

“You – what?”

“I flew out to Salt Lake City yesterday, drove back this morning. Like I told you, I’ve got a good old schoolfriend friend out there who I owed a huge favor to. He had this car for sale, and I got it for one hell of a good price, but still better than he’d get from anyone else. In exchange, he got cash in hand to pay for his kid’s medical bills.”

“So…” Zoe looked at the car again. “It’s… it’s mine?”

Scars produced the paperwork from his back pocket. “Yours, Zoe. Free and clear. The guys over at the garage just officially did the safety inspection and Silver signed off on it, and all that’s here too. The car’s in good shape, just two years old, barely used. I want you and Keira out of that death trap on wheels that you own now, and so here you are.”

“But…” She stared at the documents with her name all over them, looked up at Scars. “But that’s a huge present.”

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