Page 21 of Pike
I shrugged and turned to Chloe. “I don’t know. Is it?”
She looked at me and then Gemma with a blank expression on her face. Then she sighed heavily, pointing at Gemma and then me. “Eat your food before it gets cold.”
Gemma giggled. “Okay, Mommy.”
I watched her as she watched me, her gaze unshakable for the first time all evening. I arched a brow and reached for a fry, popping it in my mouth with a smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
Her lips twitched as if she might smile and my eyes remained glued to her full lips, waiting for one of those real smiles that lit up her whole face. But she froze as if remembering something and the twitch stopped, her smile went back into hiding.
Maybe next time.
Chapter Thirteen
Chloe
Ididn’t like this. I didn’t like it at all.
It had been two days, and instead of worrying about big bad bikers coming to kill me and my daughter, I was thinking about a different biker, still big, bad on the outside, and sexy as hell. Now it wasn’t just fear that kept me awake for the past few nights, it was discomfort and arousal.
And now it was something else. I sat straight up in bed and looked around my room in the dark, making sure there were no boogeymen hiding in plain sight. Certain that my room was safe, I got out of bed and padded to Gemma’s room to make sure her room was also safe.
It was.
Thankfully.
I crept downstairs slowly. Carefully. I didn’t make a noise, not even on that fourth step that squeaked in the middle, before I made it to the bottom step. I went straight to the window, looking for the source of the sound that made it impossible to get to sleep, not that I was close to falling asleep anyway.
There was nothing out there, of course, at least not anything I could see. There was no large man creeping in the dark, no glint of a weapon in the moonlight and no goosebumps alerting me to danger. There was nothing and no one out there.
Just my imagination.
And then there was the otherthingoccupying my mind. Pike. After he taught me self-defense, and feeling his body close to mine, I was finding it hard to keep my mind on staying safe and off kissing him.
But it was hard when he was so good with Gemma. Pike had a wealth of patience for my curious little girl who asked too many questions and said whatever was on her mind. He was nothing at all like Marcus. Or Victor. Or Nate. Or any of the other wicked men who’d been brought into her life because I made the wrong choice. He didn’t lose his patience or get offended. Instead, he laughed.
He answered her questions and asked some of his own.
Andhimbeing such a good guy, was seriously messing with my head.
A heavy masculine hand landed on my shoulder and my whole body tensed as my fight or flight response kicked in. Then a hand slid around my waist, hot and slightly calloused, making my breath catch. “It’s me, don’t freak out.”
His breath was hot, his words were a gentle whisper that vibrated through me. “Pike.”
“Yeah.” His grip didn’t loosen. “Couldn’t sleep?”
I nodded. “Yeah, it happens.”
His laughter was deep as it vibrated through me, and I felt my nipples tighten uncomfortably. “You need to sleep, Chloe.”
“Yeah, well tell that to my body.” My eyes slammed shut in embarrassment because yeah, I really just said that. “What are you doing up?”
He shrugged and released me. “I can’t sleep when I know you’re awake and obsessing.”
I spun to face him, regretting it instantly when I found him too close. And shirtless. “I’m not obsessing. I’m just cautious.”
“Overcautious,” he shot back with a smirk.
“Maybe,” I conceded and put some physical distance between us, at least temporarily because seconds later he joined me on the sofa. “I’ve been living this way for years now. It doesn’t ease up now because you’re here.”
