My wound dressed to Ryker's exacting standards, and I was back up in his arms as he carried me to the couch in the living room. He set me down. Gave me a kiss. "What do you want for breakfast?" Papa laughed from over at the kitchen island. "Momma and I brought everything a healing body needs. We can all eat together."Ryker looked up and over. Nodded. "That works for me." He left me on the couch and went over to help Papa. Tali took his spot. "What the hell is going on? I've never seen Momma so quiet and subdued."I nodded. "Ryker set her back on her heels. Not one shit was given, Tali. If I'd been able to climb him like a tree, we certainly wouldn't be having breakfast right now. It was really hot...after I wanted to punch him in the face for it."Tali snickered. "I'm surprised he tamed the beastie."I smiled. "With a couple sentences. It was amazing. A little brutal, but amazing. Papa even backed Ryker."Tali whistled low. "Damn.""Yeah. Good luck finding anyone who

My heart in my throat, I waited for him to make his decision. Willed him to let me in, to let me help. I needed to know what had happened to him. What had formed him. How he came to be the man he was. As the silence dragged on, I could feel myself shrinking, imploding. He was going to push me away. Break the bonds that had already formed. Set them on fire and run for the hills. I gave him a sad smile, nodded. I'd known it was too good to be true. I wasn't keepable. I was too broken and dark to be with someone who lived in the light like he did. From the very beginning, I'd known. Bad guys didn't help strangers. Not like he had. He'd felt guilty that I'd been kidnapped after he dropped me back off at the bakery. But he was seeing what my life was really like. How closely I was tied to the Amatuccis. He saw how deep the pits I lived in were. How dark. How much I'd become like those pits. Unsaveable. I wasn't fit for the light and that's all he was. Lightness, gentleness-albei

I grabbed Turo's hand as his face went thunderous. "Sorry. Thank you. I was trying not to let her know my middle name. Something about her wanting to yell at me using all three." I shook my head. His face cleared as he laughed. He nodded. "Yeah, when she's really pissed she uses all three like Momma does." He leaned in. "I think it's cute, but don't tell her that. She'd just get even more pissed and I like my confectionaries."I chuckled as we let go. "Making her angry is pretty fun."He snorted. "Do it at your own risk. And don't eat anything she makes you after she's been angry." He shuddered. "It won't end well.""Stop snickering about me, you turds." "Speak of the devil," I said. A pillow punched into the back of my head. "Jerk." Her stomach growled again. Loud enough that I heard it from the middle of the room. I turned back to her. "Seriously, do you have a small feral animal who lives inside you?"She flipped me off as she laughed. "Just feed me.""Momma le

Shivers and goosebumps rose along my arms and spine as she scratched her nails against my scalp. How I missed the simple pleasure of that my whole life, I didn't know. But, along with just about everything else about this woman, I was addicted to it. I dipped down so she could get the front door. "Oh, I need my purse," she said. I straightened. "Right. Do you know where it is?" She stiffened a bit, looked over my shoulder. "No. Last I remember having it was in the car at the bakery."I winced even as I appreciated her not stating the fact that I was the reason she was currently forced to be in my arms. I nodded. I would make that up to her. Spend my life making it up to her. "I'll have Baxter go back to the bakery. I think your car is still there. You'll need to get your bank information changed, just in case. What about your driver's license? Social security card? All of that?""In the far corner. Fireproof safe under the desk." She pointed over my shoulder. Careful

I jumped between my mother and Willow, cutting off my mom's view of her. "Don't ever talk to her like that again.""You get stabbed, kill a man, and now you're lying to the police? For her?" She shot to her feet. "You can do so much better than this, baby." She reached out to me. I stepped back. Kept walking backward until I bumped into the couch. I tipped my head to the side. "You just defended her. Threatened a police lieutenant."Mom snorted. "No. I corrected a bad police woman's attitude. I didn't defend Winslow Chase's daughter." She shook her head. The odd glances, the deliberately rude behavior fell into place. "That's what this is about? Making the daughter wear the sins of the father?"My mom jerked back as if I'd slapped her. I spread my arms. "Get to dressing, Mom. We both know Dad's sins. Better start pinning them to my chest.""No! She doesn't get to talk to you like that. Not in front of me she doesn't," Willow said from behind me. My mom snarled. She