Page 14 of Beyond the Cut
“It’s okay. Cade’s a good biker.”
“He’s still a biker,” Maia said, withdrawing her hand from Cade’s grasp. “And bikers are bad.”
“Maia…”
“It’s okay.” Cade pushed himself to his feet. “I’m guessing living with Jimmy wasn’t all flowers and sunshine.”
“There were flowers.” Maia’s gaze dropped and she toed the grass underfoot. “He bought flowers sometimes after he hit—”
“Maia.” Dawn’s cheeks heated and she bent down and lowered her voice. “We don’t talk about that. Especially not to people we don’t know. That time is gone. We live in the now.”
Maia’s bottom lip trembled. “I thought he’d feel better if he knew that Jimmy hurts everyone.”
“Not for fucking long,” Cade muttered.
“Cade!”
“He swore.” Maia gave him an assessing look. “Just like Jimmy. And he wears the same clothes as Jimmy. But he has a nice face. Jimmy has a mean face.”
Unabashed, Cade twisted his lips to the side. “I’m nothing like Jimmy. First, I’m much better looking. Second, I save the swearing for special occasions. And third, I’ll bet he never bought you ice cream.” He looked to Dawn for confirmation. “If that’s okay with your mom.”
“Bribery. Very nice.” Dawn laughed and sent the girls to the concession stand to choose their flavors, pushing all thoughts about Shelly-Ann to the back of her mind. “I thought you’d scare the girls away in your leathers and chains.”
He gave her a cocky grin and placed a hand on her lower back, guiding her along the path. “What can I say? I have a way with the ladies no matter how old they are.”
“You have a way of finding ladies, too. How did you know where we were?” His hand was warm against her back, and she tried to ignore the curious glances of the other parents in the park. As far as her neighbors knew, she was a conservative, hardworking single mom with shared custody of her kids and no connection to unsavory biker types who looked sinfully good in worn, low-rise jeans.
“Drove by the park on my way to your house and saw Jimmy’s sister dropping the girls off. Decided to make sure she wasn’t giving you a hard time.”
Warmth pooled in her belly, and for a moment she considered sharing her concerns about Shelly-Ann. But her business wasn’t his business, and it wasn’t like he could help. “We’re doing fine. Thanks for checking up on us. I’m glad to see you’re up and about.”
His fingers tightened around her waist, sending a delicious tingle up her spine. “That’s ’cause I had a good doctor. Although after seeing you in those little shorts, I had an ache that just wouldn’t go away.”
“Cade. Behave.” She jabbed him lightly with her elbow, and he laughed, his deep rumble reverberating through her body. Before Cade, her sexual experience had been limited to a few fumbles with inexperienced teenagers, and then Jimmy, for whom sex was a purely selfish event. But in the two nights she and Cade had been together, they’d done things she’d only fantasized about, and then some things she could never have imagined. Even now, her cheeks heated at the memories.
“I can’t behave around you.” His voice dropped, husky and low. “Last time we were together—”
“Was the last time we will be together.” Disconcerted by the intensity of her feelings, she pulled away. “I had a good time with you, but I’m not interested in getting involved. I have my hands full with work, the girls, and the custody fight.” She was good at building walls to protect herself. Even with him, she’d given her body but kept a lock on her heart.
At least, she thought she had, but when he leaned down and brushed his lips over hers, her betraying heart stuttered in her chest.
“You’re interested in getting involved with me,” he whispered. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have invited me to sleep in your bed. You think I’m hot.”
Dawn lifted an eyebrow. “Is this part of the seduction technique you use to lure sweet, sexy young things into your bed?”
He nuzzled her neck, feathering kisses along her jaw as one hand curved over her ass. She should push him away. Run. Hide. Pretend she didn’t enjoy having a badass biker whisper naughty words in her ear in the middle of the playground as he set her blood on fire. But she couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. Instead, she closed her eyes and went along for the ride, tilting her head to the side to give him better access.
“That’s my girl,” he murmured against her ear. “She’s sweet. She’s sexy. And she wants me in her bed, my hands on her body, my mouth between her—”
“Mom.”
Somewhere in the distance, someone was calling her name. This wasn’t a dream; it was real. And she’d almost made the same mistake with him again. She jerked back, her cheeks flushing at her uncharacteristic loss of control.
“I can’t believe you.” She shook off her lust-induced haze and pulled away. “We’re in the playground.”
A sly smile tugged at his lips. “Swings. Chains. Gives me so many ideas.”
“You’re filthy.” And she loved it. But she would never let him know.
