Page 20

Sinclair

“W hat are you doing?” I sat up in bed when Dagger strolled into my bedroom with that loose-legged swagger like he was an old timey cowboy.

I tried to hang on to my annoyance at having him in my home when I was so vulnerable, but I couldn’t, not when he was walking around in nothing but a pair of dark gray boxer briefs that did delicious things to his thighs and terrible things to my peace of mind.

He stopped and frowned. “I’m staying here. With you. Concussion watch, remember?” Dagger stepped forward and bent down until we were face to face. He waved his hand in front of my face with a frown. “Are you confused right now?”

I gave his chest—warm and firm—a shove. “Funny.” I groaned and rolled my eyes, mostly to take a break from the sight of his well-muscled, heavily tattooed body.

Since when did single dads look like that ?

“Why are you naked?” I waved my hands in his general direction, looking away as the memories of our intimate encounter came flooding back.

I didn’t have a good look at him then, but now I saw every tattooed, sculpted inch of him and it was pure torture.

“Not naked, just in my underwear.” He stood tall and folded his arms, bulging biceps momentarily scrambling my brain.

“Why?” Yeah, that was the important question. Why was he in nothing but underwear that sculpted his thighs and molded to his impressive cock, even when it wasn’t erect.

“Because I needed to wash my clothes and because I don’t sleep fully dressed.” He rounded the bed and stretched his big body on top of the comforter right beside me. “I made a full load because Dani is always going on and on about saving water. Not that I get why, but I listen.”

I didn’t reply because he wasn’t just sexy, he was sweet, and that was a problem for me.

I turned over and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t, because how could I?

I hadn’t slept beside a man in too many years to count, and this one was too hot and my memory of our time together far too recent.

Too vibrant. “I can set the alarm to wake me up,” I finally said, desperate to put some physical and emotional distance between us.

Dagger snorted a laugh beside me. “And if you don’t wake up because you’re unconscious instead of asleep?”

Ugh, why was he being so rational right now? “Then I’ll be dead,” I shot back. “And you can go home to Dani.”

“Do you have a death wish or something, Sinclair?” His voice was tight, and his face twisted into a frown.

“No death wish,” I assured him. “But I’m not going to worry about something I have no control over.”

“But you do have control over this,” he growled. “You have me, and I volunteered to be here to wake you up and make sure you don’t have a concussion.” His words were laced with a sincerity that I wanted to believe.

But I couldn’t. “It’s more important that you’re there for Dani. That she sees you in the morning before she goes to school.”

He said nothing and I continued. “My dad wasn’t what you’d call dad of the year.

He never met a bet he could walk away from, which meant I woke up alone most days.

I got myself ready, made my own breakfast, and got myself to the bus stop, or to school when I was running late and missed the bus.

It just…” I hesitated. “It just really sucked waking up alone most mornings.”

“I’ll do better tomorrow. I promise.” He let the silence settle between us. “Is that the only reason you don’t want me around?”

I knew that question was coming, and I still didn’t have an answer. Okay, that was a lie. I knew why, I just didn’t have an alternative answer to give him. “You lied to me,” I blurted out.

“I know and I’m sorry,” he said, his voice laced with sincere sorrow.

“Stop, I’m not asking for an apology.” The truth was that I hated he was just another liar, but that wasn’t the only thing I hated.

“You lied to me and I still like you, Dagger. And that really pisses me off.” I hated that a man could lie to me, lowkey stalk me, and still I found him attractive and charming and desirable. “I really hate that.”

A long silence settled between us. At first, I thought he was going to brush it off, to avoid responding, but then he spoke, and I held my breath, fixed on his every word.

“I watched you, Sinclair, because I wanted you from the moment I saw you, smiling all the way up to your eyes at everyone you came across. You bent low and treated the kids like they mattered, and you’re gorgeous. That’s why I left you the roses.”

“It was you?” I asked. It had only happened on two occasions and then stopped. I’d chalked it down to one of life’s mysteries. I’d actually wondered if it was my stalker—my other stalker—but his style was bricks through the window and intimidation.

Dagger shrugged, “Yeah. It seemed like a sweet gesture, but then I realized it was just plain creepy. Honestly, I didn’t mean to watch you, all I wanted to do was to make sure you were a good person. But then I couldn’t stop…”

I looked away, embarrassed by his kind, intense words.

“I wanted you so fucking bad, but I don’t do commitment and everything about you says you’re a woman who doesn’t do casual or half-ass.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about you. So I watched you, determined to find the fatal flaw that would let me forget you.

” His tone was so anguished, so serious that I didn’t know what to expect.

Those words shouldn’t be hot. They shouldn’t hit me in a way that sent desire pulsing through my body. They shouldn’t short-circuit my brain and erase the anger I spoke of a few moments ago.

The dark expression faded, and a bemused smile spread across his face. “And then you handed me my ass when it came to Dani, and I knew I couldn’t have you. Couldn’t keep you. No matter what.”

There it was again, that sense of not being good enough. He wanted me. Hell, he’d had me and still he didn’t want to keep me. “Well, we’ve already slept together, so I should be out of your system. You can get on with your life and forget all about me.”

Dagger let out a loud laugh, the kind that echoed off the walls.

“Wouldn’t things be a hell of a lot less complicated if that was the case?

” He looked at me with a mix of heat and confusion.

“Having you was better, more explosive than I thought it would be, but it wasn’t enough.

Now you’re just burrowed deeper under my skin. ”

I shook my head, refusing to let those words take hold in my mind.

“You’re dangerous,” I told him honestly.

It wasn’t just his biker lifestyle or the fact that he operated on both sides of the law.

Oh no, he was attractive and charming. He was a man I liked even though I knew I shouldn’t, and that’s what made him dangerous.

“Because of the MC?”

“No,” I sighed, pretending I wasn’t just having those same thoughts.

“You are dangerous to my heart, Dagger. Men, in my experience, don’t stick.

At least not for me.” I swallowed around those words and closed my eyes tight.

“So, while I like you, more than I probably should, this thing is destined to end, horribly or amicably. I adore your daughter and I like my job, so I’m not ready to blow up this version of my life. ”

“Maybe this one will stick.”

I laughed and shook my head. “As much as I’ve always wanted to believe that, I know it’s not true. Especially with a man who already admitted that he doesn’t do commitment.”

“Why are you bringing up the past?” he asked jokingly.

I laughed, but he had no idea that I was forced to remember the past so that I didn’t doom myself to repeat it.

I used to be young and hopeful, na?vely believing a man when he said he loved me and would be there for me.

It started with my father, and it was a pattern that continued with every relationship I entered.

I smartened up and opted out of relationships because I knew that no matter how badly I wanted it, no man would stick around.

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them. I think that’s doubly true when someone tells you who they are. ”

Dagger’s smile dimmed. His lips pulled tight into something that might’ve been a smile but wasn’t. “But you like me?”

I nodded. “Yep. I like you, Dagger. I want you too. But it won’t go anywhere, and if I spend too much time with you, I’ll convince myself that it can go somewhere. And when it doesn’t, I’ll be the one heartbroken and alone.”

Dagger’s serious expression remained fixed on my face, but he had no words of reassurance to offer, so I turned away from him and closed my eyes until I drifted off to sleep.