My Dangerous Lover (Off-Limit Daddies) by Annie J. Rose

Author:Annie J. Rose [Rose, Annie J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

ANSON

For the first time in seven years, I had a real Thanksgiving dinner with Marina, Kylie, and Bear.

“I didn’t know you could cook like that,” I said that night. We were lying in her bed, naked, listening to the snow come down in heavy wet clumps on the steeply slanted roof that turned her room into a triangle. Sometimes I bumped my head when I went to look out the window. I didn’t care about that either. Being with Marina had softened my edges so much I was in danger of losing my hard-won reputation. People in town had started smiling at me. Bill told me I looked softer.

“Then it was brave of you to say yes to dinner.”

I shrugged. She could have fed me a TV dinner on a tray, and I’d have been happy. The turkey was just a bonus.

“I used to cook a lot.” She curled up against me, her arm sneaking across my chest like she thought I might get up and leave if she didn’t hold on. Insane. “When Allen was in remission for the first time, we went on this whole healthy eating crusade, like that would keep the cancer away.”

“It could have.” I smoothed my hand over her bare shoulders. I hated the self-deprecating note in her voice. “Some shit is just going to get you no matter what though.”

She tilted her head back and looked up at me, her gray eyes speculative. “Are you ever going to tell me about yours?”

“My what?”

“Your shit.”

I muffled a snicker. Hearing Marina swear was like seeing an angel give you the middle finger. It was totally unexpected and laughably innocent. “No,” I answered when she continued to watch me. “I’m not.”

“Why not?”

I thought of Jimmy. Since I’d found whatever this was with Marina, I’d started to remember things. Times from even before I met Elizabeth, back when Jimmy was one of the friends my dad had grown up with. Not quite Uncle Jimmy, because my mom didn’t trust him enough to have him around all that often, but a friendly face.

Someone who had shown up when my folks died in the car accident and told me if I ever needed anything, to call him. He hadn’t been all that bad then. He’d helped set me up with an MMA coach, even spotted me some of my gear when I was trying to go pro. Then he’d provided me with the underground fights that brought in more money than the legit amateur fights when it was clear I wasn’t going to make it to the big octagon. And then, when I had come to him looking for some opportunities that might make me some fast cash, he’d just happened to have one.

Marina’s fingers skimming across my cheek jolted me out of the past. My hand flew up and caught hers in a punishing grip before I remembered where I was. “Hey,” she said, more surprised than pained.

“Sorry.” I relaxed my grip immediately and closed my eyes.

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