With her heart hammering wildly, she blurted out. “I’m sorry. I’m about to be evicted and—”
He sighed deeply and shook his head as he withdrew his phone from the back pocket of his jeans. “Save your lies for the police, lass.”
“Please don’t call the police. I swear I’ll leave and never come back.” She pleaded. Her bottom lip trembled. She couldn’t go to jail. She held up the three hundred-dollar bills and laid them on the desk.
She did not know how she would afford anything, her rent or diapers or food. Because she doubted she would get paid for her work today. Freya wanted to rage at fate, at the unfairness of the cards she’d been dealt. Other people broke the law and didn’t get caught. But she did.
Shit! This made a bad day even worse.
Maybe they should leave today. Stop by the motel, grab what little she had stored there, and go.
And go where? Every place they had run, he’d found them. She didn’t have the gas money to get them far. She had far too many problems and not enough resources to solve them.
He narrowed his eyes and prowled her way. Unholy fear had her quaking in her shoes. Would he hurt her? Would he beat her? Menace rippled off his towering form. She backed up until her butt hit the desk and she had nowhere else to run. Her gaze darted to Maddie in the playpen on the other side of the couch, staring solemnly at the scene.
Please stay quiet, baby. Don’t let him hear or see you.
“You’re not a very good thief if all you were going to take is a lousy three hundred bucks.”
“I’m not a thief,” she sputtered. He scowled, glancing from her to the cash on the desk and then back to her again with a get real expression stamped across his handsome face.
“I mean, okay, I was going to steal it, but only so I could pay rent and buy food. But I really don’t want any trouble. Please, you have the money back. I’ll go, and you’ll never see me again.” Tears threatened, but she steeled herself, unwilling to allow those tears to fall.
“Hmm. What to do?” He reached out. She flinched. It was a knee-jerk reaction after living with her ex, who would hit her whenever the whim struck him. It was far too ingrained in her that he was going to cause her pain, because that’s what men did.
His cobalt eyes narrowed, and he curled his hand around her bicep. Unexpected heat lashed through her at his touch. She licked her bottom lip, and her gaze lowered to his mouth. It really was a sexy one, too. The image of her sucking on his full bottom lip flashed through her brain.
Hello, libido. You do still exist.
The air thickened at his nearness. His scent, a deeply masculine one with notes of sandalwood and something darker, greeted her. And Freya couldn’t explain what manner of madness drove her to do it. Only that she was drawn to that mouth, drawn to him, even though panic beat a drumbeat through her. Maybe fear heightened the sudden onslaught of desire thrumming through her body. Because she leaned up on her tiptoes, planted her mouth over his full lips, and kissed him.
Mr. Campbell’s entire body froze. She traced the seam of his lush lips, hungry to taste him, to tangle their tongues together and nibble on that bottom lip. His lips were smooth as silk. His beard teased her mouth and sent tingles shooting through her body to coalesce in her core. And then he groaned, cupped her face in his large, firm hands, and kissed her. He kissed her like he’d been waiting for her his entire life.
He fucking plundered her mouth.
His tongue plunged aggressively inside, caressing her tongue and learning the contours of her mouth. Freya’s entire body caught fire. The world dimmed until the only thing that registered was the sexy man and his devastating kiss.
She wanted to dive into the erotic flames. His tongue thrust deep into her mouth, and she moaned. God, it had been so long since she had felt anything but fear and worry. The pleasure fried her brain. All the reasons she shouldn’t do this fled with every thrust of his tongue. Her entire world winnowed down to his seductive mouth that should be illegal in most states.
Freya clutched at his muscled chest and whimpered as he changed the angle, taking the kiss infinitely deeper. The hunk dominated her and kissed her like a man about to go before a firing squad. The sheer magnitude of his hunger fueled her own to epic heights. She wanted them both naked, with him pounding away inside her. She wanted to climb him like a tree and have him take her. She wanted to feel him moving inside her. She wanted—
“Mama.” Maddie’s sweet little voice broke the stillness. Freya’s stomach dropped through the floor at hearing her daughter’s tiny voice. The sound jolted her out of his arms. Maddie’s timely interruption acted like a bucket of ice water, dowsing the flames. She shoved at his chest to make him release her. Somehow, while they kissed, his hands wound up on her ass.
The man released her like he’d been holding a venomous snake. He whipped his head around. Shock stole over his features, and his thick black brows rose, nearing his hairline. But then he turned accusing eyes her way. “Oy! What the bloody hell? You brought your kid to work, lass?”
Instinct kicked into high gear. Freya spied an opening and took it. After years of abuse, she moved fast, escaping his reach, and shielded her daughter with her body. Fists clenched, she stood in front of the playpen, ready to fight him off if need be, regardless of whether or not she would lose. “If you’re going to hurt someone, hurt me, but keep your goddamn hands off my daughter.”
Mr. Campbell reared back and snarled. “Do you honestly think I would hurt a child? Or you, for that matter, woman?”
“I don’t know you or what you’re capable of.” But she knew what his mouth tasted like.
She shut that train of thought down immediately. She hefted Maddie into her arms when she reached for her. It would make it easier to run. The moment Freya spied an opening, she’d break for the minivan, pray the jalopy started, and that she could get away before he could read her license plates to report to the police. She’d have to leave the playpen behind. That loss stung, but there was nothing she could do about it. One mistake was costing her dearly.
Life had never been fair. She’d rather leave without it than wind up in jail. Because he would find them, and would take her daughter away where she couldn’t defend her.
And Freya would fight to the death to protect Maddie.
2
Bleeding Christ, what a mess!
Jasper wiped a frustrated hand over his face. Then stared in a quandary over what to do about the cleaning lady. An exquisitely stunning cleaning lady, he might add, who he’d shared one of the hottest kisses of his life with. His dick strained against the confines of his jeans, hungry for the little thief. He refrained from adjusting himself to provide a measure of relief.
He’d not seen her before with the agency. It knocked him off his axis that she’d brought her kid to work with her. Obviously, she was down on her luck and trying to provide for her little girl. Especially if a measly three hundred bucks would help her out that much. There was a part of him that thought he should just give her the cash, all of it, and send her on her way.
But what killed him was the terror rippling off her and her belief he intended to physically harm her. Someone had hurt this woman, and badly enough that she believed his first course of action was physically hurting her.