Give Me a Reason (Redemption Hills 1)

The softest moan slipped from her mouth.

Danced across mine.

Yeah, she wasn’t the only one who could get used to this.

“You’d better get into the kitchen before I demand you take care of me in a different way, Mr. Lawson.” Playful seduction wound its way into her tone.

A chuckle rolled up my throat. “Ah, Little Temptress. Playing with fire. Don’t worry, baby, you’ll have plenty of that.”

She edged back just a fraction. “That’s good because I’ll never get enough.”

Yeah. I fucking liked that.

Us.

Here.

Now.

She spun around and waltzed toward the adjoined bathroom, those dancer’s legs exposed by the tiny shorts. I stayed rooted until she disappeared, and I heard the showerhead turn on, then I adjusted my dick in my underwear because that was gonna have to wait for later.

I dragged on my jeans and ran a hand through my messy hair before I moved back through the hall, the living room, and into the kitchen.

Every inch of it was bright, warm, and inviting.

Eden written all over it.

Gage was already in there, digging through the refrigerator. “Whelp, Dad, we’re gonna have to get really super very creative because all Miss Murphy’s got is some eggs and nuffin’ else in here. Sheesh. We better go to the store so we can take care of her better.”

Swore my chest was gonna burst as I walked up behind him and swooped him into my arms. “Sounds like a plan.”

Those arms wound around my neck. “’cause we love her so much all the way to the highest mountain, right?”

“That’s right, Gage, because we love her all the way to the highest mountain.”

“That’s called Mt. Everest, you know.”

I chuckled. “That’s called my boy’s got all the smarts.”

“I got to get all the As!”

I pressed a quick kiss to his temple before I propped him on the counter, set my hand on his cheek so he’d know it was important, my voice low with the gravity of the question. “You okay with this, Gage? With bringing Miss Murphy into our lives? Her bein’ a part of us?”

Kid actually scoffed at me. “Dad, tell me you’re jokin’? She’s the best thing that ever happened to us.” His arms raised to the sides, and he said it with so much seriousness.

God.

Felt like I was flying.

This love so bright.

For the first time since my mother died.

His eyes widened in emphasis. “You get offered something good, you better take it.”

There he went again, schooling me at life.

“Well, I guess we better take it then.”

“You know it.”

Still laughing under my breath, I started to dig around in Eden’s cabinets in search of what we might need.

Gage was right.

Only thing in the cabinets were cobwebs.

Then my heart was dropping to my stomach when the front doorbell rang.

Hairs lifting.

Because shit, my gun was locked in my glove box. Eden might have thought I’d overreacted last night when that douche had grabbed her, but in my life? With my past? With the demons that were right there, threatening to take me down? There was no fucking such thing as overreacting.

You reacted quick or you were dead.

Simple as that.

And I realized as I grabbed Gage and pulled him into my arms and carefully crept into the main room so I could peek out the window, that I was done with the ghosts of that life.

So tired of running.

So tired of hiding.

So tired of being afraid.

I had to find a way to put it behind us.

Permanently.

“What we doin’?” Gage whispered, his arms locked around my neck, kid no fool, feeling the agitation that instantly lit across my skin.

“Just seeing who rang the doorbell.” I peered out the sheer curtain. “Nothing.”

Relief filled me because it probably was just a delivery. Sighing out a strained breath, I tossed off the bad feeling and moved back into the kitchen, where I set Gage onto the counter.

Then my attention was whipping around when the back door rattled then creaked open.

Terror in my heart and vengeance in my hands.

Reaction I didn’t know how to stop.

Only the man coming through froze, eyes going wide in shock when he saw me standing there with my kid on the counter, like he was the one who needed to go into protector mode.

There I was, every muscle poised to jump into action, only wearing my jeans that were slung low on my hips, no shirt covering the sins written across my body.

The clear imprint of Eden was written there, too. Like the girl seeped from my flesh and whispered from my pores.

Eden’s father reeled in sheer confusion.

Then this creeping horror filled his expression as his eyes darted and raced and took in the scene. Adding it up quick.

“I…uh…um…” The man gulped, warring where he stood frozen in the doorway, his hand clutching the handle like if he backed out and closed the door it wouldn’t be real.

Gage shifted on the counter, a smile spreading wide on his precious face. “Oh, hi, Mr. Murphy!” Gage looked at me. “Dad, look, it’s my principal and he’s so, so nice. Did you know that?”