Even so, while Tessa was hot, she was so damn young. And Cage needed her for Dyna, not for himself. Even if he was interested, he wasn’t sticking his dick where it might risk getting severed off.
But truth was, he wasn’t interested. Only one woman held his interest.
Even after her being gone for six weeks.
Even after she deserted him.
“Tessa!” he yelled as he flung open the front door after finding it unlocked.
The damn doors were always supposed to remain locked. For her safety and Dyna’s. They weren’t done dealing with the Shirleys and wouldn’t be for a while. They were doing it slow and methodical, trying not to catch any heat from the PD.
He’d texted Tessa earlier to let her know he’d be home late, like normal, since he’d been working on a side project of restoring an old muscle car for a customer.
He needed all the extra scratch he could get. Dyna was outgrowing her clothes and going through diapers faster than he could keep up.
He stepped into the tiny foyer of the small three-bedroom ranch and yelled, “Tessa! You home?”
He froze with what he saw.
Furniture in the open-concept living room and dining area.
“What the fuck?” he muttered.
Did Dutch spring for furniture?
No fucking way. His old man was still grouching about what he’d shelled out for the temp trailer rent. When the single-wide was picked up, anything Cage didn’t own went with it, including the rented furniture.
Maybe one of the ol’ ladies came across an estate sale or something.
He had put off buying any furniture, even used, because he just didn’t have the scratch. Another reason he was working his ass off for twelve fucking hours a day.
To provide for his family, which now included Tess. The same way Saylor had become a part of Judge’s family.
He didn’t need much—other than the basic furniture he already had—since he had Dyna.
He had his sled.
His Impala.
His club.
His family.
He was only missing one thing to make his life complete.
Eventually that gaping hole would fill, even though he wasn’t in a rush to fill it.
Dyna was his priority. The most important person in his life.
Everything else could wait.
Then he heard it...
His daughter having a “conversation.” Not that he ever knew what the fuck his little monkey was babbling about. Nope. Somehow, he needed to interpret cries and smiles. Facial expressions, too, like when she was taking a big shit. Or had to fart.
Or when she was pissed he wasn’t picking her up as fast as she wanted him to.
Because she was stubborn as fuck.
Like her dad.
Like her...
He sighed.
He was going to kill Tessa, Trip’s sister or not, if she left Dyna alone and not told him she was leaving. She was young, not stupid.
Well... She did stupid shit, too, as most twenty-year-olds did. One reason why she hunted down Trip and asked for his help.
So, here she was, helping out Cage and Dyna in exchange.
Sometimes fate timed shit just right. Tessa reaching out was one of those times.
Thank fuck.
But he was still going to kill her.
It was strange that furniture showed up unexpectedly at the same time Tessa disappeared.
He pulled his phone from inside his cut to text his house mouse to find out where the fuck she was, why she left his daughter and where the furniture came from. His head was down as he typed out the message while walking through the open door of the nursery.
His fingers and his feet froze at the same time, just like when he spotted the goddamn furniture.
Dyna wasn’t alone.
His daughter had a perfectly good reason to be babbling.
Cage felt like if he tried to say anything, he’d be fucking babbling, too.
Jemma sat in the corner of the room in the used padded wood glider he’d bought at the consignment shop in town. Her eyes were closed, she wore a soft smile and held his daughter in a hug.
“Is that right?” she whispered in response to more of Dyna’s gibberish. “That much, huh?”
Cage’s eyes slowly closed, then, just as slowly, opened again to make sure he was seeing what he was.
Yeah, he wasn’t imagining it.
He was afraid to walk across the small room. Afraid to say shit.
He was worried if he did, she might just evaporate into thin air. Then he and Dyna would be alone again. His daughter would be without her mother and Cage without his woman.
He almost missed what she asked him since his heart was thumping so loudly in his ears.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Tessa? Why did everyone keep her a secret?”
Her green eyes met his and held.
Goddamn, he’d missed her. A million times more than his daughter had.
More than anyone had.
The air in the room crackled and popped with energy. That pull sucked him farther into the room.
The foot she’d been using to glide the wood chair back and forth stilled, and she adjusted his daughter in her arms and stood.