Mess Me Up (Bear Bottom Guardians MC 1)

“Yeah,” Rome Pierce, the sexiest man in Bear Bottom—or hell, maybe even the United States—said. “He’s in the living room.”

Swallowing my fangirling—and yes, I was a freakin’ fan—I followed the shirtless hunk until we reached the living room.

Further proof of just how beautiful and enticing Rome was that I didn’t look around the house and instead looked at him.

God, I was such a loser.

Not only had Rome Pierce been my favorite football player—and I didn’t even like football—he was also a really good dad. When I talked with Matias while I was cleaning his mother’s house, I always heard how much he loved his dad and what an awesome guy he was.

It also helped his case that he said this in front of his mother, who, might I add, I disliked with every fiber of my entire being.

Rome’s big body led the way through the massive house, through two rooms, down a hallway, to arrive at the sunniest room in the entire place. I looked around as I walked, liking the house even more from the inside.

There was a wall of windows, and on the couch in the middle of that sunshine, was Matias.

“Matias!” I called, seeing the little boy’s eyes open and staring at his tablet.

Matias didn’t just play on his tablet, though. He learned. He was on ABC Mouse, and he was working on his letters and numbers. He was the only kid I knew who didn’t just get on the device to play something stupid, like Candy Crush.

Matias looked up, and his smile brightened the room impossibly further. “Izzy! Did you bring me cookies?”

His voice was weak, which was normal at this stage of his treatment. If my guess was right, he had a treatment a few days ago—making this the day that he was the weakest and most nauseous.

Rome made a noise in the back of his throat. “Matias Tyler Pierce, you’re supposed to greet a visitor and ask how they are before you ask if they brought you anything.”

Matias looked over at his father, then back at me. “Hi, Isadora. How are you? Can I have one of your cookies?”

I snickered and looked over at the amused man standing two paces away from me. “May I?”

I held up the bag, and Rome dropped his eyes from my face to my bag, then nodded. “Yeah.”

I walked over to one of my favorite little boys in the world and offered him the bag. “Don’t eat all of these at once. I’m trusting you.”

He snickered. “Mama’s not here anymore. I can have more than one now since she’s not here to pitch a fit.”

My eyes widened, and I looked over at Rome but didn’t say a word.

Rome wasn’t looking at me, though. He was looking at his son with a worried frown on his face.

I patted Matias’ hand. “Well, still. I don’t want you upsetting your tummy any more than it already is, so just go slow, okay?”

At Matias’ nod, I got up from my crouch and turned to the man. “Now, tell me what you need, and I’ll do my best to accommodate you.”

Rome turned to me, his eyebrows high. “Tell you what I need?”

He turned and started out of the room, but I could’ve sworn I heard him mutter, “Your pretty face making my kid smile again.”

But surely that wasn’t what I heard.

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, hurrying after him.

“I said that you can do whatever you think the place needs or what you normally do at Tara’s place. I don’t care. Honestly? He just wanted to see you. I’m not here enough to really get this place dirty. The kitchen and the living room are really the only two rooms that I use. All the other rooms, except for my bedroom upstairs and Matias’ down the hall, don’t even have furniture.” Rome waved a hand around the kitchen.

The fact that his son wanted to see me, and that Rome had gone out of his way to call my business to get me here, had me feeling all warm and happy.

I was sure that my smile lit up my face.

He frowned then, something catching his attention. “You okay?”

He pointed at my hand, and I sighed. “I fell today running. Some car nearly ran me over, and I had to dodge and weave to miss getting plowed over. The man didn’t even stop…this was the result.”

I held up my wrist that was scraped up one side and down the other. There wasn’t any visible blood anymore, but that was about all that I could say.

Tomorrow, it’d hurt like a bitch…and I was damn sure that I’d be wearing my gloves when I used the bleach.

“Are you sure you can work like that?” he asked, looking concerned.

I snorted. “Uh, yeah. I can work. I’ve had worse than this before and still managed it.”