Bucking Bear (Pounding Hearts 3)

Unbuckling my seatbelt, I tell Max, “I’ll be just a moment.”

Max nods and eases back in his seat, turning his music up like it’s no big deal. Hopping out my side, I feel his eyes following me as I walk around the front of the car. He seems to be a man of few words which is really making it hard for me to get a good feel on him.

Maybe I should have just asked Max to drop me off at my car. But the club is all the way on the other side of town, thirty minutes from here, and Carson threatening to keep Hope if I didn’t make it here soon kind of freaked me out.

Whenever it comes to Hope I tend to freak out.

Besides my parents she’s all I got, the most important person to me in the world. I don’t think he could get away with it, legally, but I wouldn’t put it past him to try.

I intercept Carson as he walks out the sliding front doors, carrying my booster seat with Hope following on his heels.

“Mommy!” Hope squeals and runs for me.

Dropping down to a squat, I hold my arms out for her. Hope collides with my body, rocking me back, and I wrap her up in my arms. She hugs me back, and for a moment I worry that it’s too tight, too relieved.

“I missed you, Mommy,” she sniffles into my shirt.

I kiss the top of her head and tell her, “I missed you too, sweetheart.” And just hold her.

There’s nothing better in the world than hugging my little girl, especially when I know it comforts her.

Carson clears his throat and I give her a little pat on the back. “Hope, I need to get up now.”

It’s a struggle but I manage to wiggle out of her death grip enough to straighten almost to full height.

“Grace,” Carson says, his face tight and his eyes full of judgement as they glide over me.

I shift from foot to foot with Hope clinging to my side. Yeah, I’m a hot mess and I know it, and of course he’s all dressed up for work. Blonde hair slicked back, he’s dressed in a dark charcoal suit that his athletic body fills out really well, and it kills me that he’s looking every inch the super model. He’s always been so handsome, so effortlessly put together.

“Carson,” I nod back.

Carson’s baby blues flick past me, gliding over the parking lot before he arches a brow at me. “How did you get here?”

“A friend gave me a ride,” I say and reach out my hand for the car seat.

Carson frowns and gives the parking lot a second look. “A friend?”

“Yeah, a friend,” I say.

“What kind of car do they drive?”

“The Escalade.”

Carson turns towards the Escalade and I turn with him. There’s no way he can miss Max sitting in the driver’s seat.

“Looks like you had a fun night,” Carson says with a sneer, turning back to me.

Shame washes over me though I know I shouldn’t feel it. I’m young and responsible, I deserve to let my hair down every once in a while. What right does he of all people have to judge me?

So I shrug my shoulders.

Carson’s face reddens with anger and he steps closer, his voice dropping to a hiss. “I expected better of you, Grace.”

My spine stiffens with indignation, and I’m not entirely sure what he’s implying. “What exactly are you accusing me of?”

He looks me up and down pointedly, his eyes damning.

Oh, hell no. I thrust out my hand and tell him to, “Give me the car seat.”