Stay with Me (Return to Haven 1)

“I did, but I didn’t know we’d be here so late.”

The kid couldn’t remember the daily ritual of brushing her teeth, but she sure as hell wasn’t about to forget a promise he made last minute as she hopped out of his truck for school this morning.

“Daddy.” She wrapped her little arms around his neck. “You can’t break your promise. That’s what you always tell me.”

Sometimes he really felt he was nailing this parenting thing, and other times he realized his guidance came back to bite him in the butt.

Jax glanced to Livie, who still hadn’t moved, hadn’t taken her eyes off Piper. And then it hit him. The bibs.

“They’ve been on the back of the office door since you left,” he reminded her. “She’s just started wearing them recently. They’re a little big, but . . .”

He truly had no idea how to approach this, and from the look on Livie’s face, she didn’t either.

“If you’d rather she not—”

“No, it’s fine.” Livie blinked, as if she were pulling herself from some trance. “I forgot about them until you mentioned them the other day, but I hadn’t seen them yet. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”

“Are you having another date?” Piper mumbled.

Jax shot Livie a wink. “Not tonight,” he said, patting Piper’s back. “Livie needs a ride home, though. Can you stand here with her and I’ll go get my truck so you two don’t get so wet?”

She nodded against the side of his neck, her wild hair tickling his jaw. He sat her down, but Piper immediately went over to Livie and extended her arms. Livie froze, not enough for Piper to notice, but Jax was pretty in tune with Livie. She didn’t want to get too wrapped up in this place, with him or his daughter.

“Be right back.”

Jax didn’t offer any reason to Piper why Livie wasn’t picking her up, and as he walked back in to get his keys and shut off lights, he threw a glance over his shoulder. Piper was firmly resting in Livie’s arms. In that second, something tripped inside his chest and he had no way to even describe the emotion.

Turning from the scene behind him, Jax couldn’t let any of this get too personal. No matter how strong the pull of attraction was toward Livie, he had to keep reminding himself of how Carly had also tugged him into her life only to stomp on his heart and walk out without a regret.

Jax turned off the lights, set the alarm, and headed to get his truck. He wasn’t looking for a relationship. A little flirting, kissing . . . whatever else may arise was fine, so long as commitment stayed out of the equation. If they had a business deal, fine, so long as they both agreed to it. But anything deeper, forging a stronger bond, was out of the question. After all, he not only had his own heart to protect, he also had to look out for his daughter.

* * *

Seeing those bibs had been like a slap to the face from reality. She’d worn those every day when she’d go to the airport to work with her dad during summer breaks and after school. They’d been big and baggy at first, then she’d grown into them. By the time they were getting too small, Olivia didn’t want to wear them anymore.

But they held a special place in her memory bank, she couldn’t deny that fact. Seeing Piper in her messy ponytails and the baggy bibs with cuffed hems churned something in Olivia. Those nostalgic memories were starting to consume her. With each passing day, she questioned whether she was making the right decisions. There simply was no good answer and no one to tell her how the future would play out.

“Olivia, did you hear me?”

She gripped the phone and stared down at her blank paper. The pen lay to the side untouched.

“I’m sorry, what?” she asked.

Since Jax had brought her home last night she’d had a difficult time concentrating. Thankfully, Melanie and Jade had been out on the back porch and didn’t know Jax had driven her home—she’d never hear the end of it if they knew.

Now she was trying to concentrate on work, but she just didn’t have the heart. What was happening to her?

“I said, rumor has it the decision for COO will be made as soon as next week,” her assistant whispered.

Olivia could always count on her assistant to keep her updated on the current rumor mill. Nerves and anticipation spiraled through her. She co

uld practically taste the victory.

“I should be getting an acceptance from the VanKirk Agency today,” Olivia said. “I e-mailed the plans to them, great job working on that, by the way.”

“You did most of the work, I just drew up the actual proposal.”

Olivia picked up the pen and started to draw. “We make a great team. I’m sure they’ll love what we came up with and once I land that account, there’s no way I’ll be denied the promotion. We’ve been trying to get the attention of Patrick VanKirk for years.”