HARDCORE: Storm MC(156)

I kept my cool. “I don’t think this is the right place for her. I just don’t.”



“It’s where her father is. It’s the right place for her.”



“Don’t you have a house?”



“Yeah, but I’m not there all day, am I?”



“So why don’t I stay there with her, then?” I couldn’t believe I was negotiating with a piece of scum like him. He acted like the whole thing was a joke. I wanted to slap the sneer off his face.



“I don’t think so. This place, believe it or not, is better for her than my house.”



I shuddered, imagining the absolute pig sty it probably was. I wouldn’t put anything past him.



I felt myself losing ground. To think, I was so sure I could get him to let her come with me. I was sure he’d be sick of her, unsure what to do, desperate to get her off his hands. I couldn’t have been more wrong.



Wasn’t that a good thing, though? Fury’s Storm aside, wasn’t it good for Gigi’s father to want her?



I looked Lance up and down. He smiled a little, and I felt my cheeks flush. Why the heck was I blushing? I wished I could stop. I didn’t need him thinking I had a crush on him, or that I’d be a pushover for whatever he wanted from me. I didn’t plan on making things easy for him. Not one bit.



“Okay. Listen.” I folded my hands, trying to get some control over the situation. “I can stay the weekend. Just the weekend, though. You have two days to find some way to make her life better, or I’ll take her myself.”



“You have no grounds to take her. What are you gonna do, kidnap her?”



I narrowed my eyes, glaring at him. “No. You’re going to let me keep her until something better comes along. Let’s face it, I can’t stay here more than the weekend. I have to go to work, and Gigi absolutely has to go to school. She’s already missed an entire week. Didn’t it occur to you to find out where she goes to school?”



“I asked her. She didn’t know where the school was, or what it was called. Do you know how many schools there are in town? For all I knew she was from two towns over. She didn’t know her own town. What the hell did Rae teach her?” Then he looked at me, smirking. “Or is it your fault that she didn’t know?”



“Watch it,” I warned. “She was probably too scared to remember, that’s all. Wouldn’t you be scared, surrounded by scary strangers, only seven years old, if your mom abandoned you?”



His face took on a strange look, and I remembered his reference to a foster home when he was a kid. I thought he might know how it felt all too well.



“Anyway, that’s the deal. I’ll stay here and take care of her, keep her out of your hair, while you look for Rae. If you can’t find her, I have to take her with me. I won’t keep her, honestly. I won’t. But I need to be home if I’m going to work. And Gigi needs a place where she can get peace and quiet.” A bottle crashed to the floor elsewhere in the building. The timing couldn’t have been better. “She’s not going to get peace and quiet here.”



He looked less than happy with the crashing bottle, even wincing a little. “Yeah, you might have a point there.”



“So, what do you think? Are you with me?”



“Is that the only way I can get you to stay and stop bothering me?”



“Yes.”



He shook his head ruefully. “I guess I don’t have a choice, then. All right. It’s a deal.” Lance extended a hand across his desk, and I shook it. I couldn’t ignore the way his hand engulfed mine, or the way I felt a little flutter when we touched. This was no time for my hormones to start acting up, and I told myself to knock it off.



If he noticed, he didn’t show it. He stood, going out to the lounge. I followed him, wondering about the sort of person he was. He tried to play the big, tough guy. Underneath, I thought there might be a little something more than what he was letting on. After all, he cared enough about his daughter to fight with me over her. Or maybe he just liked to fight.



Either way, he was the most exciting, challenging, infuriating man I’d ever met. I had the feeling he wasn’t going to make life easy for me. That was fine with me. I had no intention of making it easy for him.



He glanced at me, nodding toward her. Like I was supposed to give Gigi the good news. I bristled at the way he thought he could tell me what to do. I wasn’t his employee, for God’s sake. Still, Gigi noticed the funny way he was acting and turned to me with an inquisitive look. I had to tell her something.