Ride Wild(13)

"Only if you don't mind getting beaten by a girl," she said, eyebrow  arched in challenge. Sam had a mile-wide competitive streak, and she  kinda loved poking at it.

"You're going down," Sam said.

In the end, they tied, two matches each. The kid was ruthless.

"My turn!" Ben said, totally enjoying himself even though he had to play with his left hand.

In truth, Cora enjoyed herself, too. The whole time she'd played with  the boys, she'd been in the moment, not once thinking about all the  things she wanted but feared she'd never have.

Given Ben's disadvantage, she let him get away with a few cheap shots,  and he threw up his hands with a wild little whoop when he won.

"Ready to go, alligators?" Slider asked, coming up to the table. "It's  getting late." After a few grumbles, the boys agreed. "Thanks for  hanging out with them," Slider said. "You didn't have to do that."

She smiled. "What, are you kidding? These guys always show me a good time."

For a moment, the boys and Slider waged some sort of weird, mostly silent little battle. Cora had no idea what was going on.

"Dad!" Ben whispered loudly as he not at all subtly moved his eyeballs  toward her. She pretended not to notice even though curiosity was  killing her. What the heck was going on?

Slider shook his head and made the universal parental expression for  knock it off. The boys grumbled again, their hugs frustrated as they  said good-bye to her. Then Slider was the one saying good-bye. Sorta.  "Are you okay?" he asked.

Her? He was the one who'd looked at her again and again tonight like something was off. "Totally fine, why?"

"Forget it," he said, those pale eyes not quite willing to meet hers. "See ya tomorrow night. Regular time?"

"Yep," she said, bewildered. Apparently, all the Evans men were set to weird tonight.

After that, Cora hung out with Haven and Alexa as much as their guys  could stand to be parted from them. The three of them chatted for hours  and even enjoyed a round or two of Blow Jobs, much to the delight of the  guys seated around them at the bar-and therefore to the chagrin of Dare  and Maverick. When the two couples finally departed, Cora felt a bit at  loose ends, but finally ended up shooting some pool with Phoenix.                       
       
           



       

What she really wanted to do was head to bed, but since her room was  located over the bar, it wasn't going to be particularly peaceful up  there until the party wound down. Which had her thinking about the peace  and quiet of Slider's house . . . and wishing she had a home like that  to go to . . .





Chapter 7




It was all Slider could do to keep from banging his head against the  nearest wall. Or at least his headboard. Because the boys' pleadings  about asking Cora to become their nanny wouldn't stop poking at his  brain. And because the idea was growing on him whether he wanted it to  or not-they weren't wrong; with Slider's changing schedule and overnight  shifts, he could use more regular help. Maybe even permanent help,  especially if it benefited Cora.

But he'd fucking chickened out on asking her.

Beyond that, he wanted to bang his head against anything hard and  immovable because something had been wrong with her at dinner. He  would've put money on it. And he'd let her blow him off when he'd asked.

Now, he couldn't sleep for worrying about it.

And why the hell was he worrying about it again?

Jesus.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw one of two images that made sure  they wouldn't stay closed: sharing a bed with Cora and catching her  blatantly checking out his body, and the way her skin had gone ashen in  the middle of dinner.

As appealing as that first memory was, it was the second one he couldn't  stop replaying as he lay in the darkness of his room. Cora was many  things. Funny. Sarcastic. A good caregiver. A straight talker. And not  at all a pushover. That morning she'd walked out of his house, she  hadn't hesitated to agree he'd been a dick or to tell him not to do it  again. He respected the hell out of that, too.

But he'd never seen Cora scared and never once thought of her as  fragile. And whatever had happened to her at dinner made her appear  both. It hadn't lasted long, but he knew what he'd seen.

What the hell could have caused it?

And, as if all that wasn't enough to be pinging around in his brain at  zero-dark-thirty, knowing that Haven's moving in with Dare would leave  Cora to live alone at the clubhouse, with all its parties and the  drinking and hooking up that often happened at them, was not sitting  right in Slider's gut.

Question was: What was he going to do about it?

He was still asking himself that question twenty-four hours later when  his shift ended in the wee hours of Sunday morning. His boss had let him  cut out a little early because it'd been absolutely dead, and he'd  arrived home a little after five, the house utterly quiet.

But it wasn't dark. Golden light spilled out from the family room,  illuminating the hallway and just spilling into the darkness at the  front of the house.

Why was Cora up at this hour?

He made his way to the family room. "Hey, Cora, I'm home early," he  called out so he didn't scare her. But when he peeked into the room, he  found her sound asleep. She lay facing the back of the couch, her knees  drawn up, her body in a tight little ball. The blanket had slipped to  the floor, leaving her arms and legs bare around the little white tank  top and pale blue men's boxers she wore.

Damn, there was just no denying how pretty she was. Annnd now it was time to get out of there.

Quietly, he retrieved the blanket and bent to lower it over her again.

She jerked, her head turning to peer over her shoulder. A scream ripped out of her.

Heart hammering in his chest, Slider reared back so hard he nearly went  ass over head over the coffee table. "Jesus, I'm sorry. It's just me,  Cora. It's just me," he managed when he caught himself.

She scrambled into the corner of the couch, her eyes skittering back and  forth, her whole body visibly shaking, as if she was terrified of her  unfamiliar surroundings. A little cry of anguish spilled from her  throat.

He held up his hands, his mind an absolute storm of confusion. "Hey. Cora. It's okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

A tear spilled from one of her bright green eyes. Just a single, fat,  slow-rolling tear. She fisted it away and unleashed a shaky breath.  "Sorry. I didn't mean-" She shook her head and hugged the pillow tight,  like maybe it was the only thing holding her together.

"Why are you apologizing?" he asked, something uncomfortable stirring in  his gut. Because this seemed out of proportion for having been scared  awake. "You did nothing wrong."

Still trembling, she gave an awkward little shrug as the fight drained  out of her posture. "I . . . I don't kn-know." Her breathing hitched.

"Cora-"                       
       
           



       

Her bottom lip shook. Another fast head shake. "Please."

Still standing across the room, he frowned. "Please what?"

She peered up at him with those green eyes so glassy with unshed tears, and it nearly broke his long-dead heart.

"Cora, what's wrong?" Cautiously, he stepped around the opposite side of  the coffee table and gestured. "Would it be okay if I sit?"

She managed an eye roll. "It's your couch."

He eased himself down like it was the sofa that was fragile, and then he looked at her again.

Little footsteps pattered down the hall. "Cora?" came Ben's sleepy voice from just outside the room.

Fast swipes at her eyes. "Aw, hi, Bean. You can come in."

"I heard a noise. Did you scream?" Feet scuffing the floor, Ben came in  wearing a pair of Spider-Man pajamas, bear in his hand. "Oh, hi Dad." He  sat between them, then peered back and forth like he was at a tennis  match. "What happened?"

Cora gave a watery smile, but as Slider watched, she was already buttoning herself back up. "Nothing. Just a bad dream."

"Oh," Ben said, holding out his stuffed animal. "You should take Blue Bear, then. He'll make you feel better."

Cora took the bear and hugged it to her chest. And then she leaned against the kid. "You're the sweetest."

He sighed. "I know."

Slider watched the two of them together for a long moment, and damn if  it didn't unleash an unexpected warmth inside his chest. Odd for a man  who'd felt cold to his very core for so long. "It's still nighttime,  Benji. Go get some more sleep," Slider said. "It's gonna take a lot of  energy to eat all those pancakes in the morning."

"Okay," he said, his ready willingness proof that he was still tired. He  gave them both hugs and kisses and then was gone again, leaving a  stilted awkwardness in his wake.