The Rogue (Hideaway Springs #3)

14. Levi

14

T essa’s damp hair falls around her face and I just… stare at her.

The breathy…raspy way she complies. That overly abused bottom lip is pulled between her teeth again and my chest pulls.

Goddamn this woman. Downright dangerous the way she has me raging out of control one minute and my cock twitching the next.

The way it seems to do when she’s this close. Or when she’s challenging me. Pushing me.

Like I didn’t have enough when her breasts were planted against my back for the entire ride back to the stables.

A ragged breath shakes out of me.

Stepping close, I capture her jaw with both hands and lift her face. “Stop that,” I bite out, tugging to save that bottom lip from between her teeth.

Too late. It’s already raw and swollen.

She smells like grass and vanilla. Like we’ve mixed our scents into one. Except today, she was in my world. Covered in nature, she’s as dirty as I get most days and I’m a caveman, hungry for his woman .

The mist in her eyes from just a moment ago is replaced with that familiar defiance. A fire.

“Does it bother you?”

“You have no idea,” I rasp, the hard-on growing hazardously. A hazard to my self-control.

Because I’m having a hard time peeling away from her. And unless she asks, I don’t see myself doing that.

“Indie.” My nickname comes out in a lust-full breath. Her fingers graze my chest, but just barely. Like she’s testing a metal knob in a building on fire.

I move one hand into her hair, twisting a lock around my finger. “Whiskey.”

She frowns in question.

“Your eyes.”

She holds my gaze in that heady way that tells me she’s not only okay with this...

She’s waiting .

My eyes drop to her full, tempting red lips.

“Better hurry, I’m on the clock.”

With a grin I can’t help, I crush her mouth with mine. Her soft, full, sweet mouth.

Tessa grips my shirt as she opens for me. A moan I didn’t know I craved rips from her throat. It makes me slide my fingers behind her neck and flush my body against hers.

Damn the hard-on she’ll feel.

Damn the scruff of my chin scraping against her delicate skin. Our kiss is so desperate and hungry, if it doesn’t leave marks, it wasn’t enough.

Her hands snake up to my neck, grazing my jaw. Our tongues dance like we’re competing for a gold medal.

It’s too good. She’s too fucking good .

I pull back with a sharp suck for breath and put distance between us.

I’ve done it too many times. Put distance between myself and anyone else who could hurt me. Who could hurt Jackson.

He doesn’t need another free spirit walking away.

I don’t need it.

Tessa shouldn’t be any different. Tessa should be on the top of the list of women to stay away from.

But she’s somehow snuck her way onto a different list.

A list of people I’d protect with my life.

“Please tell me what you’re thinking,” she asks in a desperate, breathy rasp I’m newly obsessed with.

That I’m two steps away from flipping you over and spanking you for the wreck you’ve made of me.

“You’re on the clock.”

She glares at me. “When am I off the clock?”

“Tessa. This can’t happen.”

She hops off the table. “Hate to break it to you, cowboy.” She scans me with those amber eyes like she sees right through me. “It already has.”

Tessa’s energy all day has been uncompromising. Focused eyes, easy smile, and a heart fit for a small town.

After she left the stables, she went back to the house and made several jars of mint iced tea and corn muffins for the staff. They all welcomed her with open arms .

Especially after Roger spread the word on how the new nanny took the rap for Jackson running off to the creek again.

Priceless.

And fucking adorable.

I expected her to avoid me all day, but she just smiles and talks like we didn’t cross that line.

And if we were keeping score—she’s winning the ‘acting like it never happened’ game by a landslide.

After dinner, I leave Jackson with Tess and head to the Inn. She made some chicken dish and didn’t cut any corners. Roasted vegetables, garlic sauce, garden salad and a side of French fries for Jackson.

Dad’s clearing glasses from the bar when I walk in. “Hey, need some help here?”

Since Tessa vanished two months ago, Dad never bothered hiring anyone else. Summers are slow at the Inn, and if I know Dad, he hates dealing with new people about as much as I do.

“Hey.” He looks behind me. “Where’s the rest of the fam?”

“Jackson’s watching a movie with his nanny.”

“Oh come on, even I considered Tess part of the family when she started working here. And don’t tell me you don’t consider every cowboy on Hideaway Ranch part of yours.”

“She’s the nanny!” I remind him. “You and I both know she disappears with the drop of a hat.”

He grumbles and reaches for my usual beer of choice, holding it up for me with a question.

“Maybe just one.”

He glances over at the couple by the window to see if they’re alright, then pops the lid off two bottles, coming around to join me.

“How’s she doin'?”

“Fine, I guess.” I take a swig.

He smacks my arm with the back of his hand like he’s got news. “You know who was in here today? Remember Carol Hendly? Susy and Danny’s kid. You believe she’s in grad school already?”

My jaw tightens and I take another swig.

He chuckles. “She told me the strangest story.” He shakes his head like he doesn’t believe it. “She said she was at your house just last week for an interview. Was damn right confident in herself, too. Years of experience, reliable, good small-town gal. Way too young for you and certainly not interested in any relationship.”

I set down my bottle and wait for the punchline.

“And yet mid-way through her interview…you followed my old bartender out into the driveway and insisted she was your new nanny.” He chuckles and takes a sip. “Strangest thing.”

“Jackson likes Tess.”

Dad scratches his beard. “Jackson also likes worms.”

“You got a point?”

“Tessa was doing the very thing you ask her to do every time she’s back in town— leaving . Sounds to me like you were stopping her.”

I suck my teeth. “I don’t know, Dad. Maybe I’m under her spell.”

He laughs. “That’s the most sense you made since you walked in.”

“I don’t need to be under anyone’s spell.”

“No, of course not. Especially not a beautiful redhead.”

I lock my jaw. “She’s not Lilly.”

“I know that. Do you ?”

“You think my disdain for the woman is because she reminds me of my ex-wife?”

“If Tessa reminds you of your ex-wife, you don’t know her at all.”

“I don’t need to know her.”

I don’t want to know her .

I shouldn’t want to know what the hell she dreams about. Or who still haunts her.

“Well, she’s going to be around at least until the end of the summer. You’re going to want to know things.”

I snap my head. “What kinds of things?”

He shrugs. “Like what’s in Summer Hill? She didn’t have a home, I know that. And why she keeps showing up then disappearing.”

A horrid thought comes to mind. “You think this might be a Lonnie situation?”

One of the reasons my ex, Lonnie, and I broke up was the baggage we both came with. My trust issues. My overprotectiveness. Lonnie was on the run from an abusive relationship—still is. She had trust issues of her own. It was too much for both of us to deal with. And she wasn’t the one.

“I think that before someone falls in love with her—say, Jackson—you might want to find out.”

“If she hasn’t told you, what makes you think she’d tell me?”

He shrugs. “I never asked. I only offered to help.”

We’re both quiet for a moment. Finishing my beer, I twist the empty bottle between my palms. “She has…nightmares. She fell asleep on the couch last night, and I watched her. I think…I think she gets them often.”

Dad curses under his breath. Twisting his neck. “You think this disqualifies her? Because she’s got problems?”

“No.”

“Then why are you telling me?”

“Because her problems are my problems.”

Dad’s brows jump. “I wasn’t expecting that.” There's a beat before he adds, "Noah could help. If there’s anything on record, he’ll find it. You and I both know he's found plenty off the record, too.”

I can't sit here and tell him I haven't thought of that. “What if Tessa wants to keep whatever it is private?”

He taps his bottle against the wooden bar. “Think privacy went out the window when she moved into your house.”

I run a hand down my face and push off my seat. “Thanks for the beer.”

“Want me to look into it?”

“No.”

"Levi." His tone stops me in my tracks. "What if it's bad?"

He didn’t see the fear in her eyes when she woke up. I know it's bad.

But so is betraying her trust.

It’s after eleven when I walk up the steps to my front door and quietly enter. A dim light glows in the foyer, the living room, and beneath the kitchen cabinets.

It’s clean and smells…piney.

I do my usual sweep to lock up, but the back doors and windows already are.

I turn off the foyer lights but leave the others before heading upstairs.

Tessa’s bedroom door, right across from mine, is wide open. I’m about to knock and ask if everything’s alright when I notice the room is empty. The bed is still made.

Where the hell? The gym is the next thing that comes to mind but the basement door was closed and the lights were out .

Panic grips me, and I rush toward Jackson's bedroom. His night light is on, but he’s not in his bed.

Covering my ground before losing it, I check my bedroom. And freeze.

Jackson is tucked in the middle of my bed. Head on the single king-sized pillow. I hate pillows. And nothing screams “I like to sleep alone” than a single pillow on a bed. But right now, I wish I had it filled edge to edge for the comfort of these two heads.

Tessa is next to him. Her auburn head just barely lying on the pillow.

With soft steps, I close the distance, scanning the way her hair is spread wildly around her. How does it always look so fucking silky?

I’m tempted as fuck to move my kid to his bedroom and come back here for her.

But I need Jackson here.

If only to remind me that she’s the fucking nanny.

I run my palm across the top of her head. “Hey.”

Inhaling deeply, she flutters her lashes and accesses her space, then looks up at me. “Oh, right.”

She sits up, stretching, then drops her chin to look at my son. “This kid is somethin’ else, Indie.”

You’re somethin’ else.

I follow her gaze. “He keep you up?”

She’s all sleepy and gorgeous. “He was just worried you weren’t home yet and wanted to wait up for you.” She shrugs.

I chuckle. “Yeah, I used to sneak into my parent's bedroom when they were out late. Or when my dad was traveling, I’d pretend I was only sleeping on his side so mom wouldn’t be afraid.”

She looks up at me like she can’t relate. I have the strangest urge to explain it to her. To have her look at this from my eyes. Coming into my bedroom with my kid fast asleep on my pillow. A beautiful woman next to him who took care of him while I was gone.

“Help me up, will ya?” She grabs my wrist and pulls herself up, moving in the opposite direction of where I want her.

She stumbles groggily, and I catch her by the waist, my mouth by her ear. “You don’t have to leave.”

Tessa’s cocky grin is contagious. “It’s cool. I’ve got a neat place just across the hall.”

I laugh. “Oh yeah? Did you just move in?”

She nods, pushing against my chest playfully. “Rent free. Can’t beat that.”

Placing a hand on her lower back, I follow her. We’re in the dark hallway between both rooms when I twist her to face me. I want to thank her for sticking up for Jackson today—even if my kid doesn’t need protecting from me. I want to thank her for making him feel safe, taking care of my home, for dinner and just…being here.

Gentle, thoughtful words when it comes to anyone other than my son is foreign to me. So I just stare at her.

Her eyes meet mine. “I don’t need a lecture on appropriate nanny behavior, Indie. I’m aware I screwed up on several counts today.”

I blink. “Several?”

“The creek.” Her eyes drop to my mouth. “The stables. Then falling asleep with your kid in your bed. I promise I’m not—”

“Tessa, you let my kid drag you on an adventure. I kissed you in the stables. And in there, with Jackson, it’s exactly the kind of thing…”

“A nanny does?”

“Yeah.”

That’s much better than what I almost said.

The kind of thing he needs. That I want.

She nods like she’s reassuring herself she’s not in trouble. Then looks up at me tentatively, wincing almost.

“In that case, maybe I can get one ‘rogue’ comment in before the day’s over?”

I roll my eyes. And it feels intimate. Being out here. Like we’re sneaking around. Like we’re sharing a secret.

“Go for it.”

“That kiss has got me wondering what else cowboys do better.”

My eyes stay locked on hers. Other than my heart landing in my throat and my cock jerking to attention, I can’t react. But I don’t need to because Tessa turns with that sleepy smirk and steps into her bedroom, closing the door a fraction of the way. “Night, Tess.”