Her Lucky Love (7 page)

They were very lucky he recognized them at the last moment or Allison probably would have killed him.

Slowly.

He was also the lucky one in that he’d remembered to wear pants when he went to sleep, knowing there were children in the house.

When Brayden had finally rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he’d stared up at Aiden and smiled. The three of them had explained they were really hungry, so hungry that their little bellies were hollow and in need of sugar.

So, he’d pulled on a sweatshirt and made them pancakes. Though Justin was the cook in the family, Brayden could work his way around the kitchen and usually enjoyed doing it.

Cooking for three hungry children had been an experience.

Cooking for them while trying to keep them quiet so their mom could sleep?

A little harder.

As he watched them stuff their faces, syrup going everywhere, he thought he hadn’t done such a bad job.

The idea of domesticity sat well on his shoulders, as though it should have been there long before this. He just needed Ally in the kitchen, wrapping her arms around his waist while they drank coffee and talked about what they were going to do that day.

He held back a snort. Yeah, that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

His impulsive kiss last night, though, seemed to be bringing them in the right direction.

Brayden hadn’t even thought about his actions before he did it. She’d just looked so freaking scared and in need of something more than just a quick goodbye and a back to watch walk away. So, he’d leaned down and inhaled that light lavender scent that led him to thoughts of sweaty nights and his place between her thighs and in her life.

Brayden couldn’t believe she was in his home, sleeping in his bed. Well, not
his
bed, but close enough. It didn’t seem real. He’d loved her for so long, knew her better than he knew himself, even though she held herself at arm’s length.

“What’s going on here?” Allison asked as she shuffled in, the pants he’d let her borrow too big on her frame.

“Brayden made us pancakes,” Lacy explained, showing off the partially chewed cakes in her mouth.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, honey,” Allison admonished.

“They were hungry.” Brayden couldn’t stop looking at her. Her auburn hair was disarrayed around her face, tousled as though she’d spent a sweaty night in his bed, not the heavy sleep she’d probably gotten from the adrenaline withdrawal.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” she asked as she walked to the coffee pot and fixed herself a cup as if she owned his kitchen.

An idea that held merit with him.

“You needed your sleep, and I wanted to cook breakfast. There’s still some batter if you want me to whip you up some pancakes.”

She shook her head. “I’m fine with coffee right now. My stomach is a little too light after last night.”

He nodded, understanding. Walking into the room and seeing the blood on the floor and the most important people in his life beyond his brothers huddled on the floor had taken a few years off his life.

They stood silently, a slight tension radiating off both of them from the odd scene playing out between them. Whether it was a sexual tension, something more, or a mixture of both, he didn’t know. The kids finished eating, and Ally herded them upstairs to get cleaned up.

Rina and Justin had stopped by early in the morning with their things, so at least everything could feel a little more like home. Even if he wanted it to feel even a little bit more than that.

God, he was a goner.

Brayden jumped in the shower then got dressed in well-worn jeans and a dark Henley, ready to get started. He needed to tell Ally what he was, or at least, the luck he had and how he could help. He didn’t want any more secrets between them.

Though he knew it would be a risk considering she’d been married to a gnome for years and hadn’t known it. He knew she wouldn’t trust magic as much as he wanted.

Though it wasn’t as if he were a leprechaun—he just happened to carry their luck.

Yes, Bray, that’s a fine line right there.

Brayden cleaned up the kitchen, thoughts about Ally, luck, and how to protect her twirling in his head. He was so lost in his mind; he hadn’t even noticed Ally standing next to him, freshly showered and sexy as hell in a T-shirt and jeans.

“Thank you, Brayden,” she whispered as she stood a foot away from him.

He swallowed hard and quirked a small smile. “You don’t have to thank me, Ally.”

She shook her head, her still drying hair falling over her shoulders. “Yes, I do. You’re letting us take over your house, even though I know you like your privacy.”

Brayden folded his arms above his chest, pleased when her eyes dilated while she looked at his forearms. He was half tempted to flex and preen, but he held back.

“I like my privacy from the peeping Toms in Holiday. Everyone is in everyone else’s business and I’d rather hang out at home.”

“Yet, here we are, invading your home.”

“You can’t invade something you’re welcome to.”

“Then why us?”

How did he explain that she was welcome in the home he’d built for the dream of her and her kids being in his life? Even when he thought it he knew it sounded like a stalker, not like a normal person.

“You’re part of the family.”

Her eyes clouded and he knew he’d said the wrong thing. He’d meant part of
his
family. He knew she’d taken it as part of the Coopers. As if he only did it because he felt obligated, not because he wanted to.

Damn it.

“I see.”

“No, you don’t.” He’d have to tell her about who he was before he explained what he wanted. She deserved that much. “Are the kids upstairs?”

She nodded. “They have school work to do, even though they’re not going in today. I feel bad that I’ve taken them out of school two days in a row, but I just don’t trust David not to do something.”

“Justin and Abby will be there, and by now the town knows that someone came into your home.”

She gave a hollow laugh at that. Yes, the gossip chain of Holiday was alive and well.

“You know they probably already know I’m staying here. I can just imagine what they’re saying.”

“Who cares? You’re protecting your kids. Screw what the others say.”

“It doesn’t look like I have much choice. Though I still don’t feel like I’m protecting my kids just by being in a new place.”

“We should talk.”

“I don’t know if I like the sound of that.”

He held out his hand and she cautiously grabbed it. He tried to ignore the soft feel of her skin beneath his but failed. Would she be soft all over?

Brayden looked into her eyes and knew her thoughts had followed the same path as his.

Okay, time to talk about something else or he might just kiss her right there in his kitchen where the kids could come in at any moment, causing a whole new set of problems.

He brought her to his office, the place where he read by the fire or worked on things for his shop. The shop he hadn’t been to in a couple of days. Thank God for his workers who knew what they were doing.

Brayden watched as she walked along the bookcases, her hand still in his, so he was forced to follow her.

“You have so many books,” she said, her fingers tracing along the spine of some of them.

Why did he feel like the Beast while his Beauty found the library?

Maybe that was something better to think about later.

Or not at all.

He shrugged. “I like to read.”

“And I thought you were just a mechanic.”

For some reason that bugged him. “Really? Just a grease monkey without much else?”

She shook her head, a small smile on her face. “No, but you’re very defensive on that. I know you’re more than just a man good with his hands.”

She blushed beat red and Brayden barely resisted the urge to adjust himself.

Oh, he was good with his hands. He just had to get her to trust him enough to prove it.

“I meant with cars.”

“Sure you did.”

Ally rolled her eyes and pulled her hand away as if just noticing she’d been holding onto it this whole time. She moved to create more space between them and Brayden let her. She might even want more space once he was done talking to her.

“Okay, so what did you need to tell me? I don’t want to leave the kids alone for too long. Who knows what they’ll get into in your house?”

“They’ll be fine for a minute.”

“I don’t think you know them too well if you think that.”

Brayden grinned. “Oh, I know what they could do, I’m just choosing to ignore it.”

“Good philosophy if you don’t want to keep your things nice and unbroken.”

He ran a hand through his hair. He was stalling, time to just let it out. “I’m lucky.”

Ally blinked. “Uh, okay. Sure. Now what does that have to do with anything?”

He choked out a laugh. “Yeah, that didn’t make any sense, did it?”

She shook her head. “Not even a little.”

“Okay, when I was a kid, I found a leprechaun.” He fingered the coin around his neck, the heat intensifying under his touch. It didn’t do that all the time, just during stress and emergencies. Apparently now it knew something big was about to happen.

Her eyes widened. “Like in Lucky Charms?”

“A little. But, the thing is, he gave me this coin. Ever since, I’ve been lucky. I’ve been able to use my luck and my own intuition to make more money than I could use, win events, and other things.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t just you who did all that?”

He looked at her, confused. That thought had never occurred to him. “No, it’s the coin. I couldn’t be that lucky on my own.”

“So you’re saying you have magic, but you don’t think you could do anything without the coin? That doesn’t sound like the confident Brayden I know.”

“I tell you I have a little bit of magic, and you turn it around and say I just don’t believe in myself enough?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying. Well, okay, maybe I am. But, the thing is, Bray, you could have done any of that stuff without the coin. What makes the thing so special? Maybe it’s just in your head, and it’s a placebo effect.”

He shook his head. “I’m not that good, Ally. Okay, fine, I will admit that I probably could have done some things in my life without the coin, but I sure as hell couldn’t have been as good as I am with it around my neck.”

“Why don’t you try then? Why do you need magic?”

Ah, the heart of the problem. The thing he knew she’d resent or try to run away from.

“First, I can’t not use it. The leprechaun said it would always be mine until I found someone to give it to. He said I’d know when the time was right.”

She raised a brow and crossed her arms across her chest. “Sounds mysterious.”

“Tell me about it. And I haven’t given it away yet, never found a reason to.”

“Because you like the luck that comes with it?”

“Because it feels like it’s mine.”

“If you start rubbing it and calling it your ‘Precious,’ we have a problem, Bray.”

He liked the fact that she could at least joke about it, though he didn’t know if he liked being compared to ‘Gollum’ from
Lord of the Rings
.

“The whole point is that, with the luck, I’m a little more equipped to take care of the kids. You wouldn’t think so because, hey, it’s just luck. Things go good for me, Ally. And, with the coin around my neck, I can feel heat and magic when something bad is going to happen. Plus, I have a kickass security system, Ally.”

She puffed her lips out and exhaled. “I don’t know, Bray. I don’t know if I can deal with this right now. We’ll stay here because I feel safer here. I don’t know if it’s you or just the place, but I’ll take your hospitality. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful, oh, so grateful, but magic scares me.”

“I know, Ally.”

“No, I don’t think you do. I mean, you’d think I’d be okay with magic considering my friends and everything. I don’t know, Brayden. Until a day ago, I had no idea that magic had played a role in my life, and now everything is upside down. How can I be sure of anything? Now that I look back on it, I always knew something was off with Greg and our marriage, but I never knew why. I just don’t know, Brayden. I lived for years with a gnome, and I didn’t know it. I lived with a man who…who did things, and I couldn’t leave. I didn’t
want
to leave. What does that make me?”

He felt as if someone had shot him, leaving him on the side of the road as he waited for the pain to ebb. What had she been through?

“I’m not ready to talk about it yet, okay? Maybe one day,” she said as she turned from him.

Screw leaving them space.

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I’m sorry, Ally.”

She stiffened then relaxed in his hold. “I’m sorry too.”

“Can I tell you something that may make you feel better? Or maybe make you run. I’m not sure.”

“What?” she asked as she turned in his arms, her breath warm on his neck.

“I talked to Rina a bit this morning about gnomes when she dropped off your things. She said she’d be back to talk to you later today. She said that gnomes had magic like elves. They can make humans do things, they really try.”

Her eyes filled, and she shook her head.

“Whatever happened to you, Ally, it wasn’t your fault. If you don’t know why you stayed, now we may have a clue. Greg probably forced you.”

Anger coursed through him at the thought. He’d kill the bastard if he weren’t already dead.

“I hate magic,” she whispered, and he held her closer.

“I’m sorry.”

They stood there for a bit longer until she pulled away, her face puffy.

“I need to check on the kids. I can’t talk about magic right now, okay? But before I go, did you pay my bills, Bray? You said we’d talk about it later… well, it’s later.”

“Yes, I paid the medical bills, but I don’t want you to argue with me about it. I have the money, and the last thing you need right now is the stress of that on your shoulders.”

She shook her head. “You had no right. You should have just asked, Bray. I don’t like people doing things for me without telling me. Apparently, I had no choice in my life for too long with Greg, and now you’re stepping in and doing things for me. I need to stand on my own, don’t you see that?”