6. Bronson

brONSON

Leavingthe night before was the last thing I'd wanted to do.

Lake's temper was something else. It was magnificent to witness the fire inside her. While I didn't like her anger directed at me, I still couldn't contain the flare of excitement that burned its way through my body, causing emotions to stir inside me.

She had always been tough and stood up for what she believed in. If someone needed help, she was there. And if she ever had trouble, I'd been there to back her up.

Then I let her down and abandoned her.

It was my biggest regret and the worst mistake I'd ever made.

Back then, I kept telling myself we were too young. Even though when we kissed I felt more than I'd ever imagined. It had scared the shit out of me and I'd run from my feelings and my best friend. Looking at her now, I knew I'd been a dipshit.

When I stood there at her door, laying my feelings at her feet hoping she would understand, the tears that streamed down her face were one of the hardest things to witness.

Seeing Lake cry when we were growing up had always been my undoing.

Clearly nothing had changed.

Lake could still shred me with every fallen tear.

She wasn't caving. While more anger radiated from her body, it was the abundance of sadness that swam in her eyes that had me about to drop to my knees to beg for forgiveness until I was blue in the face. But that hadn't happened because the fire inside her that hadn't diminished completely, sparked again, and she kicked me out.

Worried about pushing her too far, I allowed her to shuffle me out the door.

But not before letting her know it wasn't over.

Lake may have come back into my life by no doing of my own, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. It was fate and she was the ultimate gift. One I may not deserve but would do my best to become worthy of.

It had been a restless night. After our conversation the evening before, I wondered if she would text me and tell me not to come back to take her to work. I"d have ignored her if she had because I couldn't stop thinking about her.

Lake was stubborn, but so was I.

I rolled out of bed and made my way to the bathroom, ready to get my day started. I had a few days off work and it allowed me to be there for Lake, to help her. Something I should have been doing always but hadn't. Besides, I'd promised Stormi I would see her again and I planned on doing just that.

Reaching into the shower, I flipped the water on and then shed my boxer briefs from my body. I looked around my tiny bathroom. I'd saved my cash while in the military, had nobody or anything to spend it on. I'd also been the beneficiary on my father's life insurance policy. I had money. I just didn't normally spend it.

I lived frugally.

Hence the dinky place I rested my head at night.

The only thing I'd spent any amount of dollars on was my vehicle. No way would I have been able to afford that on a cop's salary, even with the side jobs for No Surrender. It's the one thing I had allowed myself to buy—even if it seemed overboard—because I couldn't bring myself to drive my father's old Chevy truck he'd left me or the ‘68 Camaro he and I had restored together while I was growing up.

No, they sat in storage where I didn't see them along with the rest of my dad's things. I couldn't bring myself to look at that stuff anymore than I could our house. My father had made our place a home—something my apartment wasn't—even after my mother had passed away.

It was a confusing feeling, not being able to let go, but not being able to embrace the place I'd loved growing up. How did Lake do it? She'd lost so much and yet she was putting down her own roots in her childhood home and making new memories for her and her daughter.

A small smile stretched across my face as I climbed in and dunked myself under the hot spray. Lake was stronger than me. She always had been. I have no doubt she'd have fought for us if I'd let her. The girl would have waited for me and the woman she'd grown up to be would have stood by me without question.

But that would have changed the path to the life we both had now.

Lake may have been angry with me but if she really thought about it, it was what needed to happen. Without me leaving the way I had, she wouldn't have done what she'd done and Stormi may not have been born.

After only one day, I knew a world without that little girl wasn't a world at all. Mother and daughter were imprinted on my heart.

My thoughts turned strictly to Lake and I wondered how I was going to win the woman over. When I left she was only sixteen, but the kiss we'd shared had blown my mind. I'd felt nothing like it in all my life, before or after that night. I may not have been a monk through the years I'd been gone, but not a single girl compared to her.

That single kiss had ruined me for any other woman. I hadn't quite realized just how fucked up I'd been until I'd seen her again. It had been quite a while since I'd even gone out on a date and as nutty as it may have sounded after such a short time, the only woman I ever wanted to go out with in the future was Lake.

My mind drifted back to the way she looked when she walked into the party in her jean shorts and tank top. Fuck, she was heart-stopping sexy. And right then, I couldn't control where my thoughts went next as my hand slid down my stomach and gripped my dick hard in the palm of my hand.

Lake took center stage in my mind as I closed my eyes. A deep groan erupted from my chest as I stroked myself to images of what she would look like under me as I gazed into her soulful orbs and filled her to her core with my cock.

It didn't take long before I was exploding.

If that is what it was like with just an image of her in my head, I could only imagine how powerful it would be with her in my arms.

One day, I hoped I'd find Lake exactly where I wanted her.

Not only in my bed, entwined together, but wrapped around my heart forever.

Being so close was difficult.

The only place that had ever felt like home, sat just around the bend of the lake. A lump formed in my throat as a load of emotions slammed into me and memories bombarded me. Some good and some bad.

I pulled up to Lake's place with my window rolled down and closed my eyes. The sounds and smells of my childhood trickled through me. Nostalgia settled in and my mind drifted back to the past like our boat used to drift away from the shore from time to time, taking me on a ride as a particular memory hit me.

"What do I do?" Lake's high pitch squeal pierced through the peaceful morning air.

Frantically, she tugged at the fishing pole. My father rushed to her side, guiding her on how to reel in her catch. Her eyes were full of wonder as she watched the fish slowly rise out of the water. The trout wiggled and shook on the line trying to get free.

Lake's innocent brown orbs widened when her prize was right in front of her, and in the next second, salty tears began to stream down her face.

I knew she shouldn't have come. I'd pleaded with my father. Lake was only five and a girl. She couldn't handle it the way I could at eight. And fishing was for boys. I shook my head at her cry-baby antics. But then…

She looked at my father before turning her attention to me.

"B-Bronson you h-have to h-help me save h-him, p-please."

Something shifted inside me. I felt panic, along with something else that stirred in the pit of my stomach that I couldn't identify. I'd never had this feeling before.

"P-please, you're my b-best friend," she wailed.

And that's when it hit me like a ton of bricks. That feeling that was rumbling inside me was protectiveness. At that moment all I wanted to do was protect Lake from feeling so sad.

I walked to her side and took the pole from my father. "We can let it go together," I told her. I unhooked the withering fish and coaxed Lake to the edge of the dock. "Lay on your belly and then put your hand on mine."

Lowering to my stomach, she followed suit. When she placed her palm on top of my hand, I lowered the exhausted fish into the water, cradling it in a swimming position, and began to move it back and forth to force fresh water through its gills.

The fish didn't move and I wondered if it would be okay. I felt Lake's gaze turn to mine and I willed the trout to get a move on. It wasn't ideal to catch and release, they didn't always survive. My dad had told me that years before. But for Lake I had to try.

I heard a few sniffles and knew Lake was crying still. Her tears had abated some when I'd jumped in to help her, but I could feel her worry for the small creature radiating off her. Then, all of a sudden movement slithered under my hand.

Relaxing my fingers, I opened my hand and the fish took off through the water.

Lake gasped and her happy laughter echoed around us.

When we got to our feet, she wrapped her small arms around me. "Thank you."

I looked at my father who was smiling like a loon and gave an exaggerated eye-roll. But secretly I was pleased that I was able to help the girl with her arms wrapped around me.

From that day on things had been different. I tried sometimes to act put out when she was with my friends and I because they always acted exasperated about her being around. But I began to enjoy her presence.

It wasn't long before I had begun to like her presence over any of the boys. She eventually became my best friend, as I was hers. Then the kiss—

"Hi, Uncle Bronson."

Startled from the memory of Lake's lips on mine for the first—the only time—that I was about to have, I snapped my head to the side and looked at Stormi who was bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement.

The ‘Uncle Bronson' was cute, but my heart picked up speed when a picture flashed in my head at her calling me something else. What would it be like for someone to call me Dad? For Stormi to call me Dad? Being around Lake again with Stormi in tow had all sorts of crazy thoughts running through my mind.

"You came!" she squealed, just like her mother used to when she was her age and filled with elation.

Her enthusiasm had me moving. Slowly opening my door, Stormi moved back and I got out. "Of course I came, silly goose. I said I would, didn't I?"

The adorable girl tilted her head and studied me. "You did and I'm so glad you're here!" She jumped and on pure instinct I caught her, swinging her up into my arms.

"Should we go find your mom so I can get her to work?"

Stormi bit the inside of her cheek and I melted. God, she was so much like her mother. Lake used to do the same thing when she was pondering something or unsure.

"We can, but…"

"Stormi, where are you?" Lake yelled as she pulled open the front door.

"Oops," the little one in my arms whispered. "She is already in a mood and now I've really done it."

I couldn't help but chuckle at the way she huffed exaggeratedly.

"Let's go see what's got abee in her bonnet."

Stormi turned her head to look at me, her brows wrinkled in confusion. "I don't know what that means, but boy do those darn bees hurt."

I walked toward Lake with her daughter in my arms, laughter rumbling in my chest.

It didn't escape my notice that she was not only adorable but sassy too. Again, just like her mother. And it was also no wonder why she fit in so well with the Queen of sassy kids, Embry, and her whole clan.