7. Tessa

7

Tessa

S mall fingers poke my face. "Mommy! Wake up, Mommy!" I force my eyes open, wincing as light hits me square in the face, to find Harry staring at me. Out of habit, I reach for my phone to check the time, but then I remember it's still in Kade's car. Minus the SIM.

Fuck.

I need to sort something out. While Kade made a valid point about my phone being trackable, I can't go off the grid indefinitely. Marie will wonder where I am, for starters, and so will Stella.

And I need to let Derek know I won't be in for ages. No doubt he'll fire me, but whatever. I'm sure there's another shitty employer out there looking for a slave willing to accept minimum wage and no benefits.

"Pee," Harry says, wiggling around on the bed in the dinosaur PJs we found waiting for us last night. They're slightly too big, but he loves them. "Chloe's awake. Been playing."

My baby girl coos softly from her crib, her blue eyes bright despite the stress of last night. Harry seems fine, too. I expected him to be clingy and upset, but right now he's more excited than worried. Thank god. I guess to him, this is a vacation. I just wish I felt the same way.

Harry uses the bathroom, and then I feed and change Chloe.

I have no clean clothes, but there's a closet with a mix of men's and women's clothing. It must belong to Madden's sister and her husband. I feel bad about borrowing someone else's clothes without asking permission, but the thought of putting my horrible diner uniform back on is too grim, so I mutter a brief prayer of forgiveness before slipping on a pair of yoga pants and a loose sweater.

My hair's a fucking disaster and there are dark shadows under my eyes, but not much I can do about it. Once we get the lay of the land here and the kids have settled, I'll take a shower.

The smell of food and coffee forces me out of my temporary bedroom. Harry clutches my hand as we walk into the large kitchen I caught a glimpse of last night. We're greeted by Madden's broad shoulders standing over the stove. There's a stack of pancakes on a plate, along with a bowl of berries, yogurt, and syrup.

"Take a seat and help yourself to pancakes," Madden says without turning around. Harry squeaks with excitement as he pulls himself onto a chair.

"Can I, Mommy?"

I nod and pass him a small plate. He watches, eyes wide, as I fork a pancake on his plate and add some berries and syrup. He's not great with knives so I cut it into pieces one-handed and then hand him a fork. "Remember your manners," I warn him in a low voice. "This isn't feeding time at the zoo!"

"Mommy," he grumbles with a cute little frown. "I'm not a baby like Chloe."

"I dug the high chair out for the baby. Want a hot drink? We have some Earl Gray tea, or help yourself to orange juice."

God, it's like being at a hotel. One staffed with hot men. Madden's wearing jeans and a tee this morning. I can see tattoos snaking out down his arm and his hair is still damp from the shower. The man is a walking wet dream and my ovaries do the hula dance at the sight of his tight ass.

It takes a lot of effort to remind myself we're not here for a hot fling. For one thing, there are bad people trying to kidnap me or worse, which is a definite mood killer, and for another, Madden is probably gay.

The best guys always are.

His friend, Kade's brother, appears - what was his name again? He grins at us, and I can't help but smile back while surreptitiously checking him out as I sip my OJ. His curly red-brown hair is all tousled, like he's been raking it with his fingers, and he's shirtless.

Fucking shirtless.

Once again, the Lord is testing me. I drag my gaze away from the man candy leaning against the counter and focus on cutting some pancake up for Chloe to chew on. She grabs some and shoves it into her mouth with a happy little gurgle.

Madden places a sippy cup on her plastic table and she beams at him. "Just water," he says when I look concerned. "There's no formula, I'm afraid, but we can pick some up later, along with anything else you need."

"Thank you. I don't need formula, but I will need more diapers soon." He nods.

"I'll add it to the list."

"Get dressed, Cin," Madden snaps in the other guy's direction. "We have guests. You can't be wandering around half-naked."

"Yes, Daddy," Cin sasses, rolling his eyes before winking at me. "Don't eat all the pancakes, little dude," he warns Harry. "At least 10 of them are for me."

"10?" Harry's jaw drops. "You can eat 10 pancakes? That's..." His brain can't compute.

"Got to maintain this body, little dude." Cin flexes his muscles like an Instagram model, then high-fives Harry, who giggles loudly.

"Will I have muscles like him one day, Mommy?" he asks hopefully.

"Only if you eat all your breakfast and dinners, kiddo." Cin ducks, laughing, as Madden throws a dishcloth at him.

"We need some more kindling once you're dressed." Cin rolls his eyes again before grabbing a pancake and disappearing.

Now the sex god is no longer stirring my libido to dangerous levels, I can relax. Not that Madden is any less attractive. Far from it. He's just less flirtatious, which makes it easier to maintain my boundaries.

"Why is Sin called Sin? What's it short for? Sinclair?"

"Nope. It's short for Cinnamon," Madden explains. "An old army nickname."

"Because he's sweet?"

"Yeah, sweet like candy, but with plenty of spice." The man himself winks when he walks back in wearing a tee and cargo pants. There's less skin on show, thankfully.

I have a feeling this guy's nickname is well-deserved. He's trouble with a capital T.