“We’ll talk about this later when little ears aren’t around,” he said.
My eyes flew to Macie as she squirmed in her seat under my scrutiny.
“I’m sorry Mom. I heard you talking last night and I just wanted to see him for myself.”
“So you skipped school to do that?”
My daughter nodded.
“But why, Macie?”
“Because I wanted to meet my father.”
I took in a sharp breath.
“You heard that?”
She shrugged. “You said I have his eyes. Grant thinks so too.”
I covered my face with my hands. She’d just confirmed my suspicions. She’d heard everything. There was no keeping her from this. He was going to leave again as soon as the plane that brought him here was fixed. How was I supposed to shelter her from the pain and heartache that was going to come when he left and never returned?
“Who’s Grant?” I mumbled.
“He’s the team medic. And his mate, T, she’s a real-life spy. She said maybe someday I could join the Force and be a spy too. Isn’t that cool?”
“Chatterbox, enough. You’re freaking out your Mom,” Baine said.
“Well at least I didn’t tell her I might want to blow sh-“ Baine shot her a look and her eyes widened. “Stuff up. You know, like you do.”
I glared at him. He told her he blew shit up for a living?
“It slipped. I’m trying to fix it.”
“She’s seven.”
“I don’t really know any seven year olds. I don’t know what to do here, O. Is there some sort of manual or something you could give me?”
“Kids don’t come with a manual, Baine.”
“Well they should,” he argued. “Ben’s got a couple of ankle-biters, but they’re still little. Otherwise, I haven’t really been around kids since you were one.”
“Who’s Ben?” Macie asked before I could.
“Ben is our…” His voice trailed off and I could see he was searching for the right word. “He’s just a brother of the Force.”
“But what does he do on the Force?” she persisted.
“He watches our backs. We call him the Eagle.”
“So he’s a sniper? Cool.”
Baine raised an eyebrow at me. “She knows what a sniper is?”
I sighed. “Lots of little girls play with Barbie’s and dream of white dresses and babies. Mine is infatuated with G.I. Joe. Fourth of July is the worst. I have to frisk her for firecrackers.”
His face lit up. “You like to blow shit up too, short stuff?”
“Baine!”
“Stuff. Sorry. Stuff. Don’t worry. I’ll get the hang of this shit eventually. Stuff. Right. Hell, this is harder than I thought.”
Macie giggled. “Just takes practice,” she said patting him on the arm.
What worried me the most was the fact that Baine would be leaving again. I didn’t want Macie to hurt the way I did. I needed to talk to him about it sooner rather than later, but not with little ears around.
He looked down at his watch and I already felt like the perfect bubble containing just me and my favorite two people in the entire world was about to burst.
The thing that should have scared me the most was how easy it was to be around Baine again. I had been upset for a long time, but I had never truly been angry at him. It had always felt more like mourning. Now it was like he was back from the dead.
I was happy to see him, but I had to remind myself to guard my heart because I couldn’t get my hopes up that he’d be sticking around. I couldn’t exactly blame him for that either after everything I’d learned last night about why he really left. If I was pissed at anyone, it was my brothers. They’d done this to us.
I knew I’d forgive them both. It wasn’t in my nature to hold grudges, but for the moment, I was mad.
“Sweetie, why don’t you go play in the other room and let me talk to Baine alone.”
Macie looked over at him. “This is your chance. Don’t blow it.”
“My chance for what?” he mumbled.
“To get her back.”
“Hey. I will always care about your mom, short stuff. You too, now that I know you even exist, but I’ve been gone a long time. We were both forced to grow up a lot in that time.”
“So you’re not even going to try? What are you a wimp?”
He frowned. “No. I just don’t want to hurt you, either of you,” he said looking up at me. “Don’t get your hopes up on me. At the end of the day, when Silas says it’s time to go, I have to leave. I don’t get to stay.”
“But you can come back, right?”
“Nothing and no one could keep me away. Shoo and let the grownups talk, okay?”
She gave him a wicked grin. “Okay.”
I knew my daughter better than that, she was up to something.
“Good try, but remember you’re playing with the big boys now,” Baine told her and pulled a small device from his pocket.
“What’s that?” I wanted to know the answer to that too.
“This is called a dampener. It’s a device used to guarantee nosey little chatterboxes can’t eavesdrop on important conversations.”
Macie’s jaw dropped. “No way.”
“Go play and you’ll see.”
“Do I get one?”
“We’ll see. Put it on your Christmas list.”
That mischievous look was back in her eyes. “Oh yeah. You have a lot of birthdays and Christmases to catch up on, huh?”
He groaned. “I walked into that one, didn’t I?”
“Yup,” she said as she happily skipped out of the room.
Baine plugged the device into the wall and then shut the door. It felt like all the air was sucked out of the room. I was all alone with Baine. Just the two of us. I should have been nervous, but my mind went to naughty places it shouldn’t have. It had been a long time, too long, since he touched me, since he made love to me, since…
My thoughts drifted off as I realized he was staring at me.
Since he was standing, I rose too. He was only an arm’s length away. I could reach out and touch him. I wanted to touch him.
He smirked. “I really hope you’re thinking of me with that look on your face.”
I was embarrassed and completely caught off guard. Of course, he was right though.
“You wish,” I said, then awkwardly punched him in the arm.
It felt like a lightning bolt jolted right through my hand. My body warmed all over; my heart raced; and a sudden awareness consumed me. Mate, my bear roared.
Baine stared at me in equal shock. “Olivia,” he said in a deep raspy voice that sent shivers down my spine.
Baine
Chapter 9
This had to be wrong, yet it felt so right.
Mine, my bear growled in my head.
The second Olivia touched me, a bond was created. We weren’t like the wolves or the gorillas who could sense their mates were nearby. Bears might be more drawn to a likely mate, but we required touch to activate the bond.
“Baine, say something.”