Page 4 of Brazen

We’d had to move from California because he’d cracked open his cast and peeled it off three days later, saying it itched. Of course, I had no way of explaining to his doctor, or summer camp counselors, or anyone else around us how that break had healed so fast.

Even though I’d just checked on him, I was a terrible mother. I’d been ogling a sexy torso while JT put himself in danger.

I ran to stand beneath him and put my hands up and out as if that would keep him from jumping. “How did you get up there? Oh my God. How am I going to get you down?”

2

SAM

* * *

Holy shit. The little boy who’d been dissecting some kind of small appliance when I arrived was now sitting on top of one of the warehouse rafters. I tipped my head back to see him; he was that high. Damn, the kid was quite the acrobat. And fast.

I positioned myself beside Clio, ready to catch him if he fell.

The delectable dark-haired mechanic—the female Fate sent straight to Cooper Valley just for me–was freaking out.

I didn’t blame her. The boy was obviously her son, based on their shared hair color and vivid blue eyes. There was nothing but concrete for him to fall on, and he was human. Breakable. A fall like that could kill a kid.

If he were a shifter pup, I wouldn’t give it another thought. But a human? Fuck.

“JT, don’t move. Just hold on, okay?” While I could tell she was trying to stay calm, I couldn’t miss the way Clio’s voice shook with anxiety.

I quickly scanned the surroundings to figure out how he got up there. The stack of tires to the shelving unit and then maybe a big Tarzan-like jump?

“You stay here,” I told her. “I’m gonna climb up and get him.”

“What?” Her startled eyes met mine for a second before returning to watch her son.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” I reassured her. “JT, little man, do what your momma says and sit tight, okay?”

“Okay,” JT replied but didn’t seem the least bit afraid. In fact, he was swinging his little sneaker-clad feet back and forth.

Unlike Clio. The scent of her fear pushed my wolf into overdrive. Why?

Because this human was my mate. One look, and I knew I wanted her. One whiff of her cinnamon scent beneath the engine grease, and my wolf knew.

Clio the mechanic was mine.

I’d met my fucking mate. The woman of my dreams. I wanted to bite her and fuck her and mark her and make her mine. But first, I had to take care of her son.

My new son.

Because if Clio was mine, this monkey of a boy was mine, too.

It was my job to keep them both safe, and that started with getting JT down from the support beam.

I leaped to hook my forearms over the top tire of the stack of used ones and threw a leg over to climb up. It wasn’t easy with my dick half-hard, that was for fucking sure. I carefully stood on the wobbly tower of rubber, then bent my knees and power jumped to grab the rafter above me. It was a little harder to swing my leg around to sit on it than I expected, but I managed. I was strong and fast, but I wasn’t all that agile. A little stretching wouldn’t hurt me. I stood on the beam and walked over to the kid, who stared up at me with wide eyes.

“Careful!” Clio cried out.

Carefully, I sat down beside him, letting my legs dangle down, just like his. “Hey, JT. I’m Sam.”

“Hi, Sam.” He smiled, and I didn’t miss the one missing bottom tooth. Dark tousled hair, blue eyes, round cheeks. He was a cutie. And a little devil if he scared his mom like this.

“You like high places?” I asked casually, like conversations in the rafters was a common thing for me. Or him.

He gave me the side eye but answered. “Uh huh.”