Her Lucky Love (8 page)

Brayden stood back, stunned. “You’re comparing me to Greg?”

She held up a hand. “Not in the way you think. But, if you want to be in my life, in my kids’ lives, then you need to learn to talk to me first. I’m not saying we have a future or anything, but that kiss last night? That we need to talk about.”

“Mom!” Aiden called from the other room.

Ally rolled her eyes. “Looks like it’s ‘mom time’. We’ll talk later, okay?” She rose on her tiptoes and let her lips settle on his for a moment. Then, before he could blink, she was gone, and he was alone in his office wondering how the hell he’d gotten there.

What if what she’d said was true? What if all the magic he’d thought he felt was just his imagination?

The coin around his neck warmed, reminding him that it was still there.

No, the magic existed, though the idea that he could be something without it made him feel as though something had clicked into place. Maybe he wasn’t just the product of his coin and luck.

Maybe he was something more.

And with Ally, maybe he could
be
something more.

“Brayden?”

He turned and found Lacy in the doorway, her pigtails uneven as she tugged on them.

He smiled and walked toward her so he could lean down to her height. “What is it, squirt?”

“Will you go outside with me and show me the big tree in the backyard?” She batted her little eyelashes at him and tilted her head.

Oh, yeah, this little one had him wrapped around her finger. Brayden found that he didn’t care that much. If only Ally knew how much he was wrapped around hers as well.

“Aren’t you supposed to be doing your homework?” The last thing he needed was to get Lacy and himself in trouble.

She shook her head, her pigtails twirling. “I already finished mine since I didn’t have much. Mommy said we had to go back to school tomorrow, so I want to have fun today. Okay?”

Brayden smiled. Damn, this kid was too cute for her own good. Or was that his own good?

“Let me check with your mom first.” He stood up, and she slipped her hands in his.

They walked to the other room where Ally stood over Aiden’s shoulder, her body still stiff with the tension of their conversation.

“Is Lacy done with her work?” Brayden interrupted.

Ally looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Yep, though I wish they would have sent more work.”

“Brayden’s gonna take me outside, Mommy,” Lacy announced.

Cameron and Aiden frowned.

“When you two finish, you can come out with us, okay?”

“It’s not fair,” Cameron mumbled. “She’s just a little girl so she doesn’t get as much work as me.”

“I’m not little!” Lacy yelled.

“Be nice, Cam,” Ally said, rolling her eyes. “Thanks, Bray.”

Lacy jumped up and down and led Brayden to the back door. He put on their jackets, and they walked hand in hand to the big tree in the back. He kept vigilant though. He didn’t trust David not to find them and finish what he started.

“Do you think I can climb it?” Lacy asked.

Brayden looked up at the tree that seemed to get bigger with each breath. An image of Lacy falling and having a cast to match Cam’s flashed in his head.

“Maybe not today.”

Lacy pouted but didn’t say anything, merely kicked the dirt beneath her feet.

Great, he’d disappointed her. He wasn’t good at this whole dad thing, considering he wasn’t one. But there was one thing he could do to make her smile.

“Hey, Lace, let me show you something.”

“What is it?”

“You see this?” He touched the warm coin, and she nodded. “This is a leprechaun’s coin.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yep, I met one when I was little, and now I can do some magic.” Okay, he had one trick, but Lacy would love it.

“You mean you’re a good magic guy like Justin and not the bad man?”

Brayden pulled her into his arms and kissed her cheek. “Yes, I’m like Justin or Jordan. I’m not like David, okay?”

“So you mean all gnomes are bad?” Her little lip quivered, and Brayden cursed himself.

How had he not thought of this? These kids were half gnomes and hadn’t even talked about it. No wonder they looked shell shocked.

“Not all gnomes are bad, not if they do good magic. And you’re as good as they come, Lace.”

“You promise?”

He put her little hand on his chest. “Cross my heart. Now, let me show you what I wanted you to see.”

She nodded, though her lip was still between her teeth.

Brayden touched the coin around his neck, closed his eyes, focusing on the magic within, then opened his palm.

Lacy gasped, and Brayden smiled. He opened his eyes to see the rainbow he’d made parting through the clouds and ending at his palm.

“It’s so pretty,” Lacy breathed. She held out her hand then stopped.

“It won’t hurt. You can hold my hand, and the rainbow will stay.” As long as he concentrated, that is.

She worried her lip then pressed her palm against his. Lace let out a giggle as the end of the rainbow wrapped its way around their joined hands like a bow.

“Wow!” Cameron yelled from the doorway then ran to their side, Aiden on his trail.

Brayden looked up to see Allison standing behind them, a look of slight fear in her eyes before she blinked it away.

Damn it. He hadn’t meant to show her that he had magic like Greg, though he didn’t, not really if what Rina said was true. He’d just have to push harder to show her that magic could be good.

Aiden and Cameron put their hands on top of Lacy’s, and the rainbow wrapped around their hands as well.

“Cool,” Aiden said under his breath.

“It’s beautiful,” Lacy said.

Brayden looked at the three of them, smiling, happy as though there wasn’t a care in the world, and then he met Allison’s gaze.

“Yeah, it’s very beautiful,” he said, though he wasn’t talking to the kids anymore.

Ally stared at him, uncertainty and heat warring in her eyes.

He’d fix this somehow. He’d waited too long for everything to fall through his fingertips.

Brayden wanted the family in front of him, and he’d do anything to make it a reality. He just needed to make sure his luck didn’t run out because, for some reason, he knew the danger lurking around their lives was only beginning.

Chapter 6

Allison held her breath as Brayden showed her children the rainbow coming out of his palm. If she hadn’t been through so much with the Coopers, she wouldn’t have believed it.

Even though the colors were amazingly beautiful, she didn’t know if she could trust the effects of magic. After all, she’d been an unknowing victim of magic for twelve years…at least.

She’d also almost lost her children during the Christmas holidays when Jack Frost had attacked Justin and Rina while they were ice-skating with her children.

If she hadn’t cared so much for the Coopers, she would have cut herself off from them trying to protect her babies.

But it wouldn’t have done any good. No matter how hard she tried to push, magic and the Coopers seemed to surround her life.

Now the man she thought she could see herself with held magic in any way. Even though he’d told her it was good magic, nothing like Greg’s, she couldn’t be sure. She thought she’d trusted Brayden with everything but her heart, but she could’ve been wrong.

Her babies were in his hands, and he had the power to make anything come true with luck.

Or at least that’s what she thought his magic did. She’d been too stunned when he’d revealed what he was to question what exactly his magic did.

Allison didn’t know if she had it in her to be with a man who held that kind of power in his hands. Not that she’d decided to succumb to her own desires. She might want Brayden, not just physically, but in every way irrevocably possible, but that didn’t mean she’d give in.

She had more to lose than just her heart, and Brayden was currently holding those things now.

Everything was moving too fast for her and not fast enough. Her arm ached like a bitch, and she just wanted to curl into a ball with some chocolate and wait for everything to get better.

Yeah, like she’d ever done that in her life.

No, she didn’t run away from things. She just kept going with the grain, sometimes against it, until she couldn’t move anymore. She lived for her kids, not herself. And right now, since she wasn’t working and her kids weren’t in school because of a man—no, gnome—she was floundering.

And yet, why did she want to set everything aside for a moment and sink into Brayden’s arms?

God, she didn’t want to be
that
woman. No, she’d rather kick ass than have him fall into her arms. That sounded like a better deal.

Cameron ran up to her and put his arms around her waist. “Why do you look sad, Mom?”

She ruffled his hair and leaned down to inhale that little boy scent. “I’m just worrying, you know me.”

“With Brayden and the rest of the Coopers around, nothing can hurt us.”

Oh, if only that were true
. Though she believed that, with the authorities on David’s trail and the Coopers rallying around them, they were safer, that didn’t mean they were safe from getting their hearts broken.

“I still want you to think safe, okay? Just because we’re staying here with Brayden doesn’t mean you can stop looking out for yourself and your brother and sister.”

He nodded and rubbed his cast, his eyes looking tired.

“I think it’s time you lie down for a bit. What do you say?”

Cam scowled and shook his head. “Aiden and Lacy aren’t going to lay down.”

“Aiden and Lacy didn’t have their arm broken last night.”

He let out a putout sigh and rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

“Fine is right. You don’t have to sleep, just lay down.”

He rambled off to his room, or at least the room he was staying in. She didn’t want to create those connections and settle down. Not when they’d hopefully be leaving soon.

She couldn’t entwine their lives with Brayden’s anymore than necessary. It would hurt too much when they had to leave.

“Knock knock,” Jordan said as she walked into the house. The alarm immediately sounded, and Jackson came in behind her, turning it off.

“I thought you two would have work today,” Brayden said as he walked into the house, Lacy and Aiden by his side.

Bray took off his jacket and brushed a lock of hair from his forehead, and Allison’s gaze landed on his chest that filled out his Henley quite nicely.

“I’ve already done my work for now and can do the rest from home for now,” Jordan said as she leaned down to give Aiden a hug.

He blushed and fidgeted in her arms.

Jackson took off his jacket then picked Lacy up for a hug. Allison blinked as Lacy kissed the usually stern man’s cheek and hugged him hard. Jackson’s cheeks reddened, but he hugged her back.

“I closed down the office today. I figured you guys could use my help.”

Everyone froze. Jackson was the only dentist for counties and was frankly a workaholic who
never
took days off.

Miracles of miracles. Scary Jackson Cooper had a heart.

“Thank you, Jacks. And Jordan of course,” she said, still surprised they were both here.

Jordan smiled. “Well, we figured you could use a break to go to the sheriff’s department to talk to Tyler about last night, plus go to your place and get anything Justin and Rina forgot. Brayden should go with you though so you’re not alone.”

Allison could have sworn the other woman winked when she said that. Well, it looked as though the Coopers were playing matchmakers as well as protectors. She didn’t know quite how she felt about that.

“You’re going to babysit?” she asked Jackson, a little worried. It wasn’t as if she didn’t trust the man, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him particularly warm to her children, besides what she’d just seen with Lacy.

Jackson quirked the side of his mouth up in a semblance of a smile. “I did help raise my four younger brothers, in case you’ve forgotten.”

Allison blushed, ashamed. “I’m sorry; I don’t mean to be rude.”

Brayden came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist. She stiffened at the obvious show of affection in front of his family. What on earth could that man be thinking?

“You’re not rude. Jacks just doesn’t show off his Babysitter’s Club side often.”

Jackson shook his head and, with Lacy still in his arms, turned toward the living room. “I’m going to let Lacy show me what toys she brought with her. You two go do what you need to. We’ll hold down the fort.”

He walked away with Lacy in his arms, Aiden trailing behind him.

“Okay, who was that man?” Jordan asked.

Brayden laughed. “Jacks isn’t that bad, you know.”

“Oh, I do,” Allison said. “But, this doesn’t seem like him.”

“Tell me about it. When he offered to come with me today, Matt nearly passed out.”

They laughed, and Allison couldn’t help noticing Brayden’s arm was still around her, even though she didn’t need the support…well, at least physically. His warmth felt damn good on her, not that she’d say that out loud.

“Okay, you two go off and talk to Tyler. We’ll be here if you need us.”

Jordan followed Jackson and the kids and left Allison standing in the foyer alone with Brayden. Allison held up her hand and ran behind them, making sure she said goodbye to her children before she left.

“With Jordan here with her magic, that you know and trust, the kids should be safe,” Brayden said as he bundled her up, his fingers dancing along her neck as he helped with her jacket.

Shivers ran down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold. Allison ignored them, and they piled in his truck, her hands shaking.

“I know she’ll take care of them. I’m just worried like a normal mom. I have a list though of what we need so that shouldn’t take long. I’m just not in the mood to have to relive everything that happened last night when we talk with Tyler.”

Brayden pulled out of the garage and held her hand. “I won’t let you be alone.”

She warmed at his words but shook them off.

“Don’t do that,” she said.