I waited patiently, but I didn’t reply.

His eyes moved to mine.

“Come here,” he repeated.

“I’m not certain how much more here I can get,” I told him.

“Closer,” he stated.

I sighed.

Then I bent to him.

“Closer, babe,” he said softly.

I bent closer, he lifted his arm, cupped the back of my head with his hand, and he brought me even closer.

So close, my mouth was nearly on his.

“West,” I whispered.

“That’s better,” he whispered back.

I blinked. “Sorry?”

“You can whisper my name sweet like that. That’s better.”

Oh God.

“I need more caffeine,” I informed him.

“Yeah, and you can get it after you kiss me.”

Oh God.

Not this again.

“What?”

“Babe, we fight, we stop fightin’, you work out the rest of your attitude by kissin’ me.”

“Is that an order?” I asked, and he grinned.

“Yeah.”

“Whatever,” I muttered, bent even closer, touched my mouth to his then touched my tongue to his lips, those lips opened, my tongue slid inside, and I allowed myself to enjoy the taste of him.

I drank my fill, and as weak as it made me, I loved every second of it.

Before he could take the kiss out of my control, which meant out of all control, I broke contact and pulled away two inches where I stopped because his fingers flexed on my head.

He studied me again then murmured, “Thinkin’ that didn’t work.”

“Buck, I’ve had about two hours of sleep. I need caffeine.”

“Kids weren’t here, babe, I’d try a different way to work out your attitude.”

Proving just how weak I was, my nipples got hard.

“Can I go get coffee?”

He grinned again, his hand left my head, and he relented on a, “Yeah.”

I escaped.

We were both on our second cups (Buck had done the first refill) and I poured new ones then set them aside as I cleaned out the filter and pot to start another one going. I’d need more and both Locke and Tatiana drank it too.

And I wanted Tatie’s coffee to be fresh.

I was scooping coffee into the filter, thinking that the good news was, some time had elapsed, and the sheriff hadn’t come calling, when I sensed movement.

My hand froze mid-scoop, I turned and saw Tatiana wearing her cute pajama bottoms and tight little camisole standing by the counter.

I wondered what today would bring, if the drama last night meant a breakthrough that was permanent or temporary.

She stared at me. I stared at her. Her lip was less fat, but a bruise had risen on her cheekbone.

Okay.

Yes.

I was so totally glad Buck and Gear beat the shit out of those boys.

Finally, when I could take it no more, I whispered, “Hey, honey.”

That was when she moved.

Her bare feet quickly eating the distance, she threw her arms around me, pressed her cheek against my shoulder and ground coffee went everywhere.

I dropped the scoop and wrapped my arms around her.

It took a while for me to realize she was crying.

“That’s it, baby,” I whispered, bending my head toward her and stroking her hair. “Get it out.”

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled into my chest.

“What? Why?” I asked.

She tipped her head back, her eyes caught mine, and she wailed loudly, “I was such a bitch about your car!”

Then she burrowed her face into my neck and her sobs got louder.

Golly.

I forgot about my car.

I heard the door open, and I lifted my eyes, but not my head, to see Buck walk in.

“Don’t worry about that,” I told Tatiana, my gaze on Buck.

“If I wasn’t such a baby, if I didn’t take off on a hissy fit, I wouldn’t—”

Oh no.

Oh no, she was not.

My hand curved around her head and I dipped my lips to her ear. “Don’t,” I cut her off. “Don’t make what happened your fault. Don’t you do that, Tatie. It was not your fault. Not a lick of it.”

“I went off, lookin’ for trouble,” she sobbed into my chest, tipped her head back and cried, “And I found it!”

I cupped her healthy cheek in my hand. “You went looking for a way let off steam, honey. No woman looks for that kind of trouble.”

“I…I…liked one of those guys!” she wailed. “He never paid attention to me! I thought he was bein’ nice, me bein’ angry and all, listening. But he wasn’t. He was just…just…”

“Shh,” I whispered, moving my thumb to her lips. “He was just a jerk. He was just a big, fat, horrible jerk.”

She blinked.

Then she said around my thumb, “He’s not a jerk, Clara, he’s an asshole.”

I smiled at her. “That too.”

She stared at me.

I pulled in breath, took my thumb from her lips and decided to change the subject.

“This is our deal, okay? Weekends, you get the Charger. Weekdays, when you’re with your mom, I get it. We share. I think I can talk your dad into that. Do we have a deal?”

“You’d do that?”

I shrugged. “Sure. I don’t need a car much anyway.”

“No, I mean talk to Dad for me.”

“Well,” my eyes slid over her shoulder to Buck, “I don’t really have to since he’s standing right there and any dad’s going to see that’s a perfectly sensible arrangement.”

Buck’s lips twitched but Tatiana jerked around.

“Dad,” she whispered, her body tight.

Buck’s attention went from me to Tatiana. “Come here, darlin’.”

She didn’t move and didn’t speak, not for a while.

Finally, she asked quietly, “You aren’t mad?”

“Come here, Tatie.”

She hesitated then, slowly at first, she walked to him. It didn’t take long, though, before she ran and threw her arms around him.

He folded her little body into his big one and held her close, bending to put his lips to her hair.

“I’m not mad, baby,” he muttered there.

I turned back to the coffee, not wanting more conflicting feelings about West Hardy and our crazy relationship. I had enough of those. Too many. And seeing him being a caring and loving dad would add to them.

As I turned, out of the sides of my eyes I saw movement, and I twisted my neck to see Gear standing there.

Buck had taken the time to change his T-shirt and wash the blood from his knuckles. Gear hadn’t yet taken that time.

I walked to him and grabbed his hand but kept my eyes on his, which were locked on his sister.

“You need to clean up, Locke,” I said softly, and he tore his eyes from his sister and looked down at me. I squeezed his hand. “Give your sister a hug and then go clean up. I’ll make you a coffee and your dad’s making breakfast. Tatie’s choice this morning.”

“Waffles,” Tatiana said instantly, and Gear and I looked at her to see that Buck had hooked her around the neck and tucked her to his side. She had both arms around his middle and was pressing in.