Page 41 (1/1)

Chapter 1

It was their normal routine, and it ard as crap

Cora Caer seat of the beat-up pickup truck She didn’t think Sam Evans, her boss-of-sorts, would appreciate her humor Or, like, any hu hands on the wheel and black tattoos snaking all down his lean, lance at his face, and one word came to mind

Wild

Longish wild brown hair, like he couldn’t keep fro at it in frustration Wild brown beard that Cora so off just so she could better see the face it seereen eyes,in their uniqueness, but also ith euess

“So, um, Slider,” she said, her use of the nicknah the uneasy silence, “anything special I need to know about Saht?”

That pale gaze slashed her way, and she felt the chill of it into her bones Slider didn’t scare her—he was too good to his boys for that But it was entirely possible that his glances appeared in the dictionary next to Inti as Fuck And maybe even If Looks Could Kill And definitely Like, Whoa It was a good thing he paid her so well to babysit his sons In truth, he was doing her a pretty big favor giving her a part-tiured out her life, so she put up with hismoodiness

He huffed out a breath, as if y to reply sucked vital life force fro “Sam has homework he wants your help with,” he said, his tone aletic “And Benis Ben”

Cora nodded Having babysat the kids four or five days a week for the past three months, she had a decent idea what Slider htave hi “Okay”

They came upon the two-story white farmhouse where Slider lived and Cora sorown flower beds A misshapen wreath on the door, so bleached froinally been Shutters hanging at odd angles fro feel about it, and Cora didn’t really have to wonder why that was

Slider hadn’t even parked when the front door exploded open, the creaky screen door wobbling like it es A little boy darted out next to the gravel driveway, hopping excitedly as if the grass hid a trahter brown hair and happiness shaping his face, there was no denying Ben was Slider’s kid

Cora stepped out of the truck into the war bean”

“Narin all the cuter for the big gap where his front teeth should’ve been

“You sure? I could’ve sworn it was Bean” She hugged him as he threw his ar wall that kept all his ele emotion on his sleeve

“No” He laughed “It’s Ben!”

“Okay, Bean” Hiking up the backpack that served as an overnight bag, she glanced at Slider and found hih narrowed eyes, like e he couldn’t decipher Tall and broad-shouldered, he had a ranginess about hilect She’d seen him sit with the kids at meals, sometimes even with a plate of food in front of hi movies in bed with her friends Haven and Alexa last weekend than she’d seen Slider eat in the past three months combined

The youngest Evans let loose a long-suffering groan “No, Cora, it’s Ben,” he said, pronouncing her name more like Coowa It was so cute it almost killed her

“Finally, you’re here,” Sa on thirty-five, the kid was the definition of an old soul It was in his eyes, the seriousness of his personality, the way he took care of his little brother, as if, without being asked, he was trying to relieve sole parent from his father’s shoulders

“I ain,” Cora said, ruffling the older boy’s hair as she stepped into the neat but shabby living rooed her hand, but didn’t quite e