King of Pain - Tasha Black Page 0,38

been a bust after all.

Just as she was about to give up hope, she saw the sign.

Swann Automotive

It was a tiny shop. Behind it, a gravel road seemed to lead into the woods.

She pulled in, hoping she could drop off the keys without much conversation. The last thing she wanted was to be remembered.

Her heart pounded as she approached the door and read the sign on the other side of the glass.

Closed - please use key drop!

She checked her phone.

It was after 9 am, surely this couldn’t be right. She was under the impression that all auto shops opened up at dawn. Just how sleepy was this town?

But there were no lights on, and the door was firmly locked.

Counting her lucky stars, Delilah dropped the car keys in the wooden drop box next to the door and looked around.

She could probably make it back into the little town center in ten minutes on foot. Hopefully, the change in her pocket was enough to get her on a train to Philadelphia.

From there, she just needed to find a place to lay low for a few days and she’d be home free.

She had found her way out of a con that had gone wrong.

She’d thought she was done for, but it looked like she was going to make it after all.

Just then, she heard the crunch of gravel as a car pulled into the lot.

Delilah spun on her heel, intending to try and get as far away as possible before the person got a good look at her. Hopefully it was just another customer, not an employee.

“Hey there,” a masculine voice shouted, stopping her in her tracks. “You’re early.”

I am?

She thought for an instant about just bolting, but the car door was already opening, and a man was climbing out.

He was more of a mountain than a man, really - tall and burly, his blue eyes twinkling at her.

She smiled back instinctively, her mind racing as she vacillated between flight and fight.

You can’t fight him. He’s freaking enormous, a little voice in the back of her head said appreciatively.

But there was no time to ogle and no time to run, because the man had already gotten something out of the car and was heading her way.

“The service said you’d be here this afternoon,” he called to her from the other side of the car. “I hope we haven’t kept you waiting too long.”

We?

She blinked back her amazement at the tiny bundle he carried.

He was carrying a baby - a baby that looked absolutely tiny in his massive arms.

“I haven’t been here long,” she ventured. She had no idea what he was talking about, but the first rule of a good con was not to ruffle the mark.

“I’m Axel,” he said. “And, as you already know, this is Noah.”

The baby gazed at her with large, blue eyes, just like his father’s. His tiny lower lip was pushed out slightly and the swirl of silky hair on his head gleamed in the muted sunshine.

“Hi, Noah,” she heard herself murmur. “I’m Delilah.”

“Oh, shoot, here you go,” the man said. “I should have introduced you properly.”

He held out the baby, enormous hands wrapped around the tiny ribcage.

Delilah had never held a baby before, but she couldn’t think of a way to decline. There was something decidedly alarming about seeing the tiny baby dangling in the air even in those big hands.

She took him in her own arms, where he still looked pretty small, and cradled him to her chest, wondering at the incredible scent of him.

He laid his head against her shoulder and she didn’t want to breathe for fear that she might startle him like a deer.

“He likes me,” she whispered.

“Yeah, he’s a good boy,” Axel said tenderly. His voice was so deep it was almost a growl. “Let me show you the house.”

She followed the big man down the gravel path that led behind the shop.

His impossibly wide shoulders narrowed at his waist and hips. He reminded her of the cartoon version of Tarzan she’d crushed on as a tween.

The path led not into the forest as she’d suspected, but to a little cottage with a covered front porch. It was the first in a line of three small homes that bordered the trees.

“I never had a nanny before,” Axel said. “A high school girl was watching Noah for me this summer. I did my best with your room. You’ll let me know if you need anything else in there?”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” she