Free Whatever It Takes (Second Chances #2) by L. E. Bross

and trying to see into the car window. I looked around but there wasn’t anyone else in the parking lot. God, how long would it take some nut job to swipe a kid? Goose bumps sprang up on my arms.
    “Hey, buddy, whatcha looking for?” I asked, leaning an elbow against the roof.
    Noah looked up, his eyes wide with fear before he saw me. His face immediately lit up. “Hey, Ryan. I was just lookin’ for my red car. I lost it.” Now a frown turned his mouth down.
    “Maybe you should ask Tess to help you? Does she know you’re outside by yourself?” If I hadn’t come by this morning, Noah would have been out here alone. “Where is Tess anyway?”
    Noah ducked his head. “In the shower.”
    Yeah. I needed to get him upstairs in a hurry.
    “How about if I carry you and you carry breakfast?”
    His eyes lit up when he saw the brown paper bag. “’Kay.”
    He was squirmy and warm and smelled like soap and still had on his dinosaur pajamas and no shoes. It made me wonder again where his dad was.
    “So you know how to unlock the door, huh, buddy?” I wondered if Tess knew this.
    “In case of ’mergency,” he said importantly.
    I chuckled as we made it up the stairs and I was trying to figure out how to knock on the door with my hands full of coffee and a kid when it flew open. Tess slammed into my chest, then took a step back. Her eyes were wide and her gaze slashed from me to Noah.
    “Found him trying to get his toy out of the car,” I said.
    It may have sounded more like a croak, though, because Tess was standing there with wet hair clinging to her face in nothing but a towel. A not very big towel that barely covered the parts that counted. What was I doing there again? My mind was blank.
    Water droplets clung to her skin and glistened in the sunlight. I tried very hard not to swallow my tongue. Or lean over and lick them off. Jesus. I took a step back and exhaled.
    “Noah Riley Maxwell.” Her voice was high-pitched and it shook as she tried to keep it steady.
    Noah’s bottom lip shot out and started to tremble. “I couldn’t find my red car.”
    “You know you are never supposed to go outside without an adult. What if . . .” She took in a ragged breath and then shook her head. Fear had been shining out of her eyes, but now relief mixed in with it. “You need to go to your room for a time-out, and then we are going to talk about this.”
    I set him down, and he walked toward the back of the apartment with his head hanging down.
    He almost made it to the bedroom door when I whispered, “He has the bag of doughnuts I brought. There’s a Danish in it for you too. You don’t even have to get dressed either.”
    I grinned and let myself have one more thorough look. Temptation proved too much and I reached out and used my thumb to wipe off a stray drop of water from her collarbone. We both froze and surprise flickered across her face. I heard her breath catch in her throat and damned if it didn’t make my jeans too tight in the time it took me to exhale and step back.
    Her eyes went wide and her gaze darted from the coffee to my face and back. Then she seemed to remember that she was wearing nothing but a towel, because she squeaked and stumbled away toward the bedroom, clutching her towel tight.
    “I’ll be right back,” she mumbled, turning three shades of red.
    I stood there like an idiot holding the coffee and staring after her. What the hell was that? I didn’t mean to wipe that drop away, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. And I fucking carried Noah up the stairs with his arms wrapped around my neck.
    Warning bells should be ringing the fuck out of my head right now.
    Where were they?
    I set the coffee down on the table, clasped both hands behind my neck, and looked up at the ceiling. I should go. I should never have even come. It seemed like a good idea when I was getting dressed earlier, and once I thought about it, it was like there was a fire under my ass to get here.
    Now, my feet were