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Jacob stared at the ceiling, a look of slight horror on his face as he listened to the chaotic sounds of dog and child feet racing around echoed through the house, and Annie's occasional shouts and Cupcake's constant barks.
Phoebe decided not to give Jacob a chance to decide to run for his life instead of helping them. "I'll be right down," she said, hurrying toward the stairs. "If you can grab the bin of Cupcake's food from the corner of the kitchen, and pack up a bunch of his dog toys, that would be super helpful!"
Jacob's gaze went to the torn-up couches. "The dog's coming?"
Phoebe paused on the bottom step. "He keeps Annie's night terrors away," she said, her voice calm but unyielding. "I wouldn't leave him behind for anything. He's family." She was long past apologizing for who she was or what she wanted, especially to a man.
This particular man raised his brows and met her gaze. She expected him to resist, or be grumpy, but instead, he grinned, the first genuine smile she'd seen on him. It lit up his face, nearly bringing her to her knees with how handsome he was. "Any dog that keeps away night terrors is a dog worth keeping. He definitely comes."
Phoebe smiled back, caught up in the light radiating from him. "All right then." She started to run up the stairs, then turned back as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him. "Annie is afraid of most men. How did you get her to trust you like that?"
He shrugged. "I know what it's like to be so scared you can't even make yourself crawl out of the shadows you're hiding in, even though you're cold, hungry, and wet. I feel it, and I feel it in animals, and I project the peace that I could never find, that I needed. I guess I did that with her."
He was so tall, so muscled, so…all-consuming that it was stunning to think of him hiding in shadows…and admitting it. "Wow."
He shrugged again, clearly unimpressed with himself. "Rehabbing traumatized horses is my superpower. My brother told me to treat you guys like horses, so…" he shrugged. "I guess it works."
She didn't know what to say to that. She'd never met a man who would claim rehabbing traumatized animals as his superpower. Or who was advised to treat a woman and her child like horses...and have that make sense. "You're unusual, aren't you?"
"Yes." He didn't hesitate or try to explain. He simply confirmed it.
"Great." She smiled. "We are, too."
He stared at her for a moment, then grinned, that same heart-melting grin that he'd flashed once before at her. "All right, then. We gotta go."
"Okay." She cleared her throat. "We'll be down in a few minutes." She spun around and ran up the stairs, her mind whirling.
Her worst nightmare had happened, having to go on the run with her daughter…but Jacob…he was a surprise. A tempting, handsome surprise who seemed to surround her and Annie with a sense of calm, of protection, an answer to the chaos that permeated her life.
How this was going to unfold, she had no idea.
But she was going to find a way to make it work, because she was no longer the woman who hid in shadows. She was now a mom who would never give up, not for herself, and not for her daughter, and not for their trouble-making dog.
How much danger were they in? What did she need to do to make them safe? How much could she trust Jacob, and with what?
"Mommy! Help!"
"Coming!" Phoebe took a breath and headed toward her daughter's room, her mind whirring with possibilities, questions, and fear.
And determination.
Would it be enough to survive whatever was coming for them?
She would make sure it was.
CHAPTER FOUR
Holy crap.
Jacob released his breath as Phoebe disappeared from sight, trying to regain his equilibrium.
Phoebe was absolutely breathtaking, in a way he hadn't been prepared for.
The woman he'd been sent to collect was wearing baggy sweatpants, an old tee shirt, and purple, fuzzy socks. Her ponytail was crooked, she was wearing no makeup…and she had rocked him to his core.
So real. So alive. So…vibrant.
Jacob had been shocked by the look of absolute terror on her face when he'd walked in and stood too close to her daughter.
