Page 23 of Off-Limits Love
Emi gave them all one last searching stare as her child mind tried to understand what was happening before she relented, heading inside with Sam on slow feet.
Finn noticed the way Mak’s shoulders lowered a bit from her ears once the screen door and front door both shut behind them. Mak inhaled a breath and then turned to face her ex.
“You are not my husband, and I have the papers to prove it,” Mak said in a voice full of feminine rage. She shifted in such a way that she stood shoulder to shoulder with Finn—well, shoulder to ribs considering how short she was compared to him—but he liked that she’d sidled up to him as she ripped into her ex.
“You know you made a mistake,” the man said.
Finn bristled though he had no right to, but that was nothing compared to the fire that erupted from Mak. She growled. Actually growled. And it was the hottest thing he’d ever heard as she shifted to go toe to toe with her ex like a feral little honey badger about to end him once and for all.
“No, I didn’t,” she said. “You put yourself first, Brad. Always. And then you put everything else before us, too, including the women you cheated with.”
He wasn’t surprised by the fact the idiot was a cheater. Finn remembered the rumors of him doing the same to girlfriends in high school. But to cheat on a woman like Mak and destroy their beautiful family?
Brad’s gaze flicked to Finn’s before sliding away. The guy tried to look cocky about doing that to Mak, but it came off as pathetic. Finn found nothing admirable about Jensen betraying his wife.
“If you didn’t still love me, you wouldn’t care so much. So let’s discuss that—privately,” the guy said.
Mak practically vibrated with her anger.
“No. That’s just it, Brad. I don’t care what you do now. I’mfreeof you. Which means you can’t come here and order us around and make demands or—say Emi can’t be around animals, for pity’s sake.”
“That horse could’ve killed her.”
Mak scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest, cocking out a hip Finn couldn’t help but admire from behind.
“That horse has barely moved a muscle despite your stupid tactic to cause a ruckus—which proves how gentle and sweet it is. You are the one acting like an animal, trying to force a scene so you can make it an issue because you’re not getting your way.”
Brad’s derision-fueled gaze shifted from Mak to Finn as a scowl snarled his features into all sorts of ugly.
“I want Finn and his animals off this property and away from my family so we can discuss our daughter’s safety and well-being as her parents.”
“You have no say here,” Mak said quietly, like she’d found that place of inner strength despite the chaos in front of her. “This is our home now. Finn is a neighbor—myneighbor, and I say he’s welcome.”
“That’s not acceptable to me.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” she countered.
“Mak, listen to reason.”
“Reason? Really? Emi was perfectly safe. If anything the only danger she might have faced was when you waved your arms like that. Had Finn not trained the horse so well, Emi could’ve been hurt with your stupid stunt, andthatwould’ve been your fault and no one else’s.”
Finn studied the man, his grip so tight on the reins he felt like the leather would meld into his hands. Dash trembled in his arms and squirmed a bit at the tight hold, but he’d stopped trying to bolt and obviously drew comfort in being held after Jensen’s stunt.
He considered dropping Pepper’s reins to wander to the grass but didn’t trust Jensen not to try something else just to cause more trouble.
Mak was right about Pepper. She was one of the best horses he owned, and fireworks could go off ten feet away and the horse would stand her ground.
“I disagree. I think this is proof I need to take things back to court to get full custody of my daughter so she is protected from your carelessness and that of your…friends.”
Finn couldn’t stop the sound of angry disgust that emerged from him. He gently nudged Mak’s shoulder with his elbow, and when she turned to look up at him, he practically shoved Dash into her arms.
The tiny donkey immediately dropped his head into her neck like a dog and despite the intensity of the moment, Mak cuddled Dash like a baby, crooning softly to the creature.
Dash taken care of, Finn stepped toward Brad Jensen and relished the way the man’s eyes widened in fear. Things were different now than they were in high school. Whereas Brad had been a soccer star and Finn the silent, wimpy underdog, his body had matured in the years since, and he’d packed on muscle and inches.
The way Jensen’s nostrils flared as he took a breath and realized yelling and threatening a six-two grown man was a lot different than a tiny bit of a woman who’d obviously been verbally and emotionally abused—if not more, given the sight of the bruises beginning to darken on her arm from Brad’s earlier grip—during her marriage to the guy.
Brad was used to getting his way. Used to yelling and blustering and threatening and intimidating until he wore Mak down and won. That much was obvious. The man was used to Mak giving in because of fear or maybe even exhaustion, but that ended today. Right now.
