Sam turned around and looked up at me. “Stop. There’s glass.” He picked up another sliver and set it carefully on his palm. “I’m so sorry if I woke you. Evie’s okay?”
I shook my head. “She’s fine. You didn’t wake me up. I was in the bathroom.” Hopefully the dark hid my expression. Sam could never know what I was doing in there with images of him in my mind. Images that looked quite a lot like he did right then.
He gathered a few more pieces and stood up but kept his back to me. I didn’t mind the view. “I think I got most of it.”
The practicality of the moment shoved some of the lust out of my mind. He was barefoot, and there was no way to know if he found every glass shard. “Wait. Let me get your shoes.” I turned half away, but he was already on the move.
After dumping the glass in the trash can under the sink, he stretched out and got one knee on the kitchen stool closest to him. He crawled onto the island, swiveled around, and ended up sitting with his feet dangling over the side. “I’ll wash it well before breakfast, don’t worry.”
I swallowed around a lump in my throat as I fought to keep my eyes on his. “I’m not worried about that.” I wasn’t the strongest man in the world. My gaze swept down over his trim chest, the small nipples, the flat stomach, and lower.
The sheer blue fabric was cut for a man’s body. I recognized the bold brand name on the waistband – their online catalog was as good as porn -- but it couldn’t hold my attention when faced with the pouch that held his cock and tight balls. He was cut, the fabric so thin I could make out the ridge around the mushroom head. Mostly hairless other than the trimmed line low on his belly and more dusting the tops of his thighs. I couldn’t make out the color in the dim lighting. Was it as red as the hair on his head or pale gold like his eyelashes?
He shifted, and I jerked my gaze up to his face again, an apology on the tip of my tongue. Instead of looking at me with disgust or anger, however, his eyes gleamed and his pink tongue crept out to tease over his lower lip. Sam shifted on the counter, widening his thighs, and tilting his hips in a way that made it impossible not to look.
“Let me help you down.” I stepped closer and reached out without thought. All sense of propriety had disappeared as my hands slipped around his waist, fingers tensing on firm flesh.
He didn’t need any help, but he took it anyway, sliding off the counter into my grasp. For a long, exquisite moment, Sam’sbody pressed against mine, our eyes locked, breath mingling silently in the cool cabin air.
“We should get some sleep,” he said at last.
Reality crashed down in my brain, and my hands slipped away from his waist. I stepped back and turned with a shake of my head. “Yeah,” I said. Should I apologize? I didn’t want to apologize. I wanted to ask for more. Instead, I muttered, “Goodnight,” and disappeared back into my own bedroom.
When Evie woke up around six, I still sat on the edge of my bed, lost in a dream of pleasure and guilt.
***
I was halfway back from a meeting with Bradley and Christopher when my phone vibrated. I expected a message from the bakery about the last-minute change to icing details that Christopher insisted on. The name that showed up on the screen halted me in my tracks.
Paige:Call me. It’s important.
The four words seemed to echo in my brain until a freezing wind off the lake blasted over me. A shiver ran down my spine, and I couldn’t be sure if it was the weather or the text. Paige hadn’t contacted me at all since she vanished from the hospital one day after giving birth. She hadn’t answered any of my calls or texts, and all her stuff disappeared from our apartment two days later when I was out at a meeting with a client. Other than the proof of Evie, it was like she’d never existed in my life from that moment on.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, concern about what would happen if she did change her mind festered. She didn’twant to be a mom, and she was pissed off when those two lines appeared on the pregnancy test. She’d taken it in the restroom of our favorite coffee shop and tossed it on the table between our mugs and muffins with no preamble.
We’d talked in hushed voices about options later that night. It was her choice ultimately. It was her body, but I wanted the baby the moment I learned about them. Paige changed her mind fifty times since that day in the coffee shop, and she finally accepted that she waited too long to decide. We stuck together, and we both swore we’d make it work.
When I came to see them up at the hospital the morning of the day after I held her hand as Evelyn Harper Barron came into the world, Paige had disappeared. The nurses, all sad smiles and tight lips, handed me my daughter and the paperwork and sent us on our way.
Sam and Evie sat on the floor next to the couch playing some game with nesting boxes and scraps of colorful fabric. Soft, upbeat instrumental music played on his phone. The pleasant sounds and sweet sight couldn’t touch the dark mood that filled me up as soon as I saw that text.
“Da!” Evie waved her tiny hands and bounced when she saw me.
“Hello, sweet pea, my darling Evie,” I said with a smile I didn’t quite feel. I bent down to stroke her head tenderly. “You have fun with Sam for a bit. Daddy has to make a phone call.” I couldn’t quite meet Sam’s bright gaze – there was another source of stress – as I fled into the bedroom and closed the door behind me.
Putting it off would only extend the stress of not knowing what Paige wanted. I sucked in a deep breath and called. My hands shook. It rang twice before the voice I’d woken up to every morning for years came through the speaker.
“Hello, Gil. It’s been a while.” Her familiar voice brought up a strange mix of memories.
What was I supposed to say to that? I’d tried calling her a million times after Evie was born, but eventually I gave up when she never answered or called me back. I’d gotten over the anger and hurt mostly, but this sudden contact threatened to make it all come roaring back.
“It has,” I said at last. “What’s going on?” My stomach roiled.
“Right to it, then, huh? You always were a practical guy.” She paused as if she expected me to say something. When I kept quiet, she blew out a harsh sigh into the phone and then said something that destroyed my world in ten words.
“I don’t think Evie is yours. I want her back.”
Chapter 5
