“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Shy-Shy.” She responds with a sparkly smile.
“She likes you,” Damon says, his warm gaze settles on my face.
“Plenty to like,” I joke.
“Couldn’t agree more.” He looks around. “Where’s Matty?”
“I left him at home with Jodie for a bit. Needed a moment to myself.”
“We’ll get out of your hair then?—”
“No, don’t; it’s okay,” I say. “I’m just dealing with some thingsI left behind, Damon. Besides, I’m hooked on this pretty little thing here. And I’m surprised, to be honest.”
He takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he swoons over his daughter. “That this happened? I’m surprised, too. One of those happy accidents, I suppose. Shiloh has kept me afloat during my darker days.”
“Darker days?”
The look he gives sends a shockwave to my very core. “Don’t think for a second that your absence hasn’t been felt, Clara. You left a hole behind you, and none of us knew how to fill it,” he admits. “I happened to have Shiloh. Jace buried his head in work and tech gadgets. And Carter, well, he hasn’t been the same since you left. In fact, this is the first time I’ve seen the spark return to his eyes.”
“Damon, I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
“I know. You did what you thought was best.”
“And it wasn’t enough.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” he says. “You’re here, now. You can walk away like before and leave an even bigger hole behind you, or you can stay, if only for a while, to mend some fences and heal yourself. I don’t think the time you had away from here did you much good in terms of what happened.”
I shake my head slowly. “In a way it did and in a way it didn’t. I’m still trying to figure that out for myself.”
“While you figure that out, what do you say we all get reacquainted again?”
His voice is sweet, his tone soft. There’s a gentleness in his demeanor that contradicts his massive frame, his broad andmuscular shoulders, his square jaw. A kindness in his eyes that adds something more for me to be drawn to, as if the magnetism wasn’t powerful enough already.
The look in his eyes. The way in which his lips part slowly as he looks at me.
It’s irresistible.
“Reacquainted?”
The proposition sounds dangerous, though not necessarily in a bad way. The guys and I do have unfinished business, so to speak. Dreams left unrealized.
“Yes, we can start with a playdate. You and me, Shy-Shy and Matty someday soon. My mom can join us. An extra set of adult hands in the room,” he says.
I laugh lightly. “A playdate, you say. It sounds interesting. I know Matty would love to meet this gorgeous young lady.”
“Who’s Matty?” Shiloh asks, looking up at her handsome daddy.
“Matty is my son. He’s a year older than you, and I think you’d have a lot of fun together. Do you like finger painting, Shy-Shy?”
“Yeah!”
“So does Matty,” I reply, then smile at Damon. “It’s a date then.”
“It’s a date,” he confirms.
We’re both aware of the double meaning behind our statements. Getting closer to Damon will inadvertently bring me closer to Jace and Carter, too. Maybe this was meant to happen. Maybe this will be my reckoning.
I can only hope that it will lead somewhere better, though deep in my heart I know that it won’t, not while I carry my secrets.
