“You mean about Callie.” I’d been so busy trying to figure out how to take care of a baby, I hadn’t let myself fully digest exactly what it meant to have her show up in my life.
“Yeah.” She lifted her head and looked at me. Really, truly looked. “It’s only been a week, but you’re not doing her any favors by keeping her here if you think you’re not going to be able to hack it.”
I hung my head. She was right. “What if I don’t know yet?”
“What’s there to know?”
I dragged a hand down my face. “If I can do this. If I can be her dad without screwing her up the way my old man screwed me up. I never saw what a real family looked like. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”
She went quiet, her gaze fixed on her hands clasped together in her lap. “No one ever showed me either.”
That admission hit me like a wrecking ball. I’d suspected her past wasn’t sunshine and rainbows, but hearing it out loud… it leveled me.
I shifted closer without even thinking, closing the distance I’d intentionally left between us. “Tell me about it.”
“What do you want to know?” She turned her head and met my gaze before she focused on her hands again. “You want to hear how I was taken away from my mom because she thought it was okay to raise me in a car? Or how I spent years being bounced around from one foster home to the next? I don’t want that to happen to Callie.”
The hurt in her voice made me feel helpless. I wasn’t used to getting real with someone. I handled my heartache on my own and had never been invested enough in someone else to take on their pain as well. But tonight, it hit different. Hearing her share a little of her story made me want to know her better. I didn’t know what the hell to do with that.
“I’m sorry that happened to you, Rose. I don’t want that to happen to Callie, either. But I also don’t want to mess her up.” And I had no idea how I was going to manage.
“You’ll figure it out.” She turned to face me. The light coming in from the hallway fell over her wet cheeks. Hell, had she been crying?
“Maybe we could figure it out together. For Callie.”
Her laugh was shaky, but there was no humor in it. “Together, huh? You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough,” I said. And I did. I’d seen the way she held Callie when she screamed herself red. The patience in her touch. The way she anchored my chaos without asking for a damn thing in return. “You’re the reason she’s okay right now. The reason I’m okay.”
She looked up then, and it was like the air between us snapped tight. I could see every fleck of gold in her brown eyes. See how badly she wanted to believe me, even if she didn’t dare.
I should’ve stood, should’ve given her the space she kept insisting she needed. Instead, I leaned in. Slowly, giving her every chance to turn away.
She didn’t.
When my mouth brushed hers, the world stilled. My focus narrowed to the warmth of her breath, the faint taste of mint on her lips, and the quiet gasp she couldn’t hold back. Every muscle in my body went tight, fighting the instinct to pull her closer. My hands flexed at my sides, aching to touch her but knowing I shouldn’t.
I pulled back first, even though every cell in my body screamed not to. “Damn. I’m sorry,” I rasped. The air between us felt charged, like the moment before a flashover—too hot, too dangerous. I’d kissed women before, plenty of them, but never like that. Never when it meant something I wasn’t ready to face.
She blinked up at me, dazed as her fingers grazed her bottom lip. “This isn’t part of our agreement.”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t have done that.” My thumb brushed along her jaw. “Do you want to go?”
“No.” Her answer came quick, like she didn’t have to think about it at all.
“Do you want me to leave?”
She shook her head.
Tension hung in the air, thick and hot like a too-warm blanket I wanted to kick off so I could breathe. My palms still burned from holding back, fingers twitching with the memory of her skin. The ache in my chest had nothing to do with restraint and everything to do with wanting her again already. I got up from the bed and paced the short distance from wall to wall. “We can pretend that never happened. I’ll do whatever you want. I can’t afford to screw things up.”
“Because of Callie.” She nodded and took in a deep breath. “Don’t worry. I’ll stay until the end of the month like I said I would. Whatever that was… it doesn’t change anything.” She said it like she believed it, but her voice shook.
“Thank you.” I stopped by the doorway. The taste of her still clung to my mouth, sharp as smoke after a burn. I wasn’t dumb enough to think I could forget that kiss so easily.
Her hair fell around her shoulders as she got off the bed and walked toward the door. “It’s probably better if we don’t let that happen again, though. I’m not looking for…” she paused like she was trying to find the right words. “I’m not looking for anything.”
“Yeah, me neither.” Though a sharp tug in my gut had me second guessing myself. I was just worried about what would happen when she left. That was all it was. That was all I’d let it be. Because falling for a woman who already had one foot out the door wasn’t an option. No matter how good it had felt to kiss her or how much I liked having her sharing my space.
