He lets out a loud sigh, walks over, and scoops me up.“Maybe.I feel a little crazed.”
I glance at the dirt I’m no longer standing on.“Put me the eff down, you giant lumberjack!”
“Done.”He swings around and stalks into the house.
“Wait, wait,” I say in a panic.Not the house!What asshole didn’t lock the back door?I wiggle to get loose.“Outside, Jaeger.Put me down outside.”
He looks back with a concerned expression.“You’re not really mad, are you?”
“I’m going to hoist your balls in a?—”
“Okay, good.Just making sure.”
He shifts me over his shoulder, cups my ass with one hand, and opens the bedroom door.
“Not there!We need to stay in the living room.I’m not going near a bed with?—”
I land on my back cockeyed, my breath rushing out in whoosh.“What.Are.You.Doing!”
“Trying to get my girlfriend to listen for a minute.”Jaeger leaps on top of me, bracing his weight on his arms on either side of my head.
He completely ignores my frown and pecks my lips before his gaze goes distracted, hovering above me like he’s going to camp out there for a while.“Kate’s up to something,” he says.“I can’t prove it yet.I drove up to North Shore, where she supposedly lived for a couple of years.”
He’s speaking as if we’re having a normal couple conversation, not like it’s been an entire week since we spoke to or saw each other, and I am incredibly furious with him.
Maybe hehaslost his mind.
“I tried to track down her friends, an old employer—I found nothing.The woman I spoke to at the Chamber of Commerce said there’s never been a business by the name of the last employer she gave me.”He leans on his elbow and sweeps a lock of hair off my forehead.
I swat at his fingers.
Just because he explained that his trip wasn’t a vacation with his ex, it doesn’t justify his absence.
Jaeger’s lips quirk briefly, then turn down.He plays with the collar of my shirt.“Kate showed me a picture of the child.”He lets out a puff of air.Even his breath smells good and minty.I scowl.“The girl looks like her, but I don’t know.I can’t tell if she looks like me.Kerstin saw the picture, too, and thinks she could, but I don’t see it.I’ve told Kate I want to take a paternity test.She raged, but finally agreed… as long as we live together.”His gaze slides to mine and holds.
And that’s why this entire thing is messed up.This chick islivingwith him.
He’s not a bad guy, and that makes everything so much worse.It would be easier to hate him if he were selfish and terrible, but he’s trying to do the right thing.Plus, he’s extremely hot, and if I’m being honest with myself, I’m glad he’s here.
“She doesn’t have money and says they took her daughter away because she couldn’t provide.The little girl lives with Kate’s sister and husband in Reno.Kate refuses to give me her sister’s number for some reason, but I discovered the address through a mutual friend.I’m driving up there tomorrow to hear her sister’s side of the story.I’m positive there’s something Kate’s not telling me.”
As mad as I am, I’m listening, and the one thing that keeps looping is that he called me hisgirlfriendat the start of this discussion.He meant it.In his mind, nothing has changed.“Why does she have to live with you?”
He shakes his head, and suddenly I notice the fine lines at the corners of his eyes.Dark circles mark the tender flesh below them.“She says she has nowhere to go.If this little girl is mine, I can’t do it, Cali.I can’t turn my back on them.That includes Kate.”
I squirm and shove him with all my strength.“Get off me, Jaeger.”
He rolls to the side.“Will you please listen?”
I sit up.“You’re living with your ex-girlfriend, you jerk!”
“It’s not like that!You know I’m not like that.I told you.I’m with you now.Iwantto be with you.I love you, Cali.Being away from you kills me.The only thing that has kept me sane throughout all this is thinking about getting back to you.About making all this right so that we can move on together.”
He loves me…?
“If that’s true, why did you wait so long to call me?”
“I’ve called and texted you numerous times.”I send him a pointed glare.“I should have called the day after our date.It wasn’t intentional,” he grumbles.“Have you any idea what a massive pain in the ass my ex is?Trust me when I say I’m ready to move out.I’ve been sleeping on the couch in the shop.I stay away from the house as much as possible.”
