And, occasionally, an unfeeling bastard.
Why the hell had she never seen what everyone else did when they looked at him?
“I can’t afford relationships that are just for fun anymore.” That time in his life had ended when Cynthia showed up on his doorstep with Aiden in her arms.
“Or maybe you need fun in your life now more than ever.” Her fingers walked along his shirt cuff.
The smallest, least sexual touch he could imagine. Yet his temperature spiked like someone had thrown gasoline on the fire in the hearth.
Clearly, the woman he remembered with the sparkle in her eyes and the urge to live on the edge was still buried under all those gray clothes.
“Some people would point out that kind of thinking is the reason I have to buckle down now.” He nodded in the direction of the room where Aiden slept. “I’m still trying to get my feet under me after finding out I’m a father.”
Her fingers stopped their tantalizing walk. Her eyes flipped up to his.
“Lucky for us, ‘some people’ don’t ever have to know. Only you and me.”
She was propositioning him on his family room couch.
Something was wrong with this picture. But his brain had a hard time figuring out what when his heart slugged an insistent, pounding rhythm inside his chest. His hands itched to be on her, to pull her across his body and pick up where they’d left off ten years ago. He wanted to see if she still kissed the same way. If she’d still tunnel her fingers through his hair and press into him like she couldn’t get close enough.
Would she make those tiny noises in the back of her throat? Encouraging sighs when he touched her where she liked best? Remembering every detail of that last night together—when things had gotten way too hot and out of hand in his truck behind the closed pizza shop—Sam could almost convince himself it was okay to touch her again. To kiss her again.
To make her cry out his name while he helped her find release.
Except they weren’t together anymore, his brain chimed in at the last second. And she had changed gears during this sorry excuse for an interview when he’d mentioned Gabriella.
“Are you purposely trying to distract me?” His voice was so dry and hoarse he hardly recognized it.
She withdrew her touch. He felt the loss all the way to his toes, damn it.
“No, Sam.” She shook her head. “I was trying to distract myself. I have a lot of unhappy memories from that time in my life.” She crossed her legs and shifted away from him, allher body language communicating that she wouldn’t be coming on to him again. “Excuse me for thinking I could indulge in one of the pleasant ones.”
He wanted to ask her about that. Had so many follow-up questions he didn’t know where to begin. But before he could even form words, his son’s cry blistered his ears.
“Aiden’s awake.” He closed his eyes for a moment, mentally shifting gears before he headed to the nursery.
But Amy shot right off the couch. “I’ll get him.”
Chapter Seven
“WE’RE GOING TO be late for school.”
Bailey ignored Megan’s warning, her hand hovering between the hazelnut and pumpkin spice coffee carafes at the convenience store across the street from Crestwood High School. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead while a few other customers picked out doughnuts or ordered hot breakfast sandwiches to go.
They were running behind schedule this morning because Bailey had been fighting with her father. Over breakfast, she’d mentioned that she wanted to speak to her mother—to visit or arrange a call from the jail. Her father had lost his mind that she would even suggest it.
And while Bailey understood he was devastated that his wife had had an affair—and with an alleged sexual predator, of all people—the woman didn’t stop being Bailey’s mother. They had things to discuss. Or argue about. Or maybe she just wanted to yell at her mom for being so selfish. So stupid.
So hurtful.
“I’m a senior. I’ve earned the right to be tardy for a day.” Bailey put her cup under the pour spout of the hazelnut and filled it with steaming-hot java. “Besides, we have a test in calculus. I will literally fall asleep over the first problem without this.”
“You’re right.” Megan grabbed a cup for herself and tucked it under the carafe marked “Hot Water,” then dug through a basket to choose a flavored tea. “I’d better get something, too.”
While they were bringing the cups to the checkout, Bailey noticed two girls by the candy display staring and whispering behind their hands. Nothing unusual about that. She’d been the subject of everyone’s gossip since her mother went to jail. Or since her mother had been caught having an affair with the social-studies teacher’s husband.
“Get a life,” Megan snapped at them as they walked past the girls and out of the store.
