Her eyes didn’t quite meet his.
The coffee arrived and Sam stared at it for a moment, knowing that one sip of that coffee was a trip to a past he had fought to forget. He took the sip. The richness of the coffee was balanced with just a hint of orange flavor. Even though he knew it was coming, he nearly choked on it. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had this.”
“Yeah.” Maya busied herself with her coffee.
“I can’t believe you serve it here,” he said, not bothering to hide his irritation.
“What? It’s a coffee shop. We serve specialty coffees.” She waved a dismissive hand, her focus on her mug. “Don’t look too hard into it.”
Sam pushed the coffee aside and leaned in toward Maya. “You know what I would like to look a little harder into?” He was close enough to whisper aggressively in her ear. “I would like to find out why I was never told you were pregnant.”
Even as he said the words, a knot formed in his stomach and an unfamiliar hardness tightened his throat. He leaned back enough to look her firmly in the eye, but remained close enough to feel the panic in her breath. “I want to know how it is you turned me away from your door that day.” He nearly growled his next words. “When youknewyou were pregnant with our child. That’s my stipulation to helping you. That, and I want to meet Samantha.”
“I’ll tell you what you want to know, but let’s not bring—” Maya stopped short and her eyes filled with alarm as footsteps announced someone behind him. Sam turned around and all the tightness in his body released. There before him was the girl who had been painting the scene on the cake.
The girl he had only seen in a photo.
“Mom,” the painter called to Maya, “since when do you go around having coffee with strange men?” She nodded at Sam, and her eyes widened as she took him in. She sighed and placed her hands on her hips in an almost maternal gesture. She turned her attention to Maya. “No matter how good-looking they are?”
Sam looked to Maya. Her eyes locked on to Sam’s. The blood had drained from her face. This was why she didn’t want him here.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MAYA
New York, 2012
MAYA’SHEARTPOUNDEDin her ears as she shifted her gaze from Sam to Samantha. They weren’t supposed to meet.They weren’t supposed to meet!
For his part, Sam looked as pale as Maya felt. Samantha opened her mouth as if to speak, but closed it again. Odd. Samantha was many things, but at a loss for words was not one of them. She couldn’t possiblyknow.
Could she?
Sam’s gaze darted from her to their daughter and back. The silence was endless. What was he doing, coming here, anyway? All dressed up in that perfectly fitting suit, wielding that dimple as if he had no idea what it did to her. The fact that he actually had no idea what it did to her made it worse. The remnants of whatever musky cologne he wore did nothing to hide that clean scent that was essentiallySam. Combine that with the coffee, and it was no wonder she’d almost hugged him, and it was all she could do to not touch him again.
The pounding did not cease, but Maya forced calm into her voice. “Samantha.” She nearly tripped over her chair as she scrambled to stand behind her daughter. “This is Mr. Hutcherson. He’s a lawyer and he’s just come by to tell me he can help us out.” Maya nudged her daughter to prompt her manners.
Samantha threw her mother an irritated look before turning to Sam. She smiled and wiped her hand on her apron before offering it to Sam in greeting, a robotic “Nice to meet you” emitting from her lips. Her daughter’s behavior was odd and surprising, but Maya’s full attention was on Sam.
He simply stared at Samantha, his eyes darting around her face, studying her. For a moment, Maya forgot why she had ever left Sam, and allowed herself to drink in his wonder and astonishment at seeing his daughter for the first time. She quickly squelched that warm and happy feeling, reminding herself that father and daughter meeting each other was not good for any of them.
A beat or two stretched between them before Sam regained himself and shook Samantha’s hand. But before he could gather himself to speak, Maya stepped in front of Samantha.
“Well, Mr. Hutcherson, thank you for stopping by.” Her own voice reminded her of the vice principal at Samantha’s school. “Feel free to call me for any details you require.”
Samantha’s glare pierced the back of Maya’s head as the silence built again.
“Yes.” This time Sam broke the silence. “Nice to meet you, Samantha.” He looked around Maya at Samantha. The way he said her name, Maya knew he wanted to say more. She turned her body, forcing him to look at her.
He lowered his head toward her, his voice soft and intimate. “I’ll be in touch regarding that other matter.” If Maya had melted into his voice in any way, his words set her straight. More than a touch of warning was directed her way.
“Anytime,” Maya said, louder than was necessary, as she guided Sam to the door. “Thanks so much for stopping in. Very kind of you.” She all but pushed him out into the street.
With Sam gone, Maya faced her daughter with a smile plastered to her face. “Well, nice of him to stop by and let us know he can help out, huh?”
She ignored Samantha’s narrowed gaze and started for the kitchen. “Yeah, it was.” Samantha followed her mother through the door to the kitchen. “I’m sure he’s a busy man. Why wouldn’t he just call?”
Maya found a hairnet and resumed work on the gum paste flowers. “How would I know? Maybe he was in the neighborhood.” She picked up her utensil and sighed. “Don’t you have a cityscape to finish?”
