This isn't the man I remember. Everything about him right now ignites a fear that he isn't the man I had hoped. His tone causes my mood to shift to angry. “I’m not the only one who kept details off the island,” I say defensively.
He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Elodie, I don’t fucking care. I have a kid out there that I didn’t know about.” He points outside.
My hands find my hips. I won’t tolerate his mood, even if he has every right to be shocked. “She’s nota kid. She’s Lola,” I bite out.
Remorse shades his face. “You’re right.”
A deathly silence surrounds us for a good long beat or two.
“Who does she think her dad is?”
My eyes drop to the floor. Unsure if my words will help his mind that is probably chaos right now, I meet his fiery gaze. “She’s two—she doesn’t get it yet. Her world is playing, snacks, and loud cartoons. All she knows is me as her parent. The only man in her life now is Julian. My brother Sam is deployed overseas; she’s seen him just once. Her grandfather is in her life. So, to answer your question, there isn’t a story yet.”
His eyes grow. “A storyyet. Well, that’s going to fucking change.”
There’s a pit in my stomach because I'm unsure what he means, but it only makes me more determined to stay poisedin this fragile situation. Hayes walks a few steps to the floor-to-ceiling sliding doors to watch the party, and I cautiously follow him. When Savannah and Julian see us, they quickly look away and, along with Lola, cross to the other side of the party.
“I thought we were careful. Wait…” His fingers find his temples to massage. “That one time.”
We didn't just have sex once; it happened two more times.
“I got food poisoning the next day, and obviously that affected the efficiency of the pill too.”
Another long inhale finds him, and he rubs his face. “Of course it would,” he whispers. “Of course, we would be the 1%,” he says cynically.
“Don’t be mad, please.”
He looks over his shoulder. "I’m not mad at that. I’m pissed I missed my daughter’s first years. I won't shake that anger soon."
I close my eyes, feeling unfairly targeted. "Can we talk? Just not now. She’s out there."
He nods gently once while he shoves his hands into his jeans pockets. “Okay.”
I ease a little, still stuck in our standoff, emotions spinning in all directions.
Our silence doesn’t last long, though.
“Wait. Julian mentioned something about the office.”
I laugh nervously. It’s not funny—I feel disaster looming. "I work at Haven Crossroads."
Hayes rubs his jaw, growling. "You’ve got to be kidding." I wince. "First Lola, now I’m your boss? My entire world changed in ten minutes."
“What do you mean?”
“I’m the new COO that they’re announcing this week. They’ve been tight-lipped about it.”
Yep, there is that other set of nerves that fears a looming disaster.
This can’t be happening.
I couldn't care less that the man has more figures in his bank account than I can imagine. But my daughter’s father, Julian’s good friend in our social circle, working in the same building?This is effed up to epic proportions. Too many coincidences to make it even possible, yet here we are.
I take a tiny step forward, but our closer proximity feels like a bolt of lightning strikes between us. And the crazy thing is that even in our current states, it feels anything but edged. For a brief second, it comes back to me.
He helps tie the top of the bikini back into place as I sit on the edge of the bed, which is a mess of wrinkled white sheets.The feeling of his fingers feathering down my back awakens my body's sensitivity.
“To buy time, we can lie to our families and say we decided to go on some educational trip into the hills and check out a fluorescent pond.”
