My Way Back to You: New York Times Bestselling Author

by Claire Contreras

  She sat across from me, on the empty couch. “Who cares? You don’t even like baseball.”

  “I respect it.”

  “You think it’s boring.” She took a sip of wine and heat spread inside me at the sight of her parted lips, the way her throat moved as she swallowed. God, I wanted her. I wanted to lick the wine from her lips and drag my way down the rest of her body. She shot me a look. “Stop looking at me like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “You know like what,” she said, glancing down the hallway. “I know what you look like when you’re turned on.”

  Fuck. And I was. So turned on. I shook the T-shirts in my hand. “Can we go back to the issue at hand?”

  “He likes the colors. He’s obsessed with blues. Those are three different hues of blue.” She shrugged and then rolled her eyes. “What are you doing here anyway? How did this even happen?”

  “What part?”

  “You coming over, folding clothes, and drinking my wine.”

  “You offered your wine. I offered to fold clothes.”

  “But why are you here?”

  “I called you. You didn’t answer.”

  Amusement lit in her eyes. Her lips moved into a slight smile. “I forgot. You chase down women who don’t call you back. How’s that working out for you?”

  “As it turns out, I seem to only chase one woman.” I searched her eyes. “I’m still working on it.”

  “Building a textiles empire, trying to get into your son’s life, and chasing this woman? However will you manage it all?”

  “I’ll gladly drop the first one if it means getting the other two.” I meant it. I could see that she didn’t completely believe me, but that was okay. I would take the time to make her believe me. She cleared her throat and set her glass on the side table. “When did you bring him? For the games,” I asked.

  “In the spring when Prim told me about the promotion. We flew over and went to a Yankees game, but Miles wanted a shirt from both teams, and then we went to the Mets game, where he wanted both teams as well.”

  I gaped at her. “That’s unacceptable.”

  She laughed. “Sam got him the Cubs shirt last Christmas.”

  Of course. Sam. I tried not to let that pierce my heart. My brother had been there for Miles and I wouldn’t let my jealousy cloud that. I hadn’t had a face-to-face conversation with him about all of this yet, but we’d spoken a few times over the phone, and I was at peace with it. I didn’t believe him when he said he didn’t know, but I was learning that moving past things and seeing the bigger picture was more important than being caught up in the little things.

  “You look tired.”

  “Thanks.” She shot me a dirty look.

  “Come here.” I set the clothes down and lifted one of her feet onto my lap and then the other. She let me, probably because she was so tired. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back as I started to massage her foot. “Did you speak to Ryan about the fabric?”

  “He said I need to get the fabrics by Monday.”

  My hands stopped moving. “It’s Thursday.”

  “Which gives you four days to get me the fabric.” She lifted her head and looked at me. “Aren’t you Mr. Go-Getter?”

  “I told you I need help getting this done.”

  “What’s the status on the meeting?”

  “I emailed that to Chloe. She’s willing to meet us this Saturday in Miami and show you the fabrics in person. It’s a weekend, but she’s limited on days.”

  “That’s fine.”

  “Why don’t we make a weekend out of it?” I suggested. Tessa’s eyes widened.

  “I just came back from a trip.”

  “That was a mental health slash work trip. That doesn’t count. I mean a quick getaway, just the two of us. We can get on the same page about Miles and celebrate your birthday.” I smiled at the look on her face. Clearly, she didn’t think I would remember. “When was the last time you took a birthday trip?”

  She laughed. “Probably never.”

  “We can go down to Miami.” I raised an eyebrow.

  “When would this trip take place? Assuming I say yes.”

  “Tomorrow. We can come back on Sunday.”

  “What?” She sat upright. “I can’t just take an impromptu trip! We have a lot of ground to cover on parenting one-oh-one.”

  “We’ll cover it on the trip. Do you want to bring Miles?”

  “You’re serious.” She blinked slowly, openly gaping at me.

  “Of course, I’m serious.”

  “I’m not taking Miles to Miami. I’d take him to Orlando, but what’s he going to do in Miami?”

  I shrugged. Hell if I knew. I’d been there once for a bachelor party and barely remembered my time there. “We can also find out if the fabrics company would be open to a meeting while we’re there.”

  “Hm.” She studied me for a long moment.

  “Your mom and Joan are still here. Freddie and Celia—”

  “Freddie’s out of town for work, but yes,” she said, knowing where I was going with this. “I’d be able to leave Miles with them for a day or two. Preferably one, though.”

  “A twenty-four-hour trip?”

  She sighed heavily. “It can be longer, but not much longer.”

  I grinned, fishing my phone out to book the trip.

  “Oh my god. I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this. All I wanted for my birthday was to get my hair and nails done and you’re over here springing this on me.”

  “How soon can you get your hair and nails done?”

  “Tomorrow morning if I don’t go to the office but the daycare isn’t open tomorrow because—”

  “I’ll watch Miles. If you let me,” I said, swallowing the lump that seemed to keep coming back. She looked startled. I waited for her to say no, to tell me I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and wouldn’t know how to handle him. Instead, she lowered her feet slowly and sat up, closer to me.

  “You’d have to be here early.”

  “I would stay the night if you’d let me.”

  “We aren’t ready for that.” Her eyes widened. “It’s too soon for Miles. I’ve never had a man . . .” She let the words hang, but I caught her drift.

  “We don’t have to share a bed. I can take the couch.”

  “You don’t have clothes here. You’d have to pack too. Don’t you need to be at work tomorrow? At what time would we leave?”

  “I’ll work from here. I’ll go home, get clothes, and come right back.” I waited, smiling when I realized I really had her. “Keep throwing around excuses. I’ll keep finding a way around them.”

  “Believe me, I know you will.” She shot me a pointed look. “Fine. Go home and come back.”

  She stood and walked into the kitchen, finishing her wine on the way over there, and then returned with a set of keys. I stood in front of her, loving the way I towered over her. Squashing the urge to pull her into my arms and kiss her, hold her, anything to have her near. She shot me a pointed look, seemingly reading my thoughts, and handed me the keys. “I want these back. You haven’t earned them. But I am way too tired to wait up for you.”

  I held her fingers between mine as I took the keys from her and leaned in. Her breath caught. I placed my forehead against hers, closed my eyes, and breathed out. She did the same.

  “Thank you.”

  “The keys are temporary,” she whispered.

  “Temporary has potential to become permanent.”

  With that, I pulled away and went home. I jogged back, hoping it would help kill the adrenaline running through me. I knew I’d have to take a nice, cold shower when I got there. And jerk off. There was no way I’d survive the night without both. I hadn’t felt this way in a long while, and a part of me welcomed it. I wasn’t broken after all. As I neared my place, I slowed my jog and glowered at the person standing by my stoop.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Waiting for you, obviously,” Camryn
said, taking a step toward me.

  “Unless you came over to tell me you signed the papers, I want nothing to do with you,” I said. “From now on, anything you need to tell me needs to be said through your lawyer. I’m not fucking kidding about that.”

  She balked. “What? You can’t just order me away like that.”

  “I just did.” I brushed past her, taking the steps quickly. She grabbed my arm.

  “Tessa’s back.” Her words made cold dread seep through me. “You aren’t the only one who knows to hire a PI in the middle of a divorce.”

  I kept my eyes on my door because I didn’t want her to know how uncomfortable this made me and I waited for her to tell me she knew about Miles. My stomach churned at the thought of a random guy with a camera following my kid around.

  “What’s your point?” I made myself sound bored.

  “My point is that if you think I’m going to sign those papers so you can run off into the sunset with her, you have another think coming,” she said. “Your mom is on my side. If you have any doubts about it, you should try calling her sometime.”

  “What the fuck does my mother have to do with this?” I yanked my arm away and turned around to cut her with my glare.

  “I’m just letting you know that I have more people on my side than you have on yours,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “I’m sure that if I call your father tomorrow I’ll have him on my side as well. And your grandmother, what will she think when she finds out you’re trying to get a divorce before the contract is up?”

  “The contract is almost up, so you can go right ahead and call the entire fucking world for all I care. This divorce is happening.”

  I turned around and this time, I unlocked my door and shut it right in her face.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Tessa

  I couldn’t remember the last time I fell into such a deep slumber, but when I woke, I was startled to see the sun was up and the clock on my nightstand said it was seven. I shot out of bed and ran out of my room to wake Miles up, stopping dead in my tracks at the sound of chatter coming from the kitchen. Miles laughed. I frowned, making my way down the hallway before stopping again at the threshold. Rowan’s back was turned toward me and Miles was sitting on one of the tall barstools, the ones I never let him sit on unless I was beside him because I feared he’d fall and hurt himself. Yes, I was that paranoid.

  “Mommy,” he said cheerfully when he spotted me and suddenly both pairs of deep blue eyes were looking in my direction. I strode over to Miles, gave him a hug, and kept him in the center of the chair. “Careful, buddy.”

  “I’m not gonna fall.”

  “You might.” I raised an eyebrow. He’d changed out of his pajamas and was wearing his favorite sweatpants and NASA T-shirt. “You dressed yourself?”

  “Rowan helped.”

  I smiled at the way he carefully pronounced his name. I looked over at Rowan, who was plating the pancakes he’d made. He walked over, set one of the plates in front of Miles, leaned in, and kissed my forehead before going back for the other plates.

  “Thank you,” I said as he set one in front of me before wrapping an arm around my waist. Goose bumps spread over my skin at the feel of his hand on me.

  “You don’t have to thank me,” he said against my hair. “I made chocolate chip. You want coffee?”

  “Yes, but I’ll eat after I shower. I’ll be quick.”

  “I was able to secure a meeting with the owner of the fabric company for tomorrow afternoon,” he said. “Our flight is tonight. All of the information is in your personal email, which I got from Chloe.”

  My mouth dropped. He winked as I ducked away from him and ran back to my room, heading straight to the en-suite bathroom, trying not to let the familiarity of our exchange in the kitchen get to me. I showered and dressed quickly, and once I was finished, I packed a bag. I didn’t want to leave Miles behind again, especially because I’d just been gone for two days, but Celia and Mom would keep him busy. What I was more concerned about was who was going to keep me too busy to think about Rowan. On that note, I picked up the phone and called my mom, explaining that I was going to Miami with Rowan for work. I left out the birthday celebration part because I knew she’d make a big deal of it.

  “With Rowan, huh?”

  “Yes.” I held my breath in anticipation. Her tone told me she would ask a million questions. “We’re leaving tonight, but I’ll be back Sunday by nine in the morning.”

  “Hm. Why the rush?”

  “Because it’s a work trip,” I said. “Celia already knows about it and said she’d watch Miles, but I wanted to let you know anyway. I’m going to go to the salon right now.”

  “Isn’t Celia in a meeting right now?”

  “She is.”

  “Who’s watching Miles while you go to the salon? Are you taking him?”

  “No.” I swallowed. “Rowan is here. He’s going to watch him.”

  “Interesting,” she said, then spoke to my grandmother. “Mom, Tessa is letting Rowan stay with Miles. Wouldn’t you say that’s interesting?”

  “Mom.”

  “What? Excuse me if pieces of the puzzle are finally coming together.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. “Mom.”

  “It’s fine, Tessa. I just don’t understand why you’d feel the need to keep that from me all this time.”

  “Because there was no point in addressing it. What good would it have done if you’d known he was Miles’s father?”

  “I would have called Mildred and Alistair and told them what a son of a bitch their son was.”

  “Rowan didn’t know.”

  She stayed quiet for a beat. “Jesus, Tessa.”

  “I know. I’m sorry I kept it from you and Freddie and Dad and Rowan and Sam, but I didn’t want anyone to know. Least of all Mildred.”

  “I understand,” she said in a soft voice. “But I’m not Mildred.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” I slumped down on the edge of the bed.

  “I forgive you,” she said after a moment. “I’ll be there in a few hours.”

  “That’s fine. Take your time. I just wanted to fill you in on the details.” I walked back into the kitchen where Rowan was loading the dishes into the dishwasher. Miles had moved from the barstool to the couch and was watching Mickey.

  “Does your father know?”

  “Not yet.”

  Rowan chose that very moment to switch off the water and close the dishwasher and turn his attention to me.

  “No and no,” I said to Mom. “I will soon.”

  “He’s coming next week.”

  My eyes widened. “Why?”

  “Your birthday,” she said in a voice that hinted she thought I may be losing my mind. I just might be. Still. The thought of having to tell my dad all of this made me break out in a sweat. “He gets here Thursday,” she added.

  “You have a week to figure out what to say,” Grandma Joan said in the background.

  “I can’t believe you have me on speaker phone.”

  “So?”

  “Mom. Are you in an Uber?”

  She paused again. “Why?”

  “Because you just told your Uber driver my entire life story. Seriously?”

  “Who cares?” Grandma added. “Edmund, is this the worst story you’ve heard?”

  “Oh my god.” I covered my face. “I’m hanging up now.” And I did. Rowan’s chuckle made me look up at him. “It isn’t funny.”

  “It’s sort of funny,” he said, walking over to me. He stood close, too close. I glanced briefly at Miles, who had his eyes set on Minnie Mouse. When I looked back up at Rowan, he had moved farther into my personal space.

  “You’re in my personal space.”

  His grin widened. “Does it bother you?”

  No. Not at all.

  “Yes.”

  “Hm. Maybe I shouldn’t kiss you then,” he whispered.

  I shook my head. “Definitely not.”

  “Yo
u sure?” He brought his hand up to my face.

  I nodded, lips slightly parting, heart hammering.

  “I really want to.” The low rasp in his voice sent a shiver down my spine. Between that and the way his eyes were piercing into mine, I felt I might lose my balance right there. He seemed to know this, because he ducked his face toward mine, put his forehead against mine, and breathed out. “I really, really want to.”

  That rasp vibrated through me once more. I opened my eyes and looked at him. “You haven’t earned that.”

  “I will.” He had a way of saying things that made me believe them and this was no different.

  The ladies at the salon did my hair and nails at the same time. It was glorious. I walked out of there with a little kick in my step and headed to the juice bar across the street. I’d put in an order for three juices—one for me, one for Rowan, and one for Miles and was waiting for my number to be called when Camryn showed up. I swore the hairs on the back of my neck stood as she neared me. I didn’t even need to fully look at her to know she was there, but I looked anyway.

  “Tessa,” she said in a cheerful voice. “What an interesting surprise! I thought you were living in Paris.”

  I forced a smile on my face. “Not anymore.” I faced the counter again, clutching the receipt in my hand, willing my number to be called.

  “Have you seen Samson or anyone?”

  “Why?” I looked over at her again. She shrugged nonchalantly, bringing her left hand up to fix her hair in a motion that made it impossible for me to miss the huge rock on her finger. She smiled.

  “Pretty right?”

  I shrugged and once again looked at the counter.

  “Ro thought it would be too big for my finger, but I’m glad he went with it,” she continued. “We’ve been having some issues lately, but nothing we won’t move past. Marriage is, like, so much work. I mean, definitely not for the weak.”

  I nodded as if I was disinterested, but she knew I was listening.

  “It would be a shame to let anyone come between us,” she said. “I mean that it would be devastating for sure. His mom is still heartbroken with everything that happened in her own marriage. She’d be so sad if Rowan and I split up.”