by Teri Wilson
“Because I do.” He swallowed. I do. Wedding words. “Look at me, Eve.”
He captured her chin and tipped her face upward, so she met his gaze. “I never knew your mother, but I know you. You have more love and devotion in your heart than anyone I’ve ever known. I see it. I see you. Even when you’re trying to push me away, I see you. Our baby couldn’t ask for a better mother.”
She gave him a wobbly smile. “Our baby.”
“Yes, ours. Yours and mine.”
She closed her eyes and burrowed into him, and while his chest was still wet with her tears, she fell into a deep sleep. And still he held her, whispering reassurances into her silky hair, hoping they would somehow take root. She didn’t have to do this alone. He’d be there, too. Neither of them had had a perfect childhood, but that didn’t matter. They were two broken people, but together they were whole. So long as they helped each other, just like Olive and Bee, everything would be all right.
More than all right. It would be perfect...
If only she believed.
He wasn’t sure how long they stayed that way, wrapped around one another, before he finally drifted off. But sometime before dawn, after the heavy snow had lightened to delicate flurries that coated the city in a fine layer of sugar, a shot of arousal dragged him back to consciousness. When he opened his eyes, Evangeline was moving over him, taking him in again. He groaned, reaching to cup her full breasts, running his thumbs over their soft pink peaks.
She leaned forward to kiss him, and her hair fell around them in a shimmering gold curtain, sheltering them from the outside world. It was slow this time, gentle and easy.
Easier than it should have been in a room swollen with doubts.
Chapter Thirteen
Ryan didn’t know if Evangeline would come to him again the following night, or if she’d considered their most recent coupling another one-time thing. A moment of weakness.
The relief that coursed through him when she entered his bedroom, undressed, with her hair gathered in loose waves over one shoulder, was frightening in its intensity. It wasn’t until she’d slipped into his bed for five nights in a row that he let himself come to expect it. On the sixth night, they didn’t even go through the pretense of retiring to separate bedrooms. Olive and Bee claimed the guest bed as their own, and Ryan led Evangeline to his bed by the hand. Her lips tipped into a bashful smile as he undressed her and as always, he marveled at the sight of her ever-changing body. So beautiful in its purpose.
But their trysts were always ushered in by the violet hour and ended when the sun came up. They never spoke of the change in their relationship. At work, everything remained the same.
Which was fine.
For now.
Evangeline had promised to stay until Carlo Bocci made an appearance at Bennington 8, but the month would eventually come to a close. Until then, Ryan was certain of only two things—he wasn’t ready to give Evangeline up, and he couldn’t keep lying to Zander. It was time to confess.
The events of the past few days couldn’t have gone unnoticed. Ryan and Evangeline had bolted out of the building without providing any sort of explanation. Twice. And then there’d been the near kiss in his office, witnessed by dog-averse Elliot. Ryan had some explaining to do, and it seemed like a good idea to do it before Zander grew impatient and decided to fire them both.
Not that Zander could actually fire Ryan. He owned shares in the Bennington. Ryan served on the board of directors. They were family, and they’d always operated as a team. As CEO, Zander had never pulled rank on Ryan before.
Then again, Ryan had never even considered dating a hotel employee, much less moving in with one of them. And having a baby.
Damn.
It sounded bad. Really bad. How had he let things get so out of hand without talking to Zander? His cousin had every right to be pissed. The triple espresso Ryan had waiting on his desk as a peace offering first thing Thursday morning seemed wholly inadequate.
Zander’s gaze snagged on it the moment he crossed the threshold. He stared at the coffee, then slowly switched his attention to Ryan, sitting in one of the wingback chairs opposite his desk.
“A triple.” He arched a brow. “Things must be dire.”
“Not dire,” Ryan said. Just...big. “But I did give some thought to adding a shot of whiskey.”
“At seven in the morning? I’ll pass.” Zander set down his briefcase and downed half the espresso in a swift gulp.
He sat and leaned back in his chair. His posture may have been casual, but his stare was pure intensity. Pure Zander. “I suppose you’re here to tell me you’re sleeping with our wine director.”
If only it were that simple.
Ryan released a breath. “How long have you known?”
“I suspected as much the day she turned up for her interview. There’s no mistaking the way you look at her. I’ve known you my entire life, remember? I haven’t seen you look at a woman like that since—” Zander paused to reconsider “—ever, actually.”
“Evangeline and I met before the interview,” Ryan admitted.
Zander’s eyebrows rose. “When?”
“A couple of months ago. I didn’t expect to see her again, and then she showed up here. It was a nice surprise.” An understatement, obviously. He was going to have to be more forthcoming, but he also wanted to respect Evangeline’s privacy. Zander didn’t need a play-by-play of their entire relationship.
So now it’s an actual relationship?
He cleared his throat. “There’s more.”
Zander nodded. “I suspected as much.”
“She’s pregnant.”
Zander grinned, but didn’t seem the least bit surprised. “I wondered when you were going to get around to telling me.”
Ryan shifted in his chair. “You knew that, too?”
Clearly he and Evangeline hadn’t been as successful as they’d hoped at keeping things under wraps.
Zander let out a wry laugh. “I figured it out around the time you doused her in Côtes du Rhône. It wasn’t the subtlest of moves.”
Touché.
“Plus Allegra had an interesting conversation with your Miss Holly a few days ago. She had a feeling you two had some news to share.”
Ryan nodded.
My Miss Holly.
She wasn’t his. Not yet, anyway.
He cleared his throat. “Things between Evangeline and me are...complicated. Neither of us were expecting this.”
“But is it what you want? That’s the real question, isn’t it?” Zander leaned forward. “I never expected Allegra to come back into my life. I wasn’t ready, and neither was she. She was probably less ready. But deep down, it’s what we wanted. Ready or not.”
Zander made it sound so simple, but Ryan had been there. He’d seen the way Zander fought for Allegra. And now here they were, months later...married and happy.
A wistful ache churned in Ryan’s gut. He didn’t realize he’d grown quiet until Zander broke the loaded silence by opening and closing one of his desk drawers.
When Ryan looked up, he found Zander watching him with an expression he hadn’t seen on his cousin’s face since they were kids growing up together in the Wilde family brownstone. He’d dropped his CEO aura and was giving off a distinct big brother vibe.
“Look, cousin. There’s no easy way for me to do this, so I’m just going to come out and say it.” Zander took a deep breath. “Evangeline is great and if you two end up together, no one will be happier for you than I will. I promise you that. But I’ve been worried about you for a long time now. The whole family has.”
The ache in Ryan’s gut sharpened. Zander was going to bring up Natalie. He probably should have seen it coming. Maybe on some level, he had. Maybe that’s why he’d waited so long to tell him what was going on.
“You don�
��t need to worry about me. I’m fine,” he said through gritted teeth.
“I know.” Zander’s gaze dropped to his desk. “But after what happened with Natalie, I also know you want to be sure.”
A trickle of alarm snaked down Ryan’s spine as Zander bent to retrieve something from the opened drawer and set it on the surface of the desk between them. It was a flat white box with some sort of laboratory symbol on the side. Zander pushed it toward him, and he got a better look at the block lettering in the upper right-hand corner of the cardboard.
Noninvasive Prenatal Paternity Test.
Ryan glared at Zander. “What the hell is that?”
“A paternity test. You just said yourself that your relationship with Evangeline is complicated. You barely know one another.”
“I know enough,” Ryan said quietly.
Did believing Evangeline make him a fool? Perhaps. Zander apparently thought so.
“I care about you, man. You were a mess after Natalie’s baby was born. I just don’t want to see you go through that again.”
“I won’t,” he snapped. His mood was suddenly black enough for a fight. He and Zander hadn’t come to blows since they were twelve years old, but something about seeing that box on the table made his hands curl into fists.
Zander held up his hands. “I’ll drop it. It’s your call. Just do me a favor and take the kit in case you change your mind.”
Ryan took the box and slipped it into his pocket, out of sight. Looking at it made him feel sick. “Fine. But for the record, Evangeline is nothing like Natalie. She’s...” He was at a sudden loss for words as a series of images flashed through his consciousness—Evangeline sabering the top off a champagne bottle; grabbing him by the lapels and hauling him into her apartment so her neighbor wouldn’t spot Olive and Bee; smiling at him as she reached for him in the night.
Zander, waiting, lifted a brow.
“She’s special,” he finally said.
Zander nodded. “She’s also important to Bennington 8.”
“Yes, I’m aware. She can still do her job, if that’s what you’re worried about. Quite effectively, I might add.” She’d been pouring wine like a pro for six nights running. She knew enough about the various vintages to make recommendations without having to sample bottles. She was ready for Bocci. They all were.
“Exactly. I need to know she’s all in,” Zander said.
All in.
“She is. There’s nothing to worry about. We’ve talked about it, and she’s assured me she’s staying on until Bocci’s visit. She knows how important it is. She gave me her word. She’s all in.”
All in as far as Bennington 8, anyway. As for the rest of it, he wasn’t so sure.
* * *
Evangeline felt a little faint as she walked into the nursing home with Olive and Bee bobbing gleefully at the ends of their leashes. Pregnancy hormones. Or more likely, nerves. Tonight was her weekly pizza date with Grandpa Bob, and she’d also decided it was the night she was going to tell him about the baby.
She couldn’t keep it from him. He meant too much to her. She couldn’t lie to him if she tried. Not about something like this.
Being the supportive person he was, she knew he’d be happy for her. But she still wasn’t looking forward to the conversation, probably because it wasn’t as if she could just drop a bomb like a pregnancy on her elderly grandfather and not expect him to ask about the father.
Oh, didn’t I tell you? I broke up with the guy you hated, and now I’m having an affair with my boss.
Her face went hot.
An affair? Is that what it was?
She had no idea. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she was having a baby. It was hard enough to start thinking of herself as a mother. She couldn’t begin to think of herself as someone’s wife.
Getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we? Who said anything about marriage?
No one had. Certainly not Evangeline.
Olive and Bee twitched their noses as they trotted past the dining room. The air was already heavy with the scent of pepperoni, and Evangeline held her breath. Just in case. Her body couldn’t seem to decide if it was prone to morning sickness or not. One day, she’d feel fine and then two days later the smells coming from the kitchen at Bennington 8 would make her want to hurl. This biological ambivalence certainly didn’t improve her confidence in her mothering abilities. Even her body didn’t know what it was doing.
When she reached Grandpa Bob’s room, he was sitting in front of his television with his back to the door. His hearing wasn’t what it used to be, even with his hearing aids, so he didn’t turn around. She paused for a moment, swallowing around the lump in her throat.
He looked so frail. She couldn’t get used to the sight of the walker sitting beside his recliner or the guardrails that had been installed on either side of the bed that he’d brought with him from his apartment. Everything in the room was so familiar, but somehow managed to look different. Smaller somehow. Evangeline’s grandpa had loomed so large over her life. He’d always been the one reliable presence in a sea of confusion. The dependable one. The strong one. Now they’d switched places, and she was still struggling to live up to the task.
She bent to unclip Olive and Bee from their leashes, and they scurried over to him at once, vying for space in his lap.
He laughed. “Hello there, little ones.”
Evangeline settled onto the matching recliner—the same one where she’d curled up and done her homework as a little girl—and waited for the dogs to calm down. After five full minutes of tail wagging and excited yips, they planted themselves on either side of Granda Bob. Within seconds, they were both snoring.
“They miss you,” Evangeline said, as her heart gave a little twist. She had zero regrets about the whole eviction thing. None whatsoever.
“I miss them, too, but they certainly seem to be happy.” Grandpa Bob let out a laugh. “Not to mention well-fed.”
Evangeline cleared her throat. Ryan liked to bring home doggie bags for Olive and Bee from Bennington 8. Last night they’d dined on leg of lamb. “We should probably keep them away from the pizza.”
“Easier said than done. I speak from experience,” he said.
“I’ll guard my slice with my life.”
“That might be what it takes.” He glanced at the digital clock on top of the television. “Shall we head on down to the dining room?”
“Can we chat for a minute first? There’s something I want to talk to you about.” Her tummy gave another nervous flip.
“Sure. Is everything okay?” His brow furrowed.
Spit it out.
“Everything’s fine. It’s good news, actually. At least I hope you’ll think so.” She took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”
For a sliver of a moment, her heart seemed to stall while she waited for his reaction. But then his face split into a wide grin. “Pregnant? Really?”
She nodded. “Yes, really.”
“Of course that’s good news. It’s the best news possible.” He beamed. She hadn’t seen that kind of light in his eyes in months. Years, maybe. “I’m going to be a great-grandfather.”
“And I’m going to be a mom,” she said.
“You’ll be a wonderful mother, sweetheart. Your baby couldn’t ask for a better mom.”
“You sound just like Ryan.” The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them. She didn’t even realize her mistake until Grandpa Bob’s smile faded.
“Who’s Ryan?”
“Ryan Wilde.” She swallowed. “He’s the baby’s father.”
“So no more what’s-his-name, then.” Grandpa Bob’s eyebrows lifted.
She didn’t bother scolding him about pretending to forget Jeremy’s name. It was probably time she forgot it herself. “Nope.”
“G
ood. I never liked that guy.”
“Yes, I know. You mentioned that a time or two.” Why had she never listened? Why had she never believed her grandfather when he’d insisted she deserved better?
Because you never believed it yourself. But you do deserve better.
The words in her head sounded as if they’d been spoken by Ryan, as so many of the thoughts spinning in her consciousness had lately.
Bee stirred, and Grandpa Bob gave the dog a reassuring pat. “Tell me about Ryan. Will I like him?”
“He’s wonderful. Olive and Bee are certainly fond of him.” And so am I. She was afraid to say it out loud, though. Afraid to admit that she might be letting herself fall, when that was the last thing in the world she’d wanted. The risk to her heart was greater now than ever before.
“I trust them. You should, too. They’re excellent judges of character.” Grandpa Bob winked. “So when’s the wedding?”
And there it was.
“There isn’t going to be a wedding,” she said with a little too much force.
Her adamancy didn’t go unnoticed. The light in Grandpa Bob’s eyes dimmed, ever so slightly. His expression grew serious. “Ever?”
“Ever.” She nodded. Over her grandfather’s shoulder, she could see a few of the other residents making their way down the hall toward the dining room. They should probably get down there. Pizza night was really popular around here.
Besides, she was suddenly ready to put an end to this conversation.
“If this Ryan Wilde is so wonderful, why would you say something like that?”
“Because.” There was that darned lump in her throat again. Do not cry. The last thing she wanted was for Grandpa Bob to worry about her, because she was perfectly fine. “It’s the twenty-first century. I don’t have to get married just because I’m pregnant.”
“True.” He nodded, but something about the way he looked at her caused the lump in her throat to quadruple in size. “But why do I get the feeling that whatever century we’re in has nothing to do with your reluctance to tie the knot?”
