The CEO's Secret Baby

by Karen Whiddon

  “Of course I do,” she answered, instantly distracted and sounding eager. “I’ve boxed it up and put it in the basement. You’re totally welcome to sort through it and move what you want to Sean’s.”

  “Sounds great. I won’t do it right now, but as soon as I can, all right?” Unfortunately, he knew he wouldn’t be able to go through his things anytime soon. Maybe after this DEA sting was all over. No, definitely after this was all over.

  To his relief, she didn’t insist he follow her to the basement and begin searching through his stuff immediately.

  “Sounds good,” Lucy said, shooting a questioning glance at Sean, who gave a slight nod.

  Tucker had to clench his teeth to keep from commenting. Sean flashed him a quizzical look as though he sensed something.

  Again he glanced at his watch. He had to get going.

  “Listen, would you like to go to Folsom Field with us?” Lucy asked, clearly struggling to fill the awkward silence. “The fireworks display starts at dusk, like always.”

  “It’ll be fun,” Sean put in, sounding anything but sincere.

  “A great way to celebrate your return,” Lucy continued.

  Staring at her, he knew he couldn’t. “I’m not sure taking an infant to a fireworks display would be wise,” he said. “You know the noise is bound to scare him. He’ll cry, and you’ll have to bring him home anyway.”

  Lucy frowned. “We were going to watch from outside the stadium, where it’s not as loud.”

  He pretended to consider the idea. “I think I’ll pass. You two have fun.”

  As her frown deepened, he realized why. Before Mexico, July 4th had been his favorite holiday. He’d never missed a fireworks display or an excuse to celebrate.

  “Things change,” he said softly. “You of all people should know that.”

  She turned away, making him realize he’d once again hurt her, without intending to.

  He pushed away the urge to comfort her. Once she thought about it, she’d realize he was right. All she had to do was look at the ring she wore on her third finger.

  One final glance at his watch showed him he was running out of time.

  “As a matter of fact,” he told Sean, keeping his expression pleasant. “I’ve intruded on you two enough for one day. You go on with your plans and I’ll catch up with you later.”

  Lucy made a strangled sound, but didn’t turn around.

  “Sounds good.” Sean nodded, looking relieved. “Do you have a cell phone?”

  “Not yet.” Grateful that he’d been given an out, Tucker smiled. “As a matter of fact, that’s one of the things I intend to rectify. McGuckin’s Hardware is open. I think I’ll head over there and pick out a new phone.”

  Still, Lucy wouldn’t look at him.

  “Let me write our numbers down,” Sean continued. “That way, once you get your phone, you can call us and give us yours.”

  Pocketing the slip of paper, Tucker again glanced at Lucy before heading toward the front door. “Catch you later,” he said to her back. She didn’t respond.

  Closing the door behind him, he made his escape.

  The walk back to Thirteenth Street took about fifteen minutes. He arrived to find the DEA man was already there.

  Driving a nondescript, navy sedan that screamed “government issue,” Finn waited from a parking spot in front of the nail salon/spa next door to the pub.

  Tucker climbed in the passenger side. Neither man spoke until they’d pulled out.

  “We’re all set up,” Finn said. “My undercover guy is already spreading a rumor that you have the money and are ready to talk.”

  “Ouch.” Tucker grimaced. “They’re going to want to capture me again.”

  “We won’t let that happen.” Finn shot Tucker a glance. “If we can nab the guys at the top of this cartel, we can shut down a bunch of the border violence and stop truckloads of drugs coming into the U.S. through New Mexico and Texas.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “For now, very little. Get settled in your new house, go shopping, and pretend to be scouting out a new location for a new business.”

  This surprised him. “New business? What do you mean?”

  “Since you can’t go back to Boulder’s Best Brew, at least right now, we’ve fabricated a story that you’re starting up something else. Doesn’t matter what, but it doesn’t have anything to do with coffee.”

  “Don’t you think we should be a bit more specific?”

  “Nah. The drug cartel is gonna realize it’s a front anyway. You’re looking for some way to launder all that money.” Made sense.

  “You guys think of everything.” Tucker couldn’t help but be glad. If the federal agents were on the ball, that meant the likelihood of the cartel nabbing him was small. He hoped. Because if things started to go south, the DEA wouldn’t like what he planned to do.

  “Yeah.” Finn spared him a tight smile. “With all the stuff that happened with your girlfriend and the guy that used to be your best friend, we’re spreading the word on the street that you want out of your partnership in your coffee business.”

  “If they know about that, then what about my son?” Tucker asked. “Can you guarantee his safety?”

  “Your son?” Finn sounded surprised. “You have a kid? That wasn’t in my briefing. How old? Where?”

  “In Boulder, with Lucy. He’s three months old.”

  “That baby is Sean’s,” Finn said firmly. “At least, as far as we’re concerned.”

  Tucker started to protest, but Finn held up a hand.

  “Sorry. Whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter, but that’s what will keep him safe. Understand?”

  Looking out the window, Tucker swallowed back a surprisingly bitter protest. Everything else had been taken from him. Better a lie than cause Eli harm.

  “I get it,” he finally said, sounding as though he didn’t care. “Works for me.”

  As long as they caught the bastards who were behind destroying his life. That’s all that really mattered.

  Chapter 4

  “He’s not coming back.” Lucy tried to keep the sorrow and fear from her voice, only half succeeding.

  “Sure he will.” Sean didn’t even sound convinced. “Why wouldn’t he?”

  “Do you really have to ask?”

  “Lucy.” Sean put his arm around her shoulder. “Stop trying to read something into nothing. He’s glad to be home.”

  “He has no home,” she protested. “He knows we can’t live together anymore, he and I. He has nowhere to live, other than with you.”

  “He’ll find a place. And he’ll definitely be back, even if just for Eli. He has a son now.”

  And he didn’t have her. They’d been so close and she’d never hidden how much she’d adored him. How could Sean not understand how much that had to hurt Tucker?

  As she struggled to form a reply, she caught a glint of something in Sean’s expression and she realized she’d misunderstood. Sean did realize, and felt jealous and threatened. He apparently found it easier to pretend no problem existed at all.

  Maybe his was the right approach. It would be kind of weird to argue with your current boyfriend about your former.

  Except there was Eli to consider. It would break what was left of her heart if Tucker refused to have anything to do with his own son.

  Once, she wouldn’t have said he was that kind of man. Now, she realized she didn’t really know him at all.

  “I think we should go ahead with our plans,” Sean said, kissing the side of her neck, making her start. “After all, it is the Fourth of July.”

  “I don’t know…” Lucy couldn’t think. Actually, the last thing she felt like doing was attending the fireworks display without Tucker.

  Then, as Sean eyed her, she realized she’d better get used to doing things without Tucker. She’d made her choice. From this point on, she’d be living the rest of her life without him.

  Amazing how that still hurt, in
a completely different yet frighteningly similar way than it had when she’d thought him dead.

  Tucker was alive, Tucker was home, and she belonged to another man. One who, she reminded herself, she also loved very much.

  Finally, she gave in and agreed to continue with the plans they’d made before Tucker’s miraculous return.

  Working side by side, they made ham sandwiches and packed them in a cooler along with the store-bought potato salad, some paper plates and plastic cutlery. Lucy added a couple of bottled waters and they were nearly ready to go.

  First, she had to slather Eli, as well as herself, with sunscreen. Sean helped get her back, then watched while she quickly packed a diaper bag.

  Because of the holiday, getting anywhere near CU meant braving crowds, both locals and tourists. Luckily, they didn’t plan on actually going inside Folsom Field. Instead, they spread their blanket on one of the grassy hills outside, along with several other families, and enjoyed their picnic. People talked and laughed, played Frisbee and strummed guitars, the fine weather and air of excitement adding to the experience while everyone waited for darkness to fall.

  In the companionable summer noise around them, Lucy managed to relax for the first time in hours. If not for the angry vibes Sean continued to radiate, she would have put her head in his lap and let herself doze off in the warm sunlight. Instead, she sat next to him on the blanket, his hip bumping hers, their shoulders occasionally touching, and wished she could think of a way to make his stiff posture relax. She knew he was still thinking about Tucker and what his return might mean to their relationship. She wished he would stop, at least for the rest of the day.

  But she didn’t know the right words to reassure him—how could she, when she didn’t know how to placate herself. This was, she thought, the first time ever that she’d been uncomfortable with Sean. Worse, she really couldn’t blame Tucker’s return for all of the tension between her and Sean. She believed she’d managed to keep her conflicting emotions about him hidden. Sean’s tightly wound demeanor was due to his own issues with the return of her former boyfriend. And those he’d have to resolve himself.

  Luckily, she had Eli to distract her. He was slightly restless, and she sang to him in a low voice, rocking and cuddling him. Attempting to keep her infant son happy kept her both from focusing on Sean’s patent misery, and her hidden worry over Tucker.

  Finally, the sun slipped behind the mountains and darkness began to descend. An air of hushed expectation fell over the crowd. Glancing at Sean, who appeared to have actually been on the verge of nodding off, Lucy looked down to see that Eli had also fallen asleep.

  Sean’s gaze followed her. He smiled.

  “He’s asleep,” she whispered, smiling back.

  Sean nodded, then whispered. “Do you think the fireworks will scare him?”

  “I don’t know.” She’d taken care to make sure Eli was exposed to all the normal sounds of everyday life, but this was louder than normal. “Hopefully not. He’s a pretty strong sleeper, but still… What do you think?”

  “He’ll wake up,” Sean said confidently. “As soon as the first one is set off, he’ll start crying. Wait and see.”

  Since he was probably right, Lucy grimaced. “If he does, we’ll have to leave.”

  “I know.”

  Finally, full darkness. The crowd went silent, waiting. First came a loud crackle from inside the stadium, then one pop after another, boom, boom, boom as a multicolored sparkle of lights filled the sky.

  People oohed and aahed and cheered. Meanwhile, Lucy watched her baby. Squirming in her arms, Eli jerked, scrunching his tiny face in preparation for a cry.

  “He’s not going to go for it,” Lucy said, attempting to soothe her son with soft sounds and light touches. Fussy, he squirmed and then finally let out a loud cry.

  “Told you.” Sean sounded smug. And annoying.

  “Let’s go. We’ve got to get out of here.” Standing, Lucy pushed away her irritation with Sean and focused on her son, trying not to panic as another round of fireworks exploded overhead. “I don’t know why I thought this was a good idea. I don’t want Eli to be traumatized.”

  “Plus his crying will ruin it for everyone else,” Sean put in, gathering up their cooler and blanket while the next set of fireworks went into the sky, detonating above them.

  While Sean had a point, Lucy was more worried about her son. “Shhhh, shhh,” she crooned, as Eli let out a second loud wail.

  “Come on, I’ll lead the way.” Sean took off, letting her and Eli bring up the rear.

  Boom, boom, a cornucopia of colors continued to unfurl in the velvet blackness of the sky. Eli continued crying in earnest. People sitting nearby began shooting them annoyed looks.

  “Sorry, sorry,” Lucy apologized, struggling to catch up with Sean, who was blazing his way back to the parking lot. This infuriated her, though she tried to suppress her anger, aware both of their emotions were fragile today.

  By the time she reached the car, he had the cooler loaded, the engine started and the back door open for her to put Eli in his car seat. She buckled her still-crying baby in, still fighting her irritation with Sean, aware that at least part of it stemmed from comparing him to Tucker.

  Tucker would never have left her, carrying a wailing infant, to pick her own way among an increasingly hostile and sometimes inebriated crowd. While she didn’t know if he would have taken Eli from her and tried to console him while carrying him high above everyone, she liked to think he would have.

  Hell, once Sean would have also. Just not today. She didn’t like that he’d taken out his frustration about Tucker on her and Eli.

  Once she had the baby secure, she climbed into the passenger side and buckled herself in. As soon as she did, Sean put the car in drive and drove away without speaking. Eli continued to wail, but soon the insulation and motion of the car turned Eli’s cries into whimpers, then hiccups, before he fell asleep.

  “Finally.” She let her breath out in a whoosh.

  “Do you want me to drive around for a while?” Sean asked, shooting Lucy a small smile.

  “Please,” she answered. Then, because her terse response had been clipped, she took a deep breath, trying to let her frustration go.

  “You’re upset with me,” Sean said, his tone conciliatory. Then, before she could answer, he reached over and awkwardly patted her shoulder.

  “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I know I didn’t help you at all back there, and I’m sorry. I just couldn’t…”

  Though she knew what he meant, that he couldn’t stop worrying about the consequences of Tucker’s return, she simply nodded without finishing his sentence as she normally would.

  Since she didn’t say anything, Sean, too, fell silent. They drove around Boulder, finally taking the Diagonal Highway into Longmont. Once there, he turned around at Main Street and headed back home, Eli still sleeping peacefully, the scary fireworks display apparently forgotten.

  Staring out the window, Tucker tried not to think of Lucy and his son, Eli, with Sean. Instead, he squinted west through the darkness, imagining the fireworks in Boulder and trying to remember how much he’d always loved them. Now, the thought of Lucy watching them with Sean’s arm around her totally negated any pleasure he might have felt at the celebration.

  Twenty minutes later, Finn turned off the Diagonal and headed east, toward an older neighborhood. They pulled up in front of a small, single-story, frame house. The landscaping was well-maintained, the wood freshly painted a pale cream. A “Sold” sign sat square in the middle of the front yard.

  “What’s this?” Tucker asked, surprised.

  “Your new house,” Finn said. “If anyone checks the paperwork, you just paid cash and the deed is in your name.”

  Impressed with the DEA’s thoroughness, Tucker got out of the car, following Finn to the front door. Once he’d unlocked the door, Finn handed him the keys. “Here you go.”

  Inside, the place had been sparsely furnished,
though it managed to feel homey. A small sofa, one chair, a coffee table and a fair-sized, off-brand flat-screen TV filled the living room.

  “Looks like a bachelor pad,” Tucker said, thinking about the apartment he used to have before he’d moved into Lucy’s house with her. His living room had been similar to this, but with one exception. He’d bought a top-of-the-line, sixty-inch plasma TV, the same one that now occupied a place of honor in Lucy’s den.

  She could keep it. Just as well. He wouldn’t have had the heart to ask her to return it.

  “Go ahead.” Finn gestured. “Check the place out. There’s new carpet and appliances. We’ve stocked the pantry and the refrigerator. I’m supposed to stay and make sure I answer any questions before I leave.”

  “What about cash? I’ll need access to my bank accounts.”

  “We’re working on that,” Finn said. “We should have your accounts unfrozen in a few days. A week tops. In the meantime, here’s a temporary credit card. It’s got a two-thousand-dollar limit, so spend it carefully. Consider it a payment for your help in this operation.”

  Tucker nodded and pocketed the credit card. “What about transportation?” he asked. “Back in Boulder, I had a Harley and a Jeep. Any chance you can find out what happened to them?”

  Pulling a small pad of paper from his pocket, Finn made a note. “I’ll check on it and get back to you. In the meantime, I was authorized to let you have my car. I can arrange for someone to pick me up.”

  “No.” Tucker told the other man. “That thing screams ‘cop’. I’ll wait and see if they can bring me my own vehicles. Otherwise, I’ll need to pick up something at a used car lot.”

  “We’ll take care of it.” Finn didn’t sound happy. “In the meantime, I hate to leave you here without a car, so are you sure you don’t want to take mine?”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “There’s an old mountain bike in the garage,” Finn said, tersely. “I guess you can make do with that for now.”

  He’d used to be an avid cyclist. Before. But then, he thought ruefully, he’d been a lot of things, before.

  “Works for me.”