Claim My Baby

by Taryn Quinn

  “Movies are good.” She typed in her number, and then I did the same when she handed me her phone. She wasn’t letting me get away.

  Another way we were alike.

  “So nice to meet you,” she said, backing up. “I have to get back to my class. Have a good Valentine’s Day with your boyfriend!” she called, jogging off.

  And what did I do? Whip my head around to make sure we hadn’t been overheard.

  God, I needed to get a grip.

  But I didn’t stop there. After brushing off the backs of my legs more thoroughly, I walked the length of this side of the lake, past the gazebo, past the boat launch, until I was standing at the four corners opposite the bed-and-breakfast. I tucked my bare hands in the pockets of my coat and studied the splashy sign that proclaimed condos were coming, forcing myself to face the reality head-on.

  No more hiding.

  Then I crossed the street and headed into the drugstore, where I avoided entirely the home pregnancy test section—too early, not applicable, eff it, I can only face so many things in one day—and aimed straight for the Valentine’s section, already on clearance.

  Most likely, I wouldn’t have loaded up on quite so much stuff if I hadn’t been wound up from condo signs and the nearness of little sticks demanding fresh urine. I enjoyed goading Oliver under the best of circumstances, but I did realize Hamilton Realty was a place of business and probably shouldn’t have enough decorations to outfit a kindergarten class.

  More children. I had them on the brain. Look at that, there went another set of heart lights into my basket. Tiny white ones I would drape among the blooms in the copper pots I would buy at the florist.

  A text chimed, and I glanced at my phone. Ally.

  Where the heck are you? I’m getting hungry and I thought you wanted to decorate. Tastefully.

  I snorted and looked at my basket. It was overflowing with crap. Some I would take home. Some I intended to drape over and around Oliver until he yelled uncle.

  So yeah, there was a good chance my Valentine’s sex would end up leaving me high and dry.

  I sent back a brief reply.

  Be right there.

  One quick trip to the florist later, and I heaved myself and two stubby copper pots filled with my drugstore bags up the round steps to the real estate office. Ally was standing in the doorway, arms crossed.

  “Really? I said tasteful, and you buy everything?” She shuffled forward to take one of the copper pots and I batted at her hands.

  “No. Uh-uh. Baby on board. Don’t you dare.”

  You might have a baby on board too, you know. One who is like her daddy and already churning you up.

  Moving on.

  “At least let me take one of these bags.” She plucked one of the plastic bags out of the copper pots and peeked inside. “Oh my God, he’s going to kill you. And me. Both of us.”

  “Bring it,” I huffed. “I’m not scared of Oliver Hamilton.”

  I nudged past Ally—and Ally’s formidable belly—into the foyer and flashed a bright smile at Shelly, their administrative assistant. “Hi there. Love your hair. Did you get highlights?”

  “That eye of yours never misses a trick. Why, thank you. I did. Just a little blond on the auburn.” Shelly patted her do and grinned as she came around the desk to eye my purchases. She availed herself of one of my copper pots, which was handy since they weighed a ton. I set the other one beside her impeccably tidy desk. “Well, then, you’re counting on Seth to be in a good mood because of impending fatherhood, but what’s your hope with Oliver?”

  “Don’t have one. He’ll deal. We’ll just leave the pots out here since I have to run back to get the actual flowers. My hands were a little full.” I headed up the hallway with my other two plastic bags, stopping short as Mr. Hamilton senior aimed my way.

  Oh shit. I hadn’t seen him since Oliver and I had—since we were—oh God.

  “Hi, Mr. Hamilton. How are you, sir? You look well. Really well. I have to say that tie color really is nice on you. The blue matches your salt and pepper—” I broke off and gulped for air. Oh dear Lord, I was complimenting my lover’s father on his hair. I smiled weakly. “Um, you look nice.”

  Mr. Hamilton chuckled as if I wasn’t the most awkward woman in the world. He’d always been so nice to me. Unlike his sons, one in particular.

  “Why, thank you, Sage. Let me help you with those bags.” He took both of them out of my hands, ignoring my protests. “What do we have here? Oh, decorations.” I expected him to grunt and make some caustic remark ala Oliver, but he only smiled benevolently and pulled out my springy-heart headband. “I think this would be perfect for Oliver, don’t you?”

  The unexpected olive branch made me laugh as I put the headband on my own head and Ally snorted behind me. “It would take an act of God to make him wear it.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Sometimes I suspect he’s a little soft on you.”

  I stopped walking. Not just paused. Stopped as if I was rooted to the floor. “No way.”

  He nodded, still walking toward the offices as if he hadn’t realized I’d gotten stuck in a giant puddle of metaphorical glue. “A man knows his son. His bark is way worse than his bite.” He turned and frowned at me, still standing in place with Ally nudging my shoulder. “Well, c’mon then. Let’s get this taken care of before he comes back and ruins our fun.”

  “Whoa.” Ally gripped my shoulder and whispered, “Are we in another dimension? Since when does Mr. Hamilton like decorating for anything? He barely even consents to a Christmas tree.”

  “Sounds like his son.”

  “Hey, Seth isn’t like that. He actually wanted two trees this year. One for our bedroom too.” Ally’s smile jabbed a knife in my ribs, and heck if I knew why.

  I was so happy for her. If anyone deserved true love, it was her and Seth. I was probably jealous. Probably wondering if I’d ever find that myself.

  If ever a certain other Hamilton man could—

  Nope. Aborted. Not going there. It was this dumb holiday. The day screwed with a happily swinging, single-ish lady with a hot, secret lover and made her think she wanted more.

  I didn’t. I was happy just as things were.

  “Oh, I know. I meant Oliver.” I followed Mr. Hamilton into his office and let out a laugh as I noticed he’d hung the little wooden heart dude with swinging legs off the corner of his desk. “Aww, it looks so cute there. You really don’t mind, sir?”

  “Enough with that sir nonsense. Call me James.”

  “Seriously?” Ally mumbled in my ear. “He just let me call him James a few months ago. Teacher’s pet.”

  “Oh, but I couldn’t…” I said, waving at my face with my hand. I was going to overheat.

  “You absolutely can, and you should. I think the rest of this is more fitting for my sons, however,” he added with a wink, passing the bags back to me.

  I took them in shaky hands. I didn’t even know why I was so freaked out. Mr. Hamilton had always been kind to me, and I’d known him forever. But everything was different now.

  At least I knew it was different. To him, it was same old, same old.

  “Oliver will probably toss me out.” I tried to smile.

  “If he gives you any trouble, you send him to me.” Mr. Hamilton glanced past me toward Ally. “Alison, you look peaked. Go sit down, why don’t you? Take a load off.”

  “Also new,” Ally said in an undertone as we walked up the hall to Seth’s office after saying our goodbyes to the elder Hamilton. “I was joking with Seth he must be getting laid or something, because he was never that concerned about me before.”

  “Hamilton baby bun in the oven.”

  “Hmm, that may be true for me, but why is he being so nice to you?”

  Don’t jinx me, please. I shut my eyes and nearly walked into the doorframe of Seth’s office. Wow, I was going for some clumsiness land and speed records today. “He’s always been nice.”

  “Showoff. So, what do you have in mind
?” She braced her hands on her hips and considered. “I would suggest doing the bulk of your decorating in here. Seth’s less likely to have a kitten.”

  “Oh, I know. That’s exactly why I bought so much to torture Oliver with.”

  “You do seem to enjoy that. Even more lately.”

  “What? No, I don’t. No more lately than usual.” I sorted through one of the bags, tossing twinkle lights, streamers, foil doodads, and other sundries on Seth’s desk. “How long do we have?”

  “Until they’re back from their client meeting?” Ally consulted her watch. “Maybe half an hour. Oliver has another meeting at three, and you know how he is.” She rolled her eyes. “Must be back an hour early to ‘prepare’, no matter what. Just as well though, since I’m starving. We’re still on for Mario’s, right? Please say yes.”

  “Of course. I’m going to smuggle out some of those rolls in my bag for a snack for later if they’re as good as everyone says.”

  Ally laughed.

  I rubbed my hands together. The best way to dismiss worrisome thoughts was to keep busy. And to enjoy annoying my lover. “Okay, let’s get to work. We don’t have a minute to waste.”

  12

  Oliver

  Sage’s ass was the first thing I saw as I walked into my office.

  The best part? Her skirt was wet, so the skirt clung more than usual to her generous curves.

  The worst part? She was standing on the second-to-top step of a ladder in front of my windows, stringing flashing mini red and white hearts around the frame.

  “Have you lost your bloody mind?”

  Okay, maybe that came out a bit louder than I’d expected. I also didn’t expect her to shriek, flail, lose her hold on the lights, and then pinwheel her arms as she fell backward.

  I dropped my unsecured briefcase, scattering papers everywhere, and rushed forward to catch her, nabbing her at the very last second. She wasn’t happy to be saved, however.

  “You asshat!” Bouncing hearts wobbled on the headband precariously perched on her head as she angled herself into position to try to assault me. She missed. “I could’ve been seriously hurt.”

  Shifting her weight, I eased a hip on my desk. I was in no hurry to let her go, crazy headband and all. “I’m an asshat? You’re in here hanging up stuff you know I don’t like and then you nearly fall so you can sue me for millions.”

  Her lips twitched. “You don’t have millions to sue for.”

  “Au contraire, my little muffin.”

  She snorted and wiggled against me, waking up another part of my anatomy. Her big green eyes popped even wider. “Seriously? It’s lunchtime.”

  “I already ate.” I lowered my head and took a healthy sniff of her hair. She carried the scent of the lake with her today, salty and pure. “And I could get hard for you morning, noon, and night.”

  “As you’ve proven.” She took a quick glance at the door and some of my hard-on deflated. Of course she was worrying about being discovered.

  Because we were just a big ol’ secret.

  “Is Seth out there?”

  “Making out with Ally in his office, I’m sure.”

  She sniffed. “Not everyone is a horndog on speed like you are.”

  “You like that I’m a horndog on speed. Not that I’d ever use that particular phrasing.”

  “You just did.”

  “Your logic defies explanation, as usual.” I righted her on my lap and gathered the lights she still grasped as if they were a lifeline. It was only then that I noticed the streamers. And the foil hearts. And the little plastic doohickeys dancing in my neat row of plants. “What the hell?”

  “I had a rough day.” She shrugged.

  “And that caused you to defile my office?” That would only make sense to Sage.

  “I knew it’d piss you off, and I wanted a fight.” She shrugged again, her cheeks turning pink. “It’s probably PMS. Or something else even worse,” she added in an undertone.

  “You wanted a fight. So you put up Valentine’s garbage everywhere, and then blame it on PMS.” I shook my head. “This is why my relationships last a month, max.”

  It was not the right thing to say. At all.

  She shoved at me, jerking off my lap. “You know what? I’ve probably already reached my expiration date then. So why don’t we just—”

  Panic gripped my throat and I hauled her against me. “I’m sorry. I’m an asshat.” Not a word I’d use under normal circumstances, but desperate times. I righted her headband. “I had a rough day.”

  She angled her head and her headband hearts bounced. “You aren’t allowed to turn my own words back on me after you said something mean.”

  “It was mean, and I apologize, as I said. But it’s true.” She started to bolt, but I clasped her wrist and held firm. “I don’t know how to do this. I’ve never had to before.”

  “Do what, exactly?”

  I jerked a shoulder. “Compromise, mostly. And trying to understand someone else’s feelings. I never thought about any but my own.”

  “That you would admit that is both horrifying and…horrifying.” She sighed and wrapped the lights she still held around my neck. “Death by Valentine’s hearts could get me a place in history, so watch your step, bub.”

  “If you kill me with them, then they’ll be admitted as evidence and you won’t be able to hang them up.”

  Her giggle floated over me, sweeter than the glass of wine I’d had with lunch. “Yeah, I think if I committed murder, I could probably skip the decorating afterward.”

  I picked up the strand, rubbing my thumb over one of the little lights. “These are actually sort of cute.”

  She touched my forehead with the back of her hand. “You don’t feel warm.”

  “I can direct you to somewhere else I definitely do.”

  “Did I mention horndog?” But she was smiling again, so I would probably consent to wearing these lights and nothing else for the rest of the day if only she asked.

  Luckily, that didn’t seem to be on the table.

  “Do these twinkle?”

  “Um, yes.”

  “Not regular twinkle. Like the one after another in a row.”

  She stared at me as if I was speaking Latin. “You mean chaser lights?”

  “I guess.”

  “Yes, these do that. If you’ll let me go, I’ll put them up and show you.”

  “And trust you won’t fall again? Not likely. I’ll do it.” I nudged her back and stood, tugging on the lights until she let them go.

  “Oooh, big strong competent man.” She held a hand to her chest. “You’re so incredible.”

  “That’s what you said this morning.”

  “Shh.”

  I lifted a brow as I walked around her and ascended the ladder. “Why is your ass wet?”

  She smacked at the back of her skirt. “Jeez, is it still? Yes. Ugh. I fell in some snow.”

  “Surprise, considering what happened here.”

  “I wasn’t hurt, thanks for asking. I did get asked out to dinner though.”

  I gripped the lights that much tighter as I strung them over the window frame. They were too small to stay where I wanted them to, and the wire wasn’t nearly malleable enough.

  That was probably why I was smashing it in place with the side of my fist.

  “Is that so?”

  “Mmm-hmm. Where did you go to lunch?”

  “Sherman Inn. What did you say to this dinner invitation?”

  “I said I had plans tonight, but maybe next week. We exchanged numbers. What did you have to eat?”

  It was a damn miracle I didn’t grind the tiny twinkle lights into sparkly dust. “The lobster roll.”

  “Out of season, isn’t it?”

  I draped the end of the lights over the edge of the window frame and climbed down a step, deliberately maintaining my height advantage. “You made an agreement.”

  She was sitting on the edge of my desk, her shapely legs in her soft tights cros
sed demurely at the ankle. Her lashes fluttered as she met my gaze. “Did I now?”

  “You know you did.” I stepped down the final step and braced my fists on either side of her hips on the desk. “Who is he?”

  If she said Moose, I was probably going to do something unspeakable.

  “He?” More fluttering. “Oh, the person who asked me to dinner? It’s a she.”

  I growled and she smiled up at me, grasping the lapels of my jacket. “She’s very cute though. New schoolteacher in town. Her name is Kelsey, and she wants to be friends.” She licked her lips. “It’s always good to make friends, isn’t it?”

  “You enjoy pushing my buttons, princess.”

  “Maybe. Just a little.” She tipped back her head. “I’ll tell you a little secret though. I like when you push mine too. One in particular especially.”

  “Fuck.” I lowered my head to hers. “If I kiss you here, I won’t be able to stop.”

  She didn’t move away. If anything, she inched closer. “That so?”

  “Hey, is everything okay in here? We heard a crash, but me and Seth were—” Ally fell silent, stopping in the doorway.

  Immediately, I stepped back and smoothed a hand over my tie while Sage hopped off the desk. “Sure thing, all’s fine in here.” Sage’s voice was unnaturally loud as she rushed forward to gather my papers off the floor. “Just a little accident. I seem to keep having them today. Did I tell you how I fell in the snow? But I met this really sweet woman, new in town, and she’s teaching kindergarten at the elementary school. Too bad Laurie doesn’t have her, she’s super sweet.”

  The stream of mostly sensible babble fooled no one, including my sister-in-law. But she wasn’t looking at Sage. Her attention was centered squarely on me. “Sage, can you give Oliver and me a moment alone?”

  Still collecting papers, Sage looked between us. “No. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “I do. I think it’s a great idea.” I cocked a brow at Sage’s frown, kneeling down to help her. “About time.”