The Baby Bargain

by Jennifer Apodaca

  She watched him kneel, water running over his powerful shoulders and arms while he examined her feet with tenderness. Pushing his wet, curling hair back from his face, she said, “I forgot, too. Didn’t feel them, only you.”

  His expression was stark and tormented. He turned off the water and reached for a towel. He wrapped her in it, lifted her, and sat her on the vanity. He dried her hair, then her legs and her feet. Finally, he ran the same towel over his head, mopped up most of the water dripping off him, and tossed it over the shower rod.

  He braced his hands on counter, caging her. His dark eyes locked on her. “Will you sleep with me? For a couple of hours?”

  Her heart clenched. “Yes.”

  He didn’t move.

  She could see his shoulders bunching, his jaw bulging and the veins on his neck rising. Megan put her hands on his shoulders. “Adam, it’s okay. You don’t have to talk to me.”

  His face darkened. “I…can’t. Once we moved here, I, we, didn’t speak of it. Not unless my parents were drunk. Then…” He trailed off.

  Oh God, she felt his shoulders ripple beneath her palms. His agony was pouring off him in waves of heat. “I thought it was the war. The friends you lost,” she said softly. But this was something else. Something…she didn’t know. His eyes were utterly dry, not a trace of tears, yet his gaze screamed pain. “It doesn’t matter.” She pulled him close to her, holding him. Pressing a kiss to his shoulder, she whispered, “You don’t have to tell me anything. Ever.”

  He scooped her up and took her to bed. “I can give you this,” he said as he came down over her, kissing her with more emotion than she’d ever known in her life.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Adam woke up, surprised to see daylight. Megan was still asleep, her back to his front. He’d actually slept. The night came back to him, and he lost his breath.

  Megan.

  She’d come to him in the shower. Been there when he’d thought the darkness was going to completely consume him. Slowly, he exhaled, looked down at her sleeping with her head resting on his arm. Her hair was spread out like sunshine.

  His chest grew warm, the feeling spreading through him.

  She’d seen him at his worst and hadn’t run. Yet, a voice in his mind reminded him.

  Adam liked the way she felt in his arms, liked the way he felt when he looked at her, when she laughed, when they made love. He liked watching her with Cole, the way she connected with the boy. It all did things to his chest.

  He heard a sound coming from the hallway. Carefully, he eased Meg off his arm and onto the pillow. She frowned and grumbled, but settled back to sleep.

  Another soft noise caught his attention.

  Cole stood in the doorway, holding the stuffed puppy Megan had won him last night. He was glad he’d pulled on shorts when he’d gotten up after making love to Meg to check on Cole. Now he slipped out of bed and walked to the door. “Shh, Mommy’s sleeping.”

  The little boy held up his arms.

  Adam lifted his son, amazed at his simple trust. He walked down the hall, made a quick stop to help Cole use the bathroom, and went onto the kitchen. He went through the morning ritual, letting the dogs out, making coffee, getting some juice for Cole, filling Max and Ellie’s bowls. Then he and Cole went out in the backyard and practiced kicking the ball. The dogs ran around, chasing each other, pushing the ball with their noses. Cole laughed so hard he fell on his butt…

  And Adam felt the moment hit him with a force that nearly flattened him.

  This was family.

  His family.

  This was home. Not the house, or the town, but these moments. Megan throwing the ball that dropped him into the dunk tank. Or taking him into her body with the sweetest cries of ecstasy. Cole lifting his arms for Adam to hold him. Playing ball with him in the backyard while Mommy slept. The dogs wrestling and playing, even Ellie.

  This.

  But one second later, panic seized his chest.

  Cole had nearly drowned last night. Adam had taken his eyes off the boy. Just like that it could all be gone. Vanish. And he’d be left with the haunting agony eating him.

  Megan walked out, holding two cups of steaming coffee. She had pulled on yoga pants and a T-shirt and twisted her hair up into a messy knot. She handed him a mug. “I can take over if you have other things to do.”

  He could barely find his voice. He had to say something. “Megan—”

  She shook her head. “There weren’t strings, Adam. I finally understand that I was being unfair to you. Trying to change you.” She sucked in her lips and shook her head. “The one thing I swore I would never be—a woman who tried to change a man. You gave me Cole. I will always love you for that. He’s your son. Whatever kind of relationship works for you, I will support it.” She briefly touched his arm.

  Adam blinked, shocked. Then reality set in. She’d seen him for what he was last night.

  And this time she was truly letting him go. He turned and went into the house, then into his bedroom where he looked at his phone and found a message from the real estate agent. He had an offer on his parents’ house.

  Calling his agent back, he told her to accept.

  One more tie to Raven’s Cove, and his past, severed.

  But he didn’t feel any relief.

  …

  Adam walked through the house. The buyers wanted the furniture, so all he had to do was remove any personal items.

  His old bedroom was stripped of his belongings, all his old trophies packed away. They had never been enough anyway. Nothing Adam had done erased the stain of his greatest sin. It never brought back the son his parents truly wanted.

  He thought of Meg last night, giving herself to him to ease him. Thought of all that she had done for him. With no strings. Because she cared.

  Standing there, feeling the ghosts of old tragedy and sad choices swirling around him, he realized something.

  Megan wanted him. She hadn’t asked him to change who he was at all. She’d asked him to share who he was. Was he going to make the same choice as his parents? Reject the present to keep holding onto the pain of the past?

  It stunned him to realize he had been a true coward. Oh yeah, he was physically courageous. That was easy—all he had to lose was his life. And deep down, maybe he’d thought if he died a hero’s death, then his parents would love him.

  But what he’d lacked was emotional courage. The willingness to risk his heart.

  Like this morning, when Megan told him there had been no strings to the sex. It had been easier for him to walk away than to stay and talk to her. It would have taken true courage to risk finding out if she’d seen the real him and still cared for him.

  His stomach tightened in fear. Loving Megan and Cole, being a part of their everyday lives and coming to rely on their love?

  That was scary shit. Terrifying.

  But life without them?

  Unbearably empty.

  If he wanted Meg, he had to find a way to break the silence that had been conditioned into him and talk to her.

  …

  “No, Cole, Ellie’s leg is still sore. You brush Max.” Megan guided her son’s hand back to Max sitting patiently.

  Cole pushed his tongue out as he concentrated on running the brush over Max’s coat.

  Megan smiled and pet Max. She’d gotten the Shepherd mix when she’d worked at Lawrence’s animal hospital those few months after Cole was born. He’d been dropped off by someone who found him roaming the streets on a broken leg. The dog had been about nine months old.

  No one ever claimed him, no one wanted him, and Meg had fallen in love with him. She carefully introduced Max to Cole, worrying that the dog’s rough start in life might make him unpredictable. Max, however, claimed Cole as his own. They were buddies.

  Next, Meg examined Ellie. Her coat was already looking better, and she was thriving with good food and affection. But she was submissive to the point of pure cowardice. Someone had hurt this dog, and it made M
eg’s blood boil just thinking of it. “Don’t worry, Ellie. If Adam can’t keep you, you’ll always have a home here.” Unless Megan went to jail. Or lost everything.

  Of course, her mom and Hayden would take her and Cole in, and Max and Ellie. But Megan didn’t want to do that. She closed her eyes as a wave of worry descended. She’d checked the messages at her office—five more cancellations just for Monday. Everything she had worked for was being destroyed.

  Ellie licked her hand.

  She smiled at the dog, then heard the front door open. Max stood and barked at the screen door.

  “It’s me,” Adam called out.

  Her heart leapt at the sound of his voice. Would it always be this way? Would she always love him, always want him?

  Probably.

  Max sat down again while Ellie’s tail thumped against the concrete. Adam transferred the bags he was carrying to one hand and crouched down to pet his dog. “Hey, Cole. You’re doing a good job.”

  He met her eyes, and lifted the bags he was carrying in his hands. “I, uh, picked up some groceries and got stuff to grill hamburgers if you and Cole are hungry.”

  She forced a smile. He was trying to spend time with them, working on a bond with their son. She’d meant it when she told him she’d support that in every way she could. “We’d like that.” She stood up. “We’re done, Cole. How about helping Daddy take the groceries into the kitchen while I clean up?”

  Hearing Adam’s shocked intake of breath, she turned.

  His panicked eyes cut between her and Cole. Then he took a breath, his shock turning into a full-wattage smile.

  “What?”

  His chest puffed up. “Daddy.”

  Adam’s voice was filled with awe and pride. As if, she thought with a brutal pang, she had just set their newborn son in his arms for the first time. This was what she had deprived him of with her selfish decision to not tell him about his son. She opened her mouth to tell him how sorry she was, but Cole spoke first.

  “Daddy,” the boy repeated, as he toddled over, blinking up at Adam.

  Megan watched as Adam’s eyes crinkled at the edges. Then he searched the bags, pulled out a package of hamburger buns, and handed them to Cole. “You carry those, C-Man.”

  Cole clamped the buns tightly to his little chest, smashing them while smiling and walking next to his dad. Megan busied herself with sweeping up the dog hair and getting herself under control.

  She went into the kitchen to find Cole playing on the floor with her collection of plastic containers while Adam shaped ground meat into burgers. It looked so right, like something out of her dreams. But she’d let those dreams go, she reminded herself. “I’ll cut up the lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles. Do you want onions?”

  “Sure.” Picking up the plate of prepared burgers, he put them in the refrigerator.

  Megan moved behind him, cleaning up the area he’d used for the meat. Once she was satisfied, she pulled out her cutting board and went to work.

  Adam fixed two glasses of iced tea and set one by her. “I have some information.”

  “About who is framing me?” Her mood darkened.

  Adam leaned back against the counter. “Possibly. I talked to the reporter, Hahn, who showed up when you were arrested. He refused to reveal his source, of course. But I did get out of him that he got a phone call from a ‘she,’ so we now know a woman is involved.”

  Shock froze her hand on the lid of the pickle jar she’d been trying to open. “A woman?” She had been sure it was Nathan. She tried to think. “Maybe Nathan hired someone?”

  “Maybe.” Adam took the jar from her, opened the lid easily, and handed it back to her.

  She frowned down at the jar. “You can be useful.”

  The side of his mouth quirked. “Could be the woman is the one trying to destroy you. Or she’s working with someone else.”

  She quickly sliced through a couple of pickles and put them on a plate. “Who?”

  “Meg, I’ve run background checks on your employees, and I’ve had my guys doing physical surveillance since they arrived in town.”

  She jerked her gaze up to him. “Jillian, Dara, and Trina? Jillian has been with me from the beginning.”

  “Nothing popped up that pointed to any of them, but I’d bet on one of your employees being involved.”

  The thought of betrayal made her sick. Her stomach turned. “I see them five or six days a week. I can’t believe it.”

  He put his hand on her shoulder. “It makes the most sense. Do they all have keys to your office?”

  She pulled her mouth tight. “Yes. We take turns checking on or staying with the animals we have to keep overnight, if we don’t transfer them to Lawrence’s animal hospital.”

  “Anyone else?”

  “No. I don’t…well, my mom has a key. She has gone and sat with sick animals for me. Not often, but if I’m held up or Cole’s sick…” She went stiff beneath his hand. “You don’t suspect my mom?”

  “No. But you should know I had Sienna run a standard background check on Hayden.”

  “What? He’s been good to me and my mom!” Outrage tangled with her continued feeling of sick betrayal at the thought of someone she knew, cared about, was doing this. “Hayden has treated me better than my own father. And he loves Cole.”

  Adam dropped his hand, his face hardening. “He looks clean. I don’t think he’s involved. But I’m not taking chances with you and our son. I’d investigate the sheriff herself if I thought she could be a threat to you.”

  Megan saw the hard shell that capped his emotions slide into place, but all she had to do was remember the unbearable agony on his face when he’d brought Cole, dripping wet and sobbing, to her last night to know he felt.

  Deeply.

  So he’d done what he thought was right to keep her and Cole safe. He should have talked to her first, but Megan got it. Yet he was expecting her to what? Scream at him? Tell him to get out of her house? “You’re protecting us.”

  He hesitated, looking trapped. “Yes.”

  “Okay, I get that. But next time, before you decide to invade people’s privacy and investigate them, talk to me first.” She picked up the glass of iced tea, took a sip, and said, “Hayden was patient when I was afraid to trust him. I thought…” She flushed with shame. “It was stupid. I was an adult acting like a child.”

  Adam took the glass from her, set it down, and closed his hands over her shoulders. “I get it. I saw Hayden with Cole. They have a bond, much as it pisses me off to say it. It’s real. And the man hates me on principle for leaving you pregnant.”

  “How can you know that?” And why was Adam pissed that Hayden and Cole were close?

  “Men know. He’d slug me if he didn’t think you and your mom would yell at him.” He pulled his hands from her. “I’d do the same thing in his position.”

  Meg shook her head. “That’s stupid.”

  He shrugged. “It’s a guy thing. The point is, he cares about you. Maybe he didn’t see you grow up, but you’re family to him now. So is Cole.”

  Warm pleasure rippled through her. It had taken a while, but Hayden was family now. Her pleasure dimmed as she thought of her three employees. “So you really think it’s Jillian, Dara, or Trina?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. Going back to the reporter, who else could have tipped him off so fast?”

  Damn it. That made sense. “It would also explain how easily they took Celtic Fire. She knows them all.”

  He nodded. “Meg, I need you to think. Could one of them have a real grudge against you? Want some kind of revenge?”

  She grabbed an onion from a drawer, staring at it and mulling it over. “I don’t think so. It’s not Jillian, I’m sure of that. She’s very stable in her life. I’ve watched her two dogs and sat with her while her husband had an emergency appendectomy. She’s babysat Cole. It’s not Jillian.”

  “What about Dara and Trina?”

  Megan didn’t want it to be any of them, but someone
was framing her and she had to be realistic. “I hired Dara not long after Cole was born. She’s friendly but quiet. The animals usually love her. I’ve seen her calm frightened and snarling dogs and cats.” She shrugged. “Never had any problems with her.”

  Megan sliced the onion, holding back the tears. Just onion tears, she told herself. “I hired Trina about four months ago. She helps Jillian and Dara, plus she cleans the kennels and does some back-office work. She’s very outgoing, and she’s looking into getting a technician certification like Dara. She’s good with the animals, a reliable worker. The only issue we ever had with her is Monday morning lateness or hangovers. But she’s young.” Meg picked up her iced tea and took a drink. “And since I talked to her about that, she’s showing up on time and ready to work.”

  “How did Trina take it when you talked to her about her tardiness?”

  She sighed. “Defensive posture that softened as we talked. And it never happened again.”

  “Have you noticed any difference in any of their behavior in the last few weeks?”

  Megan thought about it, then dropped her shoulders. “Since the night you walked into my office with Ellie, I’ve been distracted.” She closed her eyes, realizing the utter truth. “Selfish. I was selfish to keep Cole from you, and once you showed up, I was selfish again, only thinking about me and Cole, not paying enough attention to my employees to see if one of them was upset or angry.”

  Adam set down his glass. “Meg—”

  “No, don’t try to make this okay, Adam. I’m serious. I didn’t tell you about Cole, not because I couldn’t find you. I could have at least tried. I was afraid of rejection, pure and simple. And now this. Someone is very angry with me. I thought it was Nathan—”

  He cut off her words by taking hold of her shoulders. “It might still be Nathan. He could be paying someone in your office. Money can coax some people into betraying their friends.”

  Pain filled her throat, made it hard to get the words out. “That doesn’t make it any better. Friends don’t turn on friends for money.”

  Who was doing this to her? Why?

  “I don’t know who to trust anymore.”