He’d also urged me to notify Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and Yale that I was declining their acceptance. We’d talked more about my love for drawing, and he’d encouraged me to give illustrating children’s books a try. He’d even gone so far as to hire contractors to build a studio for me on his property. An entire studio, just for me. I could hardly believe it.
Ethan was almost too good to be true, and there was a small part of me waiting for the other shoe to drop. Or maybe a not-so-small part, considering how worried I’d grown the last couple days about how he was acting. Every so often, he seemed distant. Like he was worried about something but didn’t want to share his concerns with me. I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he was second-guessing the decision to take me to Texas with him so quickly.
Except, it didn’t make any sense because he was the one who’d pushed for it to happen. Who’d moved heaven and earth to make sure nothing halted his plans. Who’d spent each and every night we’d been together making love to me. He’d made me feel like I was the center of his world, and those weren’t the actions of a man who wasn’t sure about having the woman in his life move in with him.
Rolling out of bed, I grabbed the pink silk robe Ethan had bought me—since he preferred me to sleep naked—off the chair. After I’d cinched the belt tight, I took a deep breath and went in search of Ethan. Since the apartment I’d shared with my mom was a mess, he’d moved us back into the Hilton but into a suite so we had extra space. Not that we needed it often, since we spent much of our time together in bed.
Moving through the doorway separating the bedroom and living area, I looked towards the work space to the left but didn’t find Ethan there. Scanning the room, my gaze finally landed on him when I hit the windows. He was standing with his back towards me, staring out, but I had a feeling he wasn’t taking in any of the amazing city view we had since he seemed pensive once again.
“Ethan?” I asked softly, half hoping he wouldn’t hear me because I was afraid I wouldn’t like what he had to say. But I forged ahead anyway, needing to know if I was going to move halfway across the country with him. So I cleared my throat and raised my voice. “We have to talk.”
“About what, baby girl?” he murmured distractedly, turning towards me and opening his arms wide.
I ran into them, feeling safer in his embrace.
“Something’s bothering you,” I mumbled against his shirt. “Don’t even try to deny it.”
I felt him sigh deeply, his chest expanding against me, and his breath ruffling my hair.
“Whatever it is, you can tell me. Please.”
His arms tightened around me. “Remember when I asked you about your dad on our first date?”
I had no idea where he was going with this, but my nose wrinkled at the reminder of a man I never wanted to think about again. “Yeah.”
“I know him.”
“You know who?”
“Your father,” he replied, confirming that I’d actually heard what I thought I’d heard the first time around.
I tried pulling out of his embrace, but he didn’t let me go far. I was only able to back away enough so I could look up into his face. “What do you mean, you know my father?”
“We’re friends,” he bit out. “Close friends.”
“What? How? But—”
Apparently my propensity to blurt things out couldn’t withstand the shock of his announcement. I had no idea what to say.
“He hired me ten years ago to locate your mother. And you.”
“Ten years ago? What, did he suddenly grow a conscience and wonder what happened to his daughter and the woman whose heart he broke?”
“I don’t know what your mother told you—”
“Don’t!” I cut him off. “My mother let me keep my rose colored glasses about the man who fathered me, right up until she was on her death bed. She never, not once, said anything bad about him while I was growing up. Even though she had every reason to, considering he’d planned to trick her into signing a prenuptial agreement that would allow him to take me away from her when he divorced her.”
“Fuck,” he hissed. “I don’t know what to tell you, baby girl, except that the Samuel I know would never do that. Especially not to your mother. From everything he’s told me, and all of the information I’ve managed to dig up about their relationship on my own in the course of my investigation, he was madly in love with her. So much so that it took him seventeen years to get serious with anyone else.”
“Oh, yeah? Then why did it take him eight years to start his search? If he loved her so much back then, he wouldn’t have wasted so much time.”
“He didn’t waste any time, Lilah. He had the security team at his investment firm begin the search the moment he realized she was gone. It just took him eight years to figure out how they were bungling the job, fire them all, and hire me to take over.”
I shook my head, refusing to believe what he was telling me. He had to be mistaken. It wasn’t possible. “Maybe they messed up because he didn’t really care. Or because they knew he was a bad guy and they were secretly rooting for my mother to have enough time to get away.”
He led me over to the couch and settled me on the cushions, sitting beside me with one arm stretched over my shoulders and the other stretched out so he could hold my hand.
“I don’t know what happened back then to make your mom think what she did, but I promise I’ll get to the bottom of it. For you.” He lifted my hand and placed a kiss on the palm. “And for Samuel because he deserves answers too.”
“Why do you care about what he deserves?”
“Because he’s my best friend, baby girl.”
I recoiled away from him as it dawned on me. “At my mom’s funeral, you told me you were there to pay respects for a friend because you happened to be in town. But that wasn’t true, was it? You were in town because of the funeral. Because of your search for my mom and me. Because of my stupid decision to include her real name on the obituary so she could have some peace as she left this world.”
“Yes,” he answered, and tears filled my eyes. “I came because of Samuel, but that’s not why I stayed. That was all you—the beautiful girl who took my breath away from the moment I first saw her. I planned on getting a DNA sample to confirm you were Samuel’s little girl and then staying away until the results came in, but I couldn’t do it. It was impossible to stay away from you because you’re mine.”
I thought back to the day of my mom’s funeral. “My hair. It tangled in your watch, giving you the sample you needed.”
“Yes.”
“When will you get the results?”
“I’ve had them since the day after our date. There’s no doubt about it. You’re Samuel Wentworth’s daughter.”
I jumped up and paced back and forth. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? How could you sleep with me, let me fall for you, agree to move to Texas with you—all while you were keeping this secret from me?”
Ethan stood, but didn’t approach me. Instead, he moved to stand between me and the door, as though he was blocking my exit. “I tried, Lilah. Many, many times. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. One day turned into two. Two days into a week. Before I knew it, we were only days away from me taking you home and I didn’t know how to get the words out without hurting you.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I cried. “What to think. Who to believe.”
“Me,” he rasped. “Believe me when I tell you I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy. Come to Texas with me. Be mine, like you already are.”
“It’s not that simple.” It couldn’t be, could it?
“When it comes to you and me, it’s exactly that simple, Lilah. We’re a team, you and I. Maybe even a team of three if you’re already carrying my baby.”
“You really expect me to follow you to Texas? To live with you. To meet the man who knocked my mom up and scared her off… while I may very well be pregnant with your child? With his best friend’s child?
Sure. Why not? I’m sure nothing can go wrong with that plan.” Sarcasm was thick in my tone, but Ethan didn’t seem to care. He rushed towards me and wrapped me up in his arms.
“Samuel’s not like that. Once he gets used to the idea of the two of us being together, he’ll be happy for us.” He paused to kiss my forehead and drop a hand to my belly. “After he tries to kick my ass, of course.”
“Oh, no,” I gasped. “No way. You want me to meet my father? The only way that’s going to happen is if we keep our relationship a secret for a while. I’m not ready to face two battles at once. Not yet.”
“Fuck no,” he growled. “I refuse to hide what you are to me. Mine.”
“Well, then. I guess you should have told me all of this sooner. Maybe I would have had time to come to terms with it. But you didn’t, so you’re going to have to suck it up and do this my way, ‘cause it’s the only way it’ll happen at all.”
Chapter Seven
Ethan
I glanced over at Lilah as we waited for a car to pick us up at the Dallas airport. She’d been quiet since our talk the other night. Too quiet. I missed her chatter and the cute way she blurted out all of her thoughts.
I was grateful that she hadn’t pulled away from me, but I wanted her smile back, the spark of life inside that I fell for the first time I met her. There was a lot to process and she was nervous. I’d called Samuel the day before we left and finally given him the news that Bonnie had passed away and I was returning with the daughter he’d always wanted but never had the chance to know.
It took great restraint on my part not to let any of my feelings for Lilah bleed through my words. Keeping our relationship from him was not going to be easy, especially when I wanted to let the whole world know she was mine. I would have fought Lilah harder about it, but ultimately decided to go along for a little while. Samuel deserved some time with her, and I wasn’t anxious to test our friendship.
I was fucking his little girl, doing my best to put my baby in her, and would be taking her away from him when I put my ring on her finger. It was not a conversation I was looking forward to.
A black Escalade pulled up to the curb in front of us and parked. The driver alighted from the car and came around to greet us. He started loading our bags as I opened the door and helped Lilah climb into the back seat before following behind her. She scooted to the far side and stared out the window, her fingers twisting together in her lap.
The driver returned to his seat and pulled out onto the road. I slipped an arm around her waist and hauled her over to my side. Lifting her chin, I stared down at her intensely. “Do you trust me, baby girl?” I asked quietly.
Her quick nod of agreement filled me with satisfaction, and I rewarded her with a swift but hard kiss. “I would never put you in a harmful situation. I protect what’s mine, and you”—I placed my hand over her flat stomach—“and the little one I’m doing my damndest to put in here, are mine.” Lilah blushed prettily and laid her head on my shoulder.
I had wanted to take Lilah home first, but she’d insisted that she wouldn’t be able to relax until after the initial meeting with her father was done. I almost put my foot down but I was worried about her stress level, especially if she was already pregnant. She’d already been more tired than usual from all the worry and anxiousness. So, we were going straight to Samuel’s house. I was immensely relieved when she quickly fell asleep on the drive. She needed to rest.
A little over an hour later, we pulled into the driveway of a large, brick house with white pillars and shutters. Samuel had built the house for Bonnie after he’d proposed, but she’d never had the chance to see it. When he got serious with Lola, he considered selling it, not wanting to make his new fiancée live in the house he’d built for another woman.
Except, Lola was everything Samuel needed and she knew that it wasn’t actually Bonnie tying him to the house. The truth was, he was afraid to move just in case his daughter ever tried to find him.
The front door opened just as the vehicle came to a halt in front of it. Samuel stepped over the threshold and stood on the top step, hands in his pockets. To anyone other than me and Lola, it would be almost impossible to recognize how nervous he was.
I looked down at Lilah, wishing I didn’t have to wake her. The windows of the car were tinted, so I kissed the top of her head and drew a fingertip down her soft cheek. “We’re here, baby girl.”
She stirred, her eyelids lifting groggily, and she looked up at me with a sweet smile. “Here?” she asked. Before I could answer, her blue pools strayed to the view outside the window and she stiffened. Then she quickly slid back across the bench seat, her hands smoothing her hair and the wrinkles in her mint green blouse.
I frowned at her retreat, but refrained from commenting, simply holding out my hand. She looked at it silently for a moment, her eyes blinking owlishly. Then she met my gaze. “We decided to keep it a secret for now, remember?” she urged. “I can’t hold your hand, he’ll know!”
I sighed. “No, you decided and I gave in. But, that’s not the issue right now. I’m simply helping you from the car, baby girl.”
“You can’t call me that either,” she hissed, slapping a hand over my mouth. My tongue darted out and licked at her palm, causing her to snatch it back. Her eyes heated and I once again hauled her over to me, my mouth slamming down over hers. She went a little boneless, sinking into the kiss, and I ravaged her lips until I felt like she’d been thoroughly claimed.
Leaning back, I smiled smugly at the sight of her pinkened, kiss-swollen lips. It took another minute for me to move while I willed my erection back down. It would be hard to explain away my hard-on.
I opened the door and hopped out, then reached in and helped her down from the car. With her feet steady on the ground, she dropped my hand like it was on fire and a low growl escaped from my throat.
Lilah scowled at me, then faced the house and took a tentative step forward. Then another. Samuel’s face lit up at her approach and he met her at the bottom step. From the tenseness in his arm muscles, I knew he was fighting the urge to pull her into his embrace. Eighteen years he’d waited, hoped, dreamed of meeting his daughter.
I was so fucking happy to give this to him and it made the wait to tell him about us worth it, though it didn’t make it any easier.
“Lilah,” he breathed, his voice filled with awe. “You’re so beautiful, sweetheart. You look just like your mother.”
Lilah flinched at his words and before I could stop myself, I was standing at her back. I didn’t touch her, but let the heat from my body give her comfort, reminding her I was there for her.
“Thank you,” she murmured awkwardly. Some of the elation on Samuel’s face dissipated and he looked between Lilah and I for a moment, his expression telling me nothing. Finally, he smiled at me with gratitude and nodded. I lifted my chin in reply but otherwise, stayed still.
“Let’s go inside and talk,” he suggested. He turned, and I put my hand softly on Lilah’s lower back as we followed him into the house. At my touch, her rigid spine relaxed a little.
We entered a room decorated with neutral tones and comfortable furniture meant to exude a laid-back atmosphere. Samuel took a seat on one of the couches and hesitantly gestured for Lilah to join him.
“Where is your ladies’ room?” she inquired, and Samuel gave her directions. After she left the room, he stood and walked over to where I was casually lounging against a wall by the door.
He stuck out one hand and I shook it as his other clasped my shoulder. “I don’t know how to thank you, Ethan. You know how long I’ve waited.” He glanced at where Lilah had disappeared and sighed. “It’s obvious that you’ve protected her like your own daughter”—my gut clenched in rejection of his summation. I didn’t see Lilah as anything but my soul mate, my soon-to-be wife and mother of my children. But, respecting her wishes, I kept quiet—“and while I’m a little jealous of the relationship you have, I’m grateful. I just hope I can build one wit
h her too.”
Voices outside the door alerted us to her return and Samuel went back to his spot on the sofa. Lilah walked in accompanied by a plump brunette in her early forties, with a wide smile and a rock the size of Texas on her left ring finger. Lola was a bright ray of sunshine in Samuel’s life, and I was certain she would be a bridge between father and daughter.
“Well now,” she said excitedly, her brown eyes sparkling. “We’ve certainly gotten lucky, Sam. She’s a keeper.”
Lilah blushed, but as I expected, Lola’s bright attitude and charismatic draw had put Lilah more at ease. “And, I’ve even convinced her to forget this rubbish plan of staying somewhere else. She’ll have the whole guest suite downstairs!”
My body went rigid at her announcement. What the fuck? Lilah wouldn’t be staying anywhere but in my fucking bed, and I’d been completely clear about it from the beginning. I’d agreed to keep our relationship a secret for a while with the condition that she tell them she was “staying with a friend.”
Lilah peeked at me through her lashes and when she clocked my no doubt thunderous expression, her eyes darted away guiltily. She rushed over and took a seat on the opposite side of the couch from her dad, keeping her back to me.
Lola launched into a conversation, drawing both Lilah and Samuel out of their shells, keeping the topics light and helping them get to know each other. All the while I stayed where I was, silently fuming.
Sometime later, Samuel looked up at me and I quickly wiped all expression from my face. “I hope you’ll stay for dinner, Ethan.”
“Absolutely,” I answered evenly, trying to hide my clenched jaw and the anger radiating from my body.
Lola smiled happily and stood. “Great! I’ll go check on it.” As she neared me, she placed a hand on my arm to gain my attention. “Would you mind grabbing Lilah’s bags from the car and take them to her room, Ethan?”
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