Dare to Hold (Dare to Love 4)

“What the hell do you know about what Luke found?” Scott asked her. Everything about Meg’s case was supposed to be his domain. Luke had no right to jump in with answers Scott had planned to give her, and he’d intended to have this conversation in the morning before the lunch meeting.

Meg merely shrugged, ignoring his sharp tone. “Luke called earlier today. He filled me in.”

“I was going to tell you everything. There just hasn’t been time.”

Dylan braced his arms on the table. “Meggie, I can’t imagine one good thing about the people who raised that asshole,” he said skeptically.

At the old nickname Dylan called her, Scott’s jaw locked in place.

“Actually, it’s not what you think,” Meg said to Dylan. “The Ashtons adopted Mike when he was a baby. I didn’t know that. He also had fetal alcohol syndrome, so there’s that component too. I suppose I can’t necessarily blame them for how Mike turned out. There’s definitely something to genetics.”

&n

bsp; She trembled as she spoke, and Scott could guess where her mind had gone. His anger fled in the face of her obvious fears. He knew for sure what she was thinking.

“Don’t think that way.” He settled his hand over hers, hoping to comfort her. “Your baby will be fine even with that bastard’s genes. He has you.” And a deep-seated longing arose inside him because he wanted to claim that position in the baby’s life too.

Shit. He was in so much trouble.

“Meg, are you okay?” Olivia asked softly.

Scott glanced her way.

Her eyes looked suspiciously damp. “Actually, I’m going to go to the ladies’ room. Excuse me.”

Scott rose as she stood and headed for the other side of the restaurant.

He lowered himself back into his seat.

“Scott, what the hell is going on?” Olivia asked.

“I’d like an answer to that too,” Dylan said.

Emilio walked over with food in his hands, and Olivia waved him away. “A few minutes, please?”

The older man nodded.

“Talk fast, big brother,” she muttered.

“Shit. Everything was fine until I told her about Leah.”

Olivia glanced at Dylan. “His ex-wife. I told you about her,” she said.

Dylan nodded. “What about her?” he asked, his tone chilly.

“It’s not about her, it’s about what she did. Before her, I didn’t want kids. When she got pregnant, I got excited. Invested. I really wanted to be a father. But she never came around, and instead of talking about it with me, she had an abortion. Just like that, everything I’d dreamed about was gone.” He snapped his fingers in the air. “Telling Meg reminded me of the pain, and I said something stupid.”

Dylan narrowed his gaze.

In for a penny, Scott thought. “I said, the whole family thing is for suckers, and happily ever after only happens in fairy tales.” He ducked his head and groaned. “I pretty much put any nail in the coffin of whatever was happening between us.”

“So explain you don’t feel that way anymore!” Olivia glanced over her shoulder, but there was no sign of Meg yet.

“What if I do?”

“Excuse me?” his sister asked, sounding appalled.

“Look, Liv,” he said, ignoring Dylan because he really couldn’t deal with the other man at the moment. “I love her, okay? What if I let myself get so involved with her and the baby and then we wrap things up with her stalker ex and she doesn’t need me anymore? She can pick up and move out, and that’s it. Everything gone again. Except this time, I don’t know if I’d get over it.”