Who's the Daddy (Crescent Cove 3)

It was a damn good time to take the Camaro out for a test drive.

I climbed behind the beast of a muscle car. My fingers knew the gauges and the familiar shape of the stick shift set in my palm.

Like my racing days.

The motor growled around me, reminding me of the days before I was a dad. Before Katherine had ripped open my life with the belligerent news that she was pregnant.

The day my life changed.

After that day, I no longer looked at the endless track in front of me and saw the bumper of a car as my greatest obstacle to overtake. Speed and my periphery were no longer the only things I had to worry about.

I had someone to take care of. Two someones. But Katherine had never been happy in the crappy apartment I’d scraped together my savings to afford. My money had gone into the cars, into the fees, into the training to be the best racer on the course.

It had taken time to save money for a house. But formula and diapers, doctors’ visits and prenatal classes had dented the savings train. Weston had been worth it. Even if Katherine had never quite fit me, Wes had from the moment the nurse had put him in my arms.

I downshifted into fourth and opened up the engine as I got out onto the highway. It purred and hummed for me, the growl so like the beast I’d driven all those years ago. I raced away from the dark thoughts of Katherine and all the disappointments she’d voiced nearly every day of our marriage.

Signs for a drugstore and gas station at the next exit had me downshifting and pulling off the highway. I glanced down at the gas gauge. First, I’d refill Stu’s tank.

Unfortunately, the beast of a car came with a similar tank for the gas. I winced as the dollars on the pump kept clicking higher and higher. Worth it for the few minutes of freedom.

I tipped my head up to catch the apple cider scent across the street. Even the food trucks were decked out for fall. My stomach rumbled at the fried churros and hot cider being passed around to the line of people.

It was a bright fall day with the perfect crispness to the air that reminded me of orchards and fat pumpkins. Maybe I’d take Wes to Happy Acres next weekend. It was the perfect time for all of that. Let him run off some steam in the corn maze they put together in Turnbull.

But first, I had a test to buy.

I maneuvered my way over to the drugstore with only a few grumbles and swear words. There was a reason I liked my little town. This traffic and bullshit made my pressure rise. Add in the female aisle and I was twitchy as fuck. Pads, tampons, and creams. Christ. But at the end of it were the condoms.

“Thanks, condoms,” I muttered.

And the all-important tests.

Four shelves of them.

“Jesus.” I grabbed tests from each shelf until my arms were full. How to know which ones worked the best? I didn’t want to cheap out at the worst possible time.

On the way down the back aisle, I grabbed a huge-ass water. Evidently, she’d be doing a lot of peeing.

After another dent made in my credit card, I was heading back to Crescent Cove. I could be jumping the gun, but I’d listened to my gut for most of my life. The times I hadn’t, I’d ended up spinning out on the track, or marrying a woman meaner than a half-skinned snake.

I wasn’t wrong about this.

Ignoring the tug this crazy woman had on me? Yeah, that was the part that was driving me insane. Not Kelsey. When I had her in my space, it felt more perfect than anything I had a right to feel. Add in the strings of a baby. They were as delicate as a spiderweb, but I felt them already.

Part of me wanted to hack at them with the same machete I used to try and kill the vines trying to take over my backyard. As I pulled into the land of babies and pink and blue balloons, I knew how useless it was to try.

I fisted the bag and strode into Ally and Seth’s house. I’d been here before on the nights Seth and I had hung out, so I was used to strolling in. The door had a big welcome sign on it and directions to go into the backyard for the baby shower.

Christ, I hadn’t even changed or brought the car back to the shop. I went right to her. Maybe that spiderweb idea was more of a bullseye than I’d thought.

“Fuck it,” I muttered as I pushed through the door and into paper bird land.

Already my balls were shrinking. Perfect.

Women were zooming around the kitchen. Most of the party was in the backyard where I could see through the window that even more paper birds were plunked on every table and floating from the trees.

In the center of it all was Sage Hamilton with her huge smile. People kept bringing her food and trying to get her to put her feet up.