Just as you are. Same not good enough Kinleigh, pretending you’ve earned your place.
“Do you have a baby?”
I hadn’t expected that question at all. Instead of saying no, instead of saying anything at all, I let out a sound that bordered on a hiccup.
“Yes.” August somehow appeared at my side and took my elbow.
I stared up at him, as perplexed at his sudden presence and how he’d known to agree to the lie—yet another lie, at least as far as we knew at this very moment—until I noticed the man in black standing beside a limousine parked at the end of the lot. The driver’s attention was squarely centered on Percy, who couldn’t seem to decide if he wanted to focus on me or August.
Or Ivy, cradling her beautiful, now sleeping daughter with the red hair so like her own—or like mine when Ivy stepped forward and wordlessly passed the baby to me.
My eyes filled and I started to shake my head, but she pressed her lips into a fierce line as she determinedly offered up her daughter.
Ivy knew who Percy was. I’d told her the story of my ex a long time ago. Leaving out some details of course, like how deeply he’d scarred me with the way he’d dismissed and dumped me. But she knew the Maitland family. Everyone in the Cove did. They were wheelers and dealers and power brokers that even the likes of the Hamilton brothers couldn’t quite rub shoulders with—and they were one of the richest families around.
“She’s yours?” Percy frowned, his dark eyes narrowing. “And yours?” he asked August, who merely stepped closer and wrapped his arm securely around my waist. The warmth from his body made me want to burrow into him. To let him shield me from the world.
I’d never had anyone who wanted to. It had always been me against everyone else. Fighting to prove my worth and that I belonged. I’d started out as the outsider foster kid, but I’d finally made so
mething of myself.
August didn’t answer him. I didn’t either. I couldn’t. Because August was tipping my chin up with his free hand, his thumb exerting gentle pressure against the corner of my mouth. As if he was searching for the lever to get me to open up for him and let him in.
With those intent green eyes on mine, I couldn’t do anything else.
His lips were so warm and soft. He didn’t push. Didn’t demand. Just coaxed me so sweetly to accept what he offered while the baby between us let out a gurgle.
She wasn’t the only baby between us. I knew it with a certainty that had me leaning up for more, lost in his kiss and his touch and the wonder he wrapped around us like a cloak that would never ever let anything in but light and heat and promise.
“Mine,” he whispered as we reluctantly drew apart, and I knew the word was for me alone. It trembled on my tongue to give it to him in return. I couldn’t help myself. It might’ve even slipped out if Rhiannon hadn’t grabbed a fistful of my hair and tugged hard enough to make me yelp.
All at once, I remembered our audience. Ivy. Percy, who’d mercifully turned to go back to the car. I didn’t know if he’d been visiting someone in the hospital or just ambulance chasing for his law firm.
And for once, I realized I truly didn’t care. He was my past, dead and buried.
What he’d left behind and embedded in my psyche would be harder to root out and dispose of. But I was trying. Goddess, I was trying so hard.
I just needed a little more time.
“Kinleigh.” Ivy’s soft voice brought me back to the present with a thud.
She didn’t sound mad or accusatory. She was every bit as patient as her brother, at least on the surface. But her blue eyes were wounded.
I started to explain. It was all for show. She had to understand we’d kissed to kind of give the middle finger to Percy. Even if he’d long ago moved on with someone named Priscilla—yes, I’d ferreted out that fact years ago—and even if they’d bought a townhouse together—I’d also dug that up—and owned a Shiz Tsu named Sally—yeah, found that out too. It was amazing what someone with long, lonely nights could unearth online.
An easy explanation was right there.
Oh, August, aren’t you the sweetest for helping me out. Thanks, buddy, old pal. Here’s your baby back, Ivy.
Scene over.
I just couldn’t form the words. Couldn’t look at August and dismiss the significance of that kiss while what we’d made together was inside me. At that instant, I almost would’ve dared any test to prove me wrong.
But I also couldn’t declare my feelings either. Not when my emotions were hot and edgy and my faith that this would last was so shaky.
I’d never had any good role models growing up. Nor did I know how to be the sort of woman August could devote himself to. The idea of ever disappointing him was crushing.
How could I expect his trust when I didn’t even trust myself?