"Hey, babe, it's not your fault. So why are you here?"
"She knows about our one-night stand," Larissa blurted out.
"I wish you wouldn't call it that. I wanted to see you again."
He'd called her several times, but she'd dodged his calls. Eventually she'd moved to Atlanta with her college roommate to make sure Jake never found out their one night had consequences.
Jake hadn't been ready for fatherhood then. D&D's, the coffeehouse Jake had co-founded with his cousin Adam, had been about to go national and Jake hadn't really changed all that much since college. He was still the fun-loving, Saturday-morning-soccer-playing guy he'd always been. And she knew from bitter experience that a woman who tied a man down became a burden. She'd vowed long ago to never become a burden.
"I had my reasons for not meeting you in Cancun." She nibbled her lower lip. Just tell him.
"Our one night together isn't really that newsworthy, honey. Don't worry about that."
"Actually, it is," Larissa said.
"Why, did the reporter have pictures?" Jake asked with a bad-boy grin that brought that night back in vivid detail. It had been a steamy summer night, and in his arms she'd felt like the most beautiful woman in the world, not the plain Jane she'd always been.
"Yes, but not of us."
"Then who?" he asked, becoming exasperated.
Oh, God. "Our son."
Jake staggered back from her. "Did you say son?"
"Yes, his name is Peter, Peter Jacob, and he's three years old."
Jacob reached for the back door but it was still locked. "Unlock it."
She did and he opened the door and looked down on their sleeping son. Peter's curly hair was the same dark shade as Jake's. He reached out for Peter's head with a touch so gentle that she knew she'd made a mistake in not telling him sooner.
But the past had taught her a bitter lesson, and she'd always dreamed that her life would be sitcom perfect. Instead reality was very different. All the excuses she'd made to herself for the past three years sounded lame now and when Jake glanced up at her, she knew he'd think so, too.
"My son," he said, looking down on Peter with a wealth of emotions that she hadn't suspected Jake could feel.
* * *
His son. He still couldn't really take it in. Parenthood was an alien concept to Jake. He reached for the buckle on the car seat but couldn't figure out how to operate it. Nothing in his life had prepared him for this. He'd have to give his brother Toby a call later; he was the only expert on fatherhood he knew.
"Get him out," he said to Larissa. His hands were shaking. He was a father.
She brushed past him. Her slender body had remained unchanged over the years since they first met. Her clear blue eyes had always struck him as the most honest he'd ever looked into—until today.
Larissa put her hand on his back and leaned into the car. One of her breasts brushed against his side and arousal moved through him like lightning. He felt the heat from her hand on the small of his back burn through his shirt.
She pushed against him as she leaned into the car, balancing herself with the touch on his back. Reaching out, she ruffled Peter's hair. "Morning, sleepyhead."
"Morning, Mama," he said.
They had a bond. A bond that Jake had never wanted but now suddenly envied. Maybe this was what he'd been searching for lately. Maybe this would fill the restlessness that his work and partying couldn't.
Jake reached for his son and the boy recoiled, pulling a ragged-looking bear and a tattered blanket closer. Tucking the edge of the blanket between his lips, Peter looked at Larissa.
"It's okay, baby. Jake's a friend." Larissa turned toward him, her breath brushing across his cheek. Her mouth was fuller than he'd remembered.
"He's kind of shy around new people," Larissa said.
"The word Dad is foreign to him?" Jake asked, to remind himself that Larissa wasn't the sweet girl from his memories. She was the woman who'd had his child and kept it a secret.
"He's only three. Some things take time to remember."
"Did you have a problem remembering too?" he asked sarcastically.
Jake had always loved women. He'd never had any trouble with them. Women were meant to be protected, he knew, even though his track record on this front wasn't great. But how did you protect someone who had betrayed you?
She sighed. "If you're going to treat me the way I deserve to be treated, I'm going to take Peter home and come back by myself. To him you're a stranger who's mad at his mom."
He realized she was right. For better or worse, Peter's entire world revolved around Larissa. And making Larissa cry or angry probably wouldn't help Peter to like him. He straightened from the car and took the two steps back to the sidewalk.