She followed his eyes around her tiny loft. If only her apartment had been the size of the store downstairs. It wasn’t. Over three-quarters of the building’s upstairs was being leased out for use as storage, Kimber’s apartment making up the diminutive difference.
“He’ll fit.”
“It’s a boy?” Mick’s eyes twinkled.
She shook her head, perplexed by everyone’s über-happy reaction to her unplanned surprise. She expected to argue and explain herself. Could be her age helping with the free pass. She was thirty-two, not sixteen. “Too early to tell.”
He nodded. “Need help putting anything away?”
“No thanks. I kind of want to nest.” She glanced around her apartment, her mind rearranging the room. “Or something.”
Mick surprised her by standing and cupping her jaw in one hand. He tipped her chin. “This guy. Is he going to be around?”
She shrugged. She assumed Landon would be around, but in actuality had no idea. After the intense sex the other night, he’d run away like he’d been late for dinner with the president of the United States. They were supposed to talk that night, but she hadn’t wanted to wait around for him to pull himself together. And he’d been obviously frazzled. She’d left a note telling him she’d be busy the next few days, and that they’d talk soon. She hadn’t expected to go to see her mother until she’d woken the next morning needing to talk to someone. Someone who wasn’t her baby’s father.
“I’ll be here,” Mick murmured, stunning her further. “I won’t let you be alone in this, Kimber.”
“I’ll be fine.” Mick had never wanted the responsibility of… well… anything. What was he talking about?
His eyes flickered over her face, brows arched at a sympathetic bend. “You’ve always been so independent.”
She took a breath and, desperate for a subject change, reached up and plucked the clip from his hair. The strands flopped down in every direction, and she rearranged them on his head. “There. Now you look—”
Before she could pull her hand away, he lowered his lips and placed a feather-light kiss on her mouth. When he backed away, Kimber registered a man standing in her open doorway.
Landon.
In that single second in time, he’d walked in to find her hands in Mick’s hair and Mick’s mouth on hers, making one thing certain.
Landon had the worst timing imaginable.
* * *
What. The fuck.
Landon gripped the shopping bag, his fingers numb, his vision blurred by a sea of red at the sight of the guy kissing Kimber. Had to be her ex. He’d heard enough about him to know this guy had no problem eschewing basic decency.
And kissing Kimber, after Landon had made love to her days ago, was definitely indecent.
She plucked her hand from the guy’s hair and pushed him aside. But the sight of Mick’s frown didn’t make Landon feel marginally better.
“Landon,” she said. “What a surprise.” Her smile was fake. As fake as the photos in Lissa’s portfolio.
“I should have called.” Apparently.
“Yeah, you should’ve,” her ex said, taking a step toward the door.
“No.” She stayed his next step with a hand around his arm. Landon would like it if she stopped touching the tattooed, pierced dickweed altogether. “I’m glad you’re here,” she told Landon. It sounded like the truth. “Mick, why don’t you go help Neil in the store?”
“Yeah, Mick. Get to work.” He shouldn’t have, but he couldn’t help himself.
Mick met him at the door, a few paces from where Kimber was standing, and stopped short of scuffing Landon’s shoes. “Peddle your prissy ass elsewhere, millionaire. Let us common folk handle our business.”
After mentally determining he wouldn’t injure the mobile and stuffed dog inside, Landon dropped the shopping bag. He leaned in, marginally, but enough for Mick to move his chin back a fraction. “This is our business, Mick. She’s carrying my baby. You’re just a guy she used to date.”
He raised a finger, Landon presumed to poke him in the chest with it. If he did, Landon would break it. So help him, he’d snap the digit in two.
“You—”
“Enough!” Kimber shouted. Mick’s finger halted midair, centimeters from needing a splint.
Mick lowered his arm but kept his eyes trained on Landon. Landon reclaimed his bag, sidestepped Mick, and walked in. He thought about planting a deep, slow kiss on Kimber’s mouth, then remembered that Mick had just kissed her and thought better of it. His stomach pooled with disgust.