Tears filled her eyes as she looked at him. “I have to call Lexie.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do because I have to speak to my son,” she said. There was no point hiding Nathan. She couldn’t do it.
Simon stared at her. “Your son?”
“That’s right. My son. He’s five years old, nearly six.”
He stumbled back as if he’d been hit. “He’s mine,” Simon said.
It didn’t sound like a question.
This time, Tabitha looked away, the tears she always tried to control spilling down her cheeks.
“I don’t know,” she said. “That one time the condom broke, it was so close to … what happened.”
“He could be Ryan’s?”
She sniffled. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
“You didn’t want to risk it?” Simon asked.
She looked at the man she loved more than anything. Even now as she hated him with a passion, she loved him. That was what sucked the most. She loved and hated this man. Right now, hate was stronger but she couldn’t be the reason he died. It was why she’d come to Piston County.
“I … the test to determine his paternity was too risky for me. I … I felt him move. I felt him, and I couldn’t go through with losing him. There was always a chance he was yours and I couldn’t kill a part of you.”
“You could find out the truth,” Simon said.
Tabitha wiped at the tears in her eyes. “And do what? Put him up for adoption? Give him to someone else?” She clenched her hands. “Nathan is my son. I took the test but … I never opened the results. You weren’t around. I couldn’t even get in touch with you. I talked to Anthony, Lash, my dad, Devil. None of them would help. We’d get random sightings.”
She pressed her lips together. “Regardless of who his father is, I loved him, and for me, that was all that mattered. I love him. He’s my son, and I’ve been taking care of him. I have to call Lexie.”
She stared at Simon.
His jaw clenched.
He shook his head. “No.”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” she asked.
“I’ve told you. No. My parents will take care of him.”
She picked up the nearest object, which looked like a vase. She threw it at him. The first throw didn’t make her feel any better. Picking up item after item, she kept on throwing them at him, screaming out as she did.
Simon dodged them and he came toward her. Turning on her heel, she rushed toward the door, but she didn’t get anywhere. He was a lot stronger than her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, spun her around, and pressed her up against the hard wood of the door.
She slapped him hard across the face.
He captured her hands, each one, pressing them above her head. She stared into his eyes, waiting.
Simon didn’t let her go.
“I hate you,” she said.
“And I’m still in love with you.”
“You left.”
“And now I’m back, to stay.”
She shook her head. “I don’t trust you.”
“One day, I will earn that trust right back.”
Before she could stop him, he slammed his lips down on hers. The touch was so unexpected. She hated her body’s reaction to him. He let go of her hands, his going to her back. One traveled to her ass, cupping the flesh, as the other sank into her hair, holding her in place.
She released a little moan, wrapping her arms around him.
Damn.
It had been too long and yet, not enough time.
He smelled the same, just muskier, sexier. Again, in his arms, even bigger and more muscular, he was still Simon.
His tongue stroked across her lips and she opened up to him. He sank inside, and this made her moan again, even more desperate for more of him.
He gave it to her.
Both of his hands moved down, gripping her thighs, and lifted her up. Circling his waist, she melted again, but sanity soon began to flood her.
This was Simon. Five years stood between them. Too much history.
She pulled away, breaking the kiss. “No,” she said.
Simon didn’t argue with her. “You’re mine, Tabby. You can go on pretending you’re not, but your body and your mind know who you belong to.”
Her lips were swollen. “My son needs me.”
“And our son will be taken care of.”
Her chest tightened. He’d said our son.
She hadn’t been wrong.
He saw Nathan as theirs.
As she watched him, he returned to the kitchen. “You need to eat and drink something. You’re not leaving until I’m ready.”
“You can’t keep me here. Simon, this … it was wrong of us to even think for a second that you and I could make this work.”
“Nothing has changed,” he said.
“Everything has changed.”
“Not this. Not us. We’re never going to change, Tabby. We promised each other forever.”
“Things change,” she said.
“You’re being stubborn.” He glared at her.
“And you’re being a pain in the ass,” she said. She didn’t like how easy this was. How normal it felt to be talking to him, even after all this time.