Heir to Scandal (Secrets of Eden 3)

He was ever the optimist, just like his mother.

“The crew will be in here to get you all plastered up. Did you decide what color you want your cast to be?”

“Green,” Joey said. “That’s my favorite color.”

Xander met Rose’s gaze across the hospital bed and she smiled softly. She had probably been noticing the similarities between her son and her lover for years, but it was all new to him and somehow surreal. Green was Joey’s favorite color.

It was his, too.

Four

It was nearly three in the morning when Xander turned off the main highway toward her apartment complex. They’d opted to leave her car at the diner. Craig would take her to work the next day and she could get it then.

They didn’t talk much on the drive home and Rose was relieved. She was emotionally and physically exhausted. Tonight had been a night eleven years in the making and now it was done. All she wanted to do was get her baby into bed, make him comfortable, give him some pain medication and pass out herself.

Rose glanced over her shoulder at the slumped-over bundle in the backseat. Joey was out cold, as was to be expected. Between the late hour and the medication, he didn’t stand a chance. She was just happy that he could sleep, considering the heavy, uncomfortable cast on his arm. He actually looked quite peaceful. Rose had always enjoyed watching him sleep. The first night she brought him home from the hospital, she’d just sat in her rocking chair and watched him in his bassinet.

Then and now he was like an angel in a painting with peach skin and dark eyelashes against his rose-kissed cheeks. His lips were full and pouty, like hers, and they moved ever so slightly as he dreamed. He was getting older, and his cherubic face was fading into the lean features of his father, but she couldn’t help but look at him and see her baby again.

“He’s been out since we pulled onto the highway,” Xander said. “Poor guy.”

Rose smiled at her son and turned back to face the road. “He’s had a long day. I hate to wake him up to get him inside, but he’s gotten too big to carry anymore.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Xander said. “We might be able to walk him in without fully waking him up. I used to sleepwalk. All you had to do was stand me up and guide the way. By the way...does your brother live near you?”

“No,” Rose said. “He has a house in Litchfield.”

“Well, then is there any particular reason why your brother is following us to your place? It’s a little late to preserve your honor.”

“What?” Rose turned again, this time to look at the truck following behind them. It was Craig, all right. His truck was jacked up on big wheels and one headlight was fading out. “That’s odd. He didn’t mention coming back with us. He should’ve turned off onto 63 a couple miles back.”

Xander made a thoughtful humming sound but didn’t respond. Instead he listened intently as Rose gave him the last bit of instructions to lead him to her building. He pulled into a vacant spot and her brother’s truck rolled into the one beside them.

Rose and Xander climbed out of his SUV, meeting Craig as he opened the back door of the Lexus. “You didn’t have to come all the way back with us. I know it’s late and you have to work tomorrow.”

“It’s no problem,” Craig said, giving Xander an appraising look before he reached in and scooped up Joey into his arms. Even in his sleep, Joey clung to him like a monkey and Craig brushed past them toward the apartment.

Rose noticed the slightly annoyed expression on Xander’s face. He’d been a dad officially for only a few hours now, but he seemed perturbed to lose his opportunity to fill the role. At the same time, her brother wasn’t about to step aside. He’d been Joey’s father figure since the day he was born.

She expected Xander to say something about it, but he shook it off and shut the door.

“It’s late for you, too,” she said, looking up at the handsome man who’d anticipated only a nice date with an old friend tonight. This was not at all how she’d planned this night to end, either. Things had taken a sharp left turn the moment her brother called. Part of her wished she could wind back the clock and change the way the night ended, but another part of her was relieved to have all the secrets out in the open. Well, at least the ones relevant to Xander.

He smiled and reached out to take her hand. “I don’t have to work tomorrow.”

She felt so tiny and delicate wrapped in the massive warmth of his fingers. It felt like electric sparks were dancing up her arm when their skin touched, making her tremble softly. When he lifted her knuckles to his lips, her breath moved almost as rapidly into her lungs as her heart beat in her chest. She responded even to the most simple and innocent of Xander’s gestures. She wished she didn’t. It would be easier to tell him no. That was the right thing to do. Son or no son, he would be going back to D.C. soon. If she wasn’t careful, he would leave heartbreak in his wake.