He glanced up when she appeared and immediately put his phone down, giving her a smile that warmed her blood all over again. His hair was still slightly damp, and he’d slapped a clean bandage over the cut at his temple. A purple bruise spread from beneath the bandage almost to his eye. She’d bet that the other bruises she had discovered on his body during the night had bloomed as colorfully.

“I made coffee,” he said. “Decaf was all I could find in your cupboards, so I’m assuming you’ve cut out caffeine.”

“I have,” she said, moving to pour herself a cup. “Have you had breakfast?”

“Not yet. I thought I’d wait for you. I was going to make omelets, but I wasn’t sure if you have any special dietary requirements.”

She grimaced. “I can’t handle a heavy breakfast right now. I’ve been eating fruit and yogurt and wheat toast. I’d be happy to make something for you, though.”

He shook his head. “Coffee’s good for now.”

She carried her cup to the little table, taking the chair across from him. She should probably eat something, but she had no appetite just then. It occurred to her that this was their first real “morning after,” because she’d all but kicked him out of her hotel room before dawn the one other night they’d spent together. And while there was an awkwardness to this morning, it felt jus

t a little too right to sit at a breakfast table with Andrew. Right enough that it made a small, hidden part of her heart start to yearn for things she would be wiser to resist.

“I glanced in the spare room a few minutes ago,” Andrew commented. “I was surprised to see that with the exception of the twin bed, there’s nothing in there.”

“I just never got around to furnishing that room, because there was no real reason to do so before.” Not to mention that the credit card debts Wade had saddled her with had left her little spare money for furniture, she chose not to add. “Now that I’ll be using the room for a nursery, it’s probably a good thing I have a bare slate to start with.”

“You haven’t bought anything for the baby yet?”

“No, not yet. I was waiting until the final trimester to start shopping.”

“I’ll set up an account for you to use to order what you need online,” he said with a nod. “Or would you rather have cash to purchase locally?”

He must have seen the way she immediately tensed. He spoke quickly before she could. “Sorry, that sounded a little blunt, didn’t it? I tend to get into business mode when numbers are involved. I just want you to know, I fully intend to help support this child. No matter what happens between us in the future, you will never have to worry about my being a deadbeat dad.”

She had no doubt of that. If anything, she worried more about his being too involved, rather than the opposite—if only because she wasn’t sure how she would handle seeing him on a regular basis with her feelings for him so powerful and convoluted.

Because she didn’t want to talk about money—or the future—at that moment, she looked toward the stove. “Are you sure I can’t get you anything to eat? I have eggs, yogurt, fruit.”

He studied her for a moment, then decided to follow her conversational lead, though she supposed he knew as well as she that they were only postponing the inevitable. Again. “I’ll have something at the grill later. I want to get started on the investigation.”

When it came to that mission, he was focused and determined, she thought with a slight shake of her head. There was no derailing him now.

“To be honest, I think it was Chuck,” she told him. “But I’m not sure you’ll be able to prove it, and I seriously doubt you’ll get him to admit it.”

Andrew grunted.

“Even though you never met Chuck last year, he’s probably heard that you’re the P.I. who found the evidence to prosecute Wade. I’m sure he hates you as much as he hates me. Maybe you should stay away from him.”

“I’m not afraid of him. But I’m going to make damn sure he’s afraid of me by the time I’m done with him. If I can prove he had anything to do with the sabotage to your home, he’s going to join his worthless son in jail.”

The fury he’d shown last night was well-banked now, but she saw the anger that still simmered just beneath the civilized surface. She understood how he felt. She would like very much to get her hands on the person who had threatened her daughter, and who had put those bruises on Andrew’s face. “So what are you going to do first?”

“I’ll ask around, do some research, check a few leads,” he said vaguely. “What are your plans for today?”

“I need to update the events calendar at the resort website, post some photos on our social networking sites. We’re going to run a special offer to encourage off-season reservations, and I planned to work on that a bit more today.”

“You’ll be at your desk, then? Plenty of people around there, so you should be okay.”

“I’ll be fine.”

His eyes were dark and somber when they met hers. “You know I have to go back to Dallas tomorrow. I can probably be back here Thursday evening. Friday at the latest.”

Looking down into her barely tasted coffee, she nodded. “There’s no need for you to rush back. Take care of your responsibilities there. If it will make you feel better, I promise to be extra careful.”

“What would make me feel better is if you come with me to Dallas. I started to ask you last night, but we were interrupted by that thump on the wall, and then my fall and, um, everything.”

Tags: Gina Wilkins Bell Family Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net