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“Wow.” Nick transferred his attention back to the wriggling bundle in his arms. “You’re growing up fast. I hadn’t even thought about braces yet.”
“Soon she’ll be dating.”
But Nick didn’t laugh. Instead, he squeezed his eyes shut. “Jeez, that idea really hurts. I don’t want to think about it.” When he cracked open one eye, he found Jennie watching him. She cooed.
It made Nick feel like the most important man in the world. Hell, he was the most important man in his daughter’s world—at least until she turned sixteen and started dating—and he wasn’t about to screw up again.
“I’ll have to lock you up,” he told her. “Vet all the boys who come visiting.”
He peeked across at Candace, but she wasn’t laughing. Instead, he was surprised by the strange expression on her face. Then she turned away and made for the pool end nearest the house and gracefully exited the water.
As he watched her pick up a white towel and dry her face, it struck Nick that Candace must be thinking about the coming years without Jennie. He would be there for their daughter. Candace would be gone. His daughter would have no mother to guide her through the minefield of teen-girl years.
Hell.
Of course he’d lean on his sister for help and, in time, Candace would have a family of her own. A husband. Babies…
Emotion flared inside him. He couldn’t imagine her with some other, faceless man. It hurt to think of her with a child other than Jennie.
The intensity of his response took him by surprise. What the hell was going on?
The answer came at once.
Nick didn’t need to watch Candace towel off those tantalizing legs to know he wanted to stroke her skin, kiss her lips, make love to her. He didn’t want some other man sharing the moments he dared not even admit to fantasizing about.
Jennie chose that moment to protest and look around, an expression of bewildered panic on her face.
“You want Mommy?” Bending his head, Nick whispered against her ear, “Me, too. But that’s our secret, ’kay? Because it’s an impossible fantasy.”
Jennie grumbled.
Nick knew exactly how the baby felt. For now he could be generous. “It’s all right, I’ll take you to her.”
With the baby in his arms, Nick waded over to the steps. When he reached the top step, Candace was waiting. Jennie almost leaped out of Nick’s arms and Candace swaddled her in the thick towel.
The bond wasn’t all on Candace’s side—Jennie was equally drawn to her biological mother.
The gold rays of the sun caught her face as she gazed at the baby in her arms, her expression content and happy. “I’d better get her some supper. She’ll be hungry after that swim.”
“Why don’t you feed her out here?” suggested Nick. “It’s such a beautiful summer evening—no point wasting it by being closeted inside.”
Candace hesitated only for a second. “Okay. I’ll take her upstairs to whip her swimsuit off and put a dry diaper on, then bring her dinner out.”
Nick watched her saunter to the glass doors, her hips swaying, the content, gurgling baby in her arms. Everything worked so well now. Yet Nick knew Candace’s time with Jennie was limited. And, for him, becoming involved with Candace was an impossible fantasy.
Because of their daughter.
Nor could Candace continue to live with them. It would only cause heartache for Jennie in the long term. The longer it lingered, the greater the hurt would be. Nick knew the situation could only end in tears.
Candace was going to have to leave. Sooner would be better for Jennie; and the woman who had him tied up in sexual knots was going to hate him even more when he suggested it.
Candace had been right, Nick realized twenty minutes later. Jennie was hungry, and it didn’t take long for the baby to devour her dinner.
Sitting across the table from Candace, with Jennie in a high chair between them as the sun’s sloping rays reflected off the mirrored surface of the water, the mood felt almost domestic.
Nick watched Jennie’s eyelids droop. He’d opened a bottle of crisp Sauvignon Blanc and poured both himself and Candace a glass, but hers was still full.
Candace followed his gaze. “She’s almost asleep.”
“Why don’t you put little madam to bed and come back and finish your wine? I’ll see what Mrs. Busby has planned for dinner.”
Nick suspected that he was playing with fire and Candace looked as though she might object. But she surprised him by saying, “A sandwich would suit me fine. I shouldn’t be long.”
Adrenaline rushed through Nick’s veins as he smiled at her. “Don’t be.”
