Don’t ask him about where he was.
“Why are you back so late?”
Damn it, Riley. He doesn’t owe you anything.
“I had a long day.”
“Dooooing?”
For the love of everything that is pink, Riley, shut up.
“Miss me?” he asks. Who is this man, and what did he do with the grump?
“Are you? Teasing me, Dominic?”
He shakes his head. “Trying and failing, apparently.”
My laugh dies in my throat when intense-as-the-night eyes meet mine.Just tell me you were with a woman so I can erase thisstupid girl next door crush I have and take my dignity back to my cabin.
“It’s really none of my business, actually, so never mind,” I say. That didn’t sound petty at all.
“There’s a new mama in town,” he says.
Oh.
He had a baby?
He’s a dad?
Images of Dom with a baby cradled to his chest invade my brain, along with an overwhelming mix of feelings—joy, excitement, jealousy.
“Congratulations! I’m sure Lilly would understand if you have to stay the night with your wife.”
He shakes his head. “Wife?”
“Or girlfriend, whatever. Your baby mama?”
He laughs.
Oh my God.
A full-blown belly laugh. It reverberates in the space, taking over my skin with bumps, my stomach with a knot, my brain short-circuiting. He’s delirious with lack of sleep; that’s what it is, because this isn’t normal.
This man doesn’t laugh. And he definitely doesn’t laugh like this.
“My…baby mama?” he says in a fit of laughter.
“Um? Yeah?”
He shakes his head. “A heifer.”
Now he’s pissing me off. “Do not call the mother of your child a heifer.” I roll my eyes. This is not even any of my business. I’m about to go inside and just deal with his ass tomorrow.
“Riley, no!” He laughs again.
I cannot with him.
“A cow delivered earlier today, so technically?—”
