Page 61 of Sterling Heat

“I’d like to stay.” His voice is gravelly and rough, like when he first woke from the alarm. “When is Adara’s next feeding?”

“At three a.m.”

He sits up straighter. “I’ll get her then.” In the NICU, Sebastian bottle fed Adara on occasion. “I have to be awake by four anyway for the bakery. You can get some extra sleep.”

See? Just when he thinks he isn’t being my personal knight in shining armor, he gleams brighter.

Chapter 19

[Sebastian]

The last thing I want to do on Sunday is tackle a family dinner. With Knox and Clay still blowing up my phone, wondering what happened to me on Friday night, and asking if Enya and the baby were okay, I just need a day off.

I was hoping to convince my brother Judd to skip dinner and take a ride with me. His secret passion is his Harley and I’d acquired one a year ago. With the weather warm and the early summer sunshine, the day is perfect for hitting the highway.

Unfortunately, Judd is committed to another dinner with Heather’s family. Honestly, I don’t know what he sees in the high maintenance woman. Judd is smarter than all of us. He deserves someone who loves him, and who he loves in return. And no one in my family is convinced my brother loves Miss January in Remington Automotive’s yearly calendar.

When I round the old house for the backyard, I stop short. “Enya?”

“Hey,” she sheepishly glances up at me from a seat at the picnic table. Her smile is weak while her eyes are bright, almost hopeful.

Was she wanting to see me? Then again, why is she here? Stone and Vale have a strict family-only policy. This was to prevent a revolving door of my brothers’ female friends. I’ve never brought a woman to meet my family.

“What are you doing here?” I swallow back the harshness of my tone. The sharpness of my question is unwarranted, especially when Enya’s face blanches.

It’s not that I don’t want her present, it’s just— I don’t know what it is. I didn’t sleep well last night, tossing and turning as my nose tickled with her lingering scent although it had been twenty-four hours since I spent the night in her bed. I purposefully stayed away last night.

But I hadn’t gotten much sleep the other night when I stayed either, although the shuteye I did get was deep. Her bed was comfortable. Or maybe it was just Enya’s nearness and the soft sounds of Adara that brought me comfort.

A quick glance at my brothers does nothing to ease my sudden tension. Clay stares at me from his seat opposite Enya at the picnic table. Knox stops short of the table, holding a beer in each hand. His brows furrow like I’m an idiot. Stone watches me from his position near the grill, eyes pinched as they often are when he looks at me.

I glance back at Enya, but she avoids looking at me. With her head lowered, she quietly answers my question, “Vale invited me.”

Hastily, she stands, bumping her knee against the underside of the wooden table and righting Adara in her arms.

Adara looks at me instead. Her eyes are open and alert while I’m not certain anything is in focus for her yet. According to what I’d read, she can only see blurry shapes and shades of black and white. Sometimes when she peers at me, like when I was feeding her a bottle the other morning, I swear she saw me. Saw me for the phony that I am. Giving me a look, like who did I think I was pretending to be a dad? Pretending to be her dad. While I was growing more attached to her every time I hold her.

I’ve missed our feeding sessions at the hospital and snuggling with her there as well.

“But I don’t need to stay.” Enya’s terse tone interrupts my stare down with Adara.

“You’re staying.” Turning at the sound of Vale’s warning, I’m met with a glare that could rival a scolding schoolteacher. Stepping up to my sister, I take the large bowl of potato chips from her hands.

“Be nice,” she mumbles, eyes shifting from me to Enya and back.

I’m not being intentionally mean, it’s just— I don’t know what I am. This woman has me all out of sorts and everywhere I turn I’m getting texts about her, and calls from her, and soft smiles and a warm night in her bed. And I want things I shouldn’t want.

Like peeling off that flowing dress she is wearing which hits just above her knees and accentuates her plump breasts. Then I want to lay her down on the picnic table and have my way with her beneath the bright sunshine.

She’s such an anomaly to me. The other night, I told her what happened to me. How my life has been, and she didn’t bat an eye.

Why was that? Why was she so easy to confide in? So accepting of my past? She didn’t give me a disgruntled flinch or a disapproving glare. She took what I told her and then asked me to stay. Hell, she even gave me an out if I didn’t want to stick around, leaving the choice in my hands because she clearly wasn’t kicking me out.

Did she want to keep me?

It was one of the stupidest questions I’ve asked myself. And I’ve done some dumb things in my life.

When I glance at Enya, she has the diaper bag hitched over one shoulder and Adara tucked against her chest. “I should go.”