Page 63 of Sterling Heat

Dismissing the thought, I hold out my hands, no longer giving Enya a choice about staying or leaving. “Give her to me.”

The spell of Enya’s gaze is broken, and she steps closer, shifting Adara into my arms. With the baby secure in one arm, I reach for the diaper bag on Enya’s elbow and hitch it over my shoulder.

“I made it awkward,” Enya mutters about the little scene we just gave my family.

“Trust me, they’re going to forgive this and forget it.” Because they’re going to love her.

When I turn around, all eyes are on me, like a firing squad, only they don’t know whether to shoot, laugh, or shit themselves. Etched in each of my family member’s faces is doubt and confusion. They can’t believe what’s before them.

Me . . . holding a baby.

However, Stone has the faintest hint of a smile. Just the corner of his mouth curling upward.

I take a deep breath and step forward with Adara as my shield.

“Looks good on you,” Stone mutters as I near him.

“What does?” I snap.

“Fatherhood.”

“I’m not—” I start but halt when Adara’s little hand swipes at my chin. She doesn’t really have the capability to reach but it still felt like a tender touch. Like she purposely wanted to draw my attention before I said something I shouldn’t.

Like I’m not her father.

When I’d really like to be.

+ + +

I’m not certain who is more of a hit with my family—Enya or Adara. For men who don’t have children, Stone, Clay, and Knox coo over the baby like she’s a princess.

Vale takes a turn, too. Nostalgia fills her eyes. “One minute she’s eight weeks old, then you blink, and eight years have passed,” Vale says, staring down at Adara in her arms.

“Mom,” Hudson whines from a hammock set up in the yard where he’s playing a handheld video game. “I’m nine.”

“Eight. Nine. Nineteen. Thirty. You’re still going to be my baby,” Vale gushes at her son.

“You’re so embarrassing,” he groans while fighting a smile. His eyes never leave the handheld screen.

Vale and Hudson are close. She’s a good mom. Without ever knowing our mother, I’m certain Violet Sylver is proud of the daughter she wanted so badly. I like to believe Vale behaves how our mother would have, had she lived to finish raising her children.

“Adara will probably feel the same way about me one day.” Enya chuckles as she addresses Hudson.

“It’s a parent’s right to embarrass their child,” Knox teases.

Stone, Clay, and I exchanged a look. Our father certainly embarrassed all of us, but his attention wasn’t the good-natured teasing that happens between Vale and Hudson. The embarrassment he offered was late night calls from the local bar and the bruises on our skin.

Needing to touch Enya after my brother’s comment, I run my hand up her spine and squeeze her nape. With Enya present, blending so easily into this afternoon with my family, I’ve taken liberties I probably shouldn’t have, but can’t seem to help. Like sitting close to her on the picnic table bench where I straddle the seat and close her in with one leg behind her backside and the other bracketing her knees.

At my touch, Enya turns her head and gives me a soft smile.

“Can we have dessert now?” Hudson whines, proving that his nine years still mark him as a child.

Vale gazes over at Hudson. “Say please. Uncle Sebastian was supposed to bring a variety of baby-Bundt cakes and—”

“Did you bring a lemon one?” Enya interjects, eyes widening with excitement as she shifts to face me. Her hands clasped together at her chest, like a child begging for a treat. She’s so fucking cute.

“Ah yes, the lemon baby-Bundt cake queen.” Clay strokes his barely-there scruff, teasingly narrowing his eyes as he examines Enya. “Care to explain how you met my brother and never told me.”