Page 51

The cupcake I pull out is perfect. Absolutely perfect, I narrow my eyes at the mini cake, and hum before sinking my teeth into it. Chocolate with a decadent chocolate filling. Whipped frosting with a hint of caramel. Delicious, but…

Not the same. Kandy Baker is not the baker.

Dillon

“Thanks for letting me come see Penny tonight.” I can hear the beep of Morgan locking her car on the other end of the line. I toss my damp towel in the hamper in the corner and move into my bedroom, phone in hand.

“You don’t have to thank me for seeing your niece, Mor. Don’t be fucking weird.” I hold the phone with my shoulder so I can slide my boxers up my damp legs. Penny went to bed a little while ago after Morgan left. I’m ready to pass the fuck out myself. But Morgan sighs on the other end of the line, and I sit on the edge of my bed and prepare for a drawn-out conversation about shit I don’t want to think about.

“I’m not being weird on purpose. We’ve just never been like this with each other.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve never had a sister cheat on my best friend and a best friend cheat on my sister before, so I wasn’t really prepped for how to act.”

Morgan groans. “Come on, Dillon. I’ve told you it’s…it’s just not what you think. Okay? It’s better this way. And if I can talk to War, you should too.”

I grunt, finger-combing my wet hair back.

“I’m serious, Dillon.”

“Why are you sticking up for him right now?”

The line is quiet, and I grit my teeth when I hear her sniffle. “He could use his best friend, that’s all I’m saying.”

“If he needs me, he knows where to find me.”

I can hear the yip of Turtle, the Pomeranian her and War adopted when they first moved in together. Apparently, she got him in the breakup. “War said you came out at dinner.”

“War talks too much.”

“Ha, don’t think that’s ever been said before. So? How did it feel? Sorry I wasn’t there for it. Just, uh, didn’t think I was ready for that yet.”

The high-pitched screech of metal sliding on metal makes my head shoot over to the window. “I gotta go.”

“What? Was it that bad?”

“What? No. But I have to go. Call you tomorrow. Love you.” I pull the phone away from my ear and end the call. I glance at the baby monitor sitting on the nightstand, making sure the little on light is green. I know I’ve checked the volume, but I reach over and check it again anyway.

When I set it back down, Emery is standing in front of the window.

He’s eying the baby monitor like it’s a bomb I have just casually sitting next to my bed.

“Is Penny here?”

I swallow thickly and nod, bracing myself up with my hands on my knees. I don’t even think he notices the step back he takes, closer to the window. But I do, and my body tenses. “She’s sleeping.”

I have no goddamn clue what we’re doing here. Not a one. I’m a thirty-year-old single dad and business owner. My idea of a wild night is eating dinner in bed and watching a movie. I don’t party anymore. Don’t have time to, even if I wanted to. And if I have the time, I’m too fucking tired to consider doing anything but spending time in the home I pay an astronomical amount for every month.

Emery is twenty-three years old. He’s everything a twenty-three-year-old should be. Carefree and enjoying being young and alive. He probably still loves dancing and going out any chance he can. He’s not tied down the way I am. And he’s terrified of my daughter.

He’s also still Emerson Lee Bennet.

Baby brother of my best friend.

There is no future for us other than this.

There shouldn’t even be this.

I should let him down gently. Remind him of all the things about me that he doesn’t want anything to do with. But…