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“Daniel feels the same way.” Harley reached out and put her hand on his arm, her touch burning through two layers of fabric and making his skin tingle. “I swear I won’t make a habit of this. I’ve been looking for a day care that could take him a couple days a week, but everywhere I call they’re full.” Her eyes twinkled as she added, “Apparently, a certain fertility specialist is causing a baby boom here in Royal.”
“Did you check with the Texas Cattleman’s Club day care?” he asked, fighting the urge to pull her into his arms and kiss her breathless.
When around Daniel, they kept their hands off each other and their fiery chemistry buttoned down. Usually this caused a gradual heating of their simmering passion, so that by the time they put Daniel to bed, they were wild to tear each other’s clothes off. Today, however, Harley was distracted and oblivious to his hunger.
“With everything going on with Wingate Enterprises...” She grimaced. “Let’s just say the TCC isn’t exactly the most welcoming place for my family right now.”
“Why don’t you let me take care of that.” Grant was pulling out his phone to send a text to the woman who ran the day care when he noted Harley’s hesitation. “Is something wrong?”
“The thing is,” she began, frowning as she grappled with what she had to tell him. “Not all my family know about you being Daniel’s father.”
The little Grant knew about her strained relationship with her family had come from Rose. From what his sister told him, Harley could barely stand to be in the same room with her mother and the woman had been overheard criticizing her daughter long before she had gotten herself pregnant and run off. Convinced he wanted nothing to do with such an emotional minefield, he hadn’t asked Harley why she’d chosen to stay with her best friend rather than at her family’s lavish estate where both her brothers as well as her mother lived in the massive main house and her cousins shared a spacious guesthouse.
“Don’t you think it’s time you did?” Grant asked. “After all, everyone in my family knows and I didn’t make a point of asking them to keep the news a secret. It’s only a matter of time before word gets around and it would be better if they hear about our situation from you.”
“Of course.” Harley gave a tight nod, her manner reflecting discomfort. “I just didn’t want to have to get into a big explanation about what happened five years ago...”
As she trailed off, Grant wondered if there was more to her reluctance to reveal the truth than her tense relationship with her family. Was it possible that she didn’t want their connection to come to light? Ridiculous. Yet, she hadn’t exactly pushed for them to spend any time in public. If she wanted to flaunt their connection, wouldn’t she suggest that they be seen dining together at the Texas Cattlemen’s Club or one of the popular restaurants about town?
“But you’re right,” Harley said, her gaze fixed on the far wall. “I really do need to break the news that Daniel is your son.” Her lips curved into a wry grin. “At least they won’t be all over me for making a poor choice. When they originally found out I was pregnant, I think they believed the reason I refused to name the father was because I’d gotten knocked up by someone they deemed unworthy. And that is most definitely not you.”
Her gaze lingered on him in a way that heated his blood. While part of him worried how susceptible he’d become to her charms, living in the moment was far less complicated than worrying about what might or might not happen in the future.
He hadn’t chosen Harley. Not in any careful, deliberate way he could depend on. She’d appeared in his life like a tornado, tearing through his defenses and leaving them in pieces. Even before learning that they shared a son, his reaction to her return to Royal had been raw and visceral. She monopolized his thoughts and distracted him in ways he couldn’t afford.
When they were together, he couldn’t keep his hands to himself. Even the simple act of setting his palm on her back to guide her through a room gave him great pleasure. He caught himself staring at her lips and recalling the way they yielded to his kisses. He’d started saying clever things just to hear her laugh and enjoyed her fond expression every time her gaze fell upon her son.
And when they were apart, he ached to see her again. At odd times, he found himself picking up his phone to send her a text, eager to connect with her even if it was just through a few simple words.
He reached out and caught her hand in his, craving the simple contact. Her gaze grew smoky as he stroked his thumb along the underside of her wrist and a flush invaded her cheeks.
“I thought maybe you’d kept quiet because you thought they would’ve been shocked by the difference in our ages,” he said.
“You know that never bothered me.” She tried to make light of their circumstances, but he suspected her family would have a lot to say once they learned that Harley had been involved with a man more than a decade older than her. “And it’s not like you’re old enough to be my father.” Her grin faded as she surveyed his expression. “You really can’t let our age difference go, can you?”
“No.”
Her exasperated sigh let him know just how weary she was of his unwillingness to stop dwelling on the thirteen-year gap between them. No doubt, it matched his frustration that she refused to consider the problems that could arise because of it.
“Does it ever bother you that your stubborn determination over a little thing like our age difference meant you lost over four years with your son?”
Grief welled at her question. Anger followed. Had she stayed away to punish him for what had been a completely reasonable decision on his part? Grant scoured her expression, seeing sadness rather than aggravation, and he had his answer. Still, her question had stung.
“You don’t think that it was your youth as much as our age difference that kept me from wishing to have a relationship with you?”
“Ouch.” Yet, far from being insulted by his bluntness, Harley gave a little shrug, demonstrating her willingness to consider his motivation. “I guess that’s a fair question. I just wish you’d given me a chance before kicking me to the curb. We had an awesome time together that weekend. You might have been pleasantly surprised if you’d gotten to know me better. But I guess it was a situation where the timing was off. You weren’t ready for a relationship and I needed to grow up.”
When she lapsed into silence, he wondered if she was waiting for him to jump in and declare that he was now ready for a relationship and that she’d grown up to the point where he was considering one with her. But in truth, he was more convinced than ever that the effort involved in a committed relationship wasn’t something he could sustain long-term. And he refused to give her hope.
“I’m not sure much has changed for me,” Grant said, uncertain if that were completely true.
With the amount of time they’d spent together these last few weeks, he’d begun thinking of their little trio as a unit. Both his easy rapport with Daniel as well as the sizzling sexual chemistry he shared with Harley had brought him to a place he’d never gone before.
“Why are you so resistant to seeing where things could go between us?” she asked.
“It’s not a relationship between us that I’m resisting,” he told her, wishing she’d stop tempting him to believe in something he knew couldn’t exist for him.
“It’s that I no longer imagine myself spending the rest of my life with anyone.”
