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“Morning.” I dipped down, kissing her forehead. “How are you feeling?”
“Grateful.” She moved on top of me, chest to chest. Her soft curves flowed over my hard body.
“Is that right?” I asked, softly touching the exposed sides of her breasts. The skin was as soft as spun silk.
“Let me show you how much.”
Maggie’s lips and tongue traced a hot path down my chest. Her fingers encircled me along with her mouth. I closed my eyes, throwing my head back against the pillow. Every cell in my body had come alive in pure fucking ecstasy.
“Best damn wake-up call ever.”
“Thank you, sir. I’m an expert at room service. Years of helping my mother at her bed-and-breakfast.” Maggie peered up my body, a vixen’s fire in her eyes.
Maggie and I showered before we left the hotel room wearing the clothes we had on last night. The desk clerk asked if we needed help with our luggage, and Maggie raised her purse to the counter and winked at the guy. The young man’s face resembled a tomato. We walked through the lobby, hand in hand, in a shared walk of shame.
My driver pulled up to the curb in a black sedan. I helped Maggie into the car.
“After you,” I said, opening the door for her as she climbed inside. I got a wonderful view of her ass, the extra benefit of being a gentleman.
“I have my ten o’clock call with Coco—or Erin—this morning.” Maggie squeezed my hand, moving closer to me on the back seat. She didn’t seem jealous of Erin or my past with her. She just embraced Esmé as if she were her own.
“What are you going to say to her?” Good question.
“I don’t have a clue. I’ve imagined confronting Erin a few hundred times over the last few days. Most of my words started with the letter F. But now, faced with actually speaking with her about our daughter, I feel like I need to behave like an adult. What do you think?”
“My college advisor had a poster in his office. He said the world would be a better place if people practiced the words on it. It said, ‘Talk little. Listen much.’”
“How did you get so smart?”
“I listen with my ears and my heart. So far, I can’t complain.” Me either. I pulled her into my lap, kissing her wise lips. Running my hands through her silken hair, wondering how a jerk like me could be so lucky to have her.
When we arrived back at my apartment, Esmé caught sight of Maggie and started flailing her little arms. “Looks like someone missed me as much as I missed her.”
“From the looks on both your faces, I assume you worked out your differences,” Chloe said with a quick lift of her brows.
“We did. Want to hear the details?”
“No?” She plugged her fingers in her ears and hummed.
I pulled her hands away from her face. “I never kiss and tell, but I would like you to stay for a while.” She tilted her head. “I want to talk to you after my call with Esmé’s mother.”
“Okay. Those details I want to hear.”
I cringed thinking about the secret I was going to share with her. It would be the last thing she’d expect to come out of my mouth, but the time had come for her to know the truth.
I walked into my office and shut the door, locking it behind me. My stomach was one big knot as I paced the floor, hands sweating and heart racing. I didn’t know how to handle this conversation with Erin. I mean, who abandons their own baby? But like it or not, Esmé connected Erin and me together in this life, and I knew firsthand how strife and division could destroy a child’s sense of belonging and love.
Esmé deserved a life of happiness and it couldn’t happen unless I tried to work things out with Erin. Starting now, before she even called. I would do it for the sake of my innocent child.
I sat at my desk and took a couple deep breaths when a thought came to mind. I had to forgive Erin too. How could I ask for forgiveness from my sister for what I did, if I couldn’t give it to others? With my elbows resting on the desk, I buried my head in my hands.
When my phone buzzed, I sat up straight and cleared my voice before hitting the screen to receive Erin’s call.
“Hello, Erin.”
“Hi, Lucas.” Her voice was weak and timid. I strained to hear her speak.
“Thanks for calling.” I decided to begin with the truth and how it felt from my end. She needed to know what her actions caused in my life. “I can’t begin to tell you what the last few days have been like for me. I thought I was meeting you for a drink and left the bar with an infant. I didn’t even have a car seat for my driver to take us back to my apartment.”
