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“Good. That’s good to hear.” Her smile increased, and damn if it didn’t make him want to smile. Because itwasgood. It was awesome. He didn’t feel so lost and like an idiot anymore.
But he didn’t widen his lips into a smile or even a ghost of one. His mouth stayed straight and narrow.
“How’d the hooker dress thing go?”
Her eyes bulged and her cheeks tinted red at the question. He wasn’t even sure why the hell it popped out. He hadn’t meant for it to slip. Despite how much he tried not to think about Genevieve, he couldn’t help himself. He’d lain in bed last night running through all the scenarios she might’ve enacted last night. What the dress looked like, how sexy and beautiful she had been, who she had worn it for, why her brother even asked her something so crazy.
He hated himself for all the time he wasted thinking about her.
And worrying.
“It was…cold.” A timid laugh escaped. “I couldn’t wear a jacket and there’s not much to the dress. But my brother got what he needed.”
Corey’s brows drew low. “Which was?”
“Oh, you know, the typical husband cheating on wife thing. He had to get inside an exclusive club and he wasn’t going to get in by himself. I was his ticket in. He got the pictures he needed and we were done. I was barely out for more than two hours.”
Well, that was good to hear. So he had no reason to worry about her at all. It was dumb he had in the first place.
He looked at Amelie gnawing her fingers and grinned. Someone was hungry. He’d picked her up from Ricky’s apartment after working his shift at the bar, came home, and went straight into tummy time. Figured it was best to get the hard part over for her right away and the rest of the night could be fun. She was about due for her bottle.
“She’s hungry.”
Genevieve’s eyes lit up with anticipation.
“Do you want to make the bottle for me?”
“Sure.” She stood up without hesitating, ready to jump in with both feet.
Did she even know how to make a bottle? How much formula? The right temperature of water?
“Do you know how?” Corey asked as he stood up as well.
“You can teach me. Can’t be too hard.”
“It’s not.”
After quick instructions, pointing out where everything was in the kitchen, she had the bottle made like she was a pro. The ache in her eyes, the strong desire to feed Amelie herself poured out in waves as she stared at him holding the bottle tightly in her hand. Her knuckles looked white from the exertion as if he’d have to pry it out of her hands.
“Do you want to feed her?”
“Please. I’d love to.” Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.
He nodded toward the couch and sat down, blowing out a deep breath, before handing Amelie over. A contented sigh echoed in the tiny space as Genevieve held her in her arms, his sweet baby girl not waiting to chug away at the milk.
They sat in silence, this time not so awkward. She looked like a natural holding a baby.
After half the bottle was gone, she looked at him. “Thank you, Corey. You didn’t have to let me come, but I appreciate it.”
He shrugged but didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what the hell to say. The woman sitting across from confused him. Made him feel so many emotions it was hard to keep up where they were at every second he was with her. Anger and hatred. Desire. Sympathy. Heartache. More desire. More anger. Pity. Maybe deep down some forgiveness.
“She’s the most precious thing ever. You’re going to grow up as beautiful as your mother was,” Genevieve whispered to Amelie.
Of that, Corey had no doubt. Melanie had been a beautiful woman. Now that he knew who her mother was and remembered what she looked like, he could see Melanie so much in Amelie. Genevieve had said he could take what he wanted in the box, so he had taken the lone picture of Melanie holding Amelie in the hospital. He figured his daughter might want that memory when she got older. At first, he wanted to rip it into pieces, so pissed at Melanie for what she had done. Then a teeny-tiny portion of regret slithered through, making him take it. Amelie would want to know what her mother looked like, even if he didn’t care about her. He didn’t want to regret missing this opportunity for his daughter. Because when it came down to it, everything he did these days was for his daughter.
“So, so beautiful,” she whispered, slightly rocking her as Amelie got close to finishing the bottle.
As Corey stared at Genevieve, he couldn’t help but see how beautiful she was, too. In a different way than Melanie. Darker hair that made him think of an angel with her soft lips and gentle hazel eyes that reeled you in with her innocence. Whereas Melanie had been blonde, that come-hither smirk and bold, bright-green eyes that said she was a devil hiding in plain sight. Just asking a man to come closer and sin with her.
