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I nod, trying to imagine what his mental state was like at the time. I didn’t meet him until several months later, so I can only imagine how rough things were for that first bit of time.
“And the worst part,” he adds, his face dropping, “is that if I hadn’t done it, if I’d just been a fucking adult about things…maybe this whole DNA thing wouldn’t have even been an issue.”
My brow furrows. “What do you mean?”
“I mean if I hadn’t sent all her stuff to her mother, she wouldn’t have ever had that damn journal in the first place.”
Shaking my head, I reach out and put my hand on his.
“There would have been something else, some other weird thing they would have come up with. The Carpenters sound like people who are dead set on getting their way, and they won’t stop at ethical boundaries to get it. Who knows what lengths they would have gone to in order to make this kind of thing happen? Maybe you actually did yourself a favor by sending it to them.”
Colton snorts and rolls his eyes then flops onto his back and stares up at the ceiling.
“How do you figure?”
“Well, if the DNA test comes back and you’re Teddy’s father, that’s the end of it. You’ll have sorted it all out, outside of court, as quickly and painlessly as possible. There’s literally nothing else they can do.”
“And if it doesn’t come back that way?”
My lips twist. “Well, then you’re facing the hard part, which could have come up at some point in the future, when Teddy’s six or ten or fifteen. At least now, you’ll know for sure. And then you can figure out what to do.”
I squeeze his hand then lean in to place a kiss against his chest.
“And just so you know, I’m here for you. Regardless of what happens. I know you have your family and friends, but…well, I’m here, too.”
He turns to look at me where I’m now leaning over him just slightly, his hand reaching up into my hair and tucking it behind my ear. His thumb strokes along my bottom lip.
It tickles, so I lean forward and press a soft kiss against his lip, before crawling off the blankets and grabbing my shirt.
“What are you doing?”
I turn back to look at where Colton is still lying on his pile of blankets.
“Changing and going back to my room.”
At that he rises to his knees and reaches out, yanking my shirt from my hand and chucking it across the room before slipping his hand in mine and giving me a tug.
“Stay with me tonight.”
I want to ask him about what he said the other night, about Teddy coming out of his room. The lie he told me, the lie I accepted, and why that doesn’t apply tonight.
But I can’t seem to find the words, the thought of Colton’s warm body wrapped around mine all night, even on the floor, too enticing to pass up.
So I let him pull me back down to the ground then snuggle my naked body up against his. I’ve never done this before…slept overnight with a man.
Apart from the night we fell asleep in the hallway together.
And I have to say…
It isn’t so horrible.
***
I wake up with a slightly stiff back but a smile on my face because a wonderful kiss is placed on my lips as a wakeup call.
“Good morning,” I say, stretching out and opening my eyes, though I can’t help the way my smile dips when I see that Colton is already up and dressed.
“What time is it?” I ask.
