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I covered my mouth with my hand and swallowed down a sob.
I’d kept an innocent man from his daughter.
CHAPTERNINE
JOJO
“Mom?”
Penelope stretched and yawned. I held her tightly as I had all night, unable to sleep.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
Fresh guilt washed over me.
I didn’t regret anything about the life we’d had, but my giant mistake ate at my insides.
“I was thinking last night after I had a minute to process. You don’t do anything without intention. If you didn’t tell me about my father or him about me, there had to be a good reason.”
Oh, Penelope.
My sweet, sweet girl.
I hugged her hard and kissed the top of her head. “I love you. I have from the moment I found out about you.”
“I love you too, Mom. And I can’t breathe.” She wriggled so I’d loosen my tight hold.
“We need to talk, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready,” I confessed.
“It’s weird. Most of my life I just thought I got here without a dad. I never needed one.” Her brow furrowed. “Now, he’s here . . . and I don’t know what to do.”
“Keep an open mind and follow your heart.”
She blinked at me. “I thought you’d tell me to stay away from him.”
“As hard as it is to admit, moms make mistakes. I don’t want you to have tunnel vision like I did.”
She sat up. “Why are you here with him anyway? To tell him about me?”
My face burned. “We . . . don’t get along well. A friend of his suggested we come to the place we met to get a do-over.”
“A do-over?” She tilted her head.
“We’re going to be spending a lot of time together over your case, and to be honest, I prefer peace. But with Kane . . .” I didn’t know how to explain my behavior around him.
And this wasn’t where I thought this conversation would go.
“You have a thing for him.” Her eyes rounded. “Is he why you never date?”
“I don’t have time to date.” The last man I was interested in—albeit briefly—was Kane, and then . . . then I had a baby girl to look after.
“You’re here with him. You made time.” Her expression grew hopeful. “You’re in love with him.”
“No,” I said quickly, stumbling over the word. In love? With Kane? Impossible.
And that was quite a leap for her to make. She was intuitive, but this . . . was an overreach.
“You obviously had some sort of chemistry before.” She lifted her brows in a mischievous smirk.
