Page 63 of The Reborn

“Yes, she is.”

“So... I heard you might be craving something chocolatey?”

Vanessa’s eyes lit with delight. “You didn’t!”

“Oh, but I did!” I pulled the gourmet chocolate bar from my purse and handed it to her. “It’s not much, but I figured it would do the trick.”

She snatched it from my hand. “It’ll more than do the trick. Thank you, Liv.”

“You’re welcome. Now...” I turned back to my brother. “You gonna let me hold that baby, or are you gonna hog her all day?”

He laughed. “I guess you can for a minute. Since you drove all this way and brought my wife chocolate.”

I rubbed my hands together and dashed over. “Gimme, gimme, gimme.”

He stood up so I could take his place in the rocker. Once I was settled, he handed me his precious bundle, then went back to Vanessa, helping her readjust in bed and getting her tray set up so she could eat.

I immediately bent to sniff the baby’s thick head of dark hair, then pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Your auntie Olivia loves you so much already, little one. You know that?” I whispered, already feeling that dangerous twinge of baby fever in my belly. “You are so perfect. So, so perfect.”

As I spoke to her in hushed baby speak, every one of my senses started to tune in to the silent man across the room. Suddenly, it was as if I could feel the heat of an inferno coming from his stare. I couldn’t help it and I made the mistake of lifting my gaze and meeting his.

It was as if his very soul was staring back at me in that moment, and I wanted nothing more than to dive into his ocean eyes and drown—because for the tiniest of split seconds, the briefest fraction of a heartbeat, I caught a glimpse of pure emotion... what it looked like to be truly cherished. How my dad looked at my mom. How my brother looked at Vanessa and his daughter. In that moment, I had that mysterious something I’d been looking for my whole life.

Then it was gone.

As if it had never existed.

I’m sure it never did. It was my imagination getting the best of me as I got carried away with the emotion of the moment.

I sucked in a breath and turned back to the baby, my heart suddenly thrashing like a storm-torn ocean against my ribs. I’d never had such conflicted feelings about a man in my life. Not even with Christoph. With him, our feelings were mutual for a time... at least I thought they were. Even if those feelings were wrong and ended incredibly badly.

Now, with Justin? These feelings? I didn’t even have a name for the tornado of emotions whipping itself around my heart, no matter how much I wanted to feel otherwise. No matter how much I told myself I shouldn’t be feeling this way. He’d said it himself... this was a professional relationship, nothing more. He was being paid, by my brother no less, to protect me and Elizabeth. Once the job was done, he’d be done.

But that wasn’t the worst of it.

What was the worst part of it all was not having a clue how he felt. Clearly, he was attracted to me—the way he kissed me and the immediate reaction of his body when we touched made that obvious at least. But when it came to anything more than physical, I was clueless. The man was like a steel safe with all of his deepest feelings locked up tight inside.

I chanced a peek at Justin’s face as he spoke quietly with my brother in the far corner, his profile so strong and serious. Yes, I could admit a big part of my heart would break when he left, but I would survive.

A few minutes later, he pulled his phone out and quietly excused himself from the room to take a call.

A nurse pushed through the door right after him to bring Vanessa some medication, so his hushed but tense voice carried back inside, and I thought I caught something like “not today.” I knew he’d rescheduled my car alarm install to go to church with me. I hoped this call wasn’t because that had put him to any trouble.

I stood gently with the baby and padded over to my brother and Vanessa. “Want her back?”

Cam smiled. “Done already?”

I tilted my head toward the door. “I think I need to check on that just in case he’s run into an issue on my account.”

Camden’s eyes flicked to the door, then back. “Okay.”

“You can have her for a few minutes, but she’ll need to eat soon,” Vanessa warned him between bites of pancake.

“Yes, mama.” Cam sat in the rocker I’d vacated.

I slipped out the door behind the nurse and saw Justin hovering in a corner, gripping his phone so tightly his knuckles were white, his expression a steely mask of feigned indifference, but somehow, I could see turmoil and pain writhing beneath the surface, which stopped me in my tracks.

“Tricia, look...” He bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry about the divorce. I really am. But I—” His words cut off as he listened, her pleading voice carrying even to me. “I know,” he said, his voice lower now, softer, as if she’d reminded him of something special they shared.

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