Page 13 of Closing the Distance

I grab her hand and squeeze it once. “Thanks, but I think I should do this on my own.”

I’ve done everything else on my own up to this point. If I’m about to be a mom then I need to do hard things without help, especially if Ty decides he doesn’t want anything to do with me or the baby.

The building seems taller and even more intimidating when I show up the next day. I stay in my car parked just down the street and chew on my lip while my heart races chaotically in my chest. This has to work. If it doesn’t, I don’t know what I’ll do. I’m not putting myself through a third round of humiliation, that’s for sure. Twisting my keys out of the ignition, I grab my purse and open my door, forcing myself to get out of the car.

Each step closer to the building adds a weight to my chest, but I keep trudging forward. When I reach the doors, the same doorman from yesterday stands at his station inside, his head down. Pushing my shoulders back, I lift my head high and hope I give off an air of confidence even if I’m trembling on the inside.

When I pull the door open, the doorman looks up, and I swear relief seems to cross his face before he holds his finger up and picks up a phone. I stand just inside the door, waiting for him to get off the phone so I can ask him about seeing Ty, all while nerves tangle like knots in my stomach. He mumbles as he talks so I can’t hear what he’s saying. I try not to let my shoulders drop and keep a confident air that is one hundred percent fake. I need to act like I belong here and have a right to see Ty or else this man will kick me out just like he did yesterday, and I’ll be out of options.I have no other way to tell him about the baby if this doesn’t work.

He sets the phone down and focuses his attention on me. I step forward, opening my mouth to tell him why I’m here when he speaks. “You can go on up. He’s expecting you.”

That takes me aback, and I swallow down the words that were right on the tip of my tongue. “Ty?” I clarify.

The doorman’s expression narrows. “Were you here to see someone else?” The judgment from yesterday is back in his tone, and I try not to bristle.

“No.”

He nods, but his jaw clenches, and I know exactly what this man thinks of me. “Go on up.”

Nerves swirl in my belly as my shame skyrockets. I was in such a rush to leave the next morning—my exhaustion so heavy, I barely remember leaving—and too enamored with Ty the night we were together that I didn’t pay attention to his apartment number. And now I feel exactly like the type of woman this doorman thinks I am.

“Can you tell me his apartment number?” I try to push strength and authority into my voice, but I fail spectacularly when it comes out weak.

“The penthouse, miss.”

The penthouse. No wonder he’s looking at me like I’m a gold digger. I could tell Ty was wealthy from his apartment, but I didn’t realize it was the damn penthouse. Suddenly new doubts start to rise. Who is this guy? What if he fights me for custody?

Oh my God, would he take my baby from me?

New fears slither in between all the existing fears I already carry as I take unsteady steps to the elevators. When I get in and spin around to press the giant P at the top of the panel, I catch the doorman watching me carefully, and I’m wondering if it’s too late to run out of here and live my life without Ty ever knowing I had his kid.

But then the doors slide closed and the elevator rises swiftly, taking any chance of escape away.

EIGHT

I’m pacing back and forth, waiting for the knock on the door while I also try to tell myself to chill the fuck out. But damn, I’m so excited.

She came back.

When I got the call from Lewis, I couldn’t believe my luck. I thought I was going to have to hunt her down after the way I saw her face fall in that security video yesterday.

But she’s here.

I check my watch. How long has it been since Lewis called? Shouldn’t she be up here by now?

The knock on my door has my heart in my throat, and before she can knock a second time, I’m already pulling it open. All my breath whooshes from my lungs as I finally get a good look at her for the first time in a month and a half. God, she’s even more beautiful than I remembered. Her cheeks are pink with a flush, and her silky skin practically glows.

“Hi,” I say, my voice a little deeper than normal because of how much this woman affects me.

“Hi,” she whispers, her gaze tracing mine and her lush lips parted. Fuck, I remember what it felt like to have those lips wrapped around my cock, and I’m suddenly hyperaware that it’s been six weeks since I had sex. With that thought, blood rushes south, and I know I’m dangerously close to popping a boner, which I refuse to do the first time I see her again.

Hopefully, we’ll get to have another round, but I’d prefer to take her out on a real date first. My gaze slides down her frame, loving the way her dark wash denim jeans hug the curves of her hips. Her long hair falls in soft curls over her shoulders and to her breasts that are covered by a loose black top.

She looks as gorgeous as I remember.

“Please come in,” I say, opening the door wider and gesturing inside. She walks in and looks around the space, but her silence is getting to me. “I’m so glad you came back. I was pissed when I found out Lewis made you leave yesterday.”

She turns so she’s facing me, her face puckering in the cutest little frown. “Lewis?”

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