Page 176 of Sloane

Today was no different. I blamed RJ.

Sloane slowly moved closer with his gaze laser-focused on me.

“You’re not wearing makeup.”

I touched my face absentmindedly and suddenly the old self-conscious feelings about my birthmark returned.

“Um, well, I wasn’t expecting to see anyone today.”

He kept walking until he loomed over me and stared down at me with his bright blue eyes that looked exactly like Millie’s.

I felt his hand touch my waist, as he whispered, “I like you without makeup. You’re beautiful.”

“So are you,” spewed from my mouth before I could even think twice, because I really did think he was beautiful. I suspected his male ego might not appreciate being called beautiful, so I tried to correct myself. “I mean, handsome. You’re handsome.”

“Maybe my right side.”

“No,” I replied as I reached up to trace the scars along his hairline and down his left cheek. “All of you.”

His polite smile told me he didn’t believe me, which bothered me, so I reiterated, “You are.”

Instead of arguing, like I expected, he simply said, “Thank you,” and continued staring down at me. “Where’s Millie?”

I nodded toward where she slept in the playpen in the corner of the room.

His close proximity was making my brain short circuit, and I blurted out, “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I came to invite you to dinner at Craig and Maddie’s, but”—his thumb stroked my hip bone—“now that you’re standing in front of me, I really want to kiss you instead.”

“Instead?” I boldly hooked my arm around his neck and tugged his face closer to mine. “Why can’t it be both?”

That made him chuckle. “I’m not sure. Maybe because if I kiss you, I’m not going to want to stop to go have dinner.”

Oh damn! Good answer.

“I’m so sorry I hurt you, sweetness,” he continued. “So. Fucking. Sorry. I don’t have an excuse other than my head was pretty messed up. But I’m not sorry for leaving here. The recovery program has been the best thing for me.”

“I can see that.”

“Please let me be a dad to Millie. I think the skin grafts will help with my scars—at least on my face.”

Tears filled my eyes.

“Your scars don’t matter, Sloane. She needs her father in her life. I would never take that from you. The only way it wouldn’t happen is if you chose that.”

“No fucking way, baby.” His hand slid around my waist, and he pulled me tighter against him. “Now, let’s talk about you and me.”

Chapter Sixty-Four

Sloane

Ashley coyly batted her eyelashes at me.

“Is there a ‘you and me’?”

“Probably not at the moment, but I’d like there to be again.”

She stared at me as she considered what I was suggesting.

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