Page 104 of Love Without Demands

Her face softened. “I’m so happy for those two. It was cool getting to watch him propose to her after so many years.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to the spot just in front of my ear. “You are an amazing man, Cruz. Monty and Auburn would be honored to have you as their brother. Don’t be afraid.”

God, I fucking love this woman.Her incredibly sweet heart, her compassion, the way she knew what I needed to hear before I even realized it.

“Thank you, Tink. I think it will be okay.”

“It will be more than okay,” she whispered, nuzzling into my neck and warming me from the inside out. “You and Monty are already like brothers, and you seem close with Auburn too.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, he was a harder nut to crack, but he does already treat me like part of his family.”

She leaned back so she could look at me, and I immediately missed the closeness. “So how exactly did this happen? Your mom getting pregnant by Paul Bouvier?”

I raised one eyebrow. “Well, you see, little Lehra. When two people really, really like each other, they lie down in a bed, and the man puts his—”

“Stop it!” she giggled, smacking the back of my head. “You know what I mean.”

“I do. So my mom was the nanny for the Bouvier family. Apparently, Chloe Bouvier was a… not very nice person even back then. She left town when Evie was a baby, and Paul ended up filing for divorce. He’d started developing feelings for my mother.”

“So Monty wasn’t born yet,” Lehra mused.

“Right. Chloe was pregnant with him when she left, but Paul didn’t know that. And he made sure to let me know that he filed for divorcebeforehe and my mother… got together.”

“But why didn’t you know about Paul until you were grown?”

“This part is kind of convoluted. Chloe came back and told Paul she was pregnant. She threatened to take the kids to Europe to live with her family if he went through with the divorce, so he was torn. He really loved my mom, but he couldn’t lose his kids either.”

“Oh my god, that witch!”

“Exactly. And back then, custody usually went to the mother, so he was pretty much screwed. He went to my mom’s apartment to tell her about everything, but when he arrived, hercousin who lived next door told him Chloe had fired her, and she left town.”

Lehra covered her mouth with her hand. “Did she know she was pregnant with you?”

I shook my head. “No, this was literally days after Mama and Paul were together.”

“Your poor mom,” she said, her eyes thoughtful. “Do you think Chloe threatened her or something and that’s why she never told Paul she was pregnant?”

“Probably. My dad told Paul that she wouldn’t talk about it, but she seemed scared ofthat evil woman.”

“And how did your fathers get in contact with each other?”

“Paul hired a private investigator to find my mother, and then he showed up at our house. And there was this little blue-eyed boy staring back at him.”

“Wow, that must have been a shock. How old were you?”

“Six. My mother told him to go the hell away, but he and my dad stayed in contact.” I told her about the letters and how Paul stayed in my life from afar.

Lehra’s eyes filled with tears. “That’s such a sacrifice he made.”

I nodded my agreement. “We’ve grown really close the past couple years. Paul is an amazing man. Like I said, he wants to shout it from the rooftops that I’m his son. I’ve been the reluctant one.”

“Now that Chloe’s dead, what’s the harm?”

“That’s my thought too. We’ll wait till after the wedding, and also I want to talk to my mother about it.”

“How do you feel about her keeping your paternity a secret all these years?”

“I was… not really angry. More disappointed that she lied. But as I talked more with Paul, I understand better now. She was doing what she had to do, and she and Papa were wonderful parents.”

“They must have been to raise such a good man.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me. “Who happens to be pretty hot too.”

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