Page 118 of Daddy's Naughty List

“She’s fine. I just need to put her down out here while I settle the twins. You sit back down, and I’ll be right back to tend to her.”

She’d have been afraid to leave her in the room with Connor if he hadn’t looked so terrified. There was no way he’d go near Nori until she could get back. She’d hurry because the last thing she needed was for Connor to figure things out on his own.

Racing back to the bedroom with Connor’s, “Don’t run!” chasing her, she put on the nightlight that played calming music and settled the twins back down to rest. It couldn’t have taken more than five minutes.

She knew something was wrong the second it hit her she didn’t hear Nori crying. Tiptoeing out of the bedroom, she took one step into the great room and froze. Connor was no longer seated in the armchair. Not even close.

Connor stood beside the now-empty bouncy seat with a contented Nori cradled in his arms. Bliss sucked in a breath. Now that the time was here, doubts bombarded her. What had she been thinking?

She listened for advice from Mary Poppins and Miranda, but her shoulder angels deserted her. All she heard was Mary Poppins inviting Miranda to go fly a kite with her. Then they disappeared in tiny puffs of smoke, leaving her alone with Connor and Nori.

That Connor looked stunned was no surprise. He stared at her with those bright amber eyes, the ones he’d passed down to his daughter. “You said there was something you wanted to tell me. You want to do that now?”

Her mouth went completely dry and her stomach dropped all the way down to her toes. She had to try three time before she got the words out. “I don’t expect anything, I promise. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to feel trapped. I know you said you were never going to have children. I know that hasn’t changed. I…”

Oh, god. This was terrible. He was going to hate her forever, and that was the real reason she hadn’t told him. She was a coward. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing him. All because of a day and a half almost a year ago. But it was the best day and a half of her life outside of when she got her girls. And now it was over, and there was nothing to do but face the music. “I thought you should at least know that you have a daughter.”

Hope flashed in Connor’s eyes, only to be extinguished the next second by rage. “I do not have a child. I told you I never would, and that hasn’t changed. Now I’d appreciate it if you’d come getyourdaughter.”

The words shot through her chest, piercing her heart like bullets. Silently she crossed to him and took Nori from his stiff arms.

Without so much as a word or a backward glance, Connor spun on his heel and stalked out.

Bliss hugged her daughter to her chest and whispered words of love as the tears ran unchecked down her face.

Connor

Connor spun out of Bliss’s yard, slinging rocks and dirt as he sped down the dirt road and out onto the highway. He didn’t remember drivingand couldn’t tell you which way he turned when, but twenty minutes later, he wound up at Deep Dive.

Deep Dive was a large warehouse with an adult arcade and bar on the first floor, and the offices of Sabre Security on the floor above it. Reid owned both, but Deep Dive was run by his blood brother Hutch, and Sabre Security was run by Sawyer, another of his brothers.

Mind still reeling, Connorfound himself seated at the bar with Hutch handing him a tall mug of Astronaut Status beer. He didn’t even wait for the thick foam to settle before throwing it back and emptying the mug.

“Damn, brother, what’s going on?” Hutch asked. “You usually at least try to taste it.”

“Just get me another one,” Connor all but snarled.

He had a daughter. A kid. Fuck him. When he’d seen her back in Darling and pregnant, he’d assumed the Society had given her to some fucker to get her pregnant to teach her a lesson. He refused to think about the kick to the gut that had been.

He’d felt like a total failure for months. Still did, if he was honest. And that whole fuckin’ time, she’d been pregnant with his child. How could she not tell him the baby was his?

Strike that. How was she even pregnant in the first place? She told him she was on birth control. That the Society forced her to have that implant. And he’d believed her without even checking. It had never even occurred to him she might be lying.

He was good at reading people. In his line of work, he had to be. She was either the best liar he’d ever met, or she’d been telling the truth. He’d been around her in a tough situation. Every instinct he had said she’d told him the truth.

That would have to mean her birth control hadn’t worked. It was rare these days, but it was known to happen. So, she hadn’t planned it, but why hadn’t she gotten word to him when she found out?

Because you told her you never wanted kids in a way she couldn’t possibly misunderstand.

Gritting his teeth, he downed the rest of his second beer. “Another.” He needed to get totally shitfaced. That was the only escape from the pain.

His own thought jerked him up straight on his stool. What was he doing? He’d spent the last twenty years proving to himself he wasn’t his father. Yet look at him now. Sitting in a bar, trying to lose himself in a bottle. He wasn’t going down that road. He’d made a vow and he intended to keep it. He was not his father. Not now. Not ever.

“What’s eating you, brother?” Hutch faced him from the other side of the bar.

That was what he needed now. His brothers. They were a family as sure as if they shared the same blood. Law filled the seat on one side of Connor, and Deke landed in the other.

“Tell us what’s going on. We’re here for you. You know that.”

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