Page 45 of Falling for the Single Daddy

“In the city. Lunch?”

“Okay, Sloane.”

If I can keep things civilized with Sloane, maybe I can stop her from doing something drastic. The last thing I need is for her to start legal proceedings. But at the same time, meeting her is the last thing I want to do.

Setting up the baby monitor in Emery’s room, I leave the house and walk through the yard. My hand is trembling when I knock on the door. I can hear Callie on the other side, rushing around.

“Yes?” she calls, a tremor in her voice.

“It’s me.”

“Yes?” she says again.

I grit my teeth. “Can I come in?”

“Is that a good idea?”

“What are you doing? It looks like you’re packing.”

“That’s because Iampacking.”

I grab the door handle and turn it when I find it’s not locked. She spins, facing me. She’s changed into sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt, no bra. But I can’t think about that right now. I can’t let thesavage part of me take over and start obsessing over her. I can’t let myself snap.

“I didn’t say you needed to leave,” I growl.

She throws her hands up. “What else are we supposed to do, exactly? You heard her—you saw her. She’s built this whole life in her head, Gray. She thinks we’re going to be together and live happily ever after. That was just plain tragic, the hope in her eyes. Her plan was so cute, so endearing. I could see how proud she was.”

Despite myself, I smile. “Yeah, she was bubbling with pride, wasn’t she?”

“But don’t you see? That’snot a good thing. It’s just another reason why I have to make the grown-up decision. Do you think I want to do this? This job is the best I’ve ever had, and you…” She clears her throat. “You…”

I stride across the room and take her hands in mine. She clutches onto me with something like desperation. “What?” I groan.

“You know what,” she whispers.

I lean down. Our noses brush. An instinctive smile takes hold of her lips, a laugh almost escaping her before she stops herself. It’s like she knows she has to kill any intimacy between us before it grows into something unmanageable. I should do the same. But then I slide my hand across her back and press her against me.

She gasps as I kiss her ardently. There’s no doubt about who initiates the kiss this time. She smooths her hands up my arms and wraps them around my shoulders, standing on her tiptoesas she grinds her body against mine. I groan, guiding her to the couch.

But a second later, she presses her hand against my chest and shoves me so that there’s some distance between us. “We can’t,” she whispers.

“We—” My cell phone rings again. “Dammit. I’m sorry, Callie.” I sit up.

“You don’t have to apologize.”

I check it—and yep, it’s Sloane again. “I’ve booked us a table at that restaurant around the corner from your office,” she says. “Le Franc-Tireur. Is that okay, Gray?”

“Sure,” I tell her. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She laughs, trying to sound seductive. I know this because she used that same laugh in the months after she told me she was pregnant, back when we were both making an effort to build some kind of connection. “See you soon, handsome…”

I hang up, feeling sick, putting the phone in my pocket. Callie looks at me closely. She’s searching me in that just-Callie way. “What was that about?”

“Sloane,” I mutter. “She wants to meet tomorrow.”

“Why?”

I shrug. “I have no idea.”

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