Page 45 of Hidden By His Side

“I’m not cut out for this shit,” Ramiro admitted, his stomach twisting with the truth of it. He’d barely been able to handle an hour with a toddler.

“Neither was I.” Diego crossed the room and transferred his daughter into his arms. “This one wound me around her finger before I could blink, though.”

Ramiro bit back his response. Diego was right. Ramiro never expected his friend to become a family man, but recent events had changed him.

Summer was pregnant. She might want to keep the baby.

Ramiro’s stomach sank as panic settled inside him.

“You moved her in here, knowing she was pregnant,” Diego said, rubbing Emma’s back as he studied Ramiro. “And that woman’s more than just a secretary to you. She has been, for longer than I realized.”

Ramiro couldn’t meet his eyes.

“Her apartment looked familiar the other day. This time, it clicked. I remember putting in the cameras, Ramiro.” He snorted. “And you always called me a voyeuristic creep. What a hypocrite.”

“It was for her protection,” Ramiro mumbled, his neck heating.

“Sure it was. How often did you watch her over the years?”

“Fuck off.” Ramiro’s words held no heat, instead heat crawled across his skin. He really was a creep.

“Your fake security company didn’t exist back then. She wasn’t your secretary. Who is this woman to you, Ram?”

Everything. The word beat inside his head but didn’t escape.

Diego sighed. “Look, it’s none of my business.”

“You’re right. It’s not.” Ramiro lifted his head, meeting Diego’s worried gaze with a glare.

Diego’s eyes narrowed. “Grow the fuck up.”

Ramiro struggled to his feet, but he couldn’t hit his friend, not when he held a toddler in his arms.

“If you can’t, you need to leave her the fuck alone,” Diego said.

The idea of Summer not being around twisted him up even more. “I can’t.”

Diego snuggled his daughter closer, dropping a kiss on top of her head. “Then I guess you’ll figure it out. That’s what being around kids is really like. Everyone figures it out as they go.”

“She might not keep the baby.” Ramiro winced at the edge of desperation in the words.

“You really are an asshole.” Diego turned his back on Ramiro and walked away.

Ramiro gripped the now empty chair, closing his eyes. He listened to the voices deeper in the house and hated that he wasn’t the one at Summer’s side.

He pushed the chair back where it belonged, taking in the room around him. His office already had Summer’s touch.

He stalked toward the door, ready to see her touch all over his house.

Summer’s fingers grazed the blue bowl on the kitchen island. It didn’t look quite right there. The aquamarine had twinkled with light in her apartment, but the lighting didn’t fall the same way where it sat now. She lifted it into her hands.

Diego and Ash had been more than patient with her when bringing in her things, but nerves had kept her from second-guessing their placement while the men were there. They had more important things to do with their time than deal with her indecisiveness.

Now that they were gone, and Ramiro had disappeared into his office, she felt more comfortable shifting things around. She wouldn’t be bothering anyone.

Ramiro had made it very clear she should think of the place as hers. He’d said there was nothing temporary about it. He had called her his, just like he had when they first met.

There were no truer words. She’d been his for a long time.

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