Page 48 of Secret Daddies

“I…I just don’t know if I can believe you,” she whispered finally, planting her hand over mine. “I want to. Of course I do. But after what happened before…”

“I’m not the person I was back then,” I reminded her. “I’ve changed. We both have. More than we could have imagined.”

She shifted back from me, my hand falling from her belly, putting some distance between us.

“I need time to think,” she replied, shaking her head. “All of this…all of this is so new. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. I can’t make any promises, not now, not before I?—”

“I get it,” I replied, though truth be told, it felt like a punch in the gut to hear her brush me off like that. I probably deserved it, but spending time with Matty was making it harder and harder to imagine not being a part of his life going forward. If there was some way I could just reach into her mind and let her see that Iwas serious about this, fuck, I would do it—I would do anything to prove myself to her.

But I couldn’t. I could only show her through my actions that I meant it when I said I didn’t have any intention of going anywhere. But I supposed, for the time being, that was what I’d have to rely on. And that was what I’d have to hope would serve as the proof she needed to understand how much I wanted this.

I leaned forward and planted a kiss on her cheek, just next to the corner of her mouth. I heard her hitch in a slight breath at the sensation, and she didn’t pull back.

“Whatever you decide,” I promised her. “I’m there with you. Okay?”

As she locked eyes with me once more, I could tell, at last, that she was confident in her answer. She nodded, and let out a deep breath.

“Okay.”

24

TAYLOR

“Shit,”I muttered to myself as I glanced down at my phone. Waiting there, sent while I had been busy on set, was a message from my nanny telling me that she wasn’t going to be able to pick up Martha from school.

This was the last thing I needed. I was meant to be staying late on set tonight to wrap up some action stuff that had been pushed back, and Martha was supposed to be dropped off at a friend’s house this afternoon where I would pick her up later. But I couldn’t go down to the school and meet her there—everyone would see me, and any chance I had of keeping her cover would be blown.

I hovered my fingers over the keys as I made my way back to my trailer, trying to think of what to respond. But before I could fire anything off, I crashed straight into someone in my distraction.

“Crap, sorry—” I muttered, but then I lifted my head and saw that it was Maya standing before me.

She stared up at me for a moment, frozen. It was the first time we had seen each other properly since our confrontation in themakeup trailer, when I had discovered she was pregnant. Which I was still trying to wrap my head around. Not the part about her being with child, no, that didn’t bother me—I adored Martha, and I would welcome any more kids into my life with open arms. The part that got to me was that she had been so willing to keep it from me and the rest of the guys. I didn’t want to raise a kid with another woman who would hide the truth from me. I knew how that turned out, and I had no intention of walking into that mistake all over again.

“It’s okay,” she replied, a furrow appearing between her brows. “Is everything okay? You seem?—”

“It’s fine,” I shot back, cutting her off and going to walk past her. But before I could, her hand darted out and caught my arm, stopping me in my tracks. I looked back at her, annoyed—but the sympathetic look on her face told me she had already guessed what I was going through.

“Is it something to do with Martha?” she asked.

“What? How did you?—”

“I know that look,” she replied, gesturing to the expression on my face. “It’s the look that sayssomething annoying has happened with my kid and I don’t know how to deal with it.The same one I had yesterday when the sitter I had booked canceled on me and I had to bring Matty to work.”

I paused, and ran a hand over the stubble on my head. No point trying to keep it from her, she could clearly see through me. After a pause, I nodded.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “Yeah, that’s what it is. My nanny just told me she can’t pick up Martha from school, and I don’t have time to do it myself. But I can’t just send anyone down there, I needto know that they’re able to keep their mouths shut about me, about all of this, and?—”

“Let me do it for you.”

I stared at her for a moment, and then let out a snort.

“Yeah. No. Not happening.”

“Why not?” she demanded as I turned and started toward my trailer again.

“Because you’ve not exactly proved yourself worthy of my trust lately,” I growled back at her. She stared up at me, her eyebrows raised.

“Taylor, I know you’ve got issues with the way I’ve handled things in my personal life,” she replied, not budging an inch. “But I’m talking to you parent-to-parent here. You helped me out before, and I want to do the same for you right now. Are you going to let me?”

---