Page 73 of Shattered Secrets

He snorted. “Hardly.”

“Taking the ferry to Port Townsend or Whidbey for dinner sounds stupidly romantic...”

“But...” he prodded, tucking that little nugget away in his brain.

Her nose scrunched again. “But it seems a bit extra, you know?”

She was so fucking cute.

Tapping a finger to her lips, she asked, “How about Monty’s? We know the food’s good, and it’s right in town.”

He grinned at her. “Sounds like a plan. Besides, I think Daisy would like to join us if we took a ferry somewhere. Something tells me she’d get a kick out of it.”

The smile Scarlet treated him to was blinding. “She would. We don’t leave Hudson all that often.”

Daisy’s sweet little face popped into his mind, and his chest ached. Scarlet wasn’t the only one he’d fallen in love with. That was for damn sure.

The question that had swirled in the back of his mind for as long as he’d known Scarlet shoved itself to the forefront. Before he could second-guess himself, he said, “Can I ask you a really personal question?”

The hand tracing his chest stilled. “Of course.”

He pulled her tighter to him. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I’m just curious...”

She shifted to meet his gaze. Her eyes narrowed as she asked, “You want to know about Daisy’s dad?”

Shit. Was he that obvious? “I do. But you don’t have to tell me anything. I was just wondering?—”

She pressed a finger to his lips. “It’s okay, Matt. It’s not something I talk about, but... it’s okay. It’s you.”

Who was Daisy’s dad?

Dammit. Scarlet had known this conversation was inevitable. She’d just stupidly hoped it would never come up. Like, ever. Panic bloomed in her belly, and she tried to squash it down. Without much luck.

She just really, really hoped that what she and Matt had shared minutes before would make her next words less likely to drive him away. Because their connection was beyond sex. It was beyond making love. She couldn’t exactly define it, but she prayed it was enough.

However, she was a realist. She would not be surprised if Matt told her to leave his bed after this conversation. She wouldn’t blame the guy. Not one bit, because come on...

Taking a deep breath, she aimed for a calm expression and a casual shrug. Unfortunately, she had a feeling her calm expression was more like a cringe.

“Well...”Holy shit, never mind. She’d been wrong. She couldn’t do this.

Scarlet closed her eyes and concentrated on Matt’s touch. The soft up and down of his hand on her back took the edge off her nerves. She reminded herself to have faith in him. After all, she trusted him with Daisy. So she could trust him with her secrets, too. Right?

She met his steady brown gaze. “I left that spot on her birth certificate blank.” Which wasn’t a lie.

Chuckling, he shifted them into spooning positions, then kissed the top of her head and pulled her close. “You know that’s not what I’m asking, baby.”

With a sigh, she ran her hands over the coarse hair on his forearm and relaxed against his chest. “I know.”

“Let me rephrase. Does the guy who fathered Daisy know about her?”

Scarlet wanted to say no, but in truth, she wasn’t sure. She’d been just over four months along when she’d testified against the club, so someone could have noticed. However, she’d taken extra precautions to hide her pregnancy. The last thing she’d wanted was for any of them to realize she was carrying one of theirs.

Instead of saying anything of that, she remained silent, savoring the feel of Matt’s arms around her. It could very well be the last time he held her like this...

“The reason I’m asking is because I want to keep you and Daisy safe. If there’s even a remote chance her biological father knows about her, then I’d like to keep an eye on him.”

Scarlet’s earlier panic resurfaced and twisted her belly.

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