Page 17 of Treasure and Tarot

“So is there like a spot where you all were born, like?—”

“Shut up.” He grabbed his chocolate croissant. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

The doorbell dingled as he was taking his first really big drink of coffee, and he heard Abby say, “Hello.”

Which was fine until Colton said hello back.

“Who are you?” Colton asked, and Sebastian looked at Xavi with panicked eyes.

He was going to just grab her up and run in sheer panic, when he heard her say, “Abby! I Abby Belle!”

“Well, hello, Abby. My name is Colton Maxwell. What kind of cookie is that? I might have to get one.” Colton’s low rumble was so damn…kind. This was so not fair. Colton glanced up and met his terrified gaze, and Abby grinned over at him, and their eyes were just so unmistakably the same.

“Gingy piggy and coffee.”

“Wow, you get coffee?” Colton looked at him with wide eyes, and Sebastian shook his head, then nodded.

Abby beamed at Colton. “Uh-huh. Uncle Xavi make me coffee. And I drink it.” She offered him her cup, and he shook his head.

“No, that’s okay. Thank you, honey. I’ll get my own.” Colton walked up to the counter, looking back at Abby over and over. “Can I have a cup of decent coffee, please?”

Xavi arched an eyebrow. “What? The shit that they pour in the hotel isn’t good enough for you?”

Sebastian did grin, hissing through his teeth. “No cussing in front of the baby.”

“So, you’re Uncle Xavi, I assume?” Colton asked, giving Xavi an obvious once-over.

“That’s me. Doing my part. It takes a village to raise a baby, right?”

This was not happening. Sebastian made shushing motions.

“What? I’m not supposed to point out the fact that you did this by yourself, and that it was friends and town folk who helped you out when you were needing? Who were in the delivery room, who do the babysitting? I’m not supposed to mention that? Because I could stop if you need me to.”

“Xavi!” Sebastian was going to sink into the floor.

“Just a cup of coffee please.” Colton didn’t look like he was going to kill Xavi, which was good because this was thebest coffee in town. But he did have that clenched jaw sort of expression that Sebastian remembered meaning he was super-frustrated. Maybe now it meant he was hurting?

Oh, who was he kidding? If it was him, he would want to punch Xavi in the face.

“He takes cream, no sugar.”

Colton blinked at him. “You remembered.”

Sebastian shrugged one shoulder, going for cool and casual. It wasn’t working, but that’s what he was going for. “I made you a number of cups of coffee. There’s nothing about you that I knew then, that I don’t remember now.”

Colton blinked at him, then the gaze hardened. “Then maybe you could remember that obviously you felt like I was a decent enough human being to sleep with.”

“Not appropriate.” Also ouch, but he wasn’t going to let that show. He was the dad here. He had a responsibility to this little girl, and he was not going to allow Colton to disrespect him.

So there.

Ha.

Colton held his hands up. “You’re right, you’re right. I apologize. I just got my back up. Would you like to sit and have coffee together?”

“Sure. No problem. Have a seat. How’s your leg?” See him. See him be a decent person.

Colton shrugged. “It’s been worse, but I’ve had better days.”

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