Page 73 of Perfect Composition
And my heart gallops when I glimpse Paige curled beneath an oversized UT sweatshirt lost in thought, staring out the window in the nearly empty reception area. She’s about to rearrange her entire life for a man who tried his damnedest to destroy it.
What would she do for a man she loved?
Last night, I let frustration get the better of me. I pushed when I should have been patient, resented when I felt her pull back. And laughed at her bitterness. But honest to God, her green eyes weren’t sparkling with anything but pure jealousy.
And I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit my own when she held up those three fingers.Mine, I think savagely, disregarding the small voice inside of me that warns me to slow down. She and Austyn are mine to protect, mine to love. And if it weren’t for the man lying in a bed on oxygen, they always would have been.
“Not if I’d been the man I should have been,” I hear my own voice admit.
“Excuse me? What the hell are you doing here?” Paige hisses. Nervously she glances around, but I dismiss the elderly woman crocheting with her back to us as no threat. Even so, I absently notice Kane station himself so he has a good vantage point to watch all of us.
Instead, I move closer and wrap Paige up in a tight embrace. “We need to talk.”
Her arms snake around my waist hesitantly as she whispers almost inaudibly, “What happened?”
“Is there somewhere private we can talk?”
She pulls back and searches my eyes. After just a second, she breaks away and starts walking down the hall. I follow, giving a subtle nod to Kane. Within moments, Paige leads me into a private family room. “This is about as private as we can get, Beckett. What happened?”
I quickly recount my phone call with Keene. To my surprise, she doesn’t shout. Instead, she drops into an armchair with a sigh and rubs her head. “This was always a possibility. I always knew that from the moment I realized who you’d become.”
I sit down on the couch near her and hold out a hand. She lays hers in it. “I won’t let anything happen to either of you.”
Her smile is a little sad. “This is going to break Austyn’s heart if it happens.”
“Having it come out I’m her father?”
Paige nods.
I ignore the hurt that floods through me before I grate out, “Why?”
“Oh, Beckett.” Paige begins tracing “her” tattoo with a finger with her other hand. “I now know the real reason you didn’t get this colored in.” There’s a ghost of a smile around her mouth.
Just as I’m about to ask why, there’s a knock at the door before it swings open. Kane pops his head in. “They’re looking for Paige. It’s time for her visit with her father.” Just as quickly as he enters, the door closes.
She stands. I quickly follow suit. She informs me, “I’ll listen to what you and your team have to say about security.” Just as I’m about to thank her, she holds up a hand. “Within reason, Beckett. My father’s room is off-limits.” Her doctor voice is firm, authoritative, and sexy as hell.
“Agreed,” I capitulate immediately.
She holds my gaze a moment before shifting to the door. Her hand has just touched the handle when I call out her name. “Yes?”
“What did you mean before when you said you knew why I hadn’t got this colored in? I told you my reason.”
The ghost of a smile floats back. “Because you’re completely transparent to me, Beckett Miller. You’re upset thinking your daughter doesn’t want to announce you’re her father. That’s not it. She wants to become a success based on her merit, not riding someone’s coattails. Otherwise, I’m fairly certain she’d be shouting it from our rooftop. I’ve only recently learned of some less than friendly support she received about not having a father all these years. The man you are—dropping everything to be with her? That’s absolutely the kind of daddy I’m sure she’s been dreaming of.”
And with that, Paige slips out the door to go see how her father’s heart is healing. What she doesn’t know is she’s taking mine along with her while she does.
Christ.
BECKETT
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
You know what I’m having a craving for right now? Barbecue and potato salad. Blame Food Network. They were having a marathon on best barbecue places in the nation. Here’s a top ten list of spots in the city for you to order some catered if you don’t want to go to the trouble of firing up those smokers in the middle of winter.
— Fab and Delish
The next day, I slip on a Henley and ask Austyn what she has planned for the day.
