Page 5 of Delinquent Daddy (Banks/Kincaid Family 2)

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19

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

Chapter Two

Boston missed the address his first two passes down the street—even though his navigation system kept telling him he had arrived—but the third time, he paid closer attention to numbers and yes, there it was, wedged between a pair of three-story homes worth an easy million in mortgage.

The house he sought looked more like a guest cottage. It's floor plan had to be under a thousand square feet total. A single-story building with brown siding and white trim, the place matched the color of the mansion to its left, solidifying his guest-cottage theory. Shrubs and small trees filled the yard and sheltered a good portion of the covered front porch.

To Boston, it wasn't much. The whole thing could easily fit into his garage. But to a woman who'd come from a dirt-poor trailer park in Tennessee, was raised by her spinster great aunt, and had gotten pregnant when she was nineteen, this just might be a dream palace. He could see Ellie settling down here, thinking she'd come out okay.

That didn't mean she lived here, he reminded himself. Just because the return address to that freaky letter was legitimate and led to an actual residence didn't mean any of this was true, even if the facts were too uncanny to give him any sort of hope.

The names, the timing...they all fit.

Hello, my name is Cassidy Trenton. I am nine years and ten months old. Boston subtracted nine years and ten months from his life. Then he took off another nine months, which 20

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

settled him right smack dab in the middle of April, his senior year at KU, just a few weeks before he and Ellie had split.

His fingers contracted around the steering wheel as a cold sweat filmed his body. Having trouble regulating his breathing, he pulled to the curb and stared at the mini house.

Did his daughter live here? Was she inside wondering where he was even as he sat there? Boston's vision blurred, and he concentrated on his oxygen intake before he had himself a full-blown panic attack.

Hello, my name is Cassidy Trenton.

Cassie. God, that was the name he'd chosen. Why, he had no idea. He'd been in meltdown mode back then, trying to deal with reality and ignore it at the same time. It took him nearly three weeks to realize the stress Ellie had to be going through as well and how he was only adding to her troubles with his constant bickering and snide remarks. Wanting to show a little support, he'd stayed up all night, flipping through a baby name book until he'd come across Cassie. At the time, it seemed to fit, so he picked up the phone and called Ellie.

She answered on the fifth ring in a croaking, "'Lo."

"What do you think of the name Cassidy for a girl?" he blurted out without preamble. "Cassie for short."

After a short pause, she said, "Boston?"

"Yeah." God, he'd woken the pregnant woman. "It's me."

"What time is it?"

He had no idea. He hadn't slept in days. There'd been too much to worry about, mainly the confession he had to make to his family that he'd gotten someone pregnant, someone 21

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

he'd never even told them he was dating...someone he'd been too embarrassed to introduce as his girlfriend.

"It's, ah..." After a quick glance at his wrist, he winced.

"It's almost one."

She made a little mewling sound of distress that went straight to his gut. He loved her little sounds. They'd driven him crazy on too many different occasions. And like clockwork, his body responded. He realized he didn't want to talk to her over the phone. He wanted to be with her, tucked into that stupid single-sized bed she slept on with his body spooned up behind hers and his cheek snuggled to hers.

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