Page 19 of Raising His Baby (The Sartoris 2)

He nodded. “Better for you to insult me.”

“To keep you safe?” She tilted her head to the side and gestured to her entire body. “Trust me, honey, this right here is more than you can handle. Any day of the week.”

His eyes grew wide, but she saw the intrigue. “You’re a very confident woman.”

“I can read people pretty well, and for real it doesn’t take much to know a man wants you.”

She bit her lip to keep from smiling at his coloring. He was so easy and so fun to bug. Not that she didn’t know he was also dangerous. She had never met a man like Romy Sartori, and after one day under his roof things were getting dicey. She needed to be careful.

“Let’s keep our relationship on a professional level from now on. No kissing, no touching, and definitely no more carrying me around. Deal?” She held out her hand.

He ignored it but nodded. “Deal. Good night, Sonya.”

“Good night, Romy.”

Her heart drummed a tune that said not touching Romy would be close to impossible.

Chapter 7

“We have a ninety-nine percent chance that Arron Crane is your biological son, Mr. Sartori.”

Romy could hardly believe the words the man spoke. Dazed, he glanced over at Sonya who held the baby in her arms. She too seemed taken aback, although he was pretty sure she expected the results to be as they were. He focused on Arron and lost the ability to draw in a breath.

My son!

His knees gave a little, and he staggered to a chair to sit down in case he made a fool of himself. This was too unreal, to hard to believe. Him? Romy Sartori a father? Yet, it was true. Joy sprung up inside him, then anger, fear, and resentment. The feelings he had once held for Charlize were long gone, and the negative ones solidified at the mere thought that she intended to keep Arron from him.

“My son,” he murmured and reached out toward the baby.

Sonya brought him over to Romy, and Romy took his son into his arms. Arron still wasn’t too used to him after only a few days living together, but he would do all in his power to help the baby accept him.

A lump formed in his throat as he stared down at his son. Jeez, was he thinking the word son too much? Who cared? He had a son!

Romy looked up at the attendant. “You’re sure?”

The man nodded. “Yes, sir. The results are all here in these papers. We ran the tests three times as you requested. There’s no mistake about it.”

“Thank you,” Sonya said in a soft voice, and she sat down beside Romy. She hadn’t commented since they got the news, and he wondered what ran through her mind. Relief? Triumph because her scheme worked? Then again, he supposed there couldn’t exactly be a scheme if he was responsible for his boy. Of course he would make sure Arron was taken care of for the rest of his life. Romy would see his lawyer immediately.

“His name will change.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

He didn’t mean to blurt it out, but since he’d said it, she might as well know. “He will be a Sartori in name as well as blood.”

She pressed her lips together, and he caught the defiant tilt to her chin. Romy could guess she thought he would try to take the baby away from her, and he wasn’t ready to soothe her worries just yet. The fact was he would have parental rights.

“You still don’t trust me.”

He ran a hand over Arron’s soft curls, and a lump formed in his throat. After several minutes of trying to clear it away, he spoke. “Whether I trust you or not isn’t an issue.”

“It is for me.”

“Arron will be my heir. He must have my name.”

“You all think too much about your stupid name. Arron is my baby.”

“For now, he’s ours,” he corrected. Again, he kicked himself because he didn’t mean to get into an argument with her. “We’ll talk about it later.”

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