Page 7 of Secret Baby for Mr. Grump

Caleb was Marcus’ son.

However, neither of them knew this.

I hadn’t meant to keep his identity a secret from Marcus. I found out I was pregnant after he left town, and there was no way to reach him.

He didn’t leave a phone number, and his mother wasn’t forthcoming with any details about his whereabouts either. I was pretty sure the woman hated me, but that was beside the point. Bottom line, I couldn’t find Marcus, so I never told him that the night we shared produced one of the most beautiful treasures in my life.

But now that Marcus was back in town, he had a right to know that he’d fathered a child. And Caleb should know his real father too.

And this was a perfect opportunity to tell him, right here on this date.

I tried to tell myself that was the reason I agreed to see Marcus again, not for the fact that my heart was racing a mile a minute at the residual feeling of that spontaneous hug.

Jeez, I must be a giant pervert because just having him press his strong, hard body against mine was enough to send my libido through the roof. My nipples had hardened, and I was glad that there were several layers of fabric shielding them. Not to mention the slight tingling between my legs.

All from a hug.

It was probably because it’d been a long time since I slept with or even been sexually attracted to a man. The last time I attempted sex was the disastrous night with Ken—my ex-husband—when I tried to see if our marriage of convenience could be turned into something more.

But while I loved Ken with all my heart, and we got along well in most aspects of life, kissing him felt like kissing my brother. We’d immediately called it off altogether and decided to dissolve the marriage.

That was two years ago, and it was the last sexual encounter I could remember.

Ken’s hesitant touch hadn’t made me feel even half of what Marcus did today with just a hug and a dark look.

And as much as I tried to tell myself that everything today was for Caleb, it didn’t explain why I had changed my outfit three times already with butterflies in my stomach.

“I need to tell him about Caleb,” I told Athena. “But before I do that, I want to make sure he understands that I never tried to purposefully hide it from him.”

“You also need to make sure thatyouunderstand what kind of man he is,” Athena warned, her eyes knowing. “Because once you let that cat out of the bag, it can’t be reined back in.”

“I know that, Athena. But Marcus is not the kind of guy you think he is.”

Athena was the only other person besides Ken who knew about Caleb’s true paternity. She was against me telling Marcus the truth, though. Unlike some people in town, she didn’t necessarily think he was a murderer, but she hadn’t approved of our friendship, believing he was far too old for me. It was funny because Marcus had pushed me away for the very same reason. He’d told me that due to our age difference, we could never be anything more than friends.

I had a feeling that Marcus and my sister would get along if they ever got to actually talk.

But Athena also didn’t like that Marcus was the silent, mysterious type who stayed away from people as much as possible, never attending any town meetings or events. She thought his reclusive nature was suspicious. I understood that, but she didn’t know him the way I did. His gruff exterior was simply a defense mechanism against how everyone treated him. On the inside, he was just a gentle soul who couldn’t hurt a fly. But some people believed that since he was big and bulky, he was capable of beating a man to death.

Ridiculous.

As I had that thought, we both heard the low hum of a truck pulling into the driveway.

We glanced out at the same time to see the rust-brown RAM parking. My heartbeat accelerated.He’s here.

I glanced at myself in the mirror, figuring the black number would have to do. I felt ridiculous for changing so many times, but I was nervous. This would be our first official date…or at least our first date-like event.

I didn’t want to look bad.

I smoothened out the skirt of the dress, my stomach in knots.

Then I awkwardly patted my dress down, pulled off some imaginary lint, and took a deep breath.

“Be careful,” Athena warned, following me down the stairs toward the door. “Watch out for his behavior traits. Make sure he’s exactly who you think he is. If you’re wrong, it won’t just be you who suffers. It will be Caleb as well. You’ll be ripping away his knowledge of the only father he knew, Ken, and replacing it with Marcus.”

“No one is replacing anyone,” I assured her. I would never think to tell my son to forget his love for his stepfather. I knew Ken loved Caleb even though he’d been kind of awkward with the whole fatherhood thing. He never knew his dad, either.“I’ll be careful,” I added, even though her lack of trust in me slightly stung. I knew it came from a good place. Athena was trying to look out for Caleb and me as well. I reached out and hugged her.

“Thank you,” I told her. “For everything.”

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