Page 50 of Enemy Ex's Secret Baby

I swallow a bite of cookie, hoping the gulp isn’t terribly loud. If that isn’t confirmation of what I’ve been wondering, I don’t know what is. Like I said, Stella knows how to bring the best out in people. I don’t know if she’s real proof that I am any good with children.

However, hearing Lola say that…it ignites a want that’s always been there in the background, smoldering as it waits to be acknowledged.

I’ve been pretending all these years that I’d be fine to live my life as a playboy. Working my ass off to keep growing the family business, not stopping to worry about the actual family aspect. What would be the point of living a life for a business when it can’t love you back? It can’t give you a hug or ask you about your day. Can’t make you feel wanted or needed without also making you feel like you’re just a part of the machine.

Before I can respond to Lola, Gillian walks through the front door.

In an instant, everything clicks into place.

My greatest goal in life is no longer power and success. It’s love and family.

And I think I want it with Gillian.

17

GILLIAN

I know something is up when I see Axel’s car parked outside the bakery. How is it that I leave for just a couple hours and somehow, he shows up out of the blue? This guy is haunting me.

As I walk up to the front door, I spy Axel through the window sitting next to Stella. My heart races. What the fuck is he doing?

They’re smiling. Laughing. It triggers something inside me, an intense swell of emotion I don’t know how to describe. All I know is I need to get Stella away from him because she is mine and I’m not going to let him hurt her too.

I rush inside, ignoring the chorus of hellos, and scoop Stella up into my arms, hugging her tightly. Axel is staring at me with confusion, and I suddenly realize that in my blind rage, I didn’t even see Lola sitting at the table too.

I look like a freak.

“Hi baby…” I say breathlessly, trying to modulate the tension. “How was your day?”

“Mommy, you’re squeezing too tight,” Stella peeps.

I release my grip, but don’t put her down. “Sorry, I just…missed you today.”

Stella examines my face, green eyes probing my expression for the truth.

“What are…” I look at Axel. “What are you doing here?”

He swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “I was–”

“He was helping me out,” Lola explains quickly. “Amy came by to drop Stella off, and we were absolutely swamped with cyclists.”

I frown. “Cyclists?”

“They were using the bakery as a twenty-mile marker, so we were just swarmed. I couldn’t step away and–”

“Amy had a meeting with her editor,” Axel blurts. “And I offered to sit with Stella until Lola was finished up and then, you know, one thing led to another and–”

I shoot laser eyes at him. “One thing led to another” is an expression reserved for accidentally fucking his sister’s best friend, not hanging out with my daughter.

Axel gets the hint. “We were having a nice time, that’s all.”

“Yeah, Mommy,” Stella says adamantly. “We were coloring together.”

My vision finally clears completely and I see the table littered with crumbs and crayons. Two plates with half-eaten cookies. In the center is Stella’s big coloring book. “You two made a lot of headway on that one, huh?” I ask, cracking a smile even though I’m still on high alert.

“Yes, Axel is very good at coloring inside the lines,” Stella says with a nod.

“Well. Great,” I reply. What the hell else am I supposed to say when I tore in here like a bat out of hell and basically stared Axel down as if he was luring my daughter into an unmarked white van with candy? He was taking care of her. Watching her. But somehow that doesn’t make me feel better at all. The longer he spends with her, the sooner I think he’s going to see the truth. How can he not see it?

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