Page 75 of One Unexpected Gift

She was just another Trish. Another way for him to try to redeem himself and not be a selfish person. In the end, he’d begrudge her and Gabby as much as he begrudged his ex-wife.

“You are the worst kind of asshole.” She pushed past him with her shoulder and whipped her car door open.

“Baby.”

Whirling around, she poked the air with her fist instead of touching him. “Don’t Baby me, Nick. Using me like you did Trish pisses me off, but using my daughter as leverage? That’s a line you shouldn’t have crossed.”

Nick squeezed the sides of his head with his hands. She didn’t care if he had a headache. She hoped he had one. The worst he’d ever experienced causing him to curl in a ball on the side of the road and puke.

“This is coming out wrong.”

“Really? How exactly did you expect me to take the fact that you’re using my daughter? Look how this worked out for you the first time. You lost your wife to another man. Who’s to say you won’t lose Gabby to another as well?”

It was a low blow, but he hurt her. Offended her. Destroyed her. If she didn’t like him so much, if she didn’t have feelings for him, she wouldn’t have cared as much.

Nick’s jaw dropped and he stumbled backwards. His eyes, wide with shock, glistened with... tears. He twisted his head to the side in slow motion, as if she’d slapped him, and then covered his face with both hands.

“Don’t take my daughter away from me, Skylar,” he pleaded, his words barely audible. “I didn’t mean... I didn’t think...”

Nick dropped his hands and paced the space in front of them as Skylar had done a few minutes ago. He clasped his hands behind his neck and rocked while he mumbled to himself. She could only make out a few of his words.

Stupid. Screw up. Not good enough. Don’t deserve.

He was in mental anguish, and she wouldn’t have cared too much if she hadn’t seen the tears streaming down both cheeks. He turned from her and lifted his shirt, wiping his face. She watched his shoulders lift as if he was taking deep, calming breaths.

When he turned, the sparkle, the smile, the confidence she’d grown to love were stripped away. “I am truly, truly sorry, Skylar. I hadn’t thought about what I was doing from your perspective. I mean no disrespect to you or our daughter. I love... Gabriella. I’ll do anything for her. I never meant for her to be a... ploy. A tool. I screwed up. Big time. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

There had been apologies from men before. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Sorry, I didn’t know we were exclusive. But none had ever been so... raw. So honest. He didn’t make excuses for his behavior and completely owned up to it. While it still hurt, she curled her lips into her mouth to stop her own tears and nodded.

“I don’t deserve your forgiveness,” he continued. “I hadn’t thought about my proposal stunt until just now. That night, I was miserable. Trish and I had been fighting, as always. She wanted me to settle down, I didn’t want to. Holden was gloating and had a smart, beautiful girlfriend who was a goddess in the kitchen and made my mother her favorite arroz con leche. Trish had never done anything for my mom, and I was jealous of my brother’s girlfriend. I used Trish that night. I didn’t care. And the irony of it all, my mother’s reaction wasn’t the best. She raised her eyebrow at the both of us and said, ‘This is a surprise.’ I lost a lot that night. I’m not proud of the person I was. I promise you, Skylar, I’m not him anymore.”

Still afraid to speak, she nodded again. Nick was the most open, honest man she’d ever met, and she believed his apology. Believed he hadn’t meant it the way it had come out. While not the smartest move, he owned up to his mistakes, and for this, she loved him.

Yeah, she loved him, which made this whole situation so much harder. She wanted to be on the receiving end of a surprise proposal.

Woah. Where did that come from? She needed to get her head back in the game.

“Okay. We’ll chop this up as not thinking things through and move on.” Better to blow it off than to explore these deep feelings that were surfacing.

“Tell me what you want me to do.” He shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and dropped his shoulders like a school boy being reprimanded by his teacher.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“When we get to my parent’s house. We don’t have to tell them Gabriella is mine. Not today. You’re right. Surprising them like this may not be the best idea. I can invite them to the house next week and we can–”

“No.” She put on her brave face. “If your mother is as wonderful as you say, she deserves to find out she’s a grandmother on her birthday.”

The corner of Nick’s lip lifted. Not as high as it did when he was about to say something sexy, but lifted, nonetheless.

“Technically, tomorrow is her birthday. Are you saying you want to string her along until then?”

“No. We’ll tell her today. Now. Let’s go. She’s probably waiting on the front porch for you like a puppy dog anxious to learn about the lady friend you said you were bringing.”

“You’ve described my mother perfectly.”

Skylar slid into the front seat and fastened her seat belt. When Nick was behind the wheel again, he gave her a soft smile. “Thank you for being so forgiving. It was an asshole move. I have a lot of making up to do.”

“Well,” she raised a brow at him, “I can think of a few ways.” Not elaborating, she lifted her chin in the air and stared out the front window. She needed to bring the teasing back into their relationship before meeting his parents.

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