A Lie for a Lie (All In, #1)(71)

Lainey nods and bites her bottom lip. “Where’s your bedroom?”

“I’m actually connected to Kody’s room too, through the closet.” It was a design feature I didn’t understand at first. But I realized later that the guest bedroom I’d planned for Lainey to stay in was actually meant to be a nanny suite. I take Lainey through the walk-in closet full of new clothes for Kody to the door on the other side, which takes us to my bedroom.

She crosses over to the bed, which is exactly like the one from the cabin in Alaska. Even the comforter is the same. She runs her hand along the edge of the footboard. “What if . . . I want to stay in here instead?”

“I can take the other room if this is what you prefer.”

She glances over her shoulder, lip caught between her teeth, looking shy and nervous. “No. I mean, what if I want to stay in here with you?”

I bridge the gap between us and wrap her up in my arms. “I missed you every day for more than a year. I missed the smell of your shampoo, the way you feel in my arms, the sound of your voice, the softness of your skin—and even though your dad might kill me if you stay in here with me, I’m willing to take that risk.”

Lainey chuckles. “I’m a twenty-six-year-old woman—and a mother. I think we all know I’m not the innocent little girl he would like to pretend I still am. And I’ve missed the way my heart feels when you’re close to me—so please, be careful with it this time around.”

Despite the fact that Lainey might still be a little on the right side of fluish, when she tips her head back and her gaze settles on my mouth, I dip down with the intention of kissing her.

She turns her head a few inches so I make contact with the corner of her mouth. “I don’t want to make you sick.”

“My immune system is stacked—I’ll chug a bottle of vitamin C and chase it with hand sanitizer if I need to.”

Before I can make a move to kiss her properly, Kody lets out a loud cry.

Figures I end up cockblocked by my own son. “I’ll get him—you lie down.”

“What about my parents?”

“I can handle entertaining them. You need rest, and they’ll want to visit with Kody.” I make an adjustment in my pants on the way to Kody’s room. I close the door behind me so Lainey has some quiet and enter the nursery at the same time as her dad. He reaches the crib before I can and picks up Kody. “Where’s Lainey?”

“Taking a nap. The flu took a lot out of her.”

He nods and looks around the room. “This is, uh . . . an expensive-looking room for an infant.”

Kody keeps crying—not loudly, but still squawking all the same. I want to take him, but I don’t want to deprive his grandfather of the opportunity to soothe him either. It’s definitely not an easy situation to navigate. “Maybe we should take Kody downstairs. I don’t want to disturb Lainey.”

Simon follows me to the main floor. I’m not 100 percent on what all of Kody’s different cries mean, like Lainey seems to be, but I can tell by the way he’s bopping his face on Simon’s shoulder that he’s probably hungry. I root around in the baby bag until I find one of the bottles packed in the separate cooler space and put the spare in the fridge.

Simon frowns. “I thought Lainey was breastfeeding.”

“She is, but she pumps so he can have bottles when he’s at his day care. It also means I can be involved in feeding him and she can have a break when she needs it.”

I offer him the bottle, but he shakes his head. “I never really got the hang of that.”

“Doesn’t hurt to give it a shot, though, does it?”

After a short stare down, he allows me to show him how to hold Kody so he can feed him. I’m a little annoyed when he takes the bottle without a problem, mostly because I want an opportunity to show Simon I’m good for more than just my bank account and my sperm donation.

“I can’t believe Lainey’s already working again. She should be raising Kody, not some day care provider.” He adjusts his hold on Kody and shoots me a pointed glare.

I maintain eye contact, aware that looking away would be like backing down with a bear. “She likes her job.” At least that’s the impression I’ve gotten from her. I don’t see why she’d move across the country and take a position like this if she didn’t want to. Or maybe she felt it was the only option.

“If she came back to Washington, she could just stay at home and she’d have our help. She wouldn’t need to work.” He scans the living room, eyes bouncing over the expensive electronics, the leather furniture, and the hockey-themed art before they settle on me again, cold and accusatory. “I did a little research on you, son—you’re making more than enough to support them both, so the question is, why aren’t you?”

I knew this conversation was imminent, and I tried to prepare myself for it, but I’m not sure I quite understood the wrath of an angry father until now. “We’re just getting reacquainted, and if I know anything about your daughter, it’s that she’s not very fond of feeling like she’s being taken care of or like she’s being forced into situations that are out of her control. So I’m doing everything I can, and everything she’ll allow, to involve myself in raising Kody.” I fight to keep my hands at my sides and not give away my nervousness by jamming them into my pockets.