Baiting Him (How to Catch an Alpha #2)(28)

“Okay,” she breathes as her hands move up my sides, then come to rest against my chest. “I just feel bad that you’re here with me instead of focusing on your business.”

“Do I look like I’m annoyed that I get the opportunity to spend time with you?”

“Well . . .” She studies my face for a moment before answering. “No.”

“That’s because I’m not,” I tell her, brushing my lips against hers before I lean back. “Now, as I mentioned, we have forty minutes before your pizza gets here, so it’s up to you how we spend that time.”

“What are my options?” she asks as she glances quickly at my mouth, and I fight back a smile.

“We can either make out”—I touch my lips to hers again, because I can’t help myself—“or we can talk about what happened earlier?”

“Make out,” she replies instantly, with her voice pitching higher.

I slide my fingers down the side of her face and gentle my tone. “I know that man was your dad and that the woman with him was his wife.” Her fingers dig into my flesh as I speak. “You can talk to me, sweetheart.”

Her eyes narrow slightly. “Your options weren’t really options, were they?”

“What did he say to you?”

“Nothing.” She shakes her head.

“Chrissie.” I sigh in disappointment.

“No, I mean he didn’t say anything. He didn’t even notice me when I saw him in the market. His attention was focused on her like she was his whole world. A bomb could have gone off, and neither of them would have noticed.” She closes her eyes, but I see the tears she’s trying to hide. “He looked happy. All the years growing up with him, I don’t remember him ever looking that happy, and I don’t know how I never noticed before.”

“That caught you off guard, so you ran?” I question, sliding my thumb across her cheek as a single tear slides from underneath her lashes. I capture it on my thumb before she nods, keeping her eyes closed.

“I was . . .” She drags in a shaky breath, then opens her eyes to peer at me. “I had to get away. I couldn’t face him. I couldn’t face the two of them together.”

Seeing the stark pain in her eyes brings the anger I felt earlier back to the surface, and I have the overwhelming urge to hunt down her father and demand answers for his behavior. Having spent years with my mother and my father, I understand better than most that things don’t always work out between parents. But no kid, no matter their age, should ever question their parents’ love for them.

“You shouldn’t have had to be faced with the two of them like that, baby. Your father should have been man enough to contact you and explain things when he decided he was going to leave your mom.”

Her expression changes, and I know she’s going to defend him. I know, because that’s what you do when you love someone: you defend them, even if you know they’re in the wrong, and even when you’re in pain because of them.

I place my thumb over her lips to keep her quiet and continue. “Even if it would be difficult for him to do, he should have talked to you and your brother and let you each decide how things would eventually play out. He didn’t do that. He took the easy way out. He’s let you be and continued on with his life.”

“It’s not like I was a child living at home,” she states behind my thumb, and I dip my face closer to hers.

“You’re right; you’re not a child. You’re old enough to understand life, and if he’d given you the opportunity, you could have decided whether or not you’d be comfortable having a relationship with him and the woman he married. You also would have been prepared to see the two of them together, and you wouldn’t have been caught off guard.”

“I guess you’re right,” she agrees, sounding annoyed while looking away.

My fingers flex against her cheek, and her eyes come back to mine. “I’m right, sweetheart, and unless he moved to another state, he had to know what happened today was inevitable. Eventually, you’d be in the same place as him and his wife and have to deal with them.”

“You’re right,” she agrees after a few seconds. “I never imagined what would happen when I saw the two of them together. In my head, they were a couple but didn’t really exist before I witnessed just how much they mean to each other.”

“I think, baby,” I start gently, “you need to reconnect with your dad. I know it’s not going to be easy, especially after today, but it needs to happen. You live in the same town. I have no doubt you’ll see him or her again—honestly, I’m surprised that this is the first time you’ve seen him. I don’t want you to be caught off guard like that again.”

“You’re right.” At her agreement, some of the anxiety leaves my chest, and I’m finally able to relax. She adds, “Maybe I’ll call him and see if he’s willing to talk to me without her. If he is, I’ll see how things go and move forward from there.”

“Good, baby, but you should know that no matter what happens, I’ll be here to help you sort things out.”

Her expression becomes gentle, and then she lifts up to touch her mouth to mine. When she leans back, there’s a smile on her face I can’t read. I just know in my gut it’s good. “Thank you for showing up when you did.”