Meet Cute(89)

“There’s no way she’ll get custody now, not with all of this and that recording.”

“I wouldn’t have figured this out without you.”

“You would’ve, it may have taken longer, but you would’ve found all of this eventually and put it together.” She squeezes my forearm. “I just want Emme to be where she belongs, Dax, and that’s with you.”

She seems so sincere, but it’s hard not to wonder how much of this is her wanting to help and her still working the partner angle. “Is that all you want?”

She regards me uncertainly. “What do you mean?”

“How much of this”—I tap the printed emails and glance down at her hand, still on my arm, keeping us connected, which I’ve missed over the weeks since I’ve seen her—“is to get you closer to your partnership? I don’t know what’s real and what’s not with you, Kailyn. I don’t know if I can trust your motivation for helping me.”

Kailyn drops her hand to her lap and focuses there for a few seconds. “I know I broke your trust when you were in a vulnerable position and that earning it back won’t be easy, but know that everything I’m doing right now is because I want what’s best for you and Emme, and that’s for you to have each other.”

She takes a deep breath. “I admit that when Beverly presented me with the offer for partner, I took you on as a challenge. I had a very different opinion of who you were. I also wanted to make sure that Emme wasn’t being taken advantage of. I had no idea what your reasons were, if you were just after Emme’s money like Linda so clearly is.” Kailyn meets my gaze with an imploring one of her own. “The first few years of my life weren’t good, Dax. Thankfully, I don’t have a lot of memories, but the ones I do have are the reason I’m here fighting for Emme to stay with you. I want you to know that the partnership stopped being a factor when I realized how hard you were trying to do what was best for Emme.”

“And when was that, exactly?”

“When you called me from CVS.” She smiles a little, maybe at the memory. “That’s when I saw the real you.”





Chapter Twenty-Six





Amends


Kailyn



I will him to say something, anything that will let me know forgiveness is possible.

Confirmation comes in the form of his mouth crashing down on mine. For a moment I’m frozen and stunned, but my body seems to know exactly what to do even if my brain takes a few seconds to catch up.

Dax drags me out of my chair and pulls me up against his body, tongue stroking inside my mouth, arms wrapped around me. There’s no place I feel safer than where I am right now. And I know that giving up the partnership was the right thing to do if it means I get to have this man instead.

We have the wherewithal to make it to the bedroom before we’re frantically undressing. We collide with need and want, apologies given and accepted through touch. And when he’s finally inside me again, the ache that’s been weighing down my heart finally dissolves.





“Dax! Are you up? I’m leaving for school in, like, fifteen, and the house doesn’t smell like coffee!”

I bolt upright, the covers dropping to my waist. I mouth shit while Dax blinks blearily, confusion turning to heat as he takes in my bare breasts.

He clears his throat and calls out, “Be right down!”

A long silence follows before she finally replies, “’Kay.” A few seconds later her bedroom door closes.

Dax gives my bare breast a squeeze. I smack his hand, my nipple already perking up from the attention. “What the hell am I going to do?”

“Uh, maybe there’s still something of my mom’s in the back of the closet? I know Emme missed a few things when we cleaned everything out. We can pretend like you showed up this morning?” It’s more question than plan, but it’s a whole hell of a lot better than the alternative.

I find a plain black dress that’s about two decades old and close to my size. I guess it could be considered retro. I shimmy into it. It’s tight at the hips, and the hem falls below my knees since his mom was several inches taller than me.

I finger comb my hair because Dax doesn’t have a brush. I still have sleep lines on my face, but there’s nothing I can do about that. I follow Dax to the kitchen. Thankfully, Emme is still in her room, so I’m able sit my ass down at the island and calm my breathing.

Dax is all smiles as he goes about making coffee. I don’t know how he can be so calm when it feels like my heart is going to slam out of my chest. The bag of doughnuts I picked up on my way over last night helps make our charade look more authentic, minus the fact that there’s no coffee to go with it. It’s not that I have an issue with Emme knowing that Dax and I are talking again, it’s her finding out because I’ve just walked out of Dax’s bedroom with a serious case of post-sleepover sex hair.

Dax passes me a cup of coffee just as Emme appears. She shrieks and rushes over, throwing her arms around me. “Oh, hi! I didn’t hear the doorbell ring!”

“Dax and I have a meeting this morning. We thought we’d go together.”

She releases me and steps back, panicked gaze darting between Dax and me. “What kind of meeting?”