Surprise Delivery(71)

“Because I don’t have many options, Duncan,” I tell him, doing my best to keep the heat out of my voice. “I don’t have a college education, not a lot of skills, and I don’t have a family worth billions to help me through the lean times.”

He looks away, hiding his eyes from me. And in that moment, I get the sense that he’s almost embarrassed by his family’s wealth. But it’s a simple truth. He may be embarrassed by it, and that’s all well and good, but the point holds – if he found himself out of a job tomorrow, he’d still be well taken care of and would want for nothing.

Hell, he doesn’t even have to work now if he doesn’t want to. That he chooses to work – and in the job he does – is a credit to him as a human being. But he doesn’t understand what it’s like to be in my position and he never will, because of who he is and the family he comes from.

“Listen, I know some really great attorneys and –”

I shake my head. “I can’t afford an attorney, Duncan.”

“Good thing I know some guys who love doing pro bono work,” he replies.

“And I’m not really into handouts,” I add. “Listen, I appreciate the offer, but this is my mess to clean up. I’ll handle it.”

“You don’t always need to be so stubborn and independent, you know,” he says gently.

I shrug. “It’s the only way I know how to be.”

There’s a long minute of silence between us. It’s not an uncomfortable silence though. I’d actually call it more – companionable. We just sit there, on opposite ends of the couch, gazing into one another’s eyes. It just feels like there’s so much for us to talk about. So much for us to say to each other. But, neither one of us can seem to find the words at the moment.

“You know,” Duncan says, finally breaking the silence. “Brad paid me a visit at the hospital the other day.”

I feel my face blanch as my eyes grow wide. I can’t even begin to imagine the things Brad told him and the fear of Duncan knowing Aurora is his daughter rises up within me again. I feel my hands trembling and bury them in my lap to keep Duncan from seeing them. On the off chance he doesn’t know, I don’t want to give it away.

“Please tell me you’re kidding,” I say.

“Wish I was.”

“What did he want?” I ask, my voice betraying me by trembling.

Duncan chuckles. “He was simply warning me to stay away from you,” he says.

I groan, though inside, I’m jumping for joy, relieved that’s all it was. “You have got to be joking.”

Duncan shakes his head. “Nope,” he says. “And honestly, at the time, I understood it. When I saw you two on the street that night, I thought the two of you were together.”

“Not in a million years,” I say. “He was supposed to be my friend. Turns out he wanted a lot more than I was willing to give him.”

“Clearly, he didn’t get that memo.”

“Clearly,” I say. “I can’t believe he threatened you.”

Duncan shrugs. “I didn’t take it all that seriously,” he says. “It’s not like I can’t handle myself.”

“I’m sure you can,” I say, feeling a little bit better, though I’m not completely at ease just yet. “Did he say anything else to you?”

He shakes his head. “No, when things started to get tense between us, he backed off and left.”

“Sounds like him.”

Duncan chuckles. “Yeah, he strikes me as the kind of guy who’s more bark than bite.”

“That would be correct.”

We both laugh, and I feel the tension that’s been gripping my body since Duncan walked through the door start evaporating. He doesn’t know. That’s a good thing. I mean, it’s a shitty thing, but it’s a good thing. I just can’t predict what he’s going to do, so I need to make sure my own backside is covered. Which means protecting my daughter at all costs.

“Can I ask you a personal question?” Duncan asks, his eyes boring into mine.

“Sure.”

“Who is Aurora’s father?” he asks. “I mean, at the gala where we met, I was under the impression that you weren’t seeing anybody. Or that –”

I feel the heat flaring in my cheeks. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I really don’t want to talk about that right now.”

He looks at me for a beat, then nods. “Okay. I’m sorry, I won’t pry.”

I expected the mood between us to sour after I shut him down, but it doesn’t. Instead, things stay surprisingly light and the conversation between us flows freely. We talk about everything, sharing stories about our lives, and I find that I’m really enjoying learning so much about this man. He’s got so many different facets and things he keeps hidden from most people – things about him I find incredibly attractive. It makes me a little sad for him that he feels he has to hide these pieces of himself from the world. Why he does it, I don’t know. But, the fact that he does it at all, is very sad.

Duncan glances at his watch and frowns. “It’s getting late,” he says as he gets to his feet. “I should probably get going.”

I stand up to see him out, disappointment rolling through me. “Yeah, I guess so.”