I heard a knock at the door and got to my feet. She was here. She was finally here. I felt as though I had been waiting for this for months, even though it had only been a couple of hours since Hunter had left and given me time to prepare for my date. I was cooking a selection of Chinese dishes and had laid out the wine and the candles in an attempt to set the mood. I had no idea if it was coming across as cheesy or romantic, but as long as she was there, I didn’t give a damn.

I went to the door and pulled it open, finding her standing there in a pair of jeans and a light T-shirt that hung off her body in the most perfect way, drawing attention to her delicate collarbones and soft, creamy skin. I wanted to lean forward and take a bite of her, but I figured that might have been a little forward.

“Hey.” She smiled at me, and she leaned forward to plant a soft kiss right on the corner of my mouth. It sent a flood of electricity through my entire body, and it took everything I had in me not to grab her, drag her to the bedroom, and work out all the tension that had been building between us all this time. Instead, I stepped back and gestured for her to come in.

“Man, it smells great in here,” she said as she came through the door. “Are we eating in tonight?”

“Sure are.” I nodded. “I made Chinese food.”

“From scratch?” She raised her eyebrows. I nodded.

“Okay, when are you going to stop being the perfect man?” she asked playfully, tapping me on the arm. The way she was touching me, it was like she couldn’t get enough of me, and I knew exactly how she felt.

She headed through to the living room, and she turned to me and grinned when she saw all I’d laid out for her.

“Trying to seduce me, are you?” she asked, moving against my body, wrapping her arms around my neck. The feel of her next to me like that was almost a relief, a release of tension I’d no idea I’d been holding until that moment.

“Is it working?” I asked, and I moved in to kiss her, brushing my lips lightly against hers, promising her there was far more to come that night if she was open to it.

“Might be,” she murmured as I pulled back, and I noticed a flush to her cheeks that hadn’t been there before. I stepped away from her, heading through to the kitchen to serve up, that heat between us growing so much, we wouldn’t even make it to dinner if I didn’t cut it off.

I brought the selection of plates through, and she raised her eyebrows as I laid them down in front of her.

“You’re going to need to show me how to make all this stuff,” she remarked, grabbing a spring roll and dunking it in the peanut-chili sauce I had made to go with them. She took a bite, closed her eyes, and groaned.

“Oh my God, that’s so good,” she sighed, leaning back in the seat as I poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her. Our fingers touched for the briefest moment, and I found myself looking forward to what was to come the rest of this evening.

We ate and drank our wine and talked for a while about nothing in particular, catching up on what we’d been doing, sharing funny little anecdotes and stories from our week thus far. I enjoyed her company so much, we could have been talking stock projections, and I still would have been having a good time. She was so expressive, waving her arms around as she spoke, her face lighting up when she got onto something she was excited to talk about. She was reading a new book, a piece of journalism she enjoyed, and the way she was speaking about it, she could have earned a pull quote on the back cover.

“Man, this wine is good.” She took another sip and finished off her first glass, and I leaned over to top her up.

“Trying to get me tipsy?” she teased.

“And why would I need to do that?” I replied. She cocked her head to the side and watched me for a moment. I could tell there was something running through her mind, something she wanted to come out and ask me.

“What is it?” I pressed her gently, shifting on the couch so I was fully facing her.

“I just…” She shook her head. “I don’t know if this is too personal. I don’t want to pry.”

“Pry away.” I waved my hand. I was feeling loose myself after the first glass, and besides, I wanted her to know me. That was what dating was for, right?

“Okay.” She furrowed her brow and hesitated a moment before she spoke again.

“I was wondering,” she began slowly, “what happened with Hunter’s mother. Why isn’t she part of your lives? Or is she, and I just don’t know about it?”

“She’s got nothing to do with either of us.” I shook my head. This was a sore spot, but I knew the question was going to come up at one point or another. It was the same question everyone had for me when they first met me, the wondering why I was a single dad, what had happened to Hunter’s mother. Most people assumed I’d been widowed, and sometimes I would let them believe that because delving into the truth was too complicated and too rage-inducing for me to bother with.

“Why did you guys split up?” she asked, and I looked at her—really looked at her, this woman who only wanted the truth from me. She had never asked for anything more than that. She wanted to get to know me better, to understand those things that had driven my life the last few years, and I figured I would have to tell her at some point. A couple of glasses of wine in, hanging out together at home with no one else around, this was as good a time as any.

“She left me not long after Hunter was born.” I sighed deeply. I usually kept these memories locked away, buttoned up so I didn’t have to think about them, and delving into that part of my brain wasn’t the best feeling in the world.

“She told me I would never amount to anything,” I continued, “that I was a loser. Which I was, at the time, but I was also this fucked-up kid who was trying to deal with the fact that I was about to have a damn baby. I was a mess, but she acted like that’s all I was and all I would ever be. Said she didn’t want to stick around after he was born. I think she would have taken him in if I hadn’t been able to cope, but as it was, I wanted to step up and look after him.”

I finished up the second glass of wine, grateful for it taking the edge off the difficulty of this conversation.

“I thought, well, she’s flaky enough to walk out on me, so what would she do if she decided Hunter wasn’t worthy of her either?” I explained. “So I took him. I insisted on it. I think she was relieved, more than anything, because she didn’t have to worry about being a mother. She was young—we both were—and I don’t think she was ready to raise a kid. I mean, I wasn’t either, but I don’t think she was capable of it, so it fell to me instead.”

“Oh my God.” Autumn shook her head. “I had no idea it went down like that. I’m so sorry.”

“No, it was for the best in the long run.” I shrugged. “I don’t think the two of us would have stuck it out for any length of time anyway. She could be a massive bitch, and I didn’t like the way she was with my friends, so I really believe we would have moved on from each other. I think whenever that happened, she would have used it as an excuse to get out of Hunter’s life.”

“Jesus, she sounds like a nightmare,” Autumn muttered, and I could see the anger in her eyes. “Just leaving you and Hunter like that…”

“That wasn’t the bit that really got me,” I confessed. “I mean, yeah, it was fucking hard raising that boy all by myself, but I loved him the moment I set eyes on him. I was all the way in from the second he was born. It was… it was that she told me I was a loser and that I’d never amount to anything. That was the part that fucking stung.”

I trailed my finger around the top of my glass and sighed, shaking my head.

“I started the business not long after she left,” I continued. “I was so determined to prove to her I wasn’t what she thought I was. I guess it worked out for me in the long run because it took off, and Hunter’s turned out pretty all right, and she’s still far away somewhere at the other end of the country.”

“I think you won that breakup.” Autumn smiled at me, leaning over to touch my knee. “I’m still sorry, though. That’s an awful way to be treated by someone you’re having a baby with.”

“Hey, it’s not the worst breakup I’ve ever heard of.” I shrugged. “And I wouldn’t be where I was today if I hadn’t tried to prove a point to that woman, so I guess I’ve got something to thank her for, at least.”

“Guess so,” Autumn echoed, and she eyed me from her end of the couch.

“What is it?” I asked again. Whatever it was, I knew it would be easier to talk about than what I had shared with her.

“I can’t believe she would look at you and see a loser,” she replied. “I know… hell, I know you were probably different then, but I can’t think of any word less suited to you.”

“Oh, no?” I cocked my head at her. Sure, I was looking for an ego boost, but that was all right, all things considered, given that I’d shared the most painful part of my life with her.

“Oh, no.” She put her glass of wine down and moved toward me. She ran her hand over my chest, letting her fingers slip under my shirt and against my bare skin. “Anything but.”

Our faces were so close, I could almost taste her and suddenly I couldn’t take it anymore. I pushed toward her, grabbing her and lifting her onto my lap, and pressed my mouth to hers.

The connection was a release of tension. I’d never felt this kind of need for someone, not just desire but a stone-cold need for them. The way her body rocked against mine, the way her hands seemed hungry for me as they ran through my hair and over my neck and down my arms, I had been starving for it all this time. I pushed my tongue deep into her mouth, and she moaned softly, stroking my hair gently, twirling strands around her fingers and tugging lightly. The sensations charged out over my entire body, waking up every inch of me again.

“Mmm,” she moaned softly, smiling as she pulled away. Her hands moved down and between my legs, finding my swiftly growing erection. A smile curled on her face as she found me, and she kissed me on the corner of my mouth as she had done when she’d first arrived.

“Now, what do we have here?” she breathed in my ear, and I closed my eyes and let her take control. It was what I needed and, most of all, what she wanted.