“I can’t believe you’re doing this. You’ve officially lost your mind, babe. I’m considering have you committed.”

I peeked through my rearview mirror to make sure Liddy was still asleep and couldn’t hear Corrine’s voice through the car’s Bluetooth. After stopping at the apartment to check on progress, I’d found that Garrett had kept his word. The place looked like it had been empty for ages, and with all our stuff gone, I was able to see that it really was in bad shape. We’d swung by the management office to drop off the keys before heading to our new home—aka my new nightmare—and I’d been hit with another surprise when the landlord informed me that the remainder of what I owed on my lease had been paid. Thanks to Garrett, I owed nothing. I was scot-free to leave the only place Liddy and I had ever lived together.

I came to a stop at a red light and let out a frustrated breath. “You think I don’t know that? Temporary insanity is the only logical explanation for why I agreed to this. But even you have to admit that complex isn’t exactly the nicest.”

She went silent for several seconds, and I knew she knew I was right. “True,” she relented.

“She misses him, Corrine,” I said in a soft voice. The light changed and I pressed down on the accelerator. “My relationship with him might be sketchy, but he means the world to Liddy. And he’s had a shitty way of expressing it these past three years, but she means the world to him too.”

“So you actually believed him when he said he wanted to do better by her?”

I understood the skepticism in her tone because I was struggling with it as well. “Maybe it makes me an idiot, but I really did, Corr. I’ve never seen him look so genuine before. It was… unsettling.”

Her derisive snort reverberated through the line. “I bet.”

We were almost at Garrett’s when Liddy began to stir in the back seat. “Look, we’re almost there and she’s starting to wake up. I’ll give you a call later when we’re settled in.”

“All right, babe. I love you. Just… be careful, okay?”

“I will. I promise. Love you too.” I hit the button on the steering wheel and disconnected the call as I turned onto Garrett’s street.

“Mommy, are we almost there?”

“Yeah, baby.” I gave her a shaky smile in the rearview mirror. The drive for the mansion came into view, sending a spike of nervous energy through my body. And it wasn’t just the fact that I’d be sharing breathing space with a man who made me jittery and insane for the foreseeable future that made me nervous.

Since Liddy was so young, Garrett hadn’t had overnight visitation yet. And to keep reporters and photographers from getting suspicious, most visitation took place in hotels so the band’s security team could better control the environment. The last time she’d been to Garrett’s house, she’d just turned two and napped through a large portion of that visit, so she wouldn’t remember much about it. A large part of me feared that Liddy would grow to love all the things that came with living with Garrett—things I’d never be able to afford to give her on my own.

When we rounded a curve in the drive, coming to a stop in front of the huge house, Liddy sucked in a sharp inhale of excitement at the sight of it, sending a pang of jealousy straight through my heart. It was irrational, but I couldn’t help it. “Wow,” she breathed, awe filling her little voice. “It’s like a princess castle! Are we gonna live here?”

“Yeah, monkey. This is where we’re going to live.” Resentment gnawed at my gut. I wanted to give my little monkey everything she wanted, but out of both her parents, Garrett was the only one with the means to do that. And no matter how childish it seemed, I wanted to be her favorite. Knowing that living in this grand house could possibly sway that made me feel like absolute shit. I hated myself for feeling like it was a competition between Garrett and me for Liddy’s affection, but no matter how much I tried to rationalize with myself, I couldn’t let go of that immature, adolescent mindset.

“It’s so pretty!” she shouted in glee while I threw the car in Park. “Ian! Ian! Mommy, look! It’s Ian!”

I turned and saw Ian come out the front door and head toward my car. “I see that, monkey.” I shut off the ignition, unbuckled, and climbed out. By the time I made it around to Liddy’s door, Ian was already there, pulling it open.

“Hi, Ian!”

“Hey there, precious.” He grinned down at my daughter before scooping her out of her car seat and hefting her up, tossing her in the air until she squealed in delight. He finally settled her against his big barrel chest for a hug, then put her on her feet. I opened my mouth to greet him, but the words hung unspoken when the sound of the front door opening again caught my attention and Garrett came sauntering out. I quickly snapped my mouth closed before I could make a fool of myself and drool at the sight of him.

Liddy spotted him a second later and went running across the drive, throwing herself into his arms. He caught her effortlessly, those strong, tattooed arms flexing and rippling as he curled her into him. “Hey, munchkin! Welcome home.”

“Hi, Daddy! I wanna see my room!”

It was just like Liddy to eschew proper decorum when it came to greetings. “Your daddy only just moved us in, monkey. I doubt your room’s done up yet.”

“Tell you what, kiddo,” Garrett started before she had a chance to pout. “It’s been a while since you’ve been here. How ’bout Ian takes you on a tour while I talk to your mom?”

Crap. I needed Ian and Liddy as a buffer between Garrett and me, but I couldn’t exactly say that out loud. Instead, I lifted my hand in a pathetic wave as Ian led my skipping, singing daughter into our new home.

I shifted from foot to foot, unable to meet his eyes. I felt like a goddamned adolescent with her first crush whenever I was around him.

“Come on,” he said, reaching out and grabbing my hand. Bolts of electricity shot through me at just that simple touch. “I’ll show you around.”

I barely had time to set the locks on my car as he all but dragged me into the house.

“There’s a space in the garage for you to park. I’ll get you an opener for the door so you can park there when you get home from work tomorrow,” he explained, shutting the front door behind us with a resounding click. Unaware—or maybe unconcerned—of the war swirling around inside of me, he kept talking like everything was copacetic. “Your furniture was kinda trashed, but I didn’t want to just throw it out without talking to you, so I got a storage locker for the stuff I didn’t bring here.”

I planted my feet and tugged on the hand he was holding, bringing him to a stop. “You… you didn’t have to do that,” I said. “I’ll pay you back. I prom—”

His fingers tightened around mine and he jerked hard enough to send my body flying into his before I had a chance to finish my sentence. He twined his free arm around my waist, holding me tight as he released his hold on my hand and placed his fingers beneath my chin, tipping my face up to his. “You won’t pay for shit,” he murmured, his green eyes so piercing he stole the breath from my lungs. “You’ve been taking care of Liddy on your own for three years. I’m stepping up to the plate. It’s the least I can do for not being there all this time.”

God, he was killing me. That Teflon-coated shield I used to protect myself took another serious blow in the face of Garrett’s sincerity. “You’re kind of freaking me out,” I whispered. My breathing escalated at the same time my heart began beating a frantic staccato against my ribs.

“Why?”

“I’m not used to you being nice to me,” I answered honestly. “I don’t know how to deal. Can’t you just go back to being your normal egotistical self? At least I know how to deal with that guy.”

His lips tilted up in a grin that pulled my attention from his eyes to his lush, inviting lips. I stood in silence for what felt like an eternity, and I could have sworn he was just moments away from closing the distance and kissing me when a voice akin to nails on a chalkboard penetrated my senses and shattered the moment into a million pieces.

“Well isn’t this a cozy sight.”

Fucking Kimber. My head shot to the side and I narrowed my eyes in a hateful glare. I’d have given anything to have the power to melt the skin off her bitchy face.

I quickly pulled out of Garrett’s hold and put some much-needed space between us. His expression went from soft to granite in a second. The interruption and my movement seemed to piss him off, and from the look on his face as he stared Kimber down, that anger was pointed directly at her.

“What the fuck, Kimber?” Garrett growled. I turned back to him and saw him clenching his fists at his sides. “What are you doin’ here? I told you to stay the fuck away for a while.” That statement surprised me, and my gaze pinged back and forth between them like I was watching a tennis match. “After that bullshit you and Chris pulled with Liddy’s surgery, you’re lucky I didn’t can your ass, so don’t push your luck.”

Her demeanor went from steely to saccharine sweet in one breath. “I know, that’s why I’m here. I came to apologize to Gwen.” The lying heifer turned to me. “I’m so sorry about that. I can’t believe I forgot something so important.”

Oh, I could believe it. And there was no convincing me that it had been a simple excuse of forgetfulness. The bitch had done it on purpose.

I gave her a withering smile and then disregarded her completely, looking back at Garrett. “I’m going to unpack our things.”

“If you just hang on, I’ll help—”

“No worries,” I interrupted. “You obviously have”—I waved my hand between him and Kimber—“stuff to deal with. If you’ll just tell me where our rooms are, I’ll take care of it myself.”

He looked like he wanted to keep arguing, but finally thought better of it. “Liddy’s on the second floor at the end of the hall on the right. You’re right across from me,” he answered, a knowing gleam in his eye as he continued, “I’m sure you remember where mine is, yeah? Especially with how many hours you spent in it.”

The fucker. I narrowed my eyes into angry slits. “I’m sure I can find my way,” I sneered. Then I turned and stomped away, wanting to escape the both of them.

I might have hated Kimber with every fiber of my being, but her timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Her unwanted arrival saved me from making an epic mistake.

I took the stairs two at a time, moving fast until I made it to the room Garrett indicated was mine. Once there, I closed the door and fell against it, eyes closed. After I got control of myself, I worked on rebuilding the shield that felt more and more pointless the longer I spent with Garrett.

When I finally peeled my eyes open, I sucked in a surprised gasp at what I saw. I’d been expecting boxes stacked all around the floor and my double bed sitting on the cheap adjustable metal frame pushed against one of the walls.

Instead, the room was full of furniture I’d never seen before. There was a huge dresser along the right wall closest to the door, and a matching chest with even more drawers between the two large windows directly across from me. A king-size bed with a huge, buttoned, white leather headboard sat in the middle of the wall directly across from the dresser with a nightstand on each side of it. Just inside the door to my left was a writing desk with a plush velvet chair in a deep shade of navy blue.

The walls were painted a pale dove gray, creating a nice, homey contrast with the distressed white of all the furniture. The bed was covered in a fluffy white comforter with navy and gray paisley patterns all over it, and a ton of throw pillows in the same accent colors. It was the most beautiful room I’d ever seen, and if I’d had unlimited funds, I would have decorated it the exact same way.

Several of the boxes had been opened and my framed photos of Liddy sat interspersed on the surfaces of the furniture. I slowly moved across the hardwood floor, covered in attractive area rugs with gray, navy, and white designs, to the open closet in the far right corner of the room. My clothes were hanging in perfect order, my shoes paired up and stacked along the shelves above. It wasn’t lost on me that my clothes and shoes didn’t even take up a quarter of the massive walk-in space.

I backed out of the closet, closing the door behind me, and moved on autopilot across the room to the en suite, leaning through the doorway to inspect. Sure enough, my cosmetics and other toiletries were scattered around the large vanity counter. My shampoo and conditioner rested on a tiled ledge in the walk-in shower.

I was so absorbed by what I was looking at that I hadn’t heard the bedroom door open until Garrett’s voice came from behind me.

“Do you like it?”

I stood straight and looked over my shoulder at where he stood against the doorframe. “It’s beautiful,” I said. “But… where’s all my stuff?”

“Like I said, it was kinda trashed, so I got you all new stuff.”

My mouth hung agape as he entered the room, walking toward the bed and taking a seat on the edge. I moved around it so I could see his face as I asked incredulously, “What do you mean, you got me new stuff?”

Garrett rubbed his palms along his denim-clad thighs as if he was nervous to answer. “All you had was a shitty Ikea dresser that was barely holding together, and no one over the age of twenty should sleep in a double bed, so I bought you all new stuff. I did my best unpacking some of your things so it’d feel more like home, but I wasn’t sure where to put it all. If there’s anything you don’t like, let me know and I’ll get you something else. I tried to get furniture and shit that seemed like you, but if I was off the mark, I can fix it. Just say the word.”

Oh God. Oh no. Nonononono! “You… you bought this for me?” I questioned with a watery whisper, nearly choking on my emotions as my eyes began to burn.

He must have seen the tears welling in my eyes, because his face fell as he asked, “Is it really that bad? Shit. I really tried—”

“You bought this for me,” I repeated, that time as a statement, not a question. “You tried to make it feel more like a home for me.” Yep, I was still whispering.

He stood, appearing antsy. “Well I did the best I could. This is your home now, after all.” I hung my head when a tear broke free and trickled down my cheek, not wanting him to see me cry. “Fuck, baby,” he rasped. His boots clomped against the floorboards as he made his way to me, his fingers once again under my chin, forcing my face to his. “What’d I do wrong? Tell me and I’ll fix it, I swear.” His thumb swept the wet from my skin. “Why’re you crying?”

“Because you’re being really nice to me!” I cried dramatically, throwing my arms out wide. “I told you I don’t know how to handle it!”

He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug as his body vibrated with laughter. That was just another thing I was struggling with. The way he touched me or held me like it was his right whenever we were within feet of each other threw me completely out of balance. We might have shared a daughter, but we hardly knew each other at all. The familiarity he used with me was unnerving, to say the least. All of that, coupled with him suddenly calling me baby, freaked me the hell out.

“Well, we’ll just have to get you used to it, huh?”

I wasn’t so sure that was possible.