It was surreal to stare at a picture of himself with a woman who claimed she’d had his baby. Cowboy and Money were in the picture too, but he was the one with his arm on her shoulders. Alexei didn’t think he’d slept with her, but he couldn’t say that with one hundred percent certainty. There’d been a period of time a few months ago when he’d been trying to erase some bad shit that had happened on a mission. Drinking heavily was frowned upon, especially for a sniper, so he’d eased his pain with sex. Lots of sex.

And yeah, he’d made some regrettable choices in partners. He hadn’t gotten anyone pregnant though. Not one woman ever came to him with that claim. Not one.

He had an ironclad rule about sex without protection, and he followed it to the letter. So even if he’d slept with Kayla, aka Harley, he wouldn’t have gotten her pregnant. But if he had slept with her and she thought her baby was his, why hadn’t she come to him about it?

“You don’t know,” Bailey said. “How can you not know?”

“Because I don’t. Because it was months ago. Because I don’t keep a fucking diary about these things.” He leaned forward, pierced her with his gaze. “The baby is not mine. But if she was, I’d do what’s right.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Her voice was soft, a counterweight to his hard one.

“That picture proves nothing,” he pressed on. “It’s me and my buddies with your sister. That’s not a crime. It’s also not evidence of guilt.”

She looked down at the picture before clicking the phone’s Sleep button. “No, it’s not. But it was the only one she had so I could see your face.”

“She could have shown you a picture of Justin Bieber and said he was the father. What then?”

Annoyance flashed across her features. “She showed me you. The two of you together. Could she have lied? Sure. But right now all I have to go on is what she told me. And you aren’t denying that you might have slept with her.”

Irritation flared. “So we need to get to the truth.”

“The sooner the better.” She shook her head. “You know, I have to work tonight and I still need childcare. So if you’d like to head out to the pharmacy, we can do the swabs and I’ll be on my way.”

“Who’s going to take care of her while you work?”

“My neighbor, I hope. If not her, then I have a friend or two I can call.”

She didn’t look at him when she said it. Alexei felt his gut tighten. Goddamn it, he didn’t need to get involved. He would not get involved. Especially when there was the weight of this thing sitting between them.

“I can watch her.” Fuck, dude. Where did that come from?

Her head snapped up. “Why would you want to do that? You don’t even know her—and we don’t know you.”

Alexei rolled his eyes. “You don’t know me and yet here you are, accusing me of being her father. Did you think I’d write some checks and leave you to it?”

She had the grace to look embarrassed. “No, of course not. But I figured it would be a process, and I’d get to know you before you spent time alone with her.”

“Up to you, Bailey Jones. I’m offering to watch the kid so you can go to work. I don’t know why I’m doing it, considering babies are a pain in the ass and I just returned from an overseas mission. I’d like to spend some quality time with my television, a pizza, and a woman, not changing diapers and burping a baby. But if my offer’s not good enough for you, I get it. No problem for me if you turn it down.”

She was frowning. “If my neighbor can’t do it, then I accept.”

“Don’t sound so excited about it.”

“I am excited. It means I can work, which means I get paid.” She frowned harder. “But wait—are you planning to use her to pick up women?”

He scoffed. “Lady, I don’t need a baby’s help. I manage just fine on my own.”

“I bet you do,” she grumbled, half to herself.

“So where do you work?”

Her gaze skittered away. “At a nightclub.”

He’d been expecting her to say she was a hairdresser with hair like that. Apparently not. He got the feeling she didn’t want to say anything more about the nightclub. Since it wasn’t important to him, he didn’t press her. “If your neighbor can’t watch her, you can drop her here before you go.”

If she took him up on it, he was so not getting laid tonight.

She seemed to be thinking about it. “She’d need to stay until about two or so.”

“Not a problem. I’ll be awake.” Awake and asking himself what the hell he’d been thinking to volunteer to watch an infant when he could be getting head instead.

“You won’t call someone to come over for a booty call, will you? I don’t want you ignoring her to get laid.”

He grabbed his keys off the coffee table and pocketed them. “First of all, I wouldn’t offer if I was planning to do that. And second—you ready to go get that test?”

She tipped her head back to study his face, and his chest tightened for the briefest of moments. She was pretty. And he was horny. Down, boy.

“Fine. And yes, I’m ready.”

Her stomach growled again, but he didn’t say anything about it. She was reluctant to accept help, so he wasn’t going to keep offering. They gathered the baby and went outside. She started for her car, but he stopped her.

“Let’s go in mine. There’s more room.” He didn’t point out that her car looked like it could die at any moment. His was a big Dodge truck that he’d bought used two years ago, so he knew it would get them from point A to B and back again. Besides, it would take less time if they traveled together. He could take the test, drop it in the mail, and have her back here in an hour or so.

“Okay. But you have to wrestle the straps on that carrier and get her buckled in.”

“No problem.” They walked over to his truck and he popped the button to open the doors. It didn’t take him long to situate Ana’s carrier in the back seat and secure it. Ana goo-gooed at him, her little baby-powder scent reminding him of his childhood. It hadn’t been a bad childhood at all, but there were things he’d rather not think about. He folded the body of the stroller and tucked it away.

Bailey stared at him with her jaw hanging open.

“What?” he asked.

“You did that so easily. Like you’ve been doing it your whole life. It took me forever to figure that damned thing out.”

“Told you, oldest of six. This one’s more modern than what we had, but I’m familiar with the concept.”

“Jesus, you’re like a wet dream for a woman who wants lots of babies.”

He snorted. “Yeah, thanks. Not precisely the reason I was hoping for.” And not one that he found any comfort in. Hell to the no when it came to kids of his own. He closed the door gently on Ana before opening the door for Bailey. She was still staring at him.

“And now you’re opening doors. Dude, how are you not married?”

That one he could answer truthfully. “I could tell you I haven’t found the right person yet, but the truth is I’m not looking. Not interested.”

Kids and marriage changed people, and not always for the better.

“I suddenly feel sorry for all those supermaternal women out there looking for a husband.”

She climbed into the truck and belted in while he stood there for a second.

“You aren’t looking either?” In his experience, most of the women he knew were either looking or planning to look. And a military guy with benefits like his? Total catnip.

“Hell no.” She sniffed. “I’ve got goals—and a husband isn’t one of them.”

She wasn’t looking for a husband, or even a boyfriend, but something about the proximity of this man had her nerve endings jumping like popcorn exploding on a hot griddle. He was big and handsome, and he knew what to do with Ana. Bailey would swear she didn’t have a single maternal yearning in her whole body, but there was something very appealing about a hot man taking care of a little baby.

Something that made her stomach twist with longing and desire pool between her thighs. Which was ridiculous, because what did that mean? That she wanted to fuck a man who could take care of babies? Because why? She didn’t want any babies. Ana was enough right now, and Ana wasn’t even hers.

Her stomach twisted again, but not with longing this time. With fear and doubt and anger. Poor sweet little Anastasia. What was going to happen to her? How was she going to survive being taken care of by an aunt who knew next to nothing about raising a healthy, emotionally well-adjusted kid? And what if Alex Kamarov really was her father? Would he take Ana away?

Probably. And why wouldn’t he? It was clear Bailey didn’t know a damned thing. What business did she have with a baby? About as much business as a pyromaniac had with a dynamite factory.

Alex went around and got into the driver’s side. He started the truck and backed out of the drive. Bailey considered that she’d just gotten into a vehicle with a man far larger than she was and he was in control of where they went and what they did. Her heart throbbed and her stomach twisted, though her instincts told her she had nothing to worry about.

Still, suspicion was automatic considering she’d grown up with two drug addicts always looking for their next fix. They’d do anything to get it, including sell their own children. Fortunately, it had never come to that, but her trust issues ran deep. Logic told her it didn’t apply to this situation though. If Alex was going to hurt her or Ana, he could have done it when they’d been in his house.

They drove the short distance to a pharmacy. He parked the truck and turned to her. “You going in to get it or you want me to?”

“I’ll let you pick it out.”

He opened the door and went inside. A few minutes later he was back with a package. He handed her the receipt. “You’re paying,” he reminded her.

“I know.” It was money she couldn’t really spare, but it was a small price to pay for the truth. Especially if it meant he would help her care for Ana.

She opened the package and read the directions. He read them too. Then he swabbed his cheek, put the swab into the secure pouch designed for it, and sealed it.

“Going to have to get hers,” he said, nodding at the back seat.

Bailey’s heart skipped. “Okay.”

“Do you want me to do it?”

“No, I can get it.” She took the swab and got out of the vehicle. Then she opened the back door and looked at the sleeping baby. She absolutely didn’t want to wake Ana, but they had to get this done. Carefully, she slipped the swab into the baby’s mouth and rolled it against her cheek. Ana protested but didn’t start screaming. Bailey removed the swab, dropped it into the secure pouch, and then passed it to Alex.

He put everything in the package, sealed it, and handed it to her. “Post office?”

“Yes.”

They drove the short distance to the post office and Bailey went inside this time, dropping off the envelope and getting a receipt. When she came back outside, she stopped and drew in a deep breath. The air was warm and a breeze blew softly. She felt a moment of happiness, like she’d accomplished something big, but then all the usual feelings of worry and fear were back in abundance.

“One day at a time,” she muttered to herself as she stepped off the curb and walked over to the white truck where Alex Kamarov waited with a baby that might or might not be his. Because, yes, she had to acknowledge that it was entirely possible her sister was mistaken—or that she hadn’t been telling the truth.

Truth was a fluid commodity in Kayla’s world. Always had been. It was her way of coping with the terrible situation in which they’d grown up. She’d come up with false identities—Harley being one of them—and she’d told lies. Bailey didn’t know why she would lie about something as big as who the father of her baby was, but it was possible. Anything was possible with Kayla.

Bailey worried about her sister, but there was only so much she could do. Kayla was a grown woman, and if she wanted to take off to California for months at a time or disappear after dumping her baby, Bailey couldn’t stop her. She’d given up trying. Didn’t mean she wasn’t worried though. She kept messaging Kayla’s phone, but so far she’d gotten no response. Absolutely typical.

She got back into the truck and belted herself in, sudden tears springing out of nowhere. Dammit.

“You okay?”

She didn’t look at him. “Yeah. Fine.”

He reached over and gave her hand a quick squeeze. Her breath stopped. Her nerve endings sizzled to life. A single touch was more electric than anything she’d felt before. But he might be the father of her niece, which made him off-limits. Off-limits.

“It’ll be okay,” he said.

She wasn’t sure it would.