Reece
Present Day
“It’s you.” I stand up from my chair and do a full perusal of Lilah’s body. My eyes dart down to her belly…her pregnant belly. I meet her eyes, expecting to see anger because of how I left her that night, but instead I see a flicker of something subtle before her face goes blank. “How are you?”
The muscle in her jaw ticks as she walks around me to the table and sets the folder down. “Mr. Meyers, I’m Delilah Mackenzie, the office manager. I need you to fill out these forms and then return them to the basket outside of my office. I’ll also need a copy of your insurance card, private investigator’s license, and driver’s license. Carrie can help you with that. Any questions?” She rests one hand on her belly and the other on her hip.
I don’t remember her being this sexy, but I can’t think of that now. “Is that…my baby?” Sweat dots my forehead and my pulse races. Throw me into a war zone and I’m cool, calm, and collected, but waiting to find out if I’m her baby’s father has me ready to freak out.
Lilah—no, Delilah—looks at me with fire in her eyes. “No, it’s my baby.” She’s out of the conference room, slamming the door behind her faster than I can say, “boo.”
I slowly lower myself into the chair and rest my head in my hands. It’s my baby, I know it is. The timing is just right for when we slept together.
That had been the most fun I’d had in a long time—the sex was phenomenal, and yeah, I knew she wasn’t that experienced, but I hadn’t had a clue how young she really was until I woke with her curled up against me. She just looked really young—too young for me once I came to my senses. She’s probably still in her early twenties.
Meanwhile I’m thirty-four years old, moody, and kind of a loner. She’s young and full of life and optimism. But no matter what, I need to get her to talk to me. That’s my child she’s carrying—I know it. We need to decide what to do.
Fuck, but I may be dead soon, anyway. As soon as Jack learns that I had sex with his daughter and somehow managed to knock her up, he’s going to kill me and throw my corpse into Lake Michigan. In other words, it may not matter if that baby is mine because I may not be around to see it be born.
I should’ve woken her up before I left, plain and simple, but she’d been sleeping so hard that I showered, dressed, and packed and she never budged. I then debated on leaving her a note, but then I was a stupid dick and decided not to. Hey, I never said I was smart.
Grabbing the folder with the papers in it, I step into the hall and find Delilah’s on the other end of the office. I give a quick knock before pushing the door open, but I freeze when I find Jack sitting in a chair across from her desk. “Oh…hey, Jack.”
“Hey, Meyers, I see you’ve met my daughter. Luckily she looks like her mom.” He looks at Delilah with a smile on his face, and then turns back to me. “Did you need something?” He looks at the folder in my hands and then up at me.
“Uh…yeah, I just wanted to ask Delilah here if she needed these papers back today or if I could take them home and fill them out.”
“Go ahead and take it home with you. Why don’t you come with me and I’ll introduce you to Egan, and you can sit with him for a little bit? Del, he’ll bring the papers in the morning.”
Her cheeks and chest turn a dark pink and I can tell she’s pissed. She slowly stands up. “Dad, I really would like those papers today.”
“Honey, you can get that shit from him tomorrow.”
She looks at me with fire in her eyes and then back at her dad. “You hired me to be the office manager. Let me do my job.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll get them filled out and back to you before five,” I say.
Jack nods and then kisses his daughter’s cheek. “You’re right, honey. I’m sorry.” He moves to me and we head out into the hall. “You’ll have to forgive her. The hormones have been a joy to deal with, but I love my girl.”
Yep, I’m a dead man.
After spending the last few hours filling out paperwork and talking to Egan, I’m getting ready to head out. Jack left a little bit ago, and we’re meeting the rest of the team in an hour. He’s really big on all of us getting together often to foster that brotherhood mentality.
From my place in the hall, I can see Delilah is still here. She’s alone, so I grab the paperwork to give to her.
When I knock on her open door, I don’t miss the over-exaggerated sigh that leaves her lips. Fuck me, she’s cute. “Here you go. Everything is filled out, and I put a copy of my insurance and license in there as well.” I scrub a hand over my head. “Listen, I want to apologize—”
She cuts me off. “Listen, we don’t need to talk about this. What happened, happened. We’re both mature adults, I’m sure we can manage to work together without any drama, and no one needs to know what happened between us.”
“They’ll know, because that’s my baby.” I move closer to her, but she stops me, holding her hands up in a halting gesture.
“How do you know that this is your baby? Maybe I’m a huge slut that slept around a lot.”
I chuckle, because that’s pretty fucking hilarious. “I hate to tell you, but I’m really good at reading people, and I would’ve never have brought you back to my hotel room if I thought you were easy.”
“Okay, yes, it’s your baby, but that doesn’t change anything.”
“Why? I would like to help you. I’d like to be involved if you’d let me.”
Her eyes drift over my face. “Why isn’t this freaking you out? Most guys would run for the hills if their one-night stand produced a baby.”
“Sweetheart, you’ll learn that I’m not like most guys.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” Her lip twitches, but I can tell she’s trying not to let that smile happen.
“Can we maybe get together and talk? I know we’ve got time before the baby comes, but I want to be a part of things. I’ve got to go meet up with the team right now, but just know that whatever you want or need, I’m there. It took both of us to make this baby.”
“I don’t understand how you’re being so calm and rational about this. I’ve always figured that if we ever ran into each other that you’d freak out.”
“I guess when you’ve seen and done the things I have, then your ability to get freaked out goes away. Although the only thing that scares the shit out of me is what your dad is going to do to me when he finds out. I see a shallow grave in the middle of nowhere in my future.” Her lip twitches again but she tries to fight it.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” She grabs her purse and messenger bag and then walks toward the doorway. “Have a good night, and welcome to the team.”
“Do you need me to walk you home or whatever?”
She shakes her head. “No, but thanks.”
Once she’s gone, I sit in one of the chairs across from her desk and scrub my hands over my face. “I’m going to be someone’s father,” I whisper. “Why is this not freaking me the fuck out…seriously?”