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And I care for Cilla too much already to want to burden her. I’ve already formed an attachment to Cilla. I care for her, and I want what’s best for her. As for the baby?
I’m not sure how to feel about her.
I’ve spent all my adult life on my own. And now, to suddenly find I have both the woman of my dreams and an unexpected kid who might not even be mine? My head spins.
Between the two… Right now, Serene has to be my priority. And it doesn’t seem fair to ask Priscilla to tie herself to me when… My immediate future feels like it’s going to be a shit show while I figure out the story behind this child and what to do with her.
It's not fair to weigh down Cilla with all the complications headed my way—whether the child is mine or not.
Maybe once I’ve figured things out with the kid, once I’ve tracked down her mother and returned the kid, or arranged for social services to take her…I’ll have the time and space to give Cilla my full attention. She deserves nothing less.
I pull away from Priscilla gently and put some distance between us.
She tips up her chin, a quizzical expression on her face. “What’s wrong?”
15
Priscilla
“I need to figure things out.” His jaw is rigid, his features closed. And those heterochromatic eyes are cold. Colder than I’ve ever seen them. He looks so remote. So unlike the man I met earlier today. I glance at the clock on the oven and realize it’s almost midnight.
Exhaustion drags at the edges of my mind. I yawn.
His gaze narrows, and he scans my face. “You’re tired.”
“It’s been an eventful few hours.” I try a small smile, but he doesn’t respond. Another shiver runs up my spine. That frisson of discomfort that settled behind my breastbone when the doorbell rang intensifies.
“Tyler?” I search his eyes. “Talk to me.”
“You should leave. I’ll call my chauffeur and have him take you home.” He looks away. My heart sinks into my stomach.
“What do you mean, you’ll call your chauffeur?”I cry.
He rises to his feet, staring straight ahead. He’s not meeting my eyes.Oh, my God.My heart drops to my feet with a thump. “Tyler?” I feel the hysteria bubble up in my throat and manage to rein it back. “What is it? What are youreallythinking?”
His expression grows even more remote. “It’s late. And as you said, it’s been a lot to deal with. You should head home.” He rises to his feet and heads off in the direction of his bedroom.Because that’s where he left his phone?On the bedside table, while he was making me come on his fingers and his tongue, and where he almost fucked me with that massive cock of his. Despite being pissed off with him, my pussy reacts to the image of his monster dick by squeezing in on itself.
I shove the images aside and scramble up to my feet. With a last look at the cutie-pie asleep in her carrier, I follow the big man in.
“Tyler,” I begin to call after him. Then, in deference to the sleeping child, I flatten my lips and march into the bedroom in time to see him snatching up his phone from the side table.
His fingers swipe over the device, then he holds it to his ear. “Yes, I need you to take my guest home.” He listens. “Ten minutes.” He pockets the phone and turns to me.
His expression is remote. His face could be carved into the side of a mountain.
Icicles form in my bloodstream. My heart seizes up. My instincts jangle with foreboding. I know this is not going to end well for me. But I have to be strong. Ineedto be strong. I push aside the premonition and focus all my attention on this gorgeous, larger-than-life man in front of me.
“Tyler, I am not leaving.” I set my jaw. “Not until you tell me what’s bothering you, and why you’re so insistent on sending me away, when a few hours ago you were—” I swallow. “You claimed that you loved taking care of me. You hinted that you wanted something more long-term with me.”
“That was before—” He nods in the direction of the living room.
“It’s a baby. Her name is Serene. Can you, at least, bring yourself to say that?”
A muscle pops above his jaw. The skin around his eyes stretches.
“I know this is all a shock. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to find a child abandoned on your doorstep, but if you talk it out?—”
“I don’t want to… Not yet. And not with you.”