Page 99 of Desperate Games

And my heart?

It starts pounding like it’s trying to break free from my chest.

Because no matter how hard I try to convince myself to guard it—it already belongs to him.

And I’m not sophisticated enough to keep pretending it doesn’t.

Chapter Thirty-One-Remy

She’s so fucking beautiful it hurts.

Even with her hair a little mussed from the ride, her blouse wrinkled, her lips parted on a soft breath.

My eyes eat her up.

I’ve been starving for a glimpse of her, and now I can’t look away.

“She falls asleep every time we drive home from school,” Andy says softly, breaking the silence.

Her voice cracks something inside me.

Familiar yet different.

A little too careful.

Like she’s testing the air between us.

I nod, because I can’t speak yet. My throat is thick, choked up with everything I want to say—everything I need to—but I bite it back.

Now isn’t the time.

I shift my focus to Callie, curled against her like she was born there.

My daughter now.

Our daughter, if Andy wants it that way.

And thank fuck, I think she already does.

I move closer and slide my arms under Callie, careful not to wake her, careful not to break whatever fragile truce hangs in the air between me and my wife.

For one charged heartbeat, Andy resists.

Her fingers tighten around Callie’s little frame.

And I wonder—is she holding onto Callie because she doesn’t want to let her go?

Or because she doesn’t want to let me in?

Finally, she exhales and lets me take her.

Callie melts into me without stirring, her small hand curling against my chest like she knows she’s safe.

I glance back at Andy.

Her hazel eyes flick to mine, wide, shimmering, unreadable.

Relief?