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I finally fell asleep, but as usual, I woke up in a sweat, on the verge of coming from dreams of our time together. And, like most mornings, I took a frigid fucking shower to cool myself off.
I called a friend at the agency and had them look her up for me. Since I was already packed, all I had to do was swap out my clothes and I was ready to go. I took off for the airport and bought a ticket on the first flight to Atlanta. I didn’t want to take the time to drive or ride my bike, so I booked an SUV, a rental car that could comfortably accommodate my size. I kept another chopper at my sister’s house anyway. Once I arrived, I picked up my rental and checked into my hotel. Then I quickly dropped my stuff on the bed and jogged back out to my rental. Suppressing my nerves, I drove the thirty minutes out to the suburb where she lived.
As I pulled into a parking stall in front of a newer, brick apartment building, my hands clenched the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. My body was already tense, sensing her nearness and begging to be inside her again. I climbed out of the SUV, my heart thumping, and I vaguely wondered if it was as loud to others as it was in my head.
I locked the car and approached the building equally as eager as I was anxious, but predominantly, determined. Her apartment was on the second floor, up a set of stairs and down a covered, outdoor walkway. Each residence had their own entry directly to the outside, rather than being in an enclosed building.
Coming to a halt in front of a shiny black door with 212 painted in gold, I took a deep breath in and a slow exhale out. Then I knocked on the door.
Half a beat later, I heard rustling on the other side and then the click of the lock sliding out of the mechanism. This time, I held my breath as the door swung open. The oxygen locked in my lungs the moment I finally laid eyes on my woman. Damn, she was even more fucking stunning than I remembered. My eyes drank her in, starting at her bare feet and pale pink painted toes, up and up, over every luscious curve, until I was once again gazing into deep brown eyes. Eyes filled with shock and her rosy lips forming a little O.
My lungs finally released and I stepped forward, dragging her into my arms and kissing the fuck out of her. She went lax, sinking into me, and I took advantage of her open mouth to sweep my tongue inside. She tasted like sugar and her scent wrapped itself around me, reminding me of tart apples and cinnamon.
“I missed you so fucking much, beautiful,” I mumbled against her lips.
Her hands were clutching my biceps, then slid up, over my shoulders and down to rest on my chest. I was just about to swing her up into my embrace when suddenly, she shoved me hard. Caught off guard, I stumbled backward, but regained my senses rapidly enough to slam my hand against the door as she attempted to swing it shut. What the fuck?
Thick, heavy silence hung between us, our eyes glued to each other in a stare down. Finally, I’d had enough and I gripped her arms, lifting her out of my way before crossing the threshold and slamming the door behind me. She gasped and her beautiful face twisted with anger.
Almost frantically, she spun around but froze, seemingly listening for something. The room opened into a kitchen just behind her, but her attention appeared to be on the entrance to a hallway off to the side. Was there someone back there? Murderous rage burned in my veins. If there was, he better be climbing out the fucking window or he was going to find himself being booked into hospital as a woman after I tore his balls off.
When there was no sound, she pivoted back to face me. “What the hell are you doing here, Weston?” she ground out.
I started towards her, backing her up until she was up against a wall and my body caged her in. “Is there someone back there, Aspen?” I asked with deadly calm. “Did you offer up what’s mine to someone else?”
She sputtered indignantly, “What? Of course not—what do you mean yours? You gave up your claim on me, you jerk!”
I believed her, but she was dead fucking wrong if she thought I didn’t still own her. “I don’t know what the fuck happened after I left, Aspen, but I know what we had was real. I’m here for you and I’m not letting you get away.”
She peered up at me with confusion, then shook her head and fury returned to her expression. “You can’t throw me away and then just show up expecting me to fall back into bed with you. I’m not a booty call, Weston, and my circumstances have changed drastically. Arbitrary weekends of fucking aren’t a luxury I can indulge in.”
Throw her away? What the fuck?
“That was a hell of a lot more than a weekend of casual fucking and you know it,” I growled, leaning in close and wrapping my hands around her hips. I opened my mouth to say more when the air was rent with the sound of a baby’s cry.
Aspen stiffened and shoved at me again, like last time, I was startled and teetered back a few inches. Enough for her to slip past me and hurry down the dark hallway. It couldn’t be . . . right? Curiosity had me following her into a bedroom painted in a soft blue, with white furniture, including a crib, with a mobile of circus animals. As if that weren’t alarming enough, she was standing next to it cuddling an infant to her chest.
I could tell right away it was her son, they had the same nose and mouth. She’d had a baby? She’d said she hadn’t been with anyone else. Had she lied and really moved on? In my desperate and devastated state, I almost missed the fact that the child had dark hair and was peering at me from her arms with striking green eyes. Eerily similar . . . holy fuck. This was my kid.
“You had my baby?” I croaked. There were so many emotions weighing down on me, I felt almost dizzy. But at the forefront of my mind was wrath. “Were you ever going to tell me?”
