the other children wouldn’t be coming with her to Greece.
“Peas, Papa,” she begged through her tears.
“I’m sorry, but they have to live with their own mamas.”
She wasn’t trying to manipulate; she was genuinely heartbroken, weeping into his shoulder with loss.
Her suffering twisted Jaya’s heart so badly she found herself promising to bring Zephyr for a visit.
After a tearful kiss and hug from the girl, she said goodbye and was emotionally wrung out as she and Theo moved into the quiet lounge.
“Did I just promise a two-year-old I’d fly to Greece to see her?” Jaya collapsed into a chair. “I can’t afford that.”
Theo gave her a dry, are-you-kidding look. “Nic has his own plane and so do I.” He leaned back on the sofa, hands behind his head, gaze lifting from where Zephyr sat on the floor rattling the stuffing out of a toy bear. “I’ll take you as soon as we work out a convenient time.”
Her heart lifted while her stomach swooped. The word honeymoon blinked like a lighthouse flash in her mind, but she turned away from it. She stared at their baby rather than looking at Theo, nervous of the masculine energy he was projecting. He might appear relaxed, but they were alone now, the buffer of activity gone. The full force of his male magnetism was blasting into her, stronger than she remembered it.
“You’re assuming a lot,” she said, leaning forward to remove a hard toy from behind Zephyr. “I’m not quitting my job. I’m not marrying you.”
Silence, then, “I realize I threw that at you from left field.”
“You did,” she snapped. “That wasn’t fair.”
“I didn’t mean to, but...” He sat forward, swearing as he rubbed his face. “Both Adara and Rowan had fertility issues. I could see Nic was thinking anyone who would turn away from the chance to be a father—”
“Are you seriously saying that the only reason you want to be in Zephyr’s life is to avoid being judged by your family?” She lived that hell, but it was because she was determined to stay true to herself. For him to buckle to their expectations was a very dishonest start to his relationship with Zephyr, something she wouldn’t tolerate no matter the consequences.
“No, it reinforced to me what a gift he is. Not everyone has the luxury of one night producing a baby. Yes, this has been hard for me to come to terms with.” He waved a confounded hand at their son, but a subtle tenderness crept beneath his hard visage as he watched Zephyr discover his own toes and try to catch them in his waving hand. “I’m still not convinced I’m father material, but Nic figured it out. Maybe I’ve got a shot. And if there’s one thing my childhood taught me, it’s how to avoid making mistakes, especially big ones. Turning my back on my son would be a terrible one.”
He was saying all the right things, but rather than creating a sense of relief in her, he was undermining her defenses. She needed resentment to keep her from tumbling back into the depths of her crazy crush on him. That sort of weakness would complicate things. She’d start thinking about what she wanted, rather than what she and Zephyr needed.
“We still don’t have to marry,” she mumbled.
“What would living together do to your relationship with your family?”
“You want to live together?” The words dissolved everything around her so nothing had substance. She was falling, unable to grasp anything that would ground her.
“Yesterday you pointed out that I don’t stick around to develop relationships. It’s true. If I want to know my son, I have to be near him. Physically.” He frowned as he said it, like he wasn’t sure, but would give it a try.
That’s all she needed, to let him become a daily part of her life then have him quit on her. “I don’t want to live with you,” she insisted.
“Why not? You live with Quentin. I’ll pay for everything.”
Back to money. Was there a problem in his world that he wouldn’t try to buy his way out of?
“I value my independence,” she said.
“But you’re not independent,” he countered. “You have a son. You and I are connected through him and that makes us interdependent.” He pointed between them, as if running lines of webbing that stitched them together. He didn’t seem any happier about it than she was. “We have to compromise for his best interest. We’ll have to do that for the rest of our lives. There’s no getting around that.”
Hurt that he was only trying to make a life with her because he thought it was the ethical thing to do, she rose to pace, winding up facing a window, arms folded.
“I grew up fighting tooth and nail for every decision I wanted to make for myself. I won’t have the same fight with you. I won’t give up and do as I’m told. You’re making me feel like I have to live with you. That I have to marry you. I already live with a lot of have-to’s as a result of my choosing to have Zephyr.”
“You think I don’t know how it feels to live under someone else’s rules?” he countered. “You think I enjoy calculating interest rates and double-checking the inventory of hand towels? There’s a difference between being subjugated and placing duty to family above self-interest. My father isn’t around to disinherit me if I quit my job. I stay for Adara’s sake, because I want her to succeed. Although we’ll have to make adjustments to my duties if I’m going to spend any time with you and Zephyr.”
He muffled a curse behind his hand, glowering while his gaze turned inward.
Her stomach did a flip flop, latching too tightly onto his with you. She shook it off, not wanting to be so easily drawn in by him. Turning, she considered the dual notes of frustration and sincerity in his voice.
“You hate your job?” she prompted.
He quirked the tight line of his lips before saying, “Don’t tell Adara.” He shrugged that off. “I don’t really hate it, not anymore, but it’s not what I would have chosen for myself. My father pushed me into it. He would have taken it out on Adara if I’d rebelled so I kept the peace and took an Econ degree. The work is more enjoyable now that she trusts my numbers and makes the kinds of decisions we always knew were the better ones. We actually see the profits we’re looking for. I was constantly set up for failure while my father was alive. That was hell.”
She came back to sit across from him. Linking her hands, she pressed her knuckles to her mouth. “I think I hate your father,” she admitted in a muted voice. The man bore a lot of blame for Theo’s inability to give her what she wanted from him.
“Join the club,” he retorted, then expelled a tired breath. “But he’s gone so do what I do. Forget him.”
Releasing her inner lip from the bite of her teeth, she added, “He is gone, so don’t turn me into something you think you have to do. You have a choice, too, Theo.”
“I do,” he agreed and hitched forward on the edge of the sofa. “That’s what I’m saying. I’m not acting from a sense of duty, although I feel a pretty strong one toward both of you. It’s a different kind of ‘have to.’ The kind that means I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t do what’s right by the two of you.”
Which framed her refusal to marry him as inexcusable selfishness.
“I can appreciate that you want to be part of Zephyr’s life.” She couldn’t countenance anything less herself. “But live together? Like as roommates?”
“If that’s what you prefer.” He blinked once, keeping his expression neutral so she couldn’t tell what he really thought of the arrangement.
“For how long? Until he’s in school? Until he’s grown? And what are you doing all this time? Bringing women home?”
“No,” he dismissed flatly and cast