Page 20 of The Sacrifice
When the door snaps shut, the room is quiet as a tomb. I spin around to find Mia standing a few feet behind me.
“What is that?” She points at the box.
“DNA test.”
“Oh.” Her eyes shift away from me. The air in the room vibrates with a feeling I can’t identify, but the simmering current of attraction is gone. “Well, I’m going to go to bed. Do you want me to switch off tonight?”
“Yeah, I’ll watch Hadley this evening. I’d appreciate it if you want to listen for her from two o’clock on. I have practice at six and need thirty minutes to get to the stadium.”
“That won’t be a problem.” She turns on her heel and speed walks to the staircase. With her hand resting on the banister, she glances over her shoulder. “Are you hoping she isn’t yours?”
Seriously? That’s what this cold shoulder is about? When will she ever think I’m not a dick? Right… I growl under my breath. Never.
“What do you think?” I shake my head and grind my teeth together. “I’ll call you when the pizza gets here, and you can take yours up to your room.” I march to the kitchen to get a knife. I don’t have time for this shit.
Chapter Twelve
Mia
I yawn and wait for the pot of coffee to percolate. Outside the kitchen window, the sky is dark with only a sprinkling of stars. At least he has caffeine. By the time I’d opened the fourth cabinet door, I was more than a little concerned I would die a slow death.
It’s a couple of miles to the nearest gas station, and his neighbors aren’t the borrowing a cup of sugar or in this case, coffee variety. They’re the types with gates and fences.
And I have my leftover scones. I can’t wait to devour those babies.
Hadley snuggles against my chest as those bow lips pucker and melt my stupidly ridiculous heart. Twenty-four hours. Less than twenty-four hours. I couldn’t even make it twenty-four hours before falling for her.
Granted, when you’ve only had three hours of sleep, eaten cold, greasy pizza, snuggled with an adorable baby, and caught glimpses of a half-naked man wandering through the house at all hours of the night, you’re on edge and susceptible to doing reckless things.
The scent of coffee swirls through my brain, waking me up. Thank God. I can’t afford to crash. I inhale Hadley’s neck. Coffee and baby powder.
She yawns and sags against me as her fisted hand rests against my breast. I’m a sucker. I should have never hit approved on Jackson’s application request. I should have found him a suitable replacement and ran back to Andrew’s house with my tail tucked between my legs. I could be organizing his sock drawer right now.
I pour the steaming brown liquid into a white porcelain coffee mug and sip. My eyes flutter shut.Delicious.
When my cellphone buzzes inside my pocket, I jump.Shit.Hadley’s head bobbles against me, and a splash of brown runs down my finger.
Fuck. That burns.I set the mug down and shake my finger while glancing at my phone. My mom. What does my mom want? “Hey?”
“Hey, sister. Your brother told me you were helping Jackson out.”
“He did?”
“Yes, he did. That’s so sweet of you. I can’t believe some no-account woman would drop her child off at his doorstep. Who would do something like that?”
“I don’t know, mom. It’s crazy.”
“Is she beautiful?”
“Yes.” As if she senses me talking about her, she stiffens and stretches against me. I glance down to see those big doe eyes watching me. “Yes, she’s gorgeous.”
She sighs. “Jackson with a baby. Who would’ve thought?”
“Well, when he screws around with different women all the time, it isn’t that big of a surprise that it would happen at some point.”
“Mia Jean Bennett. That’s enough. Jackson is a good boy. He was such a sweet kid, and he opened his home to his baby the instant he found out about her. He’s always been such a standup boy.”
Good boy? Sweet kid? Standup boy? I raise Hadley to my chest and pat her back, bouncing her up and down. That’s not how I remember him. But for whatever reason, my parents thought the sun rose and set out of his ass. “He doesn’t even know if the baby is his. And I’m pretty sure he’d prefer it if she isn’t.”