Karen Whiddon – The CEO's Secret Baby (страница 4)

“Sean, I need—”

Oblivious, he pulled her in again for another quick kiss. “Hey,” he said, grinning. “I snagged a perfect watermelon and picked up some of those diet drinks you love so much.”

“Great. Um, there’s been a change of plans.” Wiping her hands nervously down the front of her shorts, she once again found herself struggling to find the right words. Sean eyed her curiously, his smile gradually fading.

Finally, she simply moved aside and gestured toward the living room and the man who stood silently watching them.

Taking a step forward, Sean’s expression changed when he caught sight of Tucker. Shock flashed across his face, then disbelief, and then finally, joy.

“Tucker?” Sean managed, talking a halting step forward. “Is it really you?”

“Yep,” Tucker rasped, eyeing his former best friend with narrowed eyes. “It’s me, all right.”

“Tucker?” Juggling his bags, Sean moved closer. He glanced from Tucker to Lucy, then back again. “How… What?”

When Tucker didn’t answer, Lucy swallowed and took over. “It’s really him, Sean. He’s—”

“Actually here,” Tucker finished for her, pushing a hand wearily through his hair. “In the flesh, still alive, though barely.” Swaying slightly, he flashed Sean a tightlipped, humorless smile. “Surprised?”

“Surprised isn’t the word!” Depositing the bags on the floor, Sean crossed the room and guy-hugged his best friend, grinning. If he noticed Tucker’s lack of response, he didn’t comment. Instead, he grimaced before stepping back and cocking his head. “Where the hell have you been, man? We thought you were dead.”

“Long story,” Tucker replied. When his gaze found Lucy’s, she read a regretful warning in his blue eyes. Warning against what? Against Sean, his—no, their—best friend?

Damn. Stunned, Lucy continued to study him, unable to help herself. His auburn hair looked much the same, though duller. He wore it longer and much shaggier. His clothing hung on his tall frame and had the battered look of worn hand-me-downs. The sallow color of his skin spoke of illness. Still, she found him too beautiful for her own good.

She felt a moment of sorrow, which she squashed. Shaking her head, she swallowed, the knot in her chest tightening. Blinking back sudden and unwanted tears, she busied herself with grabbing the grocery bags up off the floor and carrying them to the kitchen so she could unpack them. Busy work, busy work, as if by keeping her hands occupied she could hold back the flood of emotions.

Still, she could only hide out in the kitchen for so long. Eventually, she had to go back to where the two men continued to talk quietly.

Returning, she got about halfway there when a loud wail split the air, making her freeze in her tracks. Eli, waking up from his nap. And she hadn’t yet managed to tell Tucker that he had a son.

Chapter 2

Cripes.

Tucker stiffened, glancing from Lucy to Sean, then back to Lucy. “What was that?”

Opening her mouth to speak, Lucy decided she’d be better off showing rather than telling. “Just a minute,” she said, and hurried from the room to get her son. Their son, actually.

Screwing his chubby little face up in preparation for a louder cry, Eli whimpered instead as he caught sight of her. His blue eyes, so like his father’s, fixed on her face and he cooed happily. The sight of him made Lucy grin despite herself. She reached for him, lifting him and settling him so his head was on her shoulder. He smelled of baby powder and milk. Perfection, all in one small bundle.

“Hi, Eli,” she murmured, patting his back softly. “Did you have a nice nap?”

“You have a son?” Behind her, Tucker’s voice, completely devoid of emotion.

“Yes.” She tensed up again, which alarmed Eli. His bright eyes went wide and he scrunched his face, as though trying to decide whether or not to cry. “Shhh, sweetheart.” She gave him a soft kiss, before turning slowly.

Tucker stood in the doorway, frozen. The look on his face fell somewhere between shock and disbelief. At least, she thought sadly, it wasn’t horror.

At least he hadn’t died not knowing he had a son, as she’d thought.

From somewhere, she dredged up a smile, not sure why this miraculous homecoming wasn’t going at all the way she’d always imagined it would, back when she’d refused to give up hope that they’d find Tucker alive.

“You and Sean have a son,” he said, his voice wooden and bleak.

“No, not Sean and I. We have a son,” she corrected. “You and I. Tucker, this is Eli, your boy. He’s three months old as of last week.” Taking a deep breath, she braced herself for his reaction. “Though I suspected before you left, I learned I truly was pregnant right after you left for Mexico. Right before you…died.”

Clearly in shock, Tucker only stared, his chiseled features emotionless.

“The CEO’s secret baby,” Sean joked. Neither Lucy nor Tucker responded.

Oblivious to it all, Eli cooed again, turning his sweet little mouth into her neck, blindly searching for sustenance. Immediately, her breasts tingled as her milk came in. She’d have to let him nurse soon. But first, he needed to meet his father.

Still Tucker didn’t move, standing frozen near the entrance to the room, looking huge and awkward and completely out of place. Her heart melted a little bit more.

“It’s okay,” she said, reassuring both the man and the child. “Come meet him. He won’t bite.”

As Tucker stepped forward, she lowered their baby from her shoulder, holding him in the crook of her arm.

Still silent, Tucker shot her a questioning look before peering into his son’s small, round face. Eli gurgled, wide-eyed and grinning. His bright blue eyes, reflected back in Tucker’s, fixated for a moment on his father’s craggy face. Then he wrinkled his mouth again, and she knew he was on the verge of screaming in that ear-piercing way babies have. He was hungry, after all.

A second later, he began to cry. Shifting him in her arms, she rocked him slowly, murmuring wordless endearments and crooning soothing sounds.

Immediately, Tucker took a step backward, his expression closed and unreadable again. But not before she saw the flash of pain.

“Hey E, it’s all right.” Sean appeared in the doorway behind Tucker. Eli broke off midcry at the sound of Sean’s cheery voice. His chubby face smoothed out and he cooed, happy again. He really did like Sean. After all, until now Sean had been like a father figure to him. The only one he’d known in his short time on earth.

“Let me see him,” Sean said, flashing an easy smile at Tucker before reaching to take Eli from Lucy.

As Sean took the baby and began rocking him, Tucker’s expression shut down even further, becoming a frozen mask.

“He knows Sean, that’s all,” she said softly. “You’ve got to give him time to get to know you, too.”

Tucker made a sound, a cross between a grunt and a curse, which could have meant anything. Exhaling, Lucy stifled the urge to comfort him. Clearly, he felt Sean had robbed him of not only her, but his family. A family he hadn’t even known he had.

Oblivious to the undercurrent swirling in the room, or pretending to be, Sean looked from one to the other, smiling as he cradled the baby expertly in the crook of his arm. “I think we’ve all got some catching up to do,” he said. “Eli’s an amazing kid. You must be so proud. Welcome home, buddy.”

Gaze still shuttered, Tucker nodded. “Thanks.” He studied Eli for a moment more before his eyes found Lucy. The starkness of the pain she saw there felt like a knife twisting in her heart.

Her own gut twisted. True, she and Sean were engaged. But even before his so-called death, Tucker had been well aware she’d wanted the entire white picket fence and family thing. He’d told her right before he left for Mexico that he wasn’t sure he could provide that. Now, more than a year later, he’d returned from the dead to learn another man had stepped up to the plate.

So she’d gotten engaged to his best friend. She had a child to think about now. At least Sean had been willing to provide for and, more important, love another man’s baby.

She opened her mouth to say exactly that, but Tucker beat her to it.

“We need to talk,” he said, his low voice simmering with anger and pain.

At the harsh tone, Eli whimpered and turned his face searchingly in her general direction before letting out a lusty cry, then another.

“He’s hungry,” she said, as her feeding-time breast-tingling intensified, making her pray she didn’t leak. “I’d better nurse him.”

Sean transferred the baby effortlessly to her. When she finished getting him settled, she turned her back to the two men and unfastened her blouse and nursing bra. As soon as Eli latched on to her nipple, she grabbed a baby blanket from the crib and covered herself and Eli. She turned back to face the two men, only to find Tucker watching, his expression shuttered.

Once again, she ached to go to him, pull him into an embrace like she used to, as she’d dreamed of doing for so many agonizing, painful nights after learning of his death—but she couldn’t. She belonged to another man now. She’d given her word.

As if he sensed her inner turmoil, Sean came up behind her. He put his arm around her shoulders and drew her and Eli close. Staking his claim. Tucker watched with narrowed eyes, but made no protest. Had she really expected him to? He had no right.