“That was so good,” the girl murmured from underneath me.

I tried to remember her name, but it wouldn’t come to me. I thought it started with an M—Megan? Mary? I guess it didn’t matter. She served her purpose. There was no reason to have to remember after today.

“Yeah,” I replied, before hauling myself out of bed and putting on a pair of jeans. I buttoned them just enough so they’d stay on, before heading into the master bathroom of my condo.

I splashed water on my face and studied my reflection. I wasn’t even sure who I was anymore. All I knew was that I was miserable.

“What’s this?” the girl called out from somewhere in my bedroom. I poked my head out of the door and saw she had the birthday present I bought in her hands. Damn nosey bitch.

“It’s a present for my sister. Put it down,” I barked at her. I didn’t like the idea of a stranger touching Maddy's stuff.

“Geez. Didn’t mean to offend.” She dropped the gift and finished getting dressed. “I thought you were nice, even if my friends warned me you’re a ‘fuck ‘em and leave ‘em’ kind of guy.”

“That’s where you went wrong. You should have listened to your friends.” I pulled my t-shirt over my head and sat on the edge of the bed to put my socks and sneakers on.

“Guess I’ll see you around then,” she answered, as the door slammed behind her.

I scrubbed my hands down my face and let out a long sigh before looking at the clock on my bedside table.

It was show time.

*****

“Collin!” Maddy called out excitedly as I walked across the backyard of my father’s house with her gift in my hand.

When she ran over to me, I scooped her up in my one free arm and kissed her. Even though she didn’t know I was her father, I loved her so damn much.

“Happy birthday, kiddo,” I whispered in her ear.

“I’m a big girl,” she chastised me.

“Oh I’m sorry. Because you’re three now, I’m supposed to call you a big girl?” I teased.

“Uh huh,” she said in all seriousness, making me laugh.

Setting her on her feet, I listened to her chatter on about the games she and her friends were playing as I put the gift down on the table.

When she spotted a friend and ran off in that direction, I turned my gaze to the dozens of people littering the yard. As if my eyes had a mind of their own, they immediately sought out and found Isabella. Even now, she was radiant. My body was still drawn to her after being apart for so long. It was hell every time I had to see her.

“Collin,” she greeted me when she made her way to where I stood sipping a much needed beer.

“Isabella,” I returned.

“I was hoping we could talk.” She wrung her hands nervously.

“About what?” I raised an eyebrow, appearing nonchalant when really my head was spinning with her request. In the last three years or so, she had never tried to talk to me about anything other than superficial topics.

“Your father is divorcing me.”

“Pardon?” Did I really hear her right? And if so, what did that mean for us? For Maddy?

“The last couple of years haven’t been good,” she said with downcast eyes. “He’s moving in with his secretary.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I laughed at how outrageous this all seemed. Then I said bitingly, “Karma is a bitch.”

She flinched at my words and their meaning, but soldiered on with rocking my world. “I want to tell Maddy the truth.”

“The truth?” I croaked out past a suddenly dry throat.

“Yes. I decided she should know who her father is. Her real father.”

“You broke my heart and stole the first three years of her life from me, and now you want to make it right?” My voice was raised, and a few people looked inquisitively in our direction, but I couldn’t be bothered. This was too huge to not react this way. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Yes. Do you not want her to know?” She bit her lip as her chin quivered with impending tears.

I grabbed her arm and dragged her around to the side of the house where there was privacy.

“Of course I do. But this gift you’re giving me is going to break my father’s heart.”

“He knows. I told him yesterday when he asked for a divorce.”

“Did he ask for a divorce before or after you told him?”

“Before. We haven’t been intimate in a while,” she admitted sheepishly. “He’s finally fed up, and I told you he’s been having an affair with his secretary. When he talked about custody of Maddy, I just had to tell him.”

“You’re a selfish bitch, you know that?” I spat at her. My father was probably crushed by the news.

“Please. He took it better than you would’ve thought,” she defended.

“How is that possible?”

“He had his suspicions way back when. He thought it was hard for Maddy to be his when we hadn’t been intimate in so long, but chose not to find out the truth. He’s upset, but he still loves you both. It’s me he hates.”

“Shit. I need to find him.” I ran my hand over the scruff on my jaw. Part of me wanted to protect Isabella, but the son in me wanted to find my dad and make things better for him. I hated feeling torn between the two of them. It was a sure sign of the hard road ahead if we told Maddy the truth. How could my father not hate me for sleeping with his wife and getting her pregnant?

“Collin, I still love you.”

My hand dropped, along with my jaw, as I stared at her in disbelief.

“This day just keeps getting better and better,” I muttered.

“Do you still love me? Want me?” she asked in a small voice.

Of course I still loved her. I never thought I could love someone as much as I did her. Even after she destroyed me. There was no way I could admit that to her though.

“Are you just doing this because you’re about to be on your own?” I had to ask. It seemed too coincidental that all of a sudden she was doing the right thing.

“No. If you still want me, I want to take this slow. I’m not asking you to support me, or anything. I just want to know if we have a future.”

“I don’t know,” I told her truthfully.

She nodded and turned to walk away. All over again I was that boy on the floor of the kitchen watching the woman I loved leave. I couldn’t bear letting it happen again. Not when I finally felt hope bubbling up in my chest.

“Isabella,” I called out and grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face me. With hands on either side of her head, I pulled her lips to mine. Within seconds the kiss ignited, and I had Isabella backed against the house as I dug my erection into her stomach.

Breaking the kiss was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, but it was also the right thing to do. Resting my forehead on hers, I took in a steadying breath.

“I love you too,” I whispered. “We’ll figure it out.”

She gave me a luminous smile and nodded her head.

If someone had asked me when I woke up that morning if I ever thought the possibility of getting my family back could be a reality, I would have said no. Good thing no one did.

BEAUTIFUL STRANGER

ONE

“Son of a bitch!” I swore loudly as the windshield wipers failed to keep up with the deluge of rain pouring over the windshield. Leaning further over the steering wheel, I narrowed my eyes in an attempt to see a few more feet in front of the car.

Of all nights for me to get stuck working late.

You would have thought that the diner I managed would have been dead given the state of the weather. Far from it. We couldn’t keep up, especially after one of the cooks called in sick. I had no choice but to put in extra hours when all I really wanted to do was soak in a hot bath and forget this week ever happened.