Finally, they were forced to come up for air—either that or the truck backfiring in the distance got their attention—and they slowly disengaged their lips and stared at each other like lovesick fools, completely oblivious to rest of the world. Dominic stepped up next to Gage and asked, “Gage, man, what’re you doing?”

Gage and Shannon jerked apart and both began talking at once. Dominic couldn’t make sense of anything they were saying and was glad when Gwen finally asked, “But what about Cameron—the doctor?” Then she turned suspicious eyes to Gage before putting her hands on her hips. “This is Gage—he works with Dominic. He’s not Cameron, and he’s not a doctor!”

“Bro,” Dominic began, ready to kill his friend over lying to Shannon. “That’s not cool at all.”

Shannon, sounding exasperated and a little embarrassed said, “Guys, I know who Gage is.”

Slapping a hand against his forehead, Dominic muttered, “Gage’s middle name is Cameron.”

“Huh . . . ?” Gwen asked, still looking confused.

Gage pulled Shannon snugly into his side. “I ran into Shannon when I was visiting Dom. Then it seemed like we just kept running into each other. Walmart, Walgreens, and finally, when I saw her again at McDonald’s, we both started laughing. I told her I worked with Dom, and we just started talking. She invited me to eat with her and the girls, and it just kinda went from there.”

“So, why didn’t you say anything—and what’s with you going by your middle name?” Dominic asked, now more curious than anything.

“Shannon and I wanted to take things slow without others knowing for a while. I mean she’s got Megan and Maddy to consider and all.” Looking embarrassed, he admitted, “I introduced myself to her as Cameron. I was concerned . . . that since she lived in the same apartments as Dom that she might have heard my name before. I really liked her and wanted a fresh start. When we kept seeing each other though, I finally told her the truth.”

“But Shannon,” Gwen sputtered. “You can’t date him. He sleeps with a lot of women. Mac told me all about Gage’s strict ‘no stay zone.’ He just—you know, does it and then moves on. You can’t let someone like that around your kids.”

Dominic could see both Gage and Shannon stiffening at Gwen’s harsh words. Okay, so maybe there was some truth to them, but he didn’t want to see either of them lose a friend over this. In the end, both Gage and Shannon were adults, and it was their decision. So, he put a reassuring arm around Gwen’s shoulders and said, “Babe, I think we need to leave this up to them.”

“Gwen, I love you, I really do,” Shannon began, “but you need to let me worry about my girls. I’m their mother, and I always do what’s best for them.”

Dominic felt Gwen’s back go ramrod straight at the bite in Shannon’s voice. He thought they were probably only minutes away from some hair pulling. He noticed Gage looking equally as nervous as his gaze darted between the two women.

“How is it best to lie about who you’re seeing to everyone you know? I mean if you went to those lengths to keep us from knowing . . . are you certain about what you’re doing?”

Shannon took a few steps closer, now almost nose-to-nose with Gwen. “Oh yeah, and you’re so much better? Let’s see how great your decisions are after you have your baby!”

“WHAT?” Gwen shouted, looking appalled. “How did you . . . ?”

“You told me to let myself in this morning to get the new shoes you’d bought for Maddy. Megan had to use the bathroom. I saw all of those pregnancy tests lined up on your bathroom sink. So, don’t you two be lecturing Gage and me about hiding things. Looks like you’re doing a bit of that yourselves.” Finally, the anger left her voice, and she just sounded hurt as she added, “You told me you weren’t pregnant. You lied to me about that.”

“Looks like you’re not the only one,” Dominic said in a daze. Dropping his arm from Gwen’s shoulders, he put some distance between them before turning to stare at her. She looked almost green as she stared back with something that could only be described as guilt on her face. “You told me . . . the test was negative. Why—why would you lie about that?”

Gwen reached for his arm, but he stepped back quickly before she could make any physical contact. “It was,” she assured him in a shaky voice. “They were all negative, but then this morning they showed positive. I—I was going to tell you tonight.”

Dominic had no idea what was going on, but as he looked at the three sets of eyes focused on him, he just knew he had to get out of there and find a place where he could think—and breathe. Before he knew it, his legs were carrying him down the steps. He heard voices shouting his name, but he never stopped, never paused. He grabbed his bike keys from his pocket, grateful he had picked them up at the last minute. He’d thought that he and Gwen could go to the beach and talk. Now, he just wanted distance from the thoughts racing through his head.

*   *   *

“Gwen, I’m so sorry,” Shannon cried as Gwen sank to the floor when it became apparent that Dominic wasn’t coming back. “I didn’t know! I thought he knew you were pregnant.”

“I just found out,” Gwen said hoarsely. “I wasn’t lying. It was negative last week.”

As Gwen sat there trembling in shock with Shannon’s arms around her, Gage stepped forward. If he was offended by Gwen’s earlier words, he didn’t show it. Instead, he held a hand out to her. “Come on, ladies, let’s take this inside. Megan and Maddy will be home soon from their grandparents’ house and there will be a lot of explaining to do if they find us out here.”

Gwen stood and turned toward her apartment, but Shannon held firm to her arm. “No, sweetie, come to my place. I don’t want to leave you alone. I’m so sorry I said that. I can’t believe I did that to you,” she cried harder.

Gage motioned them toward the doorway of Shannon’s apartment but didn’t move to follow them. He grabbed Shannon’s hand. “I’m going to go, baby—let you two talk. Call you later, though. You good?”

Gwen turned to see her friend smiling at Gage, her eyes soft and filled with something that looked a lot like love. At that moment, she hoped with all of her heart that Gage proved everyone wrong and had just been waiting for the right woman all along. She’d never known Shannon to even date since finally breaking free from her disaster of an ex. The man hadn’t had a faithful or truthful bone in his body. Gage might have gone through a lot of women, but if Dominic and Mac had been friends with him for all of these years, then he was a good guy—he had to be.

“I’m good,” Shannon murmured right before Gage trailed a finger down her cheek before dropping a kiss on her lips.

Both Gwen and Shannon collapsed side by side onto her couch. “I owe both you and Gage an apology as well,” Gwen said. “I don’t know why I said all of that. I love you and the girls to death, but your personal life is none of my business. I’m sorry, Shannon. I truly am.”

Shannon scooted closer and dropped her head against Gwen’s shoulder. “We really outdid ourselves this time, didn’t we? I swear, I thought for a minute there we’d start throwing fists or something. I really care about Gage, and I guess I’m a little overly sensitive about our relationship. He’s the first man that I’ve connected with in such a long time, and I’m afraid of losing him.”

“How long?” Gwen asked, curious as to how she could have missed Gage coming and going from Shannon’s apartment.

“A couple of months,” Shannon admitted. “He just officially met Megan and Maddy a few weeks back for the first time.” Blushing, Shannon added, “I think you remember them telling you all about it at the zoo that day.”

“Ah yes, the whole ‘don’t—stop Cameron’ thing. I thought that all came out of nowhere.” Feeling a little hurt, Gwen said, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”