A sardonic flash of teeth. “Really? Because I seem to recall you wanting nothing to do with me for that very reason.”
Ouch. “Do you still want to be with me?” she asked quietly.
“I do,” he said without hesitation. “I wasn’t kidding when I told you I loved you.”
Relief was like the first rain after a long drought. “But...why didn’t you tell Daphne I’m your girlfriend?”
“Honey, the last I heard from you, you were giving me time. I didn’t know you were accepting me back as your boyfriend.”
“I—”
A light tap sounded at the door.
“—want you,” she finished. “I want everything from you.”
He reached for her, only to fist his hands just before contact as another knock sounded. His arms fell to his sides. “The door,” he said.
“Right.” Trembling, she turned the knob.
Hope stepped inside, wide-eyed, a plate of food in hand. “Um, hi.” She glanced between them.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Jase said, his tone gentling.
Hope unveiled a devastating smile, preening under his attention. “Momma wanted you to have your breakfast while it was still hot.”
Well, wasn’t that nice. Too nice?
Had Daphne come here hoping to win Jase back?
Brook Lynn’s knees nearly gave out. If she were to war against Daphne, she would lose. Daphne had the ace.
Be that as it may, Brook Lynn wasn’t giving up without a fight. Not this time. She’d walked away once already, and it had brought her nothing but heartache. Jase deserved better. He deserved her best, and that’s what she would give him. I’m coming at you guns blazing, Mr. Hollister.
“Eat your breakfast.” She strutted over, kissed him on the forehead and whispered, “Your days belong to your daughter, and I’m glad about that, I really am, but your nights are mine.”
*
JASE GLANCED AT the clock. 10:07 flashed in bold red numbers. Hope had been asleep for an hour. And for the entirety of that hour he’d wanted to go to Brook Lynn.
But Daphne sat on the couch, telling West and Beck what she’d told him last night—her story since they’d last seen each other. Neither interrupted her. Neither accused her of lying about Hope’s paternity.
Jase didn’t need a DNA test. In his heart, he knew the truth. Break out the pink cigars. I’m a dad.
He was scared as hell he’d do a bad job with Hope, maybe scar her emotionally because he had no idea how to love a kid, and she’d have to spend a few decades in therapy, but he did love her. Just a few minutes alone with her had sealed the deal.
You’re really my dad?
I am.
I’m glad. I’ve been dreaming of you my whole life.
He’d toppled head over heels then and there. And yeah, for a guy who’d professed to never want kids, he’d sure fallen for this one fast and hard. But then, he hadn’t known what he’d been missing.
“I found out I was pregnant the day before Jase’s sentence,” Daphne said. “I was scared, but I thought I could find another guy and everything would be okay. Jase had no money, no prospects and no future. I wanted someone who had those things. But the one I picked stuck around only until I began showing. I got a job as a receptionist at a law firm and went to night school to become a court stenographer, knowing I’d need a way to support the baby on my own. And I did it. I finished, was making something of my life, but Jase was still in prison. I just...I didn’t want Hope to see him behind bars.”
Good call. But if he’d known about her, at the very least, he could have been there for her, providing money, a home, food, clothes. Anything she’d needed, everything she’d wanted.
“Where does she think he’s been?” Beck asked.
Daphne plucked a piece of lint from her shirtsleeve. “In another country, helping starving children.”