Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Aurora nodded, curling her hands around that pen. Nick knew something bad was coming. “I was seventeen when Kenneth went to see her,” she said softly.
He closed his eyes as the threads of the story came together. “You were still in the system.” Anger like he’d never felt before filled his veins. That mother fucking son of a bitch had left his daughter in foster care.
Nick didn’t care if it was just one year more. Anyone with a shred of humanity would have rescued their child and given her a home.
“Neither of my parents wanted me.” Her soft voice carved a hole in his chest. “Do you have any idea what it would have meant to me if he’d taken me home when he found out my mother wasn’t raising me? I’d still have been angry he hadn’t wanted me all those years before, but at least I’d have known someone cared enough to pull me out of that awful foster care system.”
Nick wanted to throw his iPad across the room, do something that would make him feel less impotent. But this wasn’t about him.
“Aurora?”
She refocused her wet gaze on his.
“Thank you for telling me.”
She nodded. “I wanted you to know why I’m so adamant about Leah being raised by parents who not only love her, but who she can count on.”
A smile pulled at his mouth. Leave it to her to make this about their daughter. But he also understood why. Shifting the focus allowed Aurora to think about something other than the pain of being unwanted and unloved. It also let her keep those walls high. She couldn’t bring herself to trust him because she feared he’d hurt or abandon her the way the two people who were supposed to protect her had done. And he still didn’t know what foster care had actually been like for her. Something told him he wouldn’t enjoy that story any better than he’d liked this one.
She cleared her throat. “So that’s how Linc found me,” she said, as if she could end the story and move on, emotional barriers in place.
Nick knew better. Armed with knowledge, he knew what he was up against. “Baby, I need you to hear me.”
She met his gaze. Though she looked more vulnerable than he’d ever seen her, she was even more beautiful to him.
“You’re strong and brave and you’ve had to rely on yourself for far too long.” Linc may have swooped in and made her life better, but inside she was still that unwanted little girl. “It’s going to take a while for you to realize it, but I’m in your life for good.”
A genuine smile lit her face. “I know you’re going to be a good father and I believe you when you say Leah can count on you. I know you’ll do your best.”
Once again, she was making it all about Leah. And he got it. She figured he’d do his best, which in her mind wasn’t good enough, because she was talking to him through a tablet screen. He wasn’t there, in New York, with the woman and child he wanted to make his family. Sure, there were parents who traveled for work, but those people had been in their child’s life from the beginning. Aurora’s life experience had skewed her view of just about every aspect of life.
Nick needed to wrap things up in California or pull in someone else to handle the hiring.
He wanted to be home with his girls.
* * *
Aurora’s talk with Nick had left her shaken and feeling as though she’d opened a vein and bled out in front of him. But she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She had to focus on Leah. And before she knew it, Saturday had arrived and Nick was at her door, showing up an hour before Leah’s party.
She’d welcomed him and he’d brushed a kiss on her cheek, his touch leaving her tingling. Then she led him to the cluttered kitchen, where party favors sat in a basket on the counter, and bowls of food filled the table.
After catching her breath, she turned to face him. In his jeans and collared Polo shirt, he looked mouth-wateringly sexy. He was still clean shaven and she couldn’t decide if she preferred this look or a little less tidy, with the scruff she’d imagined scraping her skin as he kissed his way down her stomach… Her sex pulsed and she shivered, realizing just where her thoughts had gone.
Shit! How could she let her mind wander like that? Obviously shredding her soul hadn’t stopped her from wanting him.
“Are you okay? You’re flushed.” Nick reached out and brushed his hand over her warm cheek.
“Fine.” She mentally shook herself. Her goal was to co-parent, not ogle him. “I’m fine.”
He eyed her warily then nodded. “Good. Okay then, why don’t you put me to work.”