Free Dylan: The Sons of Dusty Walker by Jodi Redford

talk and French kiss your way into my bed, Dylan. I’m not some horny twenty-year-old anymore. I have a child and need to be responsible.”
    He narrowed his eyes. “Hunter is our child. And I fully intend to be responsible for him too.”
    “You’re going to be here for a matter of days. This is my life . Day in and day out. And I don’t regret one moment of it. But don’t think that you showing up once in a blue moon when you feel like it is even remotely equal to what Hunter needs. To what I need.”
    Her words were like a punch to his gut. “I would never do that.” She was preaching to the choir. He knew too well what it was like having a dad who wasn’t around. No way in hell he’d do that to Hunter. And it was mighty unfair of her to lay that shit on his doorstep when he hadn’t even known of his son’s existence before today. “If you’d come to me back then, I wouldn’t have shirked my responsibility. That’s not the kind of man I am, Zoe.” Damn her for assuming otherwise.
    She frowned. “I know that. It’s part of the reason I didn’t say anything to you. I already told you I didn’t want to put that burden on you.”
    He plowed his hands through his hair. She was speaking in circles. “One minute you’re reading me the riot act for not being there when you needed me, and the next you’re saying you didn’t want me there. Which is it, Zoe?”
    Judging from her expression, she was just as confused as him. Which made no damn sense. “I didn’t—” She halted her rebuttal so fast, it was a miracle her tongue didn’t get whiplash. For a brief flash that vulnerability he’d noticed earlier returned. Just as quick as it appeared she locked it down. She glanced at him, her gaze guarded. “That remark didn’t have anything to do with you. So don’t take it as me giving you grief. Because I wasn’t.”
    Her admission—odd as it was—eased the sting of being wrongfully accused of neglect on his part. “Then what were you referrin’ to?”
    “Nothing. It’s not important to this conversation.”
    When folks said shit like that, nine times out of ten it was the opposite of the truth. He was beginning to believe there was a whole lotta stuff going on with Zoe that she wasn’t telling him about. And that presented a big ass problem in his book. Because as long as she kept hiding herself from him there was no way they could move away from the past.
    And into what? A possible future that she seemed dead set on not letting him be a part of with her?
    Zoe straightened the front of her dress and walked to the bare patch of lawn where Hunter was poking a small ant hill with a stick he’d found. She snagged his free hand. “Time to go, Boo Bear.”
    Dylan stepped in the middle of her path, halting her progress toward the house. Tearing his gaze from her shuttered one, he dropped onto his haunches and grinned at Hunter. “I’m gonna come visit ya tomorrow. You a fan of ice cream?”
    His eyes lighting up more brilliantly than a sky full of Fourth of July fireworks, Hunter nodded and belted out a “Yeah!” that nearly took out Dylan’s hearing.
    “Me too.” Resisting the urge to shake his head to clear the ringing from his ears, Dylan made a fist. His heart nearly doubled in size when Hunter balled his tiny hand and bumped his knuckles against Dylan’s with an exuberant whoop.
    Amazing how your life could change in the blink of an eye. He’d thought nothing could flatten him on his ass like learning he had three brothers he’d known nothing about. Now he had a kid. Some guys would probably be running for the hills right about now. The thought wasn’t even an option in Dylan’s mind.
    He straightened and scanned Zoe’s face. A fraction of the shield she’d erected had disintegrated but a healthy dose of uncertainty lingered. Letting her continue to build this wall between them? Not an option. Not when he had so much at stake. He’d let her walk away from him once before. Never