Free Two Weeks in Geneva: Book Three by Lydia Rowan

don’t know what it is with me and dining rooms. Somehow, baby stuff always ends up there.”
    Alexander couldn’t help it; he laughed, the vibration rolling through him and spurring him into action. He grabbed the diaper bag, and they worked in efficient silence, falling back into the old routine with ease, and within a half hour, Ethan was cleaned up and tucked in and they sat on his couch facing each other.
    After a few moments, she said, “Can I go first?”
    He nodded, and she continued. “Sorry for barging in on you like this, but I felt dramatic action was necessary. I needed to talk to you, and it couldn’t be done over the phone.”
    “So you flew halfway around the world with a baby?”
    “Yeah, and thanks to your dad, it was a piece of cake. A private jet is definitely the best way to travel.”
    “What does my father have to do with this?” he asked gruffly.
    “Please don’t be upset with him. I called and asked for his assistance, and he had a lawyer help with Ethan’s paperwork and sent the plane for us. He loves you, you know.”
    Maybe one day Alexander could think about trying to fix things, but at the moment he had more pressing concerns.
    “So what’s so important?”
    He was suddenly defensive, wary of getting back on this roller coaster of emotions, though it wasn’t like he’d ever really gotten off. But still, this was a lot.
    “I want to try this, try us. For real this time, no secrets, no lies. How do you feel?” Quinn said, her voice low, tentative.
    ••••
    Quinn waited for his response, feeling as if she were on tenterhooks, knowing that this moment would determine the outcome of the rest of her life. He paused, looked at her, assessing much like he had that first day, and then said, “Relieved. Surprised. Angry.”
    “Please, don’t hold back,” she said when he paused.
    He looked her in the eye, and she saw in his gaze the swirling emotion, saw his understandable reluctance to say more.
    “Please, Alexander. I need to hear it, and I think you need to say it.”
    “Fine. I am—was—so angry with you. I forgave you, Quinn. You kept him from me, made me miss the first chapter of his life. And I forgave you, looked past the rage and the pain and saw that you were doing what you thought best, misguided though you were. I made a mistake, too, but you didn’t do the same for me. You just cut me out, pushed me away, refused to fight for me, for us .”
    His words were calm, measured, but his eyes, flickering and flashing like flames, revealed his turmoil.
    “But even more, I’m angry at myself. I ruined us.” He looked at Quinn, eyes imploring. “Let me explain—”
    “Alexander, there’s no need to.”
    It didn’t matter. It was past, she saw that now, and she wanted to focus on their future.
    “No, there is a need. I owe it to you, to myself,” he said.
    She nodded. “Okay.”
    “I told you how I was a studious boy? Playing with Legos.” She nodded. “So that didn’t leave a lot of time for girls.”
    She smiled. “I find that hard to believe.”
    He chuckled. “Sure, I had girlfriends, but nothing serious. And then in my last year at university, I met Magda. You’ve seen her.”
    Quinn didn’t even try to stop her eye roll, and Alexander laughed.
    “I have indeed,” she said with a sigh.
    “Well, beyond her beauty, she’s quite savvy, and she painted a wonderful picture of what we could build together, how the two of us as one would be unstoppable.”
    Quinn felt sick to her stomach. Even now, that vision sounded mighty compelling, Magda and Alexander with their good looks and poise a far more logical pairing than she and Alexander could ever be. She didn’t know how much more of this she cared to hear.
    “Really, Alexander, it’s—”
    “But it was all a lie.”
    Quinn quirked a brow. “What do you mean?”
    “The compelling vision was a fraud. You see, she’s from an old, established family that’s as poor as it is prominent. The