Free Broken by Zena Wynn

she asked, “What’s wrong?”
    “Mama!” Zoe cried, holding out her arms.
    Max admired the way the satin clung to Cassidy’s moist skin. Skin he’d glided his tongue over, pressed his lips against, and caressed for hours last night. The memory was enough to make him hard and he shifted Zoe so she wasn’t sitting on his erection.
    Cassidy came over to scoop Zoe off his lap and as she bent over, Max got a tantalizing glimpse of cleavage. Zoe immediately snuggled close, clutching the edge her mother’s robe in one tight fist. The move exposed more of Cassidy’s body to his hungry gaze.
    “She feels warm,” Cassidy said, placing her hand on Zoe’s forehead in a classic gesture used by mothers everywhere.
    She went into the bathroom and came out with a devise. “See if you can get this into her ear to take her temperature.”
    Max stood and came over to them. Taking the thermometer from Cassidy, he did as she asked while she held Zoe still. When it beeped, she held out her hand for it. “She’s running a fever. Zoe, you and I get to go see your godmomma today.”
    “Who is Zoe’s godmother?” Had he also missed his daughter’s christening? More I don’t know about my own child , Max thought. Another sin to lay at his family’s feet. From now on out, he’d know everything there was to know about Zoe. He was here and wouldn’t be leaving.
    Cassidy gave him a distracted glance. “Erika. She’s also Zoe’s pediatrician. I’d better call the clinic and let them know I won’t be in today.”
    There was a lot he hadn’t been able to do for Cassidy over the last two years, but this he could do. “Go to work. I’ll take Zoe to the doctor. Just tell me where it is, give me Zoe’s insurance card, and I’ll handle the rest,” he offered, watching the sniffling toddler with mild concern.
    Zoe had her head on Cassidy’s shoulder, still clutching her mother’s robe in a death grip. Cassidy had the child propped up on one hip. Occasionally she’d run a soothing hand over Zoe’s unruly curls.
    Saying nothing in response, Cassidy exited the bedroom and went into the kitchen. The minute she presented Zoe her juice cup, his daughter reached for it with eager hands saying, “Ba-ba.” She greedily slurped it down. As Max watched in silence, Cassidy managed to get another dose of medicine inside of Zoe and was reaching for the phone when finally he spoke up. “Cassidy, there’s no sense you missing a day of work when I’m right here, available.”
    Her hand hovered over the cordless wall phone as her gaze met his, wary but determined. “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving her with you. Zoe doesn’t know you, and forcing her to stay with you when she’s already not feeling well would add unnecessary stress.”
    “I’m her father,” he reminded Cassidy, his temper beginning to spark at her rejection of his offer.
    “Whom she just met yesterday,” she reminded him.
    “Because yesterday is when I found out,” he snapped.
    “I know. I’m not faulting you—”
    “The hell you aren’t!”
    “—but you can’t simply show up, acting like the past never happened.” She turned and headed down the hall toward Zoe’s room.
    “Is that what you think I’m doing? I’m trying to make up for lost time,” he said to her back, trying to hold onto his fraying temper.
    She glanced over her shoulder at him as she paused to open the gate to Zoe’s room. “I understand but some things take time. I know and you know you’re Zoe’s father, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t even understand what a father is. To her, you’re a stranger. Yes, you have a right to know your child and be a father to her but you can’t rush it, or rush her. That’s all I’m saying.”
    No, that’s not all . He thought of the way she’d barely looked at him this morning, barely spoken unless it had to do with Zoe. Something else was going on here. Something deeper.
    He walked to the doorway of Zoe’s