Free The Best Man's Baby by Victoria James Page B

her youth, was very different from the real man. The fantasy man would never have left. And everyone knew full well that Jake had a reputation for running. The last thing she needed was to get close to him while she was in a vulnerable position and have him leave. And what about her…their child? It would be devastating to have a father just up and leave whenever the going got rough. No, despite her attraction, despite everything, she needed to guard herself.
    “Yeah, well, we both know why you really canceled,” he said with a half grin that made him look mischievous. And sexy. This was not going well at all for her. At least his arrogance should help dissipate any more unwanted thoughts of attraction in her mind.
    “Really,” she said, crossing her arms. She wanted to hear this.
    “You canceled on me because you’re trying to shut me out. You’re trying to push me away,” Jake said as he climbed the stairs until he was two steps below her, at her eye level. She refused to acknowledge that the sudden proximity of his body coupled with his delicious smell sent her heartbeat into serious overdrive. Claire swallowed hard. Focus . She was trying to shut him out, but she wasn’t going to make any apologies for it. She raised her chin and looked him straight in the eye.
    “Yes. That’s exactly what I’m doing, and why shouldn’t I? Isn’t that what you did to me? You took off and shut me out.”
    “That’s different.”
    “Really, how so?”
    Jake ran his hands down his face with what sounded like a very frustrated groan. “Look, I’m not here to fight with you. I’m sorry I took off, sorrier than you’ll ever know, but now there’s a baby and it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than some lame text to keep me away from you, okay?”
    Because of the baby. The sincerity in his blue eyes was as unmistakable as the regret in his voice. She couldn’t be mad at him for not being in love with her. She couldn’t be mad at him for trying to be a part of his child’s life. She was going to have to be mature and try to deal with this the best way she could—throw some armor onto her heart and proceed with caution.
    “Fine.”
    Jake broke out into a grin that made her momentarily forget about guarding her heart. It was a smile highlighting everything beautiful about his face—from the perfect teeth to the faded scar on his chin to the twinkling eyes. She found herself smiling in return. And then she realized what she was doing and tried to smooth her lips into a straight line. Proceed with caution, remember?
    She forced a frown on her face. “How did you get in here?”
    “I’m glad you brought that up, actually,” he said, his voice suddenly serious as he crossed his arms over his wide chest. “You left the back door unlocked. Not the smartest thing to do when you’re planning on taking a nap.”
    Claire felt a jolt of alarm at the thought of leaving her door unlocked at night while she slept. “Well, that was obviously a mistake. I always lock my door, not that it’s any of your business. I mean, for six weeks I could have been sleeping with my door wide open and you would have never known.” It was ridiculous for him to be pretending he was so concerned about her. She could see the muscles in his jaw clench. So she’d hit a nerve. Good.
    “You know if you don’t forgive me for that we’re never going to be able to move forward.” Claire couldn’t deny the genuine sorrow in his voice, but it was guilt that he was feeling. “Besides, didn’t you just agree like five seconds ago we weren’t going to argue?”
    He had a point. “I thought I told you I was too tired to go out tonight.”
    “Yeah, so I brought dinner to you.”
    Claire felt her pulse skip. “What do you mean?”
“Food just arrived. That was the delivery guy.”
    He reached out and pulled her by the hand and led her down the stairs. She fought the urge to pull back, and refused to acknowledge the heat wave his strong, warm