LITMIR.BIZ

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shied away. She might have been able to touch him, to experience some of the joy a baby brings into any world it enters, but she wouldn’t go overboard. She liked being able to be in the same room without being overwhelmed with memories. She had weeks here at Darius’s house to get accustomed to Gino. She didn’t have to push. She could take this slowly.

      “That’s okay. You keep him.”

      Gino squealed and stretched out of Darius’s arms toward her.

      Darius chuckled. “I’m sorry, but he wants you. He likes you.”

      “I know. But he likes you, too.” She took a few steps back.

      Gino screeched again.

      “Right at this minute, I think he likes you more.”

      Motherly longing laced its way through her. The pure feminine desire to lave love on a needy baby rose up in her. Especially a baby who so obviously wanted her. Her heart swelled with affection so strong it tightened her chest. She wanted to love Gino. She might even need to love him. There was a hole in her heart so big that some days she wondered how it managed to pump enough blood to keep her alive.

      And standing in the nursery where this little boy belonged, beside the man who shared custody with her, suddenly it all seemed okay. She took Gino from Darius’s arms.

      Darius smiled. “Look how much he likes you.”

      She took a soft breath, preparing for panic, as sweet baby scents and the feeling of him snuggling into her assailed her. “I’m glad we came here, glad we decided to share these few weeks so we could all get adjusted.”

      He shrugged. “It works.”

      She nodded and turned away to rock Gino a bit as he nuzzled against her neck. The panic she expected didn’t come and she realized the memories of Layla floating out of her subconscious were wispy, insubstantial. Not bold and blaring, but still there, soft and sweet. She wouldn’t forget her baby as she got on with the rest of her life.

      “Yes. Being together does seem to be working.”

      “What do you say we take the baby down to supper with us?”

      She nodded.

      He smiled. “Do you want to change first?”

      “Yes.”

      “Okay. You hold him while I change and then I’ll come back and take him while you change.”

      Whitney nodded, feeling herself able to take another careful step. Holding Gino, alone.

      Darius left the room and she smiled down at the little boy. “So how was your day?”

      He tilted his head as if questioning her.

      She laughed. “I get it. Not much happens in the life of a six-month-old.”

      He screeched as if protesting that fact.

      “Then again, Gino, everything that happens is sort of new to you. I mean, you can’t even talk yet. Just wait till that happens.” She waltzed him around the room, making him giggle. “Then there’s walking. You’re gonna love that.”

      She spun around the room again, but stopped when she saw Darius standing in the open doorway between his room and the nursery.

      “That was fast.”

      He ambled into the room. “I’m hungry.”

      “Me, too.”

      She handed the baby to him, but couldn’t help noticing his still expression. “What?”

      “I think we should live together.”

      “We are living together.”

      “I mean permanently.” He ran his hand along the top of Gino’s head, across the shiny black hair so much like his own. “The house is huge. We both love the baby. He loves both of us. Wouldn’t it be a shame to divide up our time when we could both see him every day?”

      She gaped at him. “You’re serious.”

      He smiled charmingly. “It’s the right thing to do for Gino.”

      All the little warning bells she’d heard the Friday before when they’d arrived at the house, all the little suspicions that had nudged at her, suddenly found their meaning. He’d been leading her toward this from the beginning. Being nice, getting her to agree to one simple thing after another until they were at the point where his real goal became clear. He wanted them to live together.

      Well, he could ask, but that didn’t mean she had to agree.

      “It doesn’t work for me.”

      “Why not? There’s plenty of space. We have a cook. We’re hiring a nanny.” He pointed out the window at the serene ocean below. “You’re by the sea. On a beautiful, peaceful estate. You can keep your condo if you want. Spend time in the city anytime you want. And Gino can be here, comfortable and happy with his nanny.”

      “You mean with you.”

      “I can’t always be here either, remember? I have a job that forces me to travel. All the more reason for Gino to have a home base.”

      “You mean all the more reason for you to keep control. You’re afraid that with your schedule, I’ll have him more than you’ll have him.”

      He shook his head and laughed lightly, as if they were having a casual conversation, not a monumental one. “That’s absurd.”

      “Then why do you want to live here?”

      “Because it makes sense.”

      “Not to me.”

      “I can’t see why not. Whitney, I don’t want this to come out wrong, but you need this as much as Gino does. You’re still shaky around him.”

      Fury rose up in her. She couldn’t believe he’d use her fears around Gino against her. Telling him about her baby had been the hardest thing she’d ever done, but she’d trusted him! And he was using it against her.

      Mrs. Tucker stepped into the nursery. “The cook wants to know when it will be convenient to serve dinner.”

      Whitney headed for the door. “I’m not hungry. I’m going to work. Have Geoffrey bring Gino’s swing to my office and I’ll watch him while Mr. Andreas dines.”

      Alone.

      Alone from here on out because she wasn’t trusting him again!

CHAPTER SEVEN

      AT EIGHT O’CLOCK THAT NIGHT, after two hours of reading depositions, with Gino splitting his time between the swing and the playpen across from her desk, Whitney asked Mrs. Tucker to bring a bottle to the nursery.

      She didn’t look for Darius or even let him know she was putting Gino to bed. The mood in the nursery was subdued, as if Mrs. Tucker knew Darius should have been called in at least to say goodnight. Still, good employee that she was, she didn’t say anything as she fed Gino his bottle.

      But Gino fussed as if he, too, knew something was off balance, and Whitney began to feel a tad guilty for being so angry. Then as she tucked the covers around Gino’s neck and his soft baby blankets brought Layla to mind, she remembered that she’d trusted Darius. She’d told him the truth about the reason for her troubles with Gino and he’d used it to further his plan to keep the baby with him. Permanently.

      Needing a break from thinking about all this, instead of returning to her office, she headed for the kitchen to make herself a cup of cocoa and maybe an omelet, since she hadn’t eaten dinner.

      It took her a minute to find the kitchen. Coming from the other side of the huge house, she got slightly disoriented. When she finally found it and pushed open the door,

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