LITMIR.BIZ

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make the blue one a kiddie cone.”

      “Blue raspberry.”

      “Sound good, Katy?” Mike asked, looking down. “The blue one is raspberry. Is that what you want?”

      “Blue!” Katy declared.

      “Blue it is.”

      Katy squirmed away, and Malory followed, leaving Mike with Trent. He could see them in the wide mirror behind the counter, getting settled at a table by a window. Trent looked after Malory with an admiring smile.

      “Girlfriend?” he asked, lowering his voice.

      “No, she’s the new nanny.” Mike shook his head. “So don’t start any rumors, my friend.”

      “Me?” Trent chuckled. “Well, if you want a little advice—”

      “I don’t.” Mike gave Trent a dominant expression that told the other man to back down. “But thanks.”

      Trent shrugged and grabbed a cone and a scoop. “Suit yourself, Mike, but if I were ten years younger and single...” He sank the scoop into the velvety surface of the vanilla ice cream. “Actually, strike that. If I were single, period, I’d ask her out myself.”

      “I wouldn’t say that in front of Rita,” Mike teased, and Trent’s rosy complexion blanched ever so slightly as he scooped.

      “Never. She’d kill me.” He passed the cone over the glass guard.

      Mike chuckled and turned to beckon Malory over. “This is yours.”

      Katy came running over, and Trent prepared the blue raspberry cone. Malory smiled as she accepted the cone from Mike’s hand. Her cool fingers brushed his ever so slightly and she tossed him a smile of thanks before taking her first bite. He watched for her reaction and he was rewarded with an eye roll of ecstasy.

      “Oh, wow,” she murmured. “This is good.”

      “Trent makes the best,” Mike agreed, and he wasn’t quite able to dampen the swell of pride to have been able to provide it.

      “And this is for you,” Mike said, accepting the next cone from Trent and handing it down to Katy. Katy’s eyes widened in delight, and she took the treat in both hands, then waggled her tongue into the top of it.

      “Let’s go sit,” Malory said softly, leading Katy away again toward the table.

      Trent offered Mike his cone, and Mike pulled a bill out of his pocket and slapped it on the counter.

      “That little girl is quite the heart stealer,” Trent said as he took the bill and made change.

      Mike’s gaze moved toward Katy, whose mouth was already covered with blue ice cream. He couldn’t help but smile.

      “Yeah, she’s a cutie.”

      “Your life will never be the same,” Trent said wistfully. “I remember when my eldest was born—”

      “No, no.” Mike cleared his throat and accepted the change the older man held out. “This is short-term.”

      “Oh?” Trent’s brows raised, but he shrugged and let the topic drop. “Fair enough. Good seeing you, Mike.”

      “Tell Rita I say hi.”

      “Will do.”

      Mike took his own cone to the far table where Malory and Katy waited, then slid into the chair opposite Malory. He was determined that this be short-term, but he found himself wondering what it would be like to keep Katy. If he had Malory here to help out—

      No. He pushed the idea firmly aside. He’d thought this through already, and Malory was pregnant. That changed a lot of things, too. He’d been right before.

      “This is really good.” Malory was already down to the cone, and she reached over and turned Katy’s ice cream to keep it from getting lopsided, then put it back into her hands again. “Eat fast, Katy,” she warned. “Or it will melt.”

      Mike took a thoughtful bite of his cone, but the ice cream didn’t taste as good as it usually did to him. He didn’t know what his problem was. It wasn’t as though he’d known Malory before, or even as though he’d had plans to make something more of their relationship. But she’d held back an important detail that, while private, certainly factored into the job. And when he’d said that he preferred honesty, that was a blunt fact. He’d been lied to enough in his life, and he respected transparency.

      “Look, Mike...” Malory said quietly once Katy was happily settled with her ice cream. “I’m sorry that I didn’t say anything earlier. I hope you understand. If it only affected me, I might have been more forthcoming, but I’m going to have a child to provide for.”

      Mike nodded. “Yeah, I get it.”

      Having Katy here was opening his eyes to a lot of things he’d never experienced—like the amount of worry that went into a child in his care.

      “I didn’t think I’d be a single mom,” she admitted. “But life doesn’t always go according to plan.”

      “You don’t have any support?” he asked. “What about the father?”

      “Steve offered to pay for the abortion.”

      Mike winced. “Ouch.”

      What kind of a lowlife offered an abortion? He’d smack this Steve himself, given the chance.

      “I could sue him for child support, true, but—” She sighed. “I’d just as well take care of my baby on my own and not have to deal with him.”

      “What happened exactly?” he asked. This was moving very quickly toward the personal, and she’d already made it clear that she liked her privacy, so he added, “If you don’t mind me asking.”

      “No, no, it’s fine.” She waved her hand through the air. “I was dating Steve for a couple of years. After he left me for my best friend, I found out I was pregnant. I never saw it coming—him leaving me, or the baby.”

      “And you still told him?” He raised an eyebrow. That showed some strength right there, to give him the information at all after he’d dumped her so unceremoniously.

      “It only seemed right to let him know that he had a child on the way,” she replied. “And, well, you know how he reacted. I suppose it’s just as well.”

      “Is it?” he asked uncertainly. The thought of a man treating Malory that way boiled his blood, and he’d half hoped to see his own anger mirrored in her face, but all he saw there was resignation. Whoever this guy was, that kind of reaction to the news that he’d fathered a child was unforgivable in Mike’s eyes. A man stood up and took responsibility.

      “My mom was on her own raising me, and she spent my entire childhood trying to rope in a husband.” She shook her head. “I swore I’d never do that. I might be a single mom, but I’m not going to make my mother’s mistake and think that some guy is going to rescue me. I’ll do this alone.”

      Alone. So she’d already decided that she didn’t want a man in her life. Not that it should matter to him—

      Mike nodded. “Fair enough.”

      “And I wanted to thank you.” Her gaze met his earnestly. “You could have given me my walking papers, but you didn’t.”

      “Well, I’m not that kind of guy,” he replied. It was more than that, though. Somehow, that information had sparked a protective instinct in him, and he wouldn’t have been able to fire her if he’d tried. “You’re here for Katy, and she really loves you already.”

      Malory sucked in a breath and smiled, this time the sparkle hitting those brown eyes.

      “And if you need help with anything—” Mike began.

      “No.” Her tone was emphatic, and he bit

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