Didn't Expect You (Against All Odds #2) - Claudia Burgoa Page 0,16

and instead of helping, I dumped my coffee on her.

We laughed, exchanged information so I could pay for the dry-cleaning of her dress and a new pair of shoes. That was the beginning of what I thought was my forever. She’s the love of my life. I wasn’t hers though.

“We dated for two years,” I continue and swallow hard. “She was it for me. I wasn’t sure when I’d be proposing to her, but—”

“Wait, we’re talking about l-o-v-e word here, aren’t we?”

I nod a couple of times, as I rub my chest.

She hugs her legs and asks, “What happened to her?”

“Back then, I traveled a lot,” I say and pause for a second. Maybe I’m still traveling a lot, and if there was a lesson to learn from that time I…well, I didn’t learn much. “I believed that quality was better than quantity. So even when we didn’t see each other every day, we had a deep, meaningful relationship.”

That’s how I remember it, but now I wonder if it was that way, or if I made all that up inside my head. I shake my head and continue. “We didn’t see each other as much as we did at the beginning, but we were happy. One day she said, ‘I’m pregnant.’”

“Please tell me your kid is fine,” she begs, and it feels like she’s about to cry.

I nod. “I did the most logical thing and proposed to her. She said yes. However, she suggested we waited until the baby was born. He arrived in this world five years ago. Ten fingers, ten toes, and I fell in love with the most beautiful boy in the world. We named him Wyatt Callum Davis-Chadwick. Seven pounds two ounces and twenty inches. I should have known something was wrong, but I adored him and there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him. Why would I doubt his mother’s behavior?”

“What happened, and where is he?”

I close my eyes and let out a breath, “Four months later, during the wedding, my world collapsed. She said the wrong name during our vow exchange. Instead of saying ‘I take thee, Nathaniel,’ she said, ‘I take thee, Callum.’ He was her boss. The guy happened to be among the guests. One moment we were supposed to exchange rings and the next I’m punching the guy, she’s crying because she doesn’t know who she loves, and my brother is hauling me out of the place.”

Counting from one to ten, I open my eyes and smile at her. “She wasn’t sure who she loved. There were too many uncertainties to continue with the ceremony.”

“What about Wyatt?” Nyx asks, and I’m sure she knows what is coming up next.

“Later, we sat down to talk. She confessed that she had been going out with both of us. Not only that, but she wasn’t sure who Wyatt’s father was. When I asked why she stayed with me she said that I was the better choice.”

“Nate…” Nyx whispers my name and touches my hand lightly.

“With me, Wyatt would have everything he desired. It was my bank account, and not because she loved me,” I say, looking at the dark sky and feeling just as dark as I felt during those months. “I was angry, hurt, and heartbroken. I loved her, and I adored my boy. Except...”

“He wasn’t yours,” she finishes what I can’t say.

“There’s nothing left in me to give,” I confess after a long silence. “She shattered me the moment I learned he wasn’t mine. She snatched my little boy away from me. He’s now Wyatt Callum Davis-Mattis. It hurt to lose her, but him… I could’ve forgiven her for cheating and forged a friendship with her while we parented our son. She wiped me from his life. It’s like I never existed. That’s why my brother wants me to stay away. Because if you get attached and want more…”

She squeezes my hand. “Thank God I’m not one of those women who tries to fix men, or we’d be a lethal combination.”

I smile, nodding in agreement.

“What about you?”

“As I mentioned last night, my track record is terrible,” she confesses. “I had a couple of boyfriends during college and law school. They were too busy to entertain something serious.”

“So, casual dates,” I conclude.

She snickers humorlessly. “Well, I thought we were heading somewhere until they set me straight. I guess they taught me to not trust my heart to anyone.”

“Where does this leave us?”

“That’s the beauty about who we are,” she says. “We’re mature enough