Perfect Fit (Serendipity's Finest) - By Carly Phillips Page 0,54

around town.

“Tess, did you get the door?” Ethan asked, the sound of his footsteps coming closer.

“Duh,” she muttered.

Ethan met them in the foyer with a smile, but he glanced at his sister and asked, “What’s with the attitude?”

“You said company, not the chief of police,” Tess hissed at him, her cheeks pink.

“I’m not here on official business,” Mike said, hoping to put her at ease.

Ethan laughed. “I should hope not. She’s been off probation for a while now.”

“What?” Mike asked, sure his friend was kidding.

“A long story for another time,” Ethan said.

Tess looked at him, narrowing her eyes. “I can’t believe you!” With a solid foot stamp, she took off, heading back upstairs.

“Bye, Tess,” Cara called out.

“Bye,” the teen yelled back.

“What was that all about?” Mike asked.

Ethan shook his head and laughed. “That was Tornado Tess. Come on into the den and I’ll tell you all about it.” He gestured for them to follow him into a large room with a bar in one corner and a big-screen television in another. “Faith is upstairs with the baby. She’ll be down soon.”

“Ooh, can I go on up and take a peek?” Cara asked.

Ethan grinned like a proud father. “Sure. Just follow the smells,” he said, making Mike wonder how the hard guy he’d known in high school had gone from rebel to parent with seeming ease.

Mike shuddered.

Cara laughed and headed out the door. He watched her walk out, her tight behind swaying in that little skirt and short jacket.

“Damn, you have it bad,” Ethan said.

Mike raised an eyebrow. What could he say? He’d been caught.

“So what’s it like being a father?” He changed the subject.

Ethan grinned. “I wasn’t ready for it either.”

“Hell, you’re old enough to know if you’re potentially getting your wife pregnant.”

Mike shook his head at his friend, and Ethan burst out laughing. “I was talking about love, not kids.”

“Who the hell said anything about love? We’re just having fun.”

Ethan walked to the bar. “At least you didn’t say it was just sex. Scotch?” he asked.

Mike nodded. “Thanks.” He already knew it wasn’t just anything. Not that he’d get into that with Ethan.

“It’s amazing being a father.” Ethan poured two glasses of alcohol and handed one to Mike.

The man switched subjects like a pro. “Are you talking about Tess or baby diapers?” Mike asked, joking.

“Both.” Ethan met his gaze, his expression as serious as Mike had ever seen it. “I thought I’d grown up when I moved back here, and I had, but Tess, she turned me into the man I wanted to be. Faith did the rest. Then she gave me our daughter.” Ethan raised his glass. “To women,” he said, the foolish grin of a man in love on his face.

Mike wasn’t that far gone, but he had to admit Cara had him in an unfamiliar place that had him reeling. Mike raised his glass and took a large gulp, needing it to feel more centered.

“Want to see my princess?” Ethan asked with pride.

“What’s her name?” Mike asked.

“Allie. After my mother, Alicia.”

Mike nodded, understanding the sentiment. He followed Ethan out of the den and up the long circular stairs.

Soft female voices sounded from a room at the end of the hall, where a light glow illuminated the darkened hallway. Music played from another room, the heavy rock telling him where Tess, the teenager, had gone.

Mike paused outside the baby’s room and, with Ethan, looked inside. To his shock, Cara, not Faith, held the tiny bundle in her arms. Before he could process the warmth spreading through him, Cara leaned in and pressed her nose to the baby’s head. “I love the smell of baby,” she whispered.

“It’s the Johnson’s Baby Shampoo. Makes you want to eat them up,” Faith agreed.

“She’s so precious,” Cara said in awe. “I was afraid I’d break her.”

Faith waved a hand dismissively. “From the way you changed that diaper, you’re a natural. All ready for when you have one of your own.”

Ethan stood beside him, the silence charged. Mike felt as uncomfortable listening to the women’s dialogue as he did having his old friend undoubtedly put his own spin on what he thought Mike was feeling. Hell, he barely knew himself.

“I don’t know if that’ll ever happen,” Cara said, surprising him. “I’d need to believe that relationships can last and that there’s someone out there who I’d trust with my whole heart not to hurt me.”

The way her mother had been hurt. Mike heard the unspoken end to her sentence, her quiet words and