Assumed Identity - By Julie Miller Page 0,36

of time to leave before he did something stupid like go over there and ask what was bugging her about her phone.

But he was a cursed man. Cursed to have amnesia. Cursed to look like the aftermath of a lost battle. Cursed to feel that compulsion to atone for the violence from his nightmares.

When he saw Robbie lifting Emma over his head and pretending she was an airplane, Jake dropped the boxes and charged around the end of the bar. It didn’t matter that the baby was laughing from deep in her belly, or that Robin was carefully watching the ride through the air. Emma was too tiny, too pretty—too perfect—to risk her getting hurt.

“Stop!” Jake plucked the baby from his hands before Robbie sent her flying. “You’ll break her.”

Baby saved. Now what? He pulled Emma into his chest, keeping one arm beneath her bottom and leaning back a bit so she wouldn’t fall. But she kept wiggling around, batting at his neck and bobbing in his grasp. It was like handling a squirming piece of blown glass. Two tiny fingers hooked into the side of his mouth while the other miniature hand brushed across the stubble of his jaw. She squealed in his ear.

“She’s going to scratch herself,” he mumbled awkwardly, afraid to close his mouth around her fingers. “I haven’t shaved since last night.”

“Jake, she’s okay.” Robin’s smile probably meant his inexperience handling a baby amused her. But her hand on his arm softened the sting of overreacting and feeling out of his element. She guided his hand to the baby’s back and pulled the clinging fingers from his mouth. “Babies like to feel different textures. Touch is a big part of how they learn.”

They also didn’t seem to care a whit for how big and ugly the man was behind those textures. Emma flashed him those sweet blue eyes and squealed with delight as she rubbed both tiny palms along his scarred jaw. Oh, man. He was screwed.

He wasn’t the only one in the bar to notice that, either.

Robbie’s gut shook as he laughed and winked at Jake. “I see how it is. The heart of the beast has been smitten by the wee beauty.” He reached over to tickle the back of Emma’s neck and then pat Jake on the arm. “I’ll take the trash out for you and leave you be with your friends. You’ve got about twenty minutes before the first round of customers stops by after work.” He had a wink for Robin, too. “Nice to meet you both. Now that I know we’re practically neighbors, you come visit again, anytime.”

“Nice to meet you.” After Robbie had picked up the boxes and exited into the back hallway, Robin peeked around Jake’s shoulder and confirmed that the detective was on the phone to someone at precinct headquarters. She had that determined tilt to her chin again when she looked at Jake. “Are you done talking with Detective Montgomery?”

The woman just wouldn’t leave him alone and give him the chance to get her out of his head, would she.

“Didn’t have much to say. Here.” He leaned in and carefully handed Emma over, pulling away just as quickly as it took for him to know Robin had a good grip on her daughter. “You get her out of here. A bar is no place for a baby.”

“I’ll leave you alone if that’s what you want. But I need to talk to you first. Will you listen?”

He wasn’t getting rid of the Carter girls until he did, Jake suspected, so he reluctantly pointed to a booth away from the main bar. “I’ll give you ten minutes.”

“Robbie said we had twenty.”

“I’ll give you ten.” Especially since his shirt now smelled faintly of baby, and he wanted to swap it out for a clean shirt he kept in his locker in the back room before he had to spend the entire night getting whiffs of the “wee beauty” who had somehow gotten under his skin.

At Robin’s request, he retrieved the stroller and followed them over to the booth. With Emma propped up on her mother’s shoulder, smiling at him the entire way, Jake had to wonder if the little minx knew she was casting a spell over him.

He’d let Robin have her say. But then he’d make it clear that helping her the night before had been a one-time thing. As far as he was concerned, their paths need never cross again.

Jake waited for Robin to strap Emma into