work this out.
And I can resolve my itch for her.
Then, when he was cleared for duty again, there’d be no hard feelings, because they’d both have gone in with their eyes open.
A solid plan. And one negating the need to dig for feelings. He didn’t do that. He wasn’t a man who did—he was a Recon Marine, and he’d grown up learning that you didn’t do feelings.
Watching his father with his mother had only solidified that. He could count on one hand the number of times, in his entire life, he recalled his father telling his mother, or him, that he loved them.
The doorbell rang, and he pushed away to go open it. Perhaps one of the older neighbors needed something.
Or maybe Skylar was coming over.
Phone in his pocket, he strode to the door. “Yeah?”
The person standing there wasn’t anyone he’d expect to see on his doorstep, definitely wasn’t one he wished to see again. Gemma something or another. A one-night stand that hadn’t been all that memorable, but he didn’t forget the women he slept with.
The woman before him didn’t look anything like the one he’d taken to bed. Okay, more like it was against the wall of the hotel they’d used. That woman had been thin with large boobs, a tiny waist, and full lips. The one before him now was dangerously thin, with sunken features and dark circles below her eyes, her blond hair drawn back in a functional ponytail.
Signs of habitual drug use.
He crossed his arms and waited for her to say something.
She shifted her feet and wiped a hand under her nose. “Parker.”
He ran a dispassionate gaze over her. The clothing she wore was clean but not new. The most startling thing was the little rich-chocolate-headed boy standing next to her, holding tight to a faded brown-and-yellow teddy bear.
“Gemma.”
Two questions raced through his mind. One, how had she learned where he lived? And two, what could she possibly want? He’d been specific about their time being a solo event.
She pasted on a smile that originally had gotten him to pick her. Sassy with a hint of sex kitten. Right now, it didn’t work, not at all.
“We need to talk.” She licked her lips and sidled closer. “Do you have a moment?”
“Not sure what we could possibly need to talk about.” He didn’t back up, just waited.
The rumble of Skylar’s garage door opening snagged his focus. He had to get to her before she drove off. He wanted to have dinner with her and needed to make sure she’d taken her meds. Her truck was parked on the driveway and as she stepped out to lower the tailgate, he breathed a bit easier.
Had he gone into stalker mode? Nah, he just had a serious hard-on for his neighbor.
Gemma cleared her throat. “I’m standing here with a kid. Look, could we please step inside and discuss this?”
Her first sentence snared every ounce of his focus. “Are you trying to tell me that this…” He coughed a few times, not wanting to insult the kid, but not knowing how much he could or couldn’t understand. “That I’m his…”
Fuck. He couldn’t even say the word.
She nodded.
Shit could have blown up around him, and it wouldn’t have been a greater shock.
“And you’re just reaching out to me about this now, why? Didn’t think maybe it would have been best to tell me about him say, oh, I don’t know, when you knew you were fucking pregnant?” His growled words spilled free, and he reined himself back in when the boy’s eyes widened and he took a step back.
“I was scared and didn’t think you’d care. I messed up.” Another swipe under her nose. “I can’t do this on my own, and I’m reaching out for help. We can work at being a couple again and do what’s best for our son.”
He narrowed his gaze. “So, you roll up in my life after nearly four years and present me with a kid, telling me that he’s mine, and now you want to move in as if we’re one big happy family? Did you even think that I might be married or seeing someone?”
That someone was unloading wood from the back of her truck. Something she shouldn’t be doing at all with her injured hand.
An idea sprouted in the back of his mind.
“If that’s the case, you can give us a place to stay until I get back on my feet. Look, I know this isn’t what you were expecting but you