Mine - HelenKay Dimon Page 0,108

just agree and live her life to make him happy. She was this amazing, smart, sexy beautiful woman.

Now he had to convince her. “But that wasn’t my favorite part of being with you.”

“What, was there a position we failed to try?”

Gabe ignored Andy’s laugh and her sarcasm. “One or two.”

“Go to hell.” She reached for the bag again. This time touched the handle.

He launched into the part it hurt to say. The admission that made him feel weak when he’d spent so much of his life being strong. “You did what I couldn’t. You stepped in when I let my emotions and my needs cloud my judgment.”

Her gaze softened and some of the heated fury left her face. “You were right. Brandon was yours and was always going to be yours, no matter who donated the sperm.”

“But he deserved to know.”

“I saw you together. Your dad skills are not in question.”

That meant something. Everything, actually. Being Brandon’s dad had been his life for so long and would always be a huge part of it, but now Gabe wanted more. With her. Not just sex on the go as he’d done most of his adult life. A real relationship, filled with risks and rewards.

“My boyfriend skills suck though, right?”

She sighed. “I wouldn’t know.”

He got that she wasn’t ready to believe that she mattered. He vowed to keep talking until she did. “You also gave me perspective. I’d blamed Linda for so long that I forgot how much her life sucked with her son of a bitch of a dad, and how much she wanted out. We were dumb kids and got so much wrong, including the part about not using a condom.”

That was the biggest epiphany. The toughest lesson Natalie taught him. All the rage he’d focused on Linda over the years as he silently judged her for her choices, it was time to let that go. They had been kids when they met, human and flawed, in trouble and facing only bad choices. Linda may have failed in some ways but she followed through on the only promise that really mattered, to give birth to Brandon and let Gabe raise him.

She’d never come back and tried to pull Brandon away or put him in the middle. In the end, maybe that made her a good mother after all. She did what was best for their son, and Gabe would appreciate that from now on.

“None of that excuses her sleeping with Rick, of course,” Natalie said.

Gabe almost laughed. Yeah, he wasn’t quite ready to forgive and forget that one. “No, but she was young and almost as messed up as I was.”

“You’re pretty put together now.”

If she only knew how close to imploding he was. “Nope.”

Natalie frowned. “What?”

He drew in closer and exhaled in relief when she didn’t back away from him. “Seeing you standing there with that damn bag, ready to leave, is ripping me apart.”

She looked down at the duffel then up at him again. “You kicked me out.”

“I actually didn’t.” She started to talk, but he rushed to explain. They had enough to fight about without adding a he said/she said to the mix. “You ran before I could hurt you, and I get that. It’s second nature for you. A reflex that kicks in when you get scared.”

“It sounds like you’re psychoanalyzing me.”

Guilty. “Maybe a little.”

“You could take some responsibility. Your words hit pretty hard back there.”

“I’m sorry.” He’d taught Brandon to admit guilt when he deserved it. Gabe tried to follow that lesson now. He didn’t remember any of what he’d said to her. He’d been so spun up, so lost, that he came out kicking and fighting. She’d borne the brunt, and he vowed that would never happen again. “I have a temper, one I can rein in.”

She glanced at Andy, and he nodded. Then she turned back to Gabe. “Okay, that’s good.”

Wariness still played in her voice and she didn’t do anything to bridge the gap between them, physical or emotional. He knew that signaled the need for him to step up even more. “See, the other thing you gave me was a chance at a future. Instead of being a pathetic single guy kicking around a big house, missing his son and venting his frustrations, you showed me that life can go on.”

For a second she looked ready to really listen, but then she started shaking her head. “This can’t work.”

The words punched at him, but he let the blows glance off. “Why?”

“We’re