Secret Baby Daddy (Part Four) Read online

  I can almost hear him smiling through the phone as I tell him my plan: I’m going to pick him up at his hotel so he won’t have to walk into this house alone. I’m going to be right there by his side, because I want to show my parents that we’re already together and that’s how it’s going to stay.

  Colt doesn’t say much after that, but I can tell he’s grateful, even if he’s already on guard.

  Mom and Dad don’t talk any more about it that night. They go to bed early, then are out the door for work with only a pair of nervous smiles. Instead of hanging out at the house, I go with Sebastian to Colt’s hotel suite where I work on a paper for my final Master’s class while Colt plays with our son, then goes to the gym to let off some steam.

  When he returns, he takes a shower while I put Sebastian down for a nap. I’m just closing the second bedroom’s door when I see Colt emerging from the first bedroom, a towel around his waist and his hair still wet. My body pings at the sight of all those muscles and the gray-blue eyes drilling into me with lust.

  I smile at him and he smiles at me, and for a beautiful second, I think that everything might be all right tonight. My parents will remember why they loved Colt all those years ago. He’ll show them how much he wants to change and that he already loves Sebastian.

  Then his phone rings from the glass coffee table, and he goes to pick it up. He looks at the screen, and his gaze goes dark.

  “That wasn’t J.Page’s ringtone,” I say as I walk over to him and plop down on a lush sofa.

  “It’s my agent. I’ve got to take this.” He puts the call on speakerphone.

  Nothing will ever be hidden between us again, I think. Not even Hollywood.

  “Murray,” he says when he answers.

  “Goddammit, Colt!” The man is screaming, and Colt calmly lowers the phone’s volume. “Guess who the fuck I’ve been trying to talk down for the past twenty-four hours?”

  Colt folds his thick arms in front of his chest and stares straight ahead. “Let me guess—Jennifer Page?”

  “Of course it’s J.Page! She said you’re a real bastard and a disrespectful fuck and all those other words that I don’t want to hear my top-earning client using about another client who is not bringing in a fraction of the money she does. I don’t fucking know what you did to her and how long it’ll take for her to calm down—if she ever does—but here’s a word of advice, Brooks. Don’t. Upset. Jennifer. Page. Ever.”

  Colt is restraining himself, the veins in his arms tight. He isn’t saying a word to defend himself, and I stand up from the sofa, perfectly willing to tell this Murray guy that J.Page is a huge bitch and she busted into Colt’s suite uninvited to find me there. That’s why she’s pissed at him.

  Colt sends me a warning look as Murray rails on. “You’d better fix this with her or find new representation, Brooks, because J.Page is a bigger star than you’ll ever be, and if you continue to piss her off, it could easily end your career.” He chuffs. “Christ, I thought I told you to fucking stay out of trouble, and here you are, yet again.”

  Then the line disconnects.

  Colt only keeps holding the phone, clearly troubled and confused. I see that lost look in his eyes, and I walk over to take the phone from him and rest my hand on his arm.

  “This will blow over,” I say.

  “I don’t think so.” His voice is emotionless. “Like Murray said, you don’t piss off J.Page. Ever since her first big movie, she’s gotten whatever she wants. You don’t think I’m the only costar she’s ‘taken under her wing,’ do you? I just might be the first to brush her off, and she doesn’t like that.”

  I let my hand fall away from his arm. Just what does he mean by taken under her wing?

  He senses my discomfort. “Like I said, there’s nothing going on with her and me. I saw right through her from the start, but she was actually a good mentor…for a while. Then she started getting territorial about me, and it’s only recently that things have gotten strange.” He glances at me with those troubled eyes. “I think when she saw you here, she realized why I never gave in to her charms.”

  “Right. I’m sure she’s jealous of me.”

  Colt strokes my hair, looking into my eyes, and I see the truth. J.Page was jealous.

  But that can’t be right, so I banish the ridiculous thought. “So what are you going to do now?”

  “I’m sure as hell not going to bend to her will, that’s what.”

  “She’s trying to bully you.”

  “Trying is the operative word.”

  Even though his voice is strong, I’m not sure he’s convinced that she’ll back off. I stroke my finger over his cheek. “Don’t worry.” I smile up at him. “If she comes around again, I’ll just kick her spoiled ass back to Hollywood. You can depend on me.”

  That makes him laugh, and he leans down to press a soft kiss on my lips. But I can still sense the turbulence in him, especially when the alarm on my phone goes off across the room, reminding me that it’s time to get ready for a very important dinner with my parents.

  Reminding me that J.Page isn’t the only thing trying to stand between Colt and me.

  Chapter 4

  Colt drives us to Haverill in his low-profile SUV instead of his flashy sports car. We’ve already dropped Sebastian off with Margot, who agreed to babysit tonight so our son won’t be at this dinner. I don’t know if my parents will set off fireworks or fall under Colt’s charms, so I wanted to cover my bases. I really hope we get the second option. Colt is obviously taking this very seriously, and every time I look at him behind the wheel, my heart breaks a little because he made the effort to dress in a sports jacket, button down, and nice trousers. His hair is also tied back from his stunning face, and he still has that movie-star vibe, even with the everyman quality that makes men want to have a beer with him and women want to be with him period.

  But, right now, he’s just the man who’d do anything for me, even come to dinner to try and win my parents back over.

  When he pulls up to the curb of my family’s modest craftsman house, there’s a pained loneliness in his gaze, as if he’s remembering back when Mom and Dad were like surrogate parents to him. With his own mom working two jobs, she wasn’t home much, and of course his dad wasn’t there at all. Unfortunately, in the end, my parents felt as if they needed to turn away from Colt too, and it looks like he hasn’t forgotten that for even a moment.

  Without a word, he gets out of the vehicle, then comes around to my side to open my door. He helps me out, and as we walk up to the porch, I squeeze his hand. He squeezes mine back, but from his stoic expression, he would seem impassive to anyone else.

  “Just be the Colt they used to adore,” I say, “back before the crap hit the fan.”

  The door opens before I can say anything else, and there they are: Dad, his chin raised and his gaze steely as he looks at Colt; Mom, standing next to Dad, trying very hard to hide her own contempt.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Warner,” Colt says.

  A few moments go by, and my pulse tangles. Are they going to slam the door in our faces?

  “Come in,” my dad finally says, and my parents step aside for us.

  When the door is closed behind us, I’m less sure than ever how this will go. Then Colt offers his hand to my dad for a shake. The air goes still as Dad just looks at Colt’s hand.

  “Dad,” I whisper with such agony that he closes his eyes for a moment, then shakes with Colt.

  Mom just ignores him and starts walking into the family room where she’s set out iced tea. The aroma of lasagna and garlic bread wafts through the house, and even if we’re lucky enough to get to dinner, I’m not sure I’ll be able to eat a bite.

  Dad gestures toward a sofa, and Colt waits for me to take a seat. Once I’m settled, he sits on my left side and intently rests his arms on his thighs.

  “Well,” my father says as my mom chooses a chair that feels as if it’s across the room from the rest of us. Her back is stiff as she stares at Colt.


  “Mr. and Mrs. Warner,” Colt says again, “I want to thank you for having me over and giving me the opportunity to talk with you.”

  “You can thank Serena for that,” my mom says.

  “Mom.”

  I notice that she’s plucking at her skirt, which means she’s not as confident as she might appear. Colt’s gaze takes in that detail, and something turns in his gaze.

  “Mrs. Warner,” he says quietly, “I’m not here to mess up your lives. Things are different now.”

  “How different?” my dad asks. “Weren’t you just busted for getting in yet another bar fight? That sounds like the same old Colt to me.”

  “That was before I found my way back to Serena.”

  Colt looks at me with such emotion in his gaze that I can’t stop myself from touching his hand and looking right back into him. Can’t my parents see that he loves me, even if he’s never said it to me? Can’t they see how crazy I am about him and that I wouldn’t be able to continue with my life knowing that he’s somewhere out there away from me and I’m not with him?

  My parents have gone silent, and as I link arms with Colt, I see them exchange a glance. When my dad looks back at me, I can tell that he knows how I feel about Colt and how he feels about me in return. Dad might not want to accept it, but he gets it. My mom only glances away as if she wishes she didn’t see it.

  “What’s it going to take for you to believe him?” I ask.

  “Serena,” Mom says. “Think about where we’re coming from. Think about how we’ll feel in a few weeks when you both realize that you made a mistake…”

  Colt slowly straightens his spine. “If you’re saying Bash was a mistake, you need to know that whenever I hold my son or even look at him, I see the best thing that ever happened to me besides Serena.”

  My mom’s hard expression crumbles. “I was talking about you two trying to be together when it can’t possibly work.”

  A sob shakes her, and Colt tenses up, as if he hates that his presence is enough to reduce her to tears.

  Dad goes to her. “Maybe everyone needs more time to take this in.”

  I hear a noise toward the front of the house, but with Mom crying, I’m not paying as much attention to it as I should be. Then my mom looks toward the hallway and shakes her head.

  Something sinks inside of me just before I glance over to see the last person who should be in this house.

  Jack is standing at the edge of the family room, his arms barred over his chest, his green eyes furious as he locks in on Colt.

  My dad starts to walk over to him. “You weren’t supposed to be here tonight, Jack.”

  I stand up from the sofa. “What is he doing here?”

  Jack chuffs. “Did you think they wouldn’t mention this to me? And did you think I would sit by if I heard there was some kind of dinner where Colt would try to wheedle his way back into Mom and Dad’s good graces?”

  Colt touches my arm, and when I look down at him still sitting on the sofa, he’s calm. He grins reassuringly at me—It’s okay, Serena—then glances back at Jack.

  “Why don’t you take a seat?” he says to him.

  Jack glares at my parents. “Did he start sweet talking you already with that movie star charm? Are you his biggest fans yet?”

  “Jack…” my dad starts to say.

  “Let me save everyone a bunch of time.” Jack saunters forward. “This clown blows up his life, seduces my little sister, then goes off to play the big celebrity. Then he comes back, and Serena makes the mistake of telling him about Sebastian, so now we’re stuck with this oh-my-God-it’s-a movie star con artist, even though he’s just as much of a hotheaded screw up as always. And you invited him in to this house?”

  Dad goes over to Jack, obviously to calm him down, but Jack dodges him and comes even nearer to Colt. He points a finger much too close to his face.

  “I’ve never known anyone who gets as many chances as you do, you lucky bastard,” Jack says. “It’s as if you’ve been rewarded for a life of delinquency. And here’s Serena, welcoming you back just as if you’re even remotely capable of being a decent father.”

  I start to move past Colt toward my brother, because all I want to do is shut him up, but Colt stands up and shields me with his big body.

  “Don’t bring her into this, Jack. We’ve obviously got some things to work out between the two of us before this goes any further.”

  “Get out of this house, Colt.”

  My temper spikes. “Who are you to order him out?”

  Jack looks at me. “Give me a damned break. Would you stop acting like a silly teenage slut who—”

  Colt’s punch comes out of nowhere, and Jack stumbles back once with his hand to his eye.

  Mom screams and Colt rests his hands on his hips and lowers his head.

  “You just had to insult her,” he says with tight anguish in his voice. “You knew I wouldn’t stand for that, Jack.”

  Dad inserts himself in front of my brother to block him from jumping Colt, but Colt has already turned his back on him with a boiling look of self-loathing that I recognize all too well. He knows he really fucked up now, and it’s all because he was defending me.

  Dad keeps holding Jack back as he yells, “Get the fuck out of this house, Colt!”

  My mom is fumbling with the phone, dialing it.

  “We need to go,” I say to Colt, tears digging into the lining of my throat.

  I pull on his arm as my mom says, “We need the police!”

  Colt leaves me and stalks toward the front door, and as it bangs open, I look back at my family, shaking my head. I stare at Jack, my vision blurry, then blindly run after Colt.

  I find him on the porch, coolly sitting on a step, his collar loose.

  “Let’s just go,” I say.

  His voice is eerily calm, edgy. “I know how to cooperate with the cops in this town. If they don’t find me here, they’ll make a bigger fuss trying to find me everywhere else.” He gives me the keys to the SUV and a wad of bills from his money clip. Movie star money. A lot of it. “Use that to get me out of the jail I’m headed for.”

  Sirens wail in the near distance, and I lean my head against his arm and cling to him, because it wasn’t supposed to go this way tonight. The old Colt would’ve probably been raging around by now, but this Colt—the father of my child—is coiled up tightly in an effort not to do that. When the police arrive, he only kisses me with desperate longing, then gets to his feet to go to the cops on his own. He’s still barely in control as he gets into the back of the cruiser, and I watch them drive away with my chest clogged with grief.

  “Serena,” I hear my brother saying in back of me. “How many times is he going to spend the night in a jail cell before you learn?”

  “Shut up, Jack.”

  I don’t even turn around to look at my family as I flee to the SUV, taking off to the police station, not giving up on Colt.

  Never giving up.

  END OF BOOK FOUR

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