Cindi Myers - The Baby Surprise / The Father for Her Son - The Baby Surprise

With a sigh, she picked up her glass and went back outside.

Four chapters later, Paige realized that Zach hadn’t made an appearance since he’d gone upstairs to put Emma down for her nap. Curious, she went back into the house and made her way up the stairs.

She found him when she peeked into Emma’s room. The baby was finally asleep in his arms and Zach looked as if he was sleeping, too. She hesitated in the doorway, tempted to leave them undisturbed. But she knew that Emma would sleep better and longer if she was settled in her crib, and Zach would likely end up with a stiff neck if she left him as he was with his head tilted back in the chair.

She slid one hand beneath Emma’s head and the other under her legs, but as she started to lift the sleeping child, Zach’s grip instinctively tightened. Paige had no intention of playing tug-of-war with the baby, but now her hands were trapped.

She could feel the heat emanating from his body, and her own started to tingle. She swallowed and tried to ease away, but his hold on the baby held her just as fast.

She drew in a breath and inhaled his warm masculine scent. Oh, he smelled good. And looked even better.

His T-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders and molded to his pecs, and his jeans hugged his long, lean legs. Had he shown up at her door dressed as casually as he was now, she likely would have melted in a puddle at his feet. But the uniform had made her cautious, urged her to maintain a safe distance. She tried to picture him in that uniform now, but her mind insisted on wanting to undress him instead.

She swallowed, hard, recognizing that she was in big trouble here.

“What are you doing?”

Her gaze flew to Zach’s face.

His eyes were open now, alert, and focused intently on her.

“I, uh—” Oh Lord, his eyes were so blue and so intense that she nearly lost her train of thought. “Emma,” she suddenly remembered. “I was going to put Emma in her crib.”

“I can do it,” Zach said.

“Oh. Of course,” she agreed. “But I was walking by and it looked like you were sleeping, too, and—”

“I just closed my eyes for a minute.”

Paige nodded and tugged her hands free.

Zach rose from the chair with the baby in his arms. “I wouldn’t have dropped her, you know.”

She nodded again because she knew it was true. Because she knew that Zach wouldn’t do anything to harm Emma, and the obvious evidence of his affection for the child was seriously undermining Paige’s resolve to keep him at a distance.

He settled Emma on her mattress, pulled the blanket up over her. “I would protect my daughter with my life.”

Yeah, she’d realized that, too. And how was she supposed to resist a man who so clearly loved the little girl? But she had to ask, “Are you really that convinced—or are you just so stubborn that you can’t consider the possibility, any superficial physical resemblance aside, that she might not be your daughter?”

“Did Olivia sleep around?”

“No,” Paige responded immediately, firmly, in defense of her friend.

“Was she dishonest?”

“No,” she said again, because even though she could see where he was going with these questions, she couldn’t lie to him.

“Then why would I question her claim that I am the father of her child?”

Paige sighed as she followed him out into the hall. “Because most men probably would.”

“I’m not going to lie and say that I was filled with joy and anticipation when I read Olivia’s letter,” he told her, starting down the steps. “The truth is, I was stunned and more than a little panicked. And maybe my first instinct was to deny the possibility. But once I’d had a chance to think about it, I knew that Olivia wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

“I know you’re right,” Paige admitted. “But what if Olivia wasn’t lying but was simply mistaken? It’s not beyond the realm of possibility to think that she had a brief fling with someone else and didn’t consider that the baby might be his.”

“Well, I guess we’ll know the truth soon enough.”

“I guess we will,” she agreed.

“In the meantime.” He paused at the bottom of the staircase and turned to face her.

Because she was still standing on the last step, they were eye to eye. Her fingers curled around the newel post; her breath caught. His gaze dropped to her mouth, as if he wanted to kiss her. Paige started to sway forward, as if she wanted him to kiss her.

Then Zach took a quick step back. “In the meantime, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

She exhaled an unsteady breath. “What’s that?”

“I want to take Emma to California.”

It was a good thing she was still holding on to the post, because his words nearly knocked her feet out from under her. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

She stepped down, moving past him as she tried to get her head around what he was saying. “Don’t you think that’s a little premature?”

He shook his head. “My parents are expecting me in California next week,” he admitted. “I didn’t know what to tell them about Emma. I wasn’t going to tell them anything until the test results came back, but I know she’s mine, Paige. And you know she’s mine. And I want my parents to meet her.”

“You can’t honestly think I’m going to let you take her across the country with you.”

“Of course not,” he acknowledged drily. “But I thought you could come, too.”

She almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of the suggestion. “I can’t just pack up and take off for California.”

“Why not?”

She frowned, realizing that she didn’t have a ready answer to his question, that there was no legitimate reason to refuse his request. And yet, her instincts warned that going anywhere with Zach Crawford was a bad idea. So all she said was, “I’ll think about it.”

It was hardly the most promising response, but given that Zach had been prepared for an outright refusal, he was willing to accept it. At least for now.

He could understand why she might have some reservations, especially considering the chemistry that had been simmering between them since the beginning and seemed to be moving toward a full boil.

He knew she wasn’t oblivious to it. At first, he hadn’t been so sure. In fact, she’d seemed so cool and polite and distant, he’d thought the tug of attraction he felt whenever he was near her might have been entirely one-sided.

But recently, he’d noticed the way her gaze would drop away from his, as if she was afraid to maintain eye contact. Or the way she jolted whenever he touched her—even if that touch was the most casual or accidental brush of his hand against her arm. No, she definitely wasn’t oblivious.

He only hoped her wariness wouldn’t prevent her from agreeing to make the trip. He really wanted her to meet his family, to show her that he had parents and sisters who would love and care for Emma because she was part of their family, too.

In the almost ten days that had passed since he’d first come to Pinehurst, he’d barely heard her mention her own family—aside from Ashley and Megan, of course. And remembering Megan’s earlier comment about Paige taking care of Emma on her own, he suspected that she didn’t have a support system. That might be the reason why she was so reluctant to entrust him with any real responsibility where Emma was concerned—because she was just so accustomed to doing everything on her own that she didn’t know how to accept help when it was offered.

Whatever the reasons for her resistance, he knew he didn’t have very much time left to change her mind. His flight was scheduled to leave on Wednesday, and he’d already booked seats for Paige and Emma to go with him.