to meet you,” said Ben, sounding much older than his nine or ten years. He had straight brown hair and serious brown eyes.
As Liam tried to think of what to say to him, Karin spoke from behind him.
“Liam.”
He turned to her. She wore jeans and a long, ribbed sweater that clung to the front of her, accentuating her enormous belly. Her wild hair was pinned up in a sloppy little bun. She wore no makeup and the shadows under her eyes made her look tired—tired and soft and huggable, somehow. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and bury his nose in the curve of her neck, find out if she still smelled as good as he remembered.
“I wasn’t expecting you.” She didn’t seem all that happy to see him.
Too bad. He was going to be around. A lot. She would need to get used to that. “I said I’d be back.”
She glanced past him, at Otto. “Dad, I’ll just take Liam on upstairs?”
“Fine with me,” the older man replied.
She focused on Liam again and pasted on a tight smile. “This way...”
Liam followed her back into the foyer and up to the empty top floor, where she offered him a seat in the living area.
He took the sofa and set the bag of books at his feet.
“So, how are you doing?” Karin lowered herself into one of the chairs.
He had so many things to say and no idea where to start. “Uh. Good. Fine. Really. I talked to my lawyer.”
“Well, that’s good.” She gave an uncomfortable little laugh. “I think...”
Now she looked worried—and he didn’t blame her.
Seriously? Deke? He had to go and mention Deke? Nothing good was going to come of telling her what Deke had said. “He, um, wasn’t helpful, but the point is I’m realizing that everything is workable. You need to know that I will provide child support—and I’ve read a little about parenting plans. We’ll get one of those.”
“That’s great.” She sat with her knees pressed tightly together, like someone waiting for an appointment she wasn’t looking forward to.
He leaned in. “I also want you to know I’m here for you, Karin. Whatever you need, I’ll make sure that you get it.”
She nodded at him, an indulgent sort of nod, like he was her seven-year-old daughter, or something. He felt a flare of annoyance, that she so easily categorized him as someone she didn’t have to take too seriously.
The annoyance quickly faded as he realized he missed her—missed the real Karin, the woman who kissed him like she couldn’t get enough of the taste of him, the one who was always ready with some wiseass remark.
He wanted the real Karin back.
He also wanted her to learn to count on him, to trust him, though he’d never been the sort of guy who was willing to work to gain a woman’s trust.
But he’d never been almost a father before, either.
Somehow, impending fatherhood changed everything. She was the mother of his child and he wanted her, wanted to be with her, to take care of her.
One way or another, he would get what he wanted.
Karin wasn’t sure she liked the way Liam was looking at her. It was a thoughtful kind of look, a measuring look. It was also intimate, somehow.
He was a beautiful man, all golden and deep-chested, with hard arms and proud shoulders. It would be so good, to have those arms around her, to rest against that strong chest. Looking at him now, in the gray light of this chilly fall morning, she couldn’t help wishing...
No.
Never mind.
Bad idea.
She and Liam weren’t a couple and they never would be.
“So,” she said to break the lengthening silence between them, “What’s with the bag of books?”
“Research.” He granted her a proud smile. “You know, first-time fatherhood, pregnancy, labor and delivery. All that. I’ve got a lot to catch up on and I’ve been doing my homework. I stayed up late trying to get a handle on all the stuff I need to know.”
He was too sweet. He really was.
She’d been awake half the night, too, feeling bad about everything. And now she sat across from him waiting for him to get thoroughly pissed off at her—that she’d gotten pregnant in the first place when he used a condom every time. That she didn’t bust to the baby when she broke it off with him and then, for all those months and months, that she’d never once reached out to let him know he was going to be a dad. He probably wondered if she ever would have told him.
And frankly, if he hadn’t spotted her at the supermarket yesterday, she had no idea when she would have pulled up her big-girl panties and gotten in touch with the guy.
They stared at each other across the endless expanse of Sten’s coffee table. Liam looked like he had a million things to tell her—tender things. Kind things. Helpful things.
The man truly wasn’t angry. Not yet, anyway. He was sweet and sincere and he just seemed to want to be there for her and for the baby, to do the right thing.
His kindness reminded her sharply of how much she’d liked him when they met up again last year. In addition to his general charm and hotness, Liam Bravo, high school heartbreaker, had grown up to be a good man.
And right now, that just made her want to cry.
He said, “I was thinking...”
“Yeah?”
“Looking back on that night in March when you broke it off, I knew there was something weighing on your mind. I should have tried harder to get you to open to me.”
She couldn’t believe he’d just said that. “Liam. You were great. Don’t you dare blame yourself.”
“Look, I just need to know what you need.”
“I’m good, I promise. Everything’s pretty much ready. We’re just waiting for the baby to come.”
He frowned in a thoughtful sort of way. “Have you been going to childbirth classes?”
“I took the classes, yes. Like I said, I’m ready.”
“A labor coach?” he asked and then clarified, “Do you have one?”
“I have two, as a matter of fact—Naomi and Prim.” Naomi Khan Smith and Primrose Hart Danvers had been her best friends since kindergarten. Both women were married now. Naomi had two boys.
“Prim
