“I certainly didn’t expect to see you here. I thought you were my neighbor Tina. How have you—”
“Where is my son?” he demanded, interrupting her nervous twitter. His square jaw was rock hard, his sensual lips pressed into a hard line of disapproval. There had been a flash of that same expression when she’d left him all those years ago, but he’d quickly grown indifferent to it. Now he cared. But not about her. Only about their child.
Apparently news traveled fast. It had been fewer than two hours since she’d run into Clay.
“Your son?” she repeated, hoping to stall long enough to think of a plan. She’d had years to prepare for this moment and yet, when it arrived, she was thrown completely off guard. Moving quickly, Sabine rushed into the hallway and pulled the apartment door nearly closed behind her. She left just the slightest crack open so she could peek through and make sure Jared was okay. She pressed her back against the door frame and found it calmed her nerves just a little to have that barrier between Gavin and Jared. He’d have to go through her to get inside.
“Yes, Sabine,” Gavin said, taking a step closer to her. “Where is the baby you’ve hidden from me for the last three years?”
* * *
Damn, she was still as beautiful as he remembered. A little older, a little curvier, but still the fresh, funky artist that had turned his head in that art gallery. And tonight, she was wearing some skimpy workout clothes that clung to every newly rounded curve and reminded him of what he’d been missing since she’d walked out on him.
People tended not to stay in Gavin’s life very long. There had been a parade of nannies, tutors, friends and lovers his whole life as his parents hired and fired and then moved him from one private school to the next. The dark-haired beauty with the nose piercing had been no exception. She had walked out of his life without a second thought.
She’d said they weren’t compatible in the long term because they had different priorities and different lives. Admittedly, they fell on opposite ends of the spectrum in most every category, but that was one of the things he’d been drawn to in Sabine. One of the reasons he thought she, of all people, might stay. She wasn’t just another rich girl looking to marry well and shop often. What they had really seemed to matter. To mean something.
He’d been wrong.
He’d let her go—he’d learned early that there was no sense in chasing after someone who didn’t want to be there—but she’d stayed on his mind. She’d starred in his dreams, both erotic and otherwise. She’d crept into his thoughts during the quiet moments when he had time to regret the past. More than once, Gavin had wondered what Sabine was up to and what she had done with her life.
Never in his wildest dreams did he expect the answer to be “raising his child.”
Sabine straightened her spine, her sharp chin tipping up in defiance. She projected an air of confidence in any situation and had the steel backbone to stand behind it. She certainly had spunk; he’d loved that about her once. Now, he could tell it would be an annoyance.
She looked him straight in the eye and said, “He’s inside. And right now, that’s where he’s staying.”
The bold honesty of her words was like a fist to his gut. The air rushed from his lungs. It was true. He had a son. A son! He hadn’t entirely believed Clay’s story until that precise moment. He’d known his best friend since they were roommates in college, one of the few constants in his life, but he couldn’t always trust Clay’s version of reality. Tonight, he’d insisted that Gavin locate Sabine as soon as possible to find out about her young son.
And he’d been right. For once.
Sabine didn’t deny it. He’d expected her to tell him it wasn’t his child or insist she was babysitting for a friend, but she had always been honest to a fault. Instead, she’d flat-out admitted she’d hidden his child from him and made no apologies about it. She even had the audacity to start making demands about how this was going to go down. She’d been in control of this situation for far too long. He was about to be included and in a big way.
“He’s really my son?” He needed to hear the words from her, although he would demand a DNA test to confirm it no matter what she said.
Sabine swallowed and nodded. “He looks just like you.”
The blood started pumping furiously in Gavin’s ears. He might be able to understand why she kept it a secret if she was uncertain he was the father, but there was no doubt in her mind. She simply hadn’t wanted him involved. She didn’t want the inconvenience of having to share him with someone else. If not for Clay seeing her, he still wouldn’t know he had a child.
His jaw tightened and his teeth clenched together. “Were you ever going to tell me I had a son, Sabine?”
Her pale green gaze burrowed into him as she crossed her arms over her chest. “No.”
She didn’t even bother to lie about it and make herself look less like the deceitful, selfish person she was. She just stood there, looking unapologetic, while unconsciously pressing her breasts up out of the top of her sports bra. His brain flashed between thoughts like a broken television as his eyes ran over the soft curves of her body and his ears tried to process her response. Anger, desire, betrayal and a fierce need to possess her rushed through his veins, exploding out of him in words.
“What do you mean, no?” Gavin roared.
“Keep it down!” Sabine demanded between gritted teeth, glancing nervously over her shoulder into the apartment. “I don’t want him to hear us, and I certainly don’t want all my neighbors to hear us, either.”
“Well I’m sorry to embarrass you in front of your neighbors. I just found out I have a two-year-old son that I’ve never met. I think that gives me the right to be angry.”
Sabine took a deep breath, amazing him with her ability to appear so calm. “You have every right to be angry. But yelling won’t change anything. And I won’t have you raising your voice around my son.”
“Our son,” Gavin corrected.
“No,” she said with a sharp point of her finger. “He’s my son. According to his birth certificate, he’s an immaculate conception. Right now, you have no legal claim to him and no right to tell me how to do anything where he’s concerned. You got that?”
That situation would be remedied and soon. “For now. But don’t think your selfish monopoly on our son will last for much longer.”
A crimson flush rushed to her cheeks, bringing color to her flawless, porcelain skin. She had gotten far too comfortable calling the shots. He could tell she didn’t like him making demands. Too bad for her. He had a vote now and it was long overdue.
She swallowed and brushed her purple-highlighted ponytail over her shoulder but didn’t back down. “It’s after seven-thirty on a Wednesday night, so you can safely bet that’s how it’s going to stay for the immediate future.”
Gavin laughed at her bold naïveté. “Do you honestly think my lawyers don’t answer the phone at 2:00 a.m. when I call? For what I pay them, they do what I want, when I want.” He slipped his hand into his suit coat and pulled his phone out of his inner breast pocket. “Shall we call Edmund and see if he’s available?”
Her eyes widened slightly
