“I heard a rumor yesterday that you have a daughter.” Ben chuckled. “Is it true?”
Rebecca placed one hand on the stainless steel counter, trying to stop the quiver as it ran up and down her body. Her daughter. How much did he know? She’d wanted to be the one to tell him.
“Yeah, I’m a mom now,” she said, struggling to keep her voice steady and her breathing even. “To Lexie.”
“Lexie,” he repeated the name, the word on his lips sending another wave of worry down her back. “And who’s the lucky man?”
“Man?” she asked.
“Your husband?”
Gulp. Husband. Hmm. “I … ah … well, there is no lucky someone. It’s just me and Lexie.”
“You mean some man left you, after you’d had his child? That why you didn’t stay in touch with me? Because you knew I’d hunt him down?”
She did not like where this was going. Hmm, what did she say? Yes, Ben, and that man was you? That’s exactly why I stopped returning your emails. But she didn’t think of him like that, because she’d made the decision to keep Lexie a secret, to protect both of them.
His Unexpected Baby Bombshell
Soraya Lane
As a child, SORAYA LANE dreamed of becoming an author. Fast forward a few years, and Soraya is now living her dream! She describes being an author as “the best job in the world.” She lives with her own real-life hero and two young sons on a small farm in New Zealand, surrounded by animals, with an office overlooking a field where their horses graze.
For more information about Soraya, her books and her writing life, visit www.sorayalane.com.
For Carly and Kathryn. I truly feel as though I hit the editor jackpot with the two of you! Thank you for all your wonderful ideas, and for making my books so much stronger.
Contents
REBECCA STEWART GULPED as the door to the restaurant opened. Ben McFarlane. It had been almost four years, but she’d have known him anywhere. Dark blond hair cropped short, broad shoulders stretching the material of his T-shirt and a stare that still managed to make her heart beat too fast. He was exactly as she remembered him and then some.
“Long time no see.”
His gaze softened as he came closer, the corners of his mouth turning upward into a smile, but she could tell he was angry. Those eyes had caused her heart to break and heal all over again so many years ago, the last night they’d had together still burned into her memory as if it was yesterday. She knew every expression he had.
Rebecca swallowed, smiled back, her stomach flip-flopping. He didn’t know. Couldn’t know. That angry gaze, determined stride...she’d thought he was coming in with a purpose when she’d first recognized him. That he knew about his daughter.
She pushed those thoughts away and tried to remind herself of how they’d been before that night, back when they’d been best friends and nothing more.
“Hey, stranger,” she said. “I had no idea you were back.”
Rebecca moved out from around the counter, hands smoothing the soft cotton of her apron. She didn’t know what to do—whether to embrace him, touch him. What did you do to a man, formerly your best friend, once your lover, who you hadn’t seen or heard from in years?
“Hey.” His voice was surprisingly gruff.
Rebecca stepped into his arms when he opened them, gingerly at first, until he pulled her in, giving her an awkward kind of bear hug. She tried to relax, focusing on breathing in and out. They were just friends. But after all this time he still had that effect on her. The smell of his cologne, the strength of his body, everything about him took her back to that night, when a decade of friendship had turned into something more. The night before he’d left and she’d encouraged him to leave her behind even though it had shattered her heart into a million pieces.
“How are you, Bec? Haven’t heard from you in a while.”
Ouch. The hug must have been a formality.
She took a step back, his hands falling