“I don’t want my daughter living here.”
She sucked in a breath as if he’d slapped her. “There’s nothing wrong with our house.”
“Not the best neighborhood,” he said.
“We’re perfectly safe.”
“My daughter deserves better.”
“My daughter is happy here.”
Jackson knew this little verbal battle could go on for hours, so he decided to end it. Moving in close to her, he looked down into her eyes, inhaled the scent of lavender that clung to her and said, “We can do this one of two ways. A, you and Mia move in with me for say, six months. I get to know my daughter and at the end of that time, I’ll buy you a house anywhere you want.”
“I don’t—”
“Or B,” he said loudly, to drown out her voice and force her to listen to his counterproposal. “You insist on staying here and I make a phone call to the family lawyers. Within a couple of hours, you’ll be notified that I’m suing for joint custody. And if you think I can’t…remember, you contacted me. You broke the anonymity clause.”
Her eyes went wild and wide. Like a trapped animal looking desperately for a way out of a dangerous situation. But there was no way out and Jackson knew it. He had her boxed in neatly.
“You…why would…”
“I’m not the bad guy here,” he said.
“Could have fooled me,” she muttered.
“Let’s remember here that I only just found out about Mia’s existence. I want to know my child. Is that really so unreasonable to you?”
“No, but expecting us to change everything about our lives, is.”
“You have a choice.”
“Some choice.” Shaking her head, she stared up at him and the sheen of tears in her eyes threw him for a second. He hoped to hell she didn’t cry. He hated it when women cried. He always felt helpless—not a feeling he was comfortable with.
“You’re a bully,” she whispered, willing the tears back.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. You’re a bully. You’re rich and powerful and think you can just sweep in and get anything you want.”
He thought about that for a long minute, letting his gaze sweep up and down her curvy body. Finally, he said, “When I want something bad enough, yes.”
She pulled in a deep breath and held the baby even closer than before. Then lifting her chin, Casey said, “Fine then. You win this one. We’ll move into your house for six months. You’ll get to know your daughter and then we’ll leave.”
“Wise choice.”
“But just so you know,” she said, “your tactics won’t work on everything. You can’t have me. What happened between us that first night? It’s not going to be happening again. Do you understand?”
Jackson’s body was hard and ready and he wanted her even more now than he had when he’d first walked through her front door. He shouldn’t though and he’d do his damnedest to ignore the rush of desire that jumped through him whenever he laid eyes on her. Because he had plans for his life. And they didn’t include Casey Davis, no matter how alluring she might be.
So he smiled and met her gaze as he said, “None of this is about you, Casey. This is about my daughter.”
Movers arrived the following Saturday. Casey sat in a lawn chair on the front yard beside Dani, the two of them watching the kids roll around on a quilt spread beneath the jacaranda tree. A three-year-old boy and two baby girls were surprisingly loud.
“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Dani said as they watched two movers carry boxes out of the house, “but Mike’s glad you’re moving.”
“What?” Casey looked at her, then reached down and pulled a stick from Mia’s grip. “I thought your husband liked me.”
“He does, you nut,” Dani said. “But he’s also a cop. And he says this neighborhood isn’t a good one for a single woman and a baby.”
Casey frowned. Okay, it wasn’t a ritzy area, but the houses were mostly tidy and the teenagers weren’t too annoying and she’d only had graffiti spray-painted on her garage the one time.
“He never said anything….”
“He didn’t want you to be scared or anything,” Dani said, instantly defending the husband she was so crazy about. “But he always cruises your neighborhood at night, keeping an eye on things.”
Casey sighed. That sounded like Mike. Such a nice man. Unlike some others she could name. Mike didn’t push his views on her, try to run her life. He just quietly did what he could to keep her safe.
Why couldn’t Jackson be more like that?
“So I’m not surprised your Jackson wanted you to move.”
“He’s not my Jackson, for heaven’s sake,” Casey said quickly and scowled as her insides did a quick ripple of expectation at the sound of his name. “And he’s not interested in my safety, believe me. He just wants Mia.”
“She is his daughter.”
Casey shot her a dark look. “Traitor.”
Dani laughed and scooped her baby girl up into her lap to pull a leaf out of her mouth. “I’m just saying there are worse things in life than to be scooped up by a gorgeous millionaire and whisked off to his hilltop mansion.”
Sure, when you said it like that, Casey thought, it was like something out of a romantic movie. Almost Cinderella-like. Poor but honest girl meets rich handsome prince and finds love and happily ever after. But Casey knew the truth. The only thing between her and Jackson—except for some incredible heat—was Mia.
He wasn’t a prince. At the moment, she thought of him more like a cartoon villain, evilly twirling his moustache.
“He threatened to take Mia.”
Dani sighed. “If he’d actually meant to do that, he could have. He’s probably got a fleet of lawyers on standby. Instead, he just wants to get to know his kid. You really can’t blame him for that.”
“Why not?” When Dani only looked at her, Casey laughed. “Okay, I know. I’m overreacting.”
“Just a bit,” Dani agreed. “I mean, I get why, but you’d probably have been furious if Mia’s father had turned out to be some miserable creep who wanted nothing to do with her, too.”
“Maybe…” The truth was, she could understand Jackson’s interest in his daughter. That didn’t mean she had to like it, though.
“Casey, try not to treat this move as if it’s a jail sentence. Look at it like a minivacation.”
“A vacation?”
“Sure. He’s got a huge place. Plenty of room for you to work and Mia to play. There’ll be someone else for you to lean on once in awhile. You won’t have to do it all yourself….”
She liked doing everything herself. She was used to it. She’d made her way, built a business, was raising a beautiful child. Why should she look for help she didn’t need?
Besides, “Can you really see Jackson King changing diapers?”
Dani shrugged. “Guess you’ll find out. But the point is, stop sabotaging this before it starts.”
Was she? Or was Dani seeing only a silver lining and disregarding the huge, massive black cloud currently sitting over Casey’s head? Case