Delinquent Daddy (2 page)

"But I'm starving," Olivia said, fluttering her lashes in a begging manner.

Boston cocked his most devastating grin. "I'll stop by a drive-through on the way."

She smiled and stroked his face. "Tempting. But maybe next time. Shannon really is getting better with this whole cooking thing."

Ever since she'd been married to Boston's brother, his sister-in-law, Shannon, had enrolled in cooking class after cooking class as a hobby. She was currently learning all things Thai.

Boston sighed. "You're shattering my ego here, darling.

I'm not supposed to be thrown over for a home-cooked meal."

"Aww," Olivia cooed and kissed his cheek in a motherly gesture. "Don't worry. I still love you."

Finally returning to his side of the car, he laughed and rolled his eyes. "I'm guessing you've already talked to Cam,"

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he said, transforming from playful to all business. He was better with business anyway.

"He told me he talked Spellman up to eight percent," she chirped and patted his arm with congratulations. "That's amazing. I'm impressed. But honestly, you guys earned it.

You've both put a lot of hours into this deal."

"Yeah," Boston agreed as he shifted the car into gear and started them toward Independence, Missouri where his brother lived.

He ignored the ghostly reflection he swore he saw of Ellie's face shimmering in his driver's side window and settled into a comfortable conversation with his passenger throughout the rest of the trip.

Boston was actually grateful Cameron had asked him to bring her along. Not only did he have someone to talk to on the forty-five-minute trek to his brother's, but he wouldn't feel like such a third wheel once he reached his destination.

His younger brother, Monty, had been married to Shannon for five months now, and a person had to believe they were stuck in the honeymoon stage. Boston always wanted to squirm when he was around them because they cuddled nonstop. And if those two were going to be their usual lovey-dovey-make-me-pukey selves, then he wouldn't feel quite like the odd man out with Olivia at his side...even if she was just a cousin.

She'd become one of the closest friends he had. So it wouldn't feel too weird pretending she was his other half for the evening. Still, his stomach tightened into knots as they pulled to the curb in front of Monty's place. Yes, it was time 15

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for another distinct reminder he was totally and utterly alone.

He'd rather just go home and
be
alone.

Tangy smells of an Oriental meal wafted their way as Olivia and Boston strolled up the walk toward the opened front door. The welcome sounds of family floated out to greet them.

"I want to see it again," Shannon said as Boston opened the screen door to let Olivia precede him inside.

"I still can't believe it," Montgomery Kincaid uttered in a hollow voice as he handed a sheet of folded stationary to his wife. "Every time I read it—"

"Hey, guys," Olivia called as Boston stepped inside behind her. "What's going on?"

"You won't believe this," Shannon said, popping to her feet and hurrying their way. "Monty got a letter today from a nine-year-old girl in Lawrence, asking if he's her father."

"Ohmigod, seriously?" Olivia turned wide eyes to Boston's brother.

Monty immediately shook his head and lifted both hands in surrender. "I'm not," he was quick to declare.

"I want to read it." Olivia snatched the letter from Shannon.

Boston nudged his brother with his elbow and wiggled his eyebrows. "You sure it's not your kid?"

In response, Monty flipped him the bird and called him a dirty name.

Too curious to stay away, Boston grinned and strolled forward to peek over Olivia's shoulder. Seeing the youthful 16

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handwriting made his skin prickle. As he read the salutation, a strange buzz filled his ears. His smile dropped flat.

"Wow," Olivia murmured, scanning the page. "I bet you had a cow when you first read this," she said to Shannon.

"
Her
?" Montgomery yelped in outrage. "What about me?

The thing was addressed to me, remember."

He glanced at Boston and shook his head miserably. But Boston was too busy frowning at the note to pay him any notice.

Monty turned back to Olivia. "I don't even know this woman she says her mom is. I never met a—" He paused and cocked his head thoughtfully to the side, deep in thought.

"Now, wait a second. Maybe I
do
know her."

"What?" his wife croaked.

He snapped his fingers. "Yeah. We had a class together in college. Calculus. Her hair was long and dark, and she always sat in the front row next to this bald lesbian."

Shannon went sheet white. "
Montgomery,
" she whispered.

"Whoa. Hey. I never
slept
with her," he swore. "Never even talked to her, I don't think. I just remember my friend Alex asked her out once. She turned him down. Said she was already seeing someone."

"I wonder who she was seeing," Olivia murmured. "I bet
he's
the father."

Three feet away from them, Boston tore the note from Olivia's hand.

"Boston! What—"

But he didn't pay attention to the way she broke her words off, and he totally ignored how she studied him with a 17

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scrutinizing squint of the eyes. The dizzy spell that almost dropped him to his knees made his vision blur. He blinked repeatedly until he could focus on the words again. But no matter how many times he examined them, they continued to read the same.

Dear Mr. Montgomery Kincaid
,
My name is Cassidy Trenton. I am nine years and ten
months old. I am looking for my dad. My mom is Ellie
Trenton. She will not tell me his name, but she met him in
college. She said he was the son of an astronaut and named
after a state capital. I read about you in the magazine. You
married the famous model Shannon March. They said you
went to the same college my mom went to. They said your
dad was a real-life astronaut. You are named after the capital
of Alabama. Are you my dad? Please come meet me.

Sincerely,

Cassie Trenton

Frozen with horror, Boston could only gape. The blood congealed in his veins.

Yes, he'd done it now. He'd thought Ellie's name, and look what atrocity had emerged.

Dear God. She'd even dubbed the baby Cassie—the very name he'd chosen.

His stomach churned.

This was wrong. All wrong. It wasn't possible. That baby was
dead
.

He clearly remembered Ellie saying,
"There is no baby. The
baby's gone."
She'd been pale and crying; he'd had no reason 18

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to think she was lying.
"So just leave me alone, Boston. I
never want to see you again. I want to move on and forget."

"Umm...guys?" came Olivia's voice from beside him. A moment later, Monty tore the letter from his grasp.

Boston lifted his face.

His brother's jaw sagged. "Holy Shit, Boston," he said, glancing down at the child's scrawl. "This letter was meant for
you
."

Boston shook his head briefly to deny it. "No," he rasped.

"It can't be. Ellie...she told me she had a miscarriage."

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19

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

Chapter Two

Boston missed the address his first two passes down the street—even though his navigation system kept telling him he had arrived—but the third time, he paid closer attention to numbers and yes, there it was, wedged between a pair of three-story homes worth an easy million in mortgage.

The house he sought looked more like a guest cottage. It's floor plan had to be under a thousand square feet total. A single-story building with brown siding and white trim, the place matched the color of the mansion to its left, solidifying his guest-cottage theory. Shrubs and small trees filled the yard and sheltered a good portion of the covered front porch.

To Boston, it wasn't much. The whole thing could easily fit into his garage. But to a woman who'd come from a dirt-poor trailer park in Tennessee, was raised by her spinster great aunt, and had gotten pregnant when she was nineteen, this just might be a dream palace. He could see Ellie settling down here, thinking she'd come out okay.

That didn't mean she lived here, he reminded himself. Just because the return address to that freaky letter was legitimate and led to an actual residence didn't mean any of this was true, even if the facts were too uncanny to give him any sort of hope.

The names, the timing...they all fit.

Hello, my name is Cassidy Trenton. I am nine years and
ten months old.
Boston subtracted nine years and ten months from his life. Then he took off another nine months, which 20

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settled him right smack dab in the middle of April, his senior year at KU, just a few weeks before he and Ellie had split.

His fingers contracted around the steering wheel as a cold sweat filmed his body. Having trouble regulating his breathing, he pulled to the curb and stared at the mini house.

Did his daughter live here? Was she inside wondering where he was even as he sat there? Boston's vision blurred, and he concentrated on his oxygen intake before he had himself a full-blown panic attack.

Hello, my name is Cassidy Trenton.

Cassie. God, that was the name he'd chosen. Why, he had no idea. He'd been in meltdown mode back then, trying to deal with reality and ignore it at the same time. It took him nearly three weeks to realize the stress Ellie had to be going through as well and how he was only adding to her troubles with his constant bickering and snide remarks. Wanting to show a little support, he'd stayed up all night, flipping through a baby name book until he'd come across Cassie. At the time, it seemed to fit, so he picked up the phone and called Ellie.

She answered on the fifth ring in a croaking, "'Lo."

"What do you think of the name Cassidy for a girl?" he blurted out without preamble. "Cassie for short."

After a short pause, she said, "Boston?"

"Yeah." God, he'd woken the pregnant woman. "It's me."

"What time is it?"

He had no idea. He hadn't slept in days. There'd been too much to worry about, mainly the confession he had to make to his family that he'd gotten someone pregnant, someone 21

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he'd never even told them he was dating...someone he'd been too embarrassed to introduce as his girlfriend.

"It's, ah..." After a quick glance at his wrist, he winced.

"It's almost one."

She made a little mewling sound of distress that went straight to his gut. He loved her little sounds. They'd driven him crazy on too many different occasions. And like clockwork, his body responded. He realized he didn't want to talk to her over the phone. He wanted to be with her, tucked into that stupid single-sized bed she slept on with his body spooned up behind hers and his cheek snuggled to hers.

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against a nearby wall. "Sorry I woke you," he apologized, realizing how lame he sounded but not sure what to do about it.

She cleared her throat. "It's okay. I went to bed early anyway."

Of course it was okay. She was too forgiving. Hell, she'd probably forgive him for everything else if he'd just let her.

But he couldn't. He'd wanted out instead. So in return, karma had bitch slapped him, and now his life was crumbling around him.

"What were you saying?" she prompted. "About a girl."

"I..." His mind went blank. What was the name he'd just chosen? Damn, he was losing it. "I like the name Cassie...for a girl. What do you think?"

"Cassie," she repeated in that sleepy, sexy voice of hers.

"Um...okay. Sure. What if it's a boy?"

He paused. Crap. He hadn't gotten that far. To be honest, he thought he'd been doing good finding one name.

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"I don't know," he mumbled.

"Well, there's still plenty of time to decide. We don't have to figure it all out tonight."

He wanted to though. He wanted to clear the air between them. Suddenly, he wanted to apologize and get that forgiveness he hadn't wanted before. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was for being a butt in the past few weeks—the past few months, actually. He shouldn't have blamed her or accused her of trying to trick him into anything. He shouldn't have been so hateful. He'd just been so freaking scared. It'd been easier to lash out and get mad. He could deal with mad.

He couldn't do scared. He hated being scared.

"Ellie?" he said, his mouth opening to beg her forgiveness right then and there over the phone at one o'clock in the morning.

"Yeah?" she said.

"I..." His mouth opened, but no words came out.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he assured her quickly. "It's just...nothing. I'm sorry I woke you. I'll see you tomorrow at the doctor's appointment. It's at two, right?"

But he hadn't seen her the next day for their check-up.

Instead, he'd gotten the call. Ellie had been in an accident.

Someone had sideswiped the public transportation bus she'd been riding. She'd ended up in the emergency room and had gone through a miscarriage...or so she'd told him. He'd never actually spoken to a doctor about it.

Boston hadn't seen her again after that announcement.