Playing All the Angles (8 page)

“Then walk away. Because if my family thinks this baby is yours—if they even get a whiff of that scent—we’ve broken Isabelle’s heart, and then this baby will never have grandparents, aunts, uncles, or anything. She’ll be fucking stuck on a desert island with me, and you know that wouldn’t work. I don’t get along with my family, but she’ll want to know them. Don’t ruin this for her.”

“Is she mine?” he asked one more time, his words measured.

“If I say yes, will you care enough to walk away and let her have a life? Just let her think I was kind of a whore, not that I was the worst kind who was sleeping with her sister’s boyfriend?”

“You’re not a whore.”

She gave him a withering look. “Dominic. Please.”

“You’re not.”

“Maybe not on your level, but still. You didn’t answer the questions.”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know if I can just walk away.”

“Then she’s not yours, and I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Go home, Dominic.”

He swallowed hard, frowning. “Eve, please. Please.”

“I’m giving you the out, Dominic! She isn’t yours!”

“I’m always going to wonder!”

“Then it sucks to be you. But you’ve got two choices here: Go marry my sister and have a happy life, or…Dominic, what would you do? Would you break up with Issie and come try to live with me? Because I won’t have you. I don’t love you. You don’t love me. I care for you, but not in the way it takes to be parents together. You can be a very involved uncle. You can see her all the time. You can have her over for visits, and you and Isabelle can love her together. She can adore you, and you can be her favorite uncle—you would be anyway. But you cannot be her father. Okay? Will you take that? Will you be her uncle? And if there are father-daughter things, you can take her as her uncle. I’ll tell her that her father was eaten by a shark, or struck by lightning on a golf course, or fell through the center of the earth, but Uncle Dominic is the best surrogate ever.”

His jaw twitched again, and she nodded, dark eyes burning into his.

“Hear what I am not saying to you,” she insisted. “Be her uncle, and be fantastic.”

He was silent for a few moments, the only sound the ticking of the clock and their breathing, before he said, “All right. Will you stop acting like you hate me around Isabelle and the rest of the family?”

“As long as you don’t start acting obviously toward me,” she replied with a nod.

“Otherwise, it will seem strange to everyone that you allow her to spend so much time with ‘Uncle Dominic.’”

She smiled and shook her head. “No. No one will think it’s strange she gets to spend so much time with Aunt Isabelle. You’ll just happen to be there. Besides—” she shrugged, relief obvious in her shoulders “—my family will be encouraging you two to spend time with her. They’ll be sure I’m going to warp her.”

“They’re wrong about you.”

“I know. But that’s how it is.”

He nodded and paused, then asked, “How are you?”

“I’m brilliant. I am. I’m happy about it, Dominic. I want this. I’m happy and I’m healthy. And I have support.”

“There wasn’t any American, right?”

“No. I hate American accents.”

“And the list is much shorter than you said.”

“Do you need it spelled out, really?”

“I’m willing to be Uncle Dominic, but…yeah. I want to hear it.”

Eve took a deep breath and blew it out. “Okay. You’re the only person I was sleeping with. You’ll be an excellent uncle.”

She watched his pupils dilate, and he seemed to be struggling to breathe. He leaned forward to put his head between his knees, and Eve hurried over to the sink to wet a towel. She folded it over the back of his neck, letting it cool him for a moment before she spoke. “A few months ago, I thought you were going to LA. I didn’t think you were that serious about her. I thought you were going away and we’d never see you again. I wasn’t careful enough because I thought I could afford to be careless.”

“You knew it was possible?” His voice was strained.

“It’s always possible when you’re fucking, Dominic. I honestly didn’t think it would happen. I’ve been on the pill forever. I didn’t think it was going to happen.”

He swallowed hard again, shoulders shaking, and she laid a hand in the middle of his back, wrapping her arms around him when he shifted to press his face into her middle, hot tears wetting her shirt. When he had cried himself out, he let his arms fall away from where he had clutched her to him.

“I can’t believe it.” He wiped his face with both hands as Eve backed away. “Sorry—it’s just…Issie and I wanted to try quickly.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, the idea of Isabelle being tied to him by a baby ironically upsetting. “Well, at least you know you aren’t shooting blanks.”

That made him laugh. “Do I at least get to offer a name suggestion?”

“Why not? Everyone else seems to have ideas.”

“The neighbor included?”

“Tad? He thinks I should go with anything that does not begin with a vowel.”

Dominic laughed again then tilted his head at her. “Shagged him yet?”

“Are you kidding me? Of course.”

“Before or after you knew?”

“Before, if it matters.”

“Did he know?”

“He’s the second person I told.”

“I don’t suppose I’m allowed to be jealous?” He chewed his cheeks.

Eve knelt down in front of him, leaning between his legs and letting him hug her close. “Best of both worlds, Dominic. You got the girl you wanted. You get to be uncle to what promises to be a beautiful baby girl—and never change a diaper—and you don’t have to deal with me being a stumbling block. Because, be honest, feeling any desire to shag me just now?”

“God, no,” he groaned, giving her another squeeze. “No. I think you’ve found the key to making yourself unattractive to me.”

“Well, that’s good, right? Makes it easier? So…friends? Civil?”

“Friends,” he said. “Always.”

“Oi, there?” Tad’s voice rang out from the entryway. “You all decent?”

Eve rolled back on her heels, letting Dominic help her stand. “You very nearly caught me in a compromising position, but we’re decent.”

Tad walked back to where the two of them stood, and she considered both men for a moment. In the short time she’d known Tad, he had shown her more real kindness and consideration than almost anyone else she’d ever taken to bed. He was smart, funny, creative, and confident, which was all the more apparent in the graceful way he shook hands with Dominic.

“We’re watching movies,” he said. “Care to join us? There enough popcorn, Evie?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

Dominic shook his head. “No. No, thanks. I just came for a quick talk. I need to head back home. Got a lot to do. A lot to…do.”

“I’ll see you out,” Eve told him.

At the door, he hung back just a moment. “Are you going to be okay? I mean, really okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I know it’s crazy, but I think I really am. Finally.”

He stared at her a long moment, seeming to take her in as a different person. “Yeah. I think you will. It’s going to be a hard secret to keep.”

“It’s one worth keeping.”

“It is.”

He reached out and patted her belly. “Night.”

“Good night, Dominic.”

Chapter 6

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, Isabelle was sitting in the dining room, books and laptop spread out in front of her on the table, her usual pose when studying or marking papers. She smiled at the computer screen when she saw Dominic’s reflection creeping up behind her. He was craning his neck to get a view of what she browsed as he approached.

“It’s baby furniture,” she told him.

“Hallo, love,” he said, bending to kiss her neck, then her lips when she turned her face to his. “Are we having a baby?”

“Not yet! Don’t even joke. Did you have a good day?”

“Yes, you? How did the exam go today?”

“I think I scraped a good grade, actually.”

“Brilliant. So, why cradles?”

“I was looking for a gift for Alora’s shower, and then I started clicking through to see what Evie might like too.” She smiled, shrugging. “Never hurts to plan ahead.”

“Hmm, did you find anything you like on there?”

“Yes, there are a couple of things I think she could use—”

“I mean for you.”

“Oh.” She blushed sheepishly. “I did. But that’s ages away. There will be loads of new things by then.”

“Doesn’t have to be ages away.” He leaned in and kissed her neck again. “All you have to do is stop taking that pill.”

She laughed then. “Not till we’re married and you’re retired from racing. No way, no how.”

“So, next month, then?”

Isabelle’s blue eyes went wide, and Dominic got down on his knees beside her, his own eyes dancing.

“Paris. Next month. It’s my last race. I’ll let the team know. It’ll be a bit of drama, but I can manage it. Yeah? Why wait? Issie, I love you more than anything in the world, and I want us married now. Yesterday. Two years ago. And I want you to have the wedding of your dreams, but I really don’t want you to have the wedding of Alora’s dreams. Let’s go to Paris and do our own thing. Get married there. Get pregnant there.”

“You want to elope?”

He nodded, smiling. “Yeah. That’s the most romantic thing I can think of—a very intimate wedding in Paris. Think about it, Issie. Everything you want, the way you want it. No holding out for the family, no squabbling or drama. Just you and me in the Tuileries or the Louvre or…anywhere you like.”

She was stunned but smiled more and more as he continued.

“And school will be out by then, so no worries there. We’ll have the summer for our honeymoon.”

“Yes,” she breathed, nodding. “Yes!”

He grinned. “We’ll be secretive. Just you and me. Our way.” He pushed up to kiss her. “And then a baby.”

“Are you broody?” She mussed his hair, beaming.

“I am. I am! I want to see you all round and roly and full of baby.”

She laughed and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him again. “My parents are going to be furious.”

“Nah, they love me,” he said, giving her a wink.

“Yes, you’ve got quite a fan club amongst the D’Amicos.”

“So, they’ll forgive us for being terribly romantic and running off to Paris to get married,” Dominic assured her, and Isabelle laughed as he plied her with kisses again.

Later in the evening, Isabelle listened in as Dominic called his manager and explained the situation, announcing his retirement at the same time. There was a bit of a row about it, but Dominic was firm. Yes, it had been a short career but a stellar one, and he could go out on top. She had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing at the rude gesture he made as he said the last, mouthing to her, “Like you better on top.”

Isabelle went to work, planning, finding what she wanted and what she could get on such short notice. The only thing lacking would be the dress Eve was designing, but it was a small thing. She was sure she could find something suitable in Paris. Even that seemed romantic—to just go to Paris and buy something there.

They talked about having a more formal ceremony in October as they’d planned, so that their families could be included. If they did decide to do that, provided Isabelle wasn’t very pregnant by then, she’d wear the dress Evie had designed for her.

Dominic was in training for his last race, and that was keeping him busy during the day while Isabelle finished up her exams for the semester. While planning their elopement, she still sat on all the phone calls from Alora about the plans for the wedding and tried to sound enthusiastic. It wasn’t that difficult to sound excited, since her big day was nearly upon her, but it was awfully hard not to tell Alora what she was really planning to do. She felt a little guilty for letting her sister go to so much trouble, but it made Alora happy. She agreed to go to lunch at Alora’s to discuss the moot floral arrangements, looking forward to at least visiting with her sister and her nieces.