The Wedding Secret (5 page)

The following month was intense between them, with stolen dinners at tiny restaurants in the city, and more than a couple of late-night booty calls at her place when she couldn’t meet up earlier. They’d been discreet because she seemed to want it that way, but if he’d had the chance he would have made love to her in the middle of Central Park if there wasn’t the risk of being arrested.

Maybe Caroline would let Josh go away for a golf trip and the two of them could head to some resort and knock the hell out of some golf balls for a few days. If he was lucky Kevin might find someone not crazy, get laid, and move on.

He thought about women he could text right at that moment who would meet him at his apartment for sex. Nothing else. It was something he didn’t understand completely, but never saw as a problem. He didn’t have to promise them anything but a good time in bed, but not one stirred even the slightest bit of interest. He wondered if maybe he was bored. If he needed someone new.

That was bullshit. He could have had Kari Martin in his bed the other night and he just wasn’t interested. She was cute as hell and laid the offer right out there, but now that Harper was back in his orbit, other women just didn’t do it for him.

***

Harper locked the apartment door behind her and reveled in the feel of being home. She’d never been like that, had never put much stock in feeling so settled in a place, but she guessed it had more to do with who was there than the actual location. Just knowing she’d be holding her sweet baby in a matter of seconds made her feel better.

Seeing Kevin at the store drove home that she’d gotten herself into quite a situation. She didn’t know how she was going to keep Anna a secret. It was bad enough that she worked for Kevin’s brother-in-law. That his sister was a close friend. Now he was not only back in New York, but he lived in the same area. God, this was a nightmare. Worse, it was one of her own making.

If only he wasn’t so damned gorgeous. And so nice. And if only her body wasn’t drawn to him like a moth to a flame.

If only.

But Kevin was all those things, and she was going to see him tomorrow.

What if she told him?

“By the way,” Harper whispered as she walked into the kitchen. “Remember the wine cellar? Yeah, well . . .” Emptying the grocery bags she came across the giant eggplant she had to buy and the box of rice cereal that it had hidden. “This is ridiculous,” she mumbled. “Baby food should not be covert.”

“What shouldn’t be covert?” Her nanny, Kim, strolled in the kitchen holding Anna on her hip. The baby squealed with joy at the sight of Harper, and any worry about Kevin dropped away when she took their daughter in her arms.

Kim was a nanny like no other. A former navy nurse who was the oldest of six children, she’d lost her marine fiancé to a roadside bomb attack, and she wasn’t ready to go back to a hospital setting. So she opted instead for the more protected life of an Upper West Side au pair. First and foremost, she made sure all Anna’s needs were met, but she also helped around the apartment and kept Harper from losing her mind. She’d become a friend over the past two months, and Harper didn’t know how she’d exist without her.

Staring into her daughter’s beautiful face, her blue eyes sparkling just like her father’s, there was no way she could stick with her original plan. She couldn’t live with herself.

The initial shock of running into him may have gone, but the truth of the matter was still there. She’d have to tell Kevin. Seeing him again, talking to him, Harper knew it was the right thing to do. But she couldn’t just drop it on him. Could she? No. She’d have to spend some time with him, feel him out and then break it to him gently.

Like that would make a difference. No, this wasn’t going to go down easy.

He had to know she didn’t expect anything from him. She knew he wasn’t looking for a relationship, and the last thing she wanted was a man who felt trapped. No, she’d tell him and they’d make an arrangement for him to see Anna if that’s what he wanted.

At this point she wasn’t even sure he’d want it. It was a baby. What would a professional baseball player want with a baby?

“What are you mumbling about?” Kim, who was five feet two with long black hair that she kept tied back in a tight ponytail and striking green eyes, looked at the contents of the grocery bag and held up the freakishly large eggplant. “Why do we have this?”

“Sorry. I ran into Anna’s dad at the store. He’s moved back to town.”

“Okay. What does that mean?” Her nanny was never one to mince words and Harper found her directness both refreshing and intimidating. She knew technically she was Kim’s employer, but it never felt that way. Kim was like a mirror and she forced Harper to look at things she didn’t always want to see.

“I think I have to tell him. I should have told him months ago.”

Silence. That was it. A long, protracted silence settled over the room.

“I was wondering how long that would take.” Kim chuckled as she put away the groceries.

“What do you mean?” Harper nibbled on her thumbnail.

“Harper, you are a lot of things, but you’re not a liar, and you’re not the kind of woman who would deny your baby her daddy.”

“He’s a good man. And I can’t keep living like this.”

“It’s not going to be an easy conversation, but the truth will set you free, as they say.”

Anna squirmed and Harper adjusted her position and the baby snuggled against her side. It was the most peaceful feeling and the thing that made Harper feel the guiltiest. Kevin deserved to know he had a daughter. Harper didn’t have any delusions about him—she’d definitely learned her lesson—but he would want to know.

And she’d tell him.

***

“I don’t know why you even think about Harper Poole,” his sister Caroline said as she walked into Josh’s home office. Kevin and Josh were sitting on the large leather sofa, each nursing a scotch after dinner, when Caroline heard him talking about Harper. “You aren’t going to ask her out, are you?”

If Caroline only knew.

His sister Meg may have made her peace with Harper, who was her husband’s former lover as well as an executive at his company, but Caroline still thought she was a bitch.

“I like Harper. We get along.”
That was an understatement.

“She’s a sneak and a snob. She never misses a chance to mention her Ivy League education.”

“Caroline—you have an Ivy League education, too,” he reminded her.

“Yeah, but I didn’t go to Hah-vahd.” Caroline emphasized the words in a perfect upper-crust Boston accent.

“No, but you did go to I’m Hormonal High School, didn’t you?” Kevin really hated when his sisters were pregnant. They went from outspoken to batshit crazy. He didn’t know how their husbands kept up. He wondered how any man kept up. “Just lay off, okay? You don’t like it when Meg tells you what to do.”

“That’s different,” she said plopping on the couch next to her husband.

“How?” He really wanted her to explain this. She and Meg had been at war before Caroline and Josh got together. He’d never seen things get so ugly. There was no reasoning with either one of them. Things had calmed down considerably when Caroline and Josh were married, but Meg’s bossy streak and Caroline’s defiance still made appearances. Just for fun.

“It just is,” his sister said.

Right.

Kevin sipped his drink and let the twenty-one-year-old Glenlivet slide down his throat. There was a little burn before the warmth spread through his gut. “Great logic there, sis.”

“I just don’t understand the appeal of Harper,” Caroline said.

That was fair enough. Kevin was having a hard time understanding it himself. Especially after the way she blew him off a year ago. He should cut his losses with her, but instead he sniffed around whenever he had the chance. He’d never seen anyone change so fast; she went from being totally into him at Caroline and Josh’s wedding to not acknowledging his existence in a month’s time. Maybe he needed therapy. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. There had to be something wrong with him.

“She’s so damn smart, Caroline. Sharp. But there’s something vulnerable, guarded, about her that I can’t quite put my finger on.” He took another sip of his drink. “I guess there’s no making sense of it. I’ve tried to figure it out, but I end up feeling like I need testosterone replacement therapy because I’m too in touch with my feelings.”

Josh laughed out loud. The asshole. “Shit, Kev, it’s a good thing Harper doesn’t know all this. You’d be toast.”

Kevin didn’t want to tell him he was already toast. He should cancel coffee. Just forget about her.

What he should do was make a fucking decision.

Right then, his phone buzzed, letting him know he had a text. He ignored it and swallowed the last bit of scotch in his glass.

He rolled the heavy crystal tumbler between his hands. “I guess I’m restless. I’ve been traded three times in the last four years. You guys are all settled. I don’t know . . .”

“You always said you never wanted a serious relationship while you were still playing,” his sister reminded him. “That it would be too hard on a woman, on a family.”

Kevin truly believed that. He’d seen marriages, good marriages, crumble under the demands of the life. He’d seen teammates Skyping with their kids, who were halfway across the country, missing first steps, first days of school—first everythings. He’d watched when one of his closest friends was served with divorce papers right before a game.

“It’s shit on family life,” he muttered. “But how long am I supposed to live like this? I’m thirty-five and looking at you and Josh, and Meg and Jason, I feel like I’m missing everything.”

“You were never like this, man.” Josh rose from his seat and shut the window behind them. The sudden quiet as the noise of the city was blocked out was unnerving. “What changed?”

“I don’t know. I feel different.”

“Different?” Caroline asked. “What do you mean?” She slid into the leather club chair adjacent to where Kevin was sitting and tucked her legs under her.

He drew a long breath, because he knew what he was about to say could have ended up with him on the couch of some psycho-babble talk show. Still, he wanted to say it.

“You know how you and Meg got, like, a message from Dad about what you were supposed to do? Who you were supposed to be with?”

“Kevin . . .”

“I was close to Dad, and that’s not to say you weren’t, but I feel like he’s kind of left me hanging. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here?”

“Dad didn’t really tell me what to do, so I’m not exactly sure what you’re driving at. Do you want some message from the beyond telling you that you should be with Harper? I don’t think that’s happening.”

“He knew you were supposed to be with Josh. That Meg would forgive Jason.” He dropped his head in his hands. “I miss him, I guess. It’s just hitting home. I keep feeling like something is happening and I’m missing it.”

“Like what? Something with Harper?” Caroline reached out and took his hand. “I don’t know what to tell you. Meg would be a better judge of what’s up. They’re actually friends.”

His phone buzzed again and when he took it from his pocket and glanced at the screen, he was shocked to see two texts from the very woman they were taking about. What did she want?

The first simply said,
“Hi.”

He grinned. When they’d been dating a year ago she’d started doing that. Just sending him a little “Hi.” Sometimes she attached a photo and the selfie would be of her making some dumb-ass face. He always laughed.

The second one threw him off.
“Forget coffee. Come for dinner. 7.”

He stuck the phone back in his pocket and decided to wait to answer. The last thing he needed to do was give his sister another reason to give him shit. God, this was frustrating.

“Everything okay, man?” Kevin looked up and Josh had leaned in, concerned.

“Yeah, sorry. Just zoned.”

“Problem with the text?” his friend asked.

“No,” Kevin said. “No problem.” He rose and stretched. “But I am going to take off. It’s getting late.”

“It’s not that late, Kev.” Caroline raised an eyebrow and grinned. “Who texted you?”

“It was nothing,” he lied. That was when her eyes narrowed and Kevin could see sparks.
Damn
. She knew. Both of his sisters were like a couple of genius mystics who honed in on everything he was thinking with their personal brand of woo-woo, but it was Caroline who could read him like a book—there was no hiding from her. Apparently, the ability ran in the family. He’d heard stories about his mother’s gypsy ancestors since he was a boy, and it was just his luck that Meg and Caroline’s radars were turned toward him. “Stop looking at me like that!”

“Like what?”

“I’m outta here.” Kevin made his way to the door, calling to his friend as he left. “Josh, if you want to play golf before it gets too cold, let me know.”

He heard his best friend and his sister laugh as he left the loft on his own.
Fucking perfect.

***

Harper sank back into the pillows piled against her headboard and looked at her phone. What had she done? A couple of hours ago she was going to tell him ‘soon.’ Now she was waiting on him to reply to a dinner invitation. At her apartment.

So he could meet his baby.

Harper was never impulsive. She took a deep breath. Okay. That was a lie. Where Kevin Rossi was concerned, everything was impulsive. The baby snoring gently beside her on the bed was proof that Harper excelled at impulsive behavior when he was around.

Maybe he’d say no. It had been at least twenty minutes since she’d texted him and there was no answer. Maybe he’d thought about their encounter at the grocery store and decided that Harper was truly crazy. Maybe he was packing his bags to run away to Tahiti or Australia or someplace on the other side of the world so there could be some distance between them.

Good. It was better that way.

Then her phone chimed.

It was Kevin.
“I’ll be there.”

That was it. No chatty conversation. No
“can I bring anything?
” Just a reply.