Maybe he needed some time to catch up. But as much as I knew he deserved that time, I couldn’t allow him to go running in and out of our home without thought or consideration of what it might do to Evan.
Of what it would do to me.
When another round of pounding hammered from the door, I straightened and sucked in a steeling breath, preparing myself because Kale and I were going to have to talk.
Really talk.
Lay it out.
It was time the two of us shared our true hopes, fears, and reservations.
I wanted him.
God, I wanted him.
But I could admit we’d been moving fast, and I needed him to be ready before he took that final leap. Deal with the fear that would dim his eyes.
Hurt and a quiver of jealousy staked through my heart.
Maybe . . . maybe he wasn’t ready to let her go.
His first love.
Maybe he’d realized he didn’t have space for me, after all. The idea of letting him go broke me in two, but I was willing to face that reality if I had to.
Raking my forearm across my bleary eyes, I cleared the moisture, headed down the hallway, and took another deep breath before I turned the knob and carefully cracked open the door.
“Dane.” A slick of fear lifted my skin in a clammy sweat when I saw him on my porch.
It mixed with an overwhelming disappointment that it wasn’t Kale.
“What are you doing here?”
“I want to talk to you.”
There was something new in his eyes that prickled the hairs at the back of my neck and sent a rocket of chills shooting up my spine.
“I don’t have anything to say to you.”
I went to close the door. I didn’t have the capacity to deal with him right then. Not after Kale had left me feeling brittle and broken. His arm shot out to stop it from latching, his voice hard as he pushed open the door. “I said I wanted to talk to you.”
I stumbled back, and the door swung open wide. I edged away as Dane stepped into my little home for the first time ever.
It was so wrong with him standing there. Black hair and black eyes and black heart.
“And I said, I didn’t have anything to say to you.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.” It trembled from my mouth.
He took another step forward. “How about you start by telling me who just drove away from here.”
I didn’t answer, just took another step back as he took one forward, backing me into the opposite wall. Right in the same place where Kale had had me not thirty minutes before.
Again, my breath was stolen.
But this time it was stolen by the clot of alarm that constricted my throat, my heart beating faster and faster with a warning.
He’d seen Kale. Oh God, he’d seen Kale.
His hot words were venom across my face. “Who the fuck was here, Harley?”
“No one.” The lie cracked on the toxic air. Splinters and shards.
“Bullshit. I saw someone driving away.”
Anger fisted my chest. “What does it even matter, Dane. Are you really gonna stand there and pretend like you weren’t stepping out on me all along? You think I don’t know about all those women?”
I was long over Dane. But there was no stopping the bitterness that came out with accusation.
His jaw clenched, but he angled his head and his voice turned soft. “You know why, Harley. You know why. You didn’t have anything left for me since you gave every second of every day to that kid.”
Was he serious? He was jealous of our child?
Pathetic.
God, this man was pathetic.
Flinching, I jerked my chin to the side when he reached out and brushed his fingers down my jaw.
Revulsion pulsed through my being.
“None of that matters now. Come home where you belong, and we’ll try again.”
“Try again?” My eyes snapped back to him, my tone incredulous.
He ran the pad of this thumb over my cheek. “Another baby. We’ll start over. Forget everything that’s happened.”
“You’re insane.”
Dane suddenly pressed himself against me, planting both hands on the wall on either side of my head.
Gasping, I tried to block out the feel of him. The smell of him. But I was assaulted by a million memories. His cloying cologne. His vicious words. His hatred of our son.
“Don’t touch me,” I rasped, struggling to push away from him.
He just leaned in closer, his voice turning hard. Malicious. “Did you let another man fuck you, Harley? Touch what’s mine?”
“You’re disgusting,” I spat.
A horrified yelp escaped when he suddenly fisted his hands in the fabric of my shirt and pulled me against his chest. “You think I’m a fool? Is that what you think? You think you can play me? You think I didn’t just see that car pull away from here?”
“It doesn’t matter, Dane. It’s over. You already know this. We’re over.”