“That was so hot,” Dawn adds.
“I mean, he’s my brother, so there is some ick factor there, but damn, if that were Tyler . . .” She lowers her voice. “Hot as hell.” She fans her face with her hands.
“When did this happen? How could you not tell me?” Dawn asks.
; “It just did.”
“What?” she asks, confused.
“You saw it happen.” I can’t help but grin when I see understanding cross her face. “We’ve been talking, and he’s told me he’s interested, but this . . . tonight was it. He made it official.” I shrug.
“Is that what you want?” Reagan asks me.
“Yes. He’s all I’ve been able to think about. I look forward to his phone calls, his messages. I think it’s worth seeing if there’s something there. I just. . . .”
“You just what?” she repeats when I don’t say anything.
“I don’t want to be his rebound,” I confess.
“What are you talking about?” Her expression shows that she’s truly confused.
“He just lost her, Knox’s mom, and now . . . It’s too soon.”
“Shit. I thought you two had been talking?”
“Pretty much every day, either by text or phone.”
“Have you asked him about all of this?”
“Yeah, but he said he wanted to do it in person, and we’ve just not had the opportunity.”
“You let him claim that this was serious before you knew,” Dawn points out.
“Yeah, I just . . . I really want to see where this goes. I guess I’m willing to get my heart broken to find out.”
“That won’t happen,” his deep voice says from behind me.
Shit.
Slowly, I turn to face him. He stalks forward and wraps his arms around me, his large arms engulfing me in the best hug I’ve ever received. His chin rests on top of my head.
“Give us a minute,” he tells Dawn and his sister.
I don’t try to pull away to see if they granted his request. Instead, I grip the back of his shirt and enjoy the fact that I’m in his arms. It’s almost as if both of us are afraid the other will disappear.
“We need to have that talk,” he finally says.
This time, I do pull back. “Where’s Knox?” I ask.
He chuckles. “Tyler has him, although I would bet one of the girls has stolen him by now. I need you to take a walk with me. Will you do that?”
“Ridge, you have people here,” I try to protest. I don’t expect him to leave his home when he has company just to pacify my worries.
“Don’t care. They know where everything is.”
“We can talk tomorrow.”
“No, now. I don’t want another second to go by with you thinking you’re not what I want or that I’m not ready to give you all of me.”
“Where are we going?” I concede.
“Just for a walk. I have a small pond out back with a gazebo. We can go there.”
“Okay.”
He kisses the top of my head, laces his fingers through mine, and leads us back out to the living room. We’re both surprised when we see Tyler still has Knox. Reagan whispers something about baby whisperers, and I giggle. I just can’t help it.
“Hey, can you all keep an eye on him for a little while? We’re going to take a walk.”
Reagan and Dawn must have clued the guys in, because they didn’t bat an eye when all six of them assured Ridge that little man was in good hands. He nods his thanks, grabs a throw blanket from the back of the couch, and leads me through the dining room to the patio door.
“Watch your step,” he warns as we make our way down the deck steps.
“Steep,” I say, holding onto his hand for dear life. The dew has set in, making them slippery.
“Yeah, something I’ll need to change for the little guy. Probably add another level to the deck or something.”
“You have time for those things later.” He worries so much.
“Yeah,” he agrees, pulling me into his chest and wrapping his arm around me.
“Wow, this is really nice.”
“Thanks. It’s part of why I bought the place. I wanted some acreage, and the guys and I like to fish and have a few beers. Makes it a hell of a lot easier when you can walk home after.”
“I bet.”
The silence of the night takes over, but it’s not uncomfortable. It’s actually nice, enjoyable even. When we finally reach the pond, Ridge leads me down the dock until we reach the gazebo that sits at the end.
He takes a seat on the built-in bench and pulls me onto his lap. Grabbing the blanket, he wraps it around me. “Better?” he asks.
“Yes.”
He buries his face in my neck and just holds me tight. I don’t speak, not sure what I’m about to hear.
“I’ve not exactly been excited to share this with you. Not that I’m ashamed, but I didn’t want you to think differently of me.”
I don’t say anything, just lean my head against his shoulder and wait for him to continue.
“Little under a year ago, the guys and I had a job out of town. It was a good gig; we would stay there through the week and drive home on the weekends. We started to frequent this local bar. It was basically a hole in the wall.” He laughs. “Anyway, it was the perfect place to grab some dinner and a cold beer after a long day.”
I’m hanging on to every word, waiting for the part that he wasn’t thrilled about telling me to fall from his lips.
“Anyway, our last night in town, we settled in for a few beers. That’s where I met her—Melissa, Knox’s mom.”
He pauses, collecting his thoughts. I remain still.
“She was beautiful and drinking alone. She seemed sad, so when I went to the bar and got us all another round, I invited her to sit with us.” He clears his throat. “She was easy to be around. One thing led to another, and she invited me back to her room.”
I feel him stiffen at his own words. Lifting my head, I place a tender kiss against his neck then snuggle back into my spot, resting against his shoulder once more.
He tightens his hold on me. “We used protection, of that I’m sure. Melissa even confirmed it in her letter.”
“Letter?” I finally break my silence.
“Yeah. See, she slipped out of her own room in the middle of the night. When I woke up the next day, she was gone.”
My mind races with where I think this is going, and my heart aches for him.
Chapter 29
Ridge
Fuck! I hate telling this story, but she needs to hear it. I need her to understand that I’m not some insensitive asshole who’s moving on like nothing happened to the love of his life. I just hate to think of how she’ll see me after this. When she knows that my one-night stand resulted in my son.
“Yeah, so the night I stopped to help Dawn with her flat tire, I also drove up on an accident. A car had slid over the embankment. The driver was trapped, so I called for help and stayed with her until they arrived. Once they had her freed from the car, something in my gut told me I needed her to be okay. I followed the ambulance to the hospital. Of course, they couldn’t and wouldn’t tell me anything—hell, I didn’t even know her name. That is until my cell phone rang.”
“Who was it?” she asks in a quiet voice.
“The hospital.” I close my eyes and remember that day, just a month ago. The call that rocked me to my core and changed my life forever.
“The hospital?” she asks, confused.
“Yeah, they were calling me to let me know that I was listed as the next of kin to a Melissa Knox, and that she was in the hospital.”
“Knox,” she whispers.
“I wracked my brain for a Melissa Knox, but the only Melissa I could come up with was the one from that bar several months before. I was already in the emergency room, so I told them I would be right there. I had them take me to see her and it was her, the girl from the accident.”
“Oh, Ridge.”
I hold onto her. It was just last month, but it feels as though a lifetime has passed since then.
“They found a letter with my name on it in her belongings. It basically said that I was the father and that she was on her way to see me. That if she chickened out, she would mail the letter because she thought I deserved to know that I was
going to be a father.”
“I’m so sorry,” she says, grabbing my hand and holding it to her chest.
“They had to deliver him while she was still in a coma. A paternity test was done so I could be listed on the birth certificate.”
“Did she . . . was it the delivery?” she asks, her voice fill of emotion.
“No. She actually woke up, got to hold him. I even took a few pictures. She was really tired, so I told her to get some rest, that I would take Knox back to the nursery.”
“I’m sorry,” she says again. This time, I feel her silent tears seep into my shirt.
“I took Knox, who they referred to as ‘Baby Knox,’ because we hadn’t named him yet. I tried to get them to change it to Baby Beckett, but the results weren’t back yet, so I had to wait. Anyway, I went to the cafeteria to eat, since I had been burning the candle at both ends. When I made it back to the nursery to check on Knox, the doctors and nurses were standing around, and I could tell something was wrong. I flipped, thinking it was him because he was early. They’d said he was fine, but my emotions got the best of me. Only it wasn’t Knox, it was Melissa.”
“Oh, no,” she murmurs, her voice barely audible. I can feel the rumble against my neck where she’s burrowed close to me.
“Aneurysm.”
Kendall sits up and I grip her tight, not wanting to let her go. “I’m not leaving,” she assures me. Instead, she straddles my lap. I grab the blanket and wrap it around her shoulders, and she surprises me when she hugs me.
My arms circle around her and I hold on tight, crushing her to me. I’m overwhelmed with emotions—sadness for Knox, for Melissa, for the fact they’ll never know each other. Fear, for me and for Knox, that I can’t be both father and mother and give him what he needs. And something else, something I’m not willing to name, which is all wrapped up sitting on my lap. Everything I feel for her is . . . unexpected, but it’s real. I’m certain about that. It’s not a feeling I’ve ever had, and that’s also scary as hell.
She finally pulls away, her blue eyes watching me. There is something hauntingly familiar about them, but I know it’s just her. Just Kendall. It’s the pull she has on me.