NINE
Up in Connor’s old room, a space Jeff knew nearly as well as his own, he looked around wondering at what Darcy would make of it. The walls were still sage-green. The trim the same white that ran through the rest of the house. But somehow every bit of lingering high school boy and college man had been stripped from the space within the past day. The shelves emptied of all but a few items—and those last few he was certain remained just to ensure Darcy didn’t walk into a space that felt barren and stark.
A gesture he appreciated after seeing how few belongings she actually owned.
He set the bags on the bed Darcy would be sleeping in. He’d never paid much attention before, but now, couldn’t help but notice it was king-size. Huge for a single woman sleeping alone.
Which despite his mother’s apparent desire to marry her off to someone—Darcy would be.
Mrs. Norton.
Not going to happen. Slip of the tongue or Freudian slip... His mother had been completely off base with that.
Darcy Norton.
He didn’t know her middle name.
He blinked. What the hell was he thinking? He didn’t need her middle name. Didn’t want to know it.
Because even if there was some lingering bit of attraction between them, it wasn’t the stuff Mrs. Nortons were made of.
Yeah, she was beautiful, and fun, and having his baby. But Darcy was one giant no trespassing sign. And not in some sexual sense—but, damn, he needed his head to stop going there, too.
She was just so unavailable. Different than he’d believed that first night.
“It’s bigger than my apartment.”
He turned to where Darcy stood in the doorway, her arms wrapped across her belly signaling her stomach wasn’t doing well, but hadn’t reached critical levels yet.
“And it comes furnished, too. You’ll have this room. The bathroom connects through there and you’ve got a sitting room with desk and computer on the other side.”
“Okay, so it’s a lot bigger than my apartment.”
“Think you’ll feel okay staying here?” It was such a strange question to ask, after he’d all but railroaded her into making the concession, swearing up and down she’d be comfortable.
Only now that she was precisely where he’d wanted to get her—the idea of actually leaving her here unsettled him in a way he couldn’t reconcile.
Darcy looked around. Crossed to the window and peered out over a view of the pool and tennis court. “Your mom is kind of a firecracker.”
“Yeah, she is. Make you uncomfortable?”
“No. It’s nice. She’s so...excited and welcoming. And it’s a relief, but still sort of a surprise.”
“Not what you were expecting.” He knew, from those last moments in the car.
Darcy turned to him, a tentative smile on her lips. He could see how overwhelmed she was. And tired. And then before he could stop to think about whether it was a good idea or not, he’d crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. It didn’t matter that they were strangers with this intimate past between them and uncertain future ahead. She was alone and he was there, and there wasn’t anyone else on hand to give her the hug she needed.
For an instant she stiffened within his hold, and he thought she might pull away. But then she simply gave herself over to it. Bowing her head into his chest with her arms tucked up between them at either side, she let him hold her.
“It’s going to be fine, Darcy. Give it a little time and all this is going to work out.”
She nodded and took one deep breath after another, melting further into him with each pass of his hand over her back.
“I know,” she whispered. “I’m just not used to being out of control.”
Jeff let out a quiet laugh. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m not much of a fan of it myself.”
“I’ve been taking care of myself since I was sixteen. I don’t like...help. I don’t like...needing things from other people. It makes me feel...trapped.”
Her voice broke the smallest extent on that last word, twisting something deep in his chest.
Leaning back just far enough to catch the side of her face and bring it up so she was looking into his eyes, he promised, “Don’t. Don’t feel that way about this. About being here. About anything.”
Their eyes were locked. Hers so vulnerable as she looked up at him, it made him ache to make it better. Made him ache to give her back all the things he’d seen in those eyes before. Steel, mirth, resolve, confidence...heat.
Hell.
Scratch that last. He didn’t want to think about what she’d looked like when it was heat filling her eyes. Desire. Need.
Not when she was standing within the circle of his arms as he told her everything was going to be fine. When she needed reassurance. Not the muscle memory of some residual attraction she wouldn’t be able to ignore springing to life between them.
But, she was so soft and warm and lush and...all the things he didn’t want to notice. Shouldn’t remember about the last time he felt her against his body, beneath his fingertips.
Setting her back a step, he walked to the door, not meeting her eyes as he spoke over his shoulder. “Why don’t you take a few minutes and then meet us downstairs? Get that tour underway.”
* * *
It wasn’t as though Darcy had thought Jeff would be moving in, too. She’d known he was simply dropping her off and then returning to the life he led in the city. They weren’t together. They weren’t a team. They weren’t going to get through all this together.
They were two people, who were going to be sharing a child.
She understood it and had every intention of adhering to those mutually agreed upon limits.
It was just that in a day filled with so much uncertainty and upheaval, he’d made her feel safe. A little less alone.
And for a few minutes, she’d clung to that.
But now, Jeff was leaning in to kiss his mother’s cheek. He’d already made certain Darcy had a list of two dozen phone numbers to use in case of emergency. And after a moment’s hesitation when he didn’t seem sure of whether to hug her or pat her arm, he leaned in and kissed her cheek, too. And then he left.
And Darcy stood staring at the closed door he’d walked out of, next to a woman she didn’t know, in a house she didn’t belong in.
Gail rested a hand at her elbow, offering a sympathetic look. “Are you all right with Jeffery gone?”
“I’ll be fine. Honestly.” It was so difficult to know what to say, circumstances being what they were. But meeting Gail’s eyes she got the sense Jeff’s mother was someone who appreciated the truth. “We hardly know each other.”
Gail looked toward the door. “Give it time. You’ll get to know each other, and figure out how exactly you fit into each other’s lives.”
The way the older woman said it, Darcy wondered if she was holding out hope for a more traditional outcome for their relationship.
“Until then, you can take my totally unbiased opinion as gospel. Jeffrey is a wonderful man, who is going to make as wonderful a father as his was to him. And in case you haven’t figured it out already, he’ll do just about anything to make sure his child has a stable, happy home. You’ll have everything you need. He’ll see to it. And so will I. So...” She leaned in with a conspiratorial wink that was so very Jeff, Darcy almost did a double take. “Would it help even the playing field a bit if I started telling you stories about all the times Jeffery lost his lunch as a boy?”
* * *
“In what universe are we living that you, a guy who makes me look like a pauper, would move your pregnant non-girlfriend into your parents’ spare room? You could buy the building next door to your office tomorrow. With cash. What the hell, man?”
Jeff gripped the wheel with fingers long gone white at the knuckles. “Give me a break, Connor. She’s staying in your old room, so it’s not like we’re talking about some hole down in the basement with a moldy futon. She’s got the entire west wing of the house to herself. She doesn’t even have to use the same door.”
“Glad to hear you aren’t trying to smuggle her in and out through the basement window, but seriously, your mom?”
Connor chuckled from across the miles, his voice going muffled as he invariably filled in his new wife, Megan, on the details. Then he said, “Megan wants to know if your mom is making her pizza puffs on demand.”
“Ha-ha. Megan’s a laugh a minute.”
“Man, I know it. She’s great.” Then quieter, as though there were a hand almost covering the phone, Connor said, “Come here, sweetheart... Great, see you in a few hours, gorgeous.”
When Connor’s attention was returned to the call, Jeff let out a tight breath. “It was the first thing I thought of. She wasn’t going to budge on the job thing. So I found her a job.”
“Working for your mom? And Darcy’s okay with it?”
“Not really. But for now, she’s agreed. So it’s a start.”
“So what happens once she realizes Gail doesn’t actually need any help with anything, from anyone—that if she wanted, she could probably add your job and mine to her mix of charitable foundations without breaking a sweat.”
Jeff stared out the windshield, toward a sea of congested taillights. “I’m hoping Mom can keep her highly efficient tendencies under wraps for at least a couple of months. Long enough to give Darcy a chance to get some rest and me a chance to come up with my next game plan.”