To Tame a Wild Firefighter (Red Hot Reunions Book 2) (19 page)

Maddie smiled, but didn’t shift her attention from Bridget’s face. “I’m sure he does, and he’s such a good person he probably won’t even stop to think that you might have done something to make it break.”

Bridget paled, not much, but enough to make Mick’s stomach go sour.

“But I’m not that nice,” Maddie continued. “And I know how miserable you made my brother last year, and if you think for one second I’m going to stand by and let you wreck his life, you are sadly mistaken. There will be a paternity test, or there will be no assistance of any kind from anyone in this family. Is that clear?”

“I can’t believe this, Mick,” Bridget said, voice breaking. “I came here hoping for some support and all I—”

“Enough,” Mick said, holding up both hands as Maddie turned to him, a pleading look in her eyes. He knew she wanted to help, but this wasn’t the way. “Thank you, but I can handle this from here.”

“Are you sure?” Maddie asked, brow still furrowed. “Because I can get Naomi. You know she’s even tougher than I am.”

“I’m a grown man, Mad,” Mick said gently. “I can stand on my own two feet.”

And he could, he realized. He wasn’t going to let Bridget or anyone else control him ever again. Now that he knew what it felt like to be loved—really loved, by a woman who accepted him for who he was—he knew he had never been doing Bridget any favors. She was never going to grow up and change her ways if people kept indulging her crazy, and the kind of relationship she’d forced on him wasn’t love. It wasn’t anything remotely close.

“All right.” Maddie squeezed his shoulder on her way to the door. “But call me if you need me.”

“Thanks,” Mick said, holding Bridget’s gaze as Maddie stepped out and started down the stairs.

Bridget swallowed hard, her thin neck visibly working. “Is this what you want, Mick? To make the mother of your baby feel like a slut?”

Mick pulled in a ragged breath. He didn’t think Bridget would lie about something like this, and she’d never even glanced sideways at another guy while they were together—but God, what if Maddie was right? What if Bridget had made this happen? What if she’d deliberately tampered with the condom?

He wouldn’t put it past her. She wouldn’t have thought about the innocent life she was bringing into the world or all the far-reaching consequences of her actions, she would have only thought that having his baby would bind Mick to her in a way he would never be able to escape.

“Please, Mick,” Bridget continued. “You know me. You know there has never been anyone for me but you. I’ll do whatever you want me to do to prove it, but—”

“What I want is some time to think,” Mick said, rubbing his temple, which had been throbbing ever since he spotted Bridget downstairs. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why keep it a secret until so close to time for the baby to be born?”

Bridget sniffed as she glanced down at the warm milk in her hands. “I was afraid.”

“Afraid of what?” The more Mick thought about it, the stranger it seemed that Bridget had waited so long to contact him. Sure, he’d changed cell phones, but she knew where his family lived and proven she could track him down when she wanted to. It wasn’t like Bridget to let months of holding something over his head slip through her fingers; there had to be some other reason she’d waited.

“I need an answer,” Mick pressed when she continued to stare down at her mug in silence.

“Well…I spotted a lot at first,” she said, voice soft. “There was blood almost every day, and I worried I was going to lose the baby and… And then my mom and dad were being difficult and…I just had a hard time finding a way to reach you.”

Mick frowned. “How were your mom and dad being difficult? What do they think about all this?”

“They don’t understand me,” Bridget said, reaching up to adjust the ribbon in her hair, though it was already perfectly tied. “They never have. That’s why I have to stay here. With you.”

She shifted her gaze, meeting Mick’s with a desperate look in her eyes. “Please, Mick. Let me stay here with you. I don’t have anywhere else to go, and I’m scared of doing this all alone.”

If she had been anyone else, Mick would have reached over and taken her hand, but she was Bridget and he didn’t want to give her any reason to think he was reconsidering his position. He felt sorry for her and worried about their baby and afraid for the future, but no matter what happened he wasn’t going to take her in and take care of her. It was time for Bridget to stand on her own two feet if she was capable, or to find professional help if she wasn’t.

“You aren’t alone,” Mick said instead, his voice firm, but gentle. “I meant what I said. I’m here to help with money and am happy to split custody fifty-fifty. I can even take the baby more at first if you need time to work things out with your parents, or to get yourself together.”

Or log some quality time with a shrink.

“We will work this out,” he continued. “You are not alone, and you don’t have to be afraid. I will make sure this baby never wants for anything.”

Bridget sniffed. “But I don’t want to split custody. I want to be a family.”

Mick held her gaze, willing her to look into his eyes and see the truth. “No, Bridget. We will never be a family. I will never live with you, I will never love you, and I will never touch you again.”

Bridget’s lip started to tremble again. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do,” Mick said. “I’m sorry if that hurts you, but it’s the truth. And nothing is going to change that.”

“You’ll change your mind,” she said, silent tears streaming down her face even as she smiled. “I know you will. I’ll make you understand.”

Mick sighed, realizing this conversation was futile. He might as well be reasoning with a rock.

No, a rock would probably be more receptive to logic.

“All right,” he said, running a hand through his hair as he pushed his chair away from the table. “Leave a number where I can reach you on my desk before you go. I’ll call you tomorrow and we can talk more about what to do over the phone.”

“Where are you going?” Bridget asked, brows drawing together as she watched Mick stand.

“I’m going to find Faith and apologize for ruining her Valentine’s Day.”

“What about me?” Bridget’s hands tightened around her cup until her fingertips went white. “What about ruining my life?”

Mick stared down at her. “You’re in charge of your life, Bridget. Not me. If it isn’t going the way you’d like, I suggest you take a look in the mirror and make a few changes in the way you do business.”

Bridget’s nostrils flared. “So this is all my fault. I got pregnant all on my own, is that it? I guess you
are
going to ask for a paternity test then, and add insult to the rest of your abuse.”

“As long as the baby’s born in the right time frame, I don’t need a test. I know you were too busy making my life miserable to sleep with anyone else while we were together,” Mick said as he turned toward the door, ignoring Bridget’s outraged huff.

Bridget had been the abusive party in their relationship, but she would never admit it. She was determined to play the victim, to keep right on blaming everyone else for her problems.

“Come back here, Mick,” she said, the words followed by a loud thump he assumed was her fist hitting the table, but he didn’t turn back to look.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Feel free to let yourself out.” Mick stepped out onto the landing and started down the stairs, ignoring Bridget’s cry for him to wait.

He was through waiting, and he wasn’t going to let Bridget or anyone else get between him and the woman he loved.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Faith

Faith hadn’t cried in public in years, not since she was fifteen and rolled a four-wheeler on her uncle’s property, breaking her arm in two places when she’d collided with a fallen tree. And then she’d only cried for a few minutes, determined to pull herself together before her cousins returned with help.

The fact that there were tears in her eyes as she hurried across the street to the firehouse was enough to send a tsunami of shame sweeping through her insides.

Pull yourself together, Miller. Get a grip!

But she couldn’t seem to pull herself together. The harder she tried, the faster the tears fell. By the time she reached her truck, she was a soppy, snotty mess and shaking so hard she dropped her keys on the concrete not once, but twice, before she finally managed to shove the key in the door.

She was so miserable, she didn’t hear anyone call her name or even realize another person was close until a big, warm hand settled on her back.

“
Whatthefuck
,” Faith said in a rush as she spun around, knocking the hand away as she lifted her fists, instinctively preparing to defend herself.

“Easy, killer. Just saying hello.” Jamison backed away with his hands raised, his laughter fading as he got a good look at her face. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Faith swiped the sleeve of her sweater across her face, mopping up some of the mess, wishing she’d made her escape before anyone saw what a wreck she was.

“Is it Whitehouse? Did he do something?” Jamison asked, scowl deepening. “Because if he did, I’m prepared to go teach him some manners. I tried to warn Maddie that you two were moving too fast, but she wouldn’t—”

“Mick didn’t do anything,” Faith said, propping her hands on her hips. “And if he had, I would take care of him myself. I know I’ve needed help with Mom sometimes, but that’s an extreme situation, Jamison. When it comes to my own love life, I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself, by myself, and I’m sick of you acting like I’m a child without the brains God gave a billy goat.”

Jamison’s eyebrows lifted. “Sorry,” he said, obviously shocked by the force of her reaction.

Faith was shocked too, and knew her words were at least twenty percent hot air. Sure, she could take care of herself…but she didn’t want to anymore.

She didn’t want to face the future standing on her own two feet without anyone to lean on. She liked the way Mick looked out for her, the way he checked the refrigerator before they ran out of half-and-half for their morning coffee and insisted she take the occasional break from her brutal workout routine to let her body recover and her muscles heal. She appreciated the way her rubbed her shoulders after her third night sleeping on the lumpy cot at the station and the way he listened when she talked, making her feel safe telling him things she’d never told another living soul.

And it wasn’t just him being there for her that she loved. She loved the way he rested his head in her lap after dinner, wanting her to run her fingers through his hair while he talked through his latest home improvement design because her touch helped him think. She liked cooking him breakfast and grabbing his dirty clothes so they could do laundry together at her place. She liked taking care of him, and being taken care of. The thought of going back to life without the precious intimacies she’d started to take for granted the past few weeks was flat-out devastating.

So devastating tears were already welling in her eyes all over again, even with Jamison standing right in front of her.

“Hey, now,” Jamison said, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Then what’s the matter? What happened to make your pretty face all red?”

Faith pressed her lips together, fighting another wave of tears. Jamison only said sweet things to her when she was really down, and she couldn’t remember him ever calling her pretty. She must truly be a pathetic-looking specimen indeed.

“You can talk to me, you know. About anything at all.” Jamison leaned down, looking her in the eye with an expression so kind it made Faith’s heart feel like it was going to break all over again. “I won’t tell a soul if you don’t want me to. I just want to help.”

Faith sniffed, the unfamiliar urge to spill her guts warring with her usual “saying nothing is best when feelings are concerned” policy.

“Is it your mom?” Jamison asked. “Did something happen?”

Faith shook her head. “No. It’s…Mick’s horrible ex-girlfriend,” she confessed, the dam breaking. “She’s here, and she’s pregnant.”

Jamison’s eyes widened ever so slightly before he nodded, as if this wasn’t the most awful news ever. “I see.”

“It’s his,” Faith said, thinking Jamison must not be getting the point. “They’re going to have a baby together.”

Jamison’s eyes narrowed. “Well, they made a baby together, and they’re each going to have to do their part to raise it, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be doing any of it together.”

“What are you saying?” Faith said, frowning. “Of course it does. She’ll be in his life forever. That’s it. Everything we planned is over.”

Jamison lifted one shoulder in a gesture so casual it made Faith want to scream. “She’ll be in his life, and I can’t imagine that will be fun for you or Mick if she’s as bad as you say, but it’s nothing other couples haven’t dealt with. It doesn’t have to be over unless you or Mick decide for it to be over.”

Faith shook her head. “You don’t understand. I can’t be a stepmom, Jamison. I’m not cut out for it. I have no frame of reference for how to give a kid a normal life, and I know this woman is going to do everything she can to make things difficult. It will be more drama and more drama, just like with my mom growing up and—”