Choosing the Right Man - Nice Girl to Love, Vol 3 (Can't Resist #3)(11)

Dumbfounded shock slapped him across the face. “Oh honey, I’m so sorry I made you feel like it wasn’t. Because it was monumentally important to me. Still is. You don’t know how many times I’ve picked up that phone wanting to call you, how many times I’ve dialed your number just to tell you about something that happened that day.”

He’d hated not being with her all those months, and knowing just how deeply his leaving had hurt her made it all that much worse. “This time, no matter what happens, I’m not leaving you like that again. Ever.”

“Promise?” she asked softly.

His heart ripped from the inside out over that. “I promise, sweetheart.”

They sat and ate in silence for a few minutes before she finally ventured in that adorably intrepid way, “So…what sort of things did you almost call me about?” She lifted a shoulder and smiled. “You can talk to me about ‘em now if you want.”

Christ, he’d missed her sweetness.

“Like I said, it was a daily thing. Good and bad and everything in between.” He paused in thought. “But the one time I’d actually dialed your entire phone number and nearly pressed ‘send’ about a dozen times was the day Marcus went to go see you and Brian.”

A dark cloud of sympathy quickly blanketed her features. “I remember that day. I’m so sorry, Connor.”

“Not to throw your own words back at you sweetie, but don’t apologize for him. Especially not for this. I’m thankful not to share any of his genes.”

Still, the sadness lingered in her eyes. “Was it your mother who called to tell you or Brian?”

“My mother.” He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “But Abby, I already knew.”

Her eyes jolted wide in shock. “How?”

“I’d overheard the conversation between Marcus and Brian years ago, about my being a Sullivan bastard.”

She shook her head in confusion. “But I thought you were at Columbia then.”

No amount of time could keep his anger from boiling to the surface when he recalled the memory of what Marcus had done to Brian. Back teeth grinding, he explained bitterly, “I knew Brian was going to tell Marcus that Beth was pregnant so I’d rushed back, wanting to be there to jump in if things got out of hand.” He shook his head, remembering the rush of giddy relief he’d felt when he’d first learned that he wasn’t related to Marcus, along with the overwhelming surge of emotion that had come over him shortly afterward when he’d heard Brian fight for him harder than most brothers—half or full—would.

Brian was just that kind of guy.

“He didn’t know that I’d overheard everything from out in the hall. So when he told me his partially-omitted version about the deal Marcus struck with him later on, I kept quiet about it…something that was considerably harder to do when Marcus then spun the deal a different way to me the next day.”

Something very close to hatred flashed across Abby’s face. “That man has no soul.”

Yes, Connor had long thought the same thing about the man who wasn’t his father. “Not that I think a lack of a soul is a genetic thing, but that was one of the big reasons why I was so unbelievably grateful to hear him say that I wasn’t his son. I’m just sorry that my mother had felt she needed to rush into a marriage with someone like him just because she was pregnant with me.”

Abby idly skated the tips of her fingers over his forearm, and drew her hand back quickly after, almost as if she didn’t trust herself with even that small gesture. Suddenly, a slow thoughtful look bloomed across her face then, and she looked up at him in wonder. “It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one who told Brian and Beth not to rush their wedding.”

He shrugged. “It was what Brian wanted to do anyway. All I did was suggest it and tell him to screw what everyone else thought about it if he and Beth wanted it that way.”

“It was more than that.” Abby gazed at him like he was ten-feet tall. “I remember now. Beth must have been only in her second trimester, just starting to show and she’d started second-guessing their decision to wait. Then Brian told her that you’d suggested their kid be in the wedding as a ring bearer or flower girl, so it would be a whole family event. I swear to God, Beth broke down and started bawling over that idea.”

It wasn’t that big a deal. Connor shrugged again. “I just figured it’d be kind of cool for all of them to look back on it later. That’s partly why people make such a big deal about vow renewals, right? So their kids can be a part of it?”

“You have no idea how special that family wedding photo is to Skylar.” She sighed. “Like I said, you haven’t changed one bit.”

If she didn’t stop staring at him like that he simply would not be responsible for his actions.

A distraction. They were in serious need of a distraction.

He stood abruptly and held out his hand. “Come on. I want to show you something.” Walking her over to the kitchen he added, “I’ve been thinking about what kinds of things we can do on our date nights.”

She looked up at him and he nearly groaned aloud at the buried heat he saw in her eyes. “Chaste things,” he clarified, hoarsely, his voice tight.

At the tiny sound of disappointment she let out, he did groan. “You haven’t changed a bit, either, Abby. You still have the ability to drive me completely insane with seemingly very little effort.”