“There’s a lot I need to tell you first, things better discussed after Zoe goes to bed tonight. I won’t do anything without your permission, though. I want Zoe safe as much as you do.”
He watched her swallow visibly, but she nodded.
“Part of me wishes you were just…ordinary,” she murmured. “Just another guy. And Zoe didn’t have to deal with all this other stuff.”
“And the other part of you?”
“I still wish Zoe didn’t have to deal with all this. I certainly don’t want her in pain anymore. But…” She cringed. “But I kind of find the danger…sexy.” She rolled her eyes. “I know. I know. That sounds weird and wrong. I don’t want my daughter in danger, don’t think that. But if she weren’t in harm’s way…”
She trailed off as a beautiful pink blush brightened her cheeks. Vlad gripped his mug tightly to keep his hands to himself. When he heard the ceramic crack, he set it down with a clunk and moved to put more space between them.
“Maybe we should go out to the living room,” he said. He had to clear his throat to get rid of the husky sound. “I think we need a chaperone.”
“Good idea.” She hurried past him.
The move washed him with her scent. The delicious flavor of lavender and cardamom melding with the added spice of her desire made his head spin. He shook off the effect and followed her, working hard to keep his need in check.
Damn, but this was going to be a hard few weeks.
Chapter Six
They spent the afternoon playing with Zoe, building more snowmen, and hiking through the pine trees at the back of the cabin. Zoe, true to her word, didn’t take a nap but also didn’t get grumpy. In fact, she glowed with energy, bouncing around, telling stories, building snow people and their homes with the determination only a three-year-old could muster.
Vlad was a little surprised she could stay in the cold for so long, but every time Rose asked if she needed to go in and get warm, Zoe shook her head and went right back to building things out of snow.
“She just doesn’t get cold easy,” Rose murmured as they watched Zoe throw a clump of snow at a tree then double over giggling. “So long as she’s moving, she’s comfortable.”
“She got my metabolism, too, then,” he said very quietly.
“Lucky girl,” she said. “I always envied you that.”
“You did?”
“Of course. You never had to worry about what you ate. If I wanted to keep doing all the things I loved, I had to work at staying in shape and eating right. You just seemed to come by it naturally. Used to piss me off.”
He laughed. “I like your shape just the way it is.”
“Don’t start that now. We’ll get into trouble again.”
Too late, he thought, as his imagination taunted him with memories of her naked, pressed against him, with only an open sleeping bag between them and the ground on a cool spring night. He shook off the memory. She was right. He needed to stop thinking about her body.
By the time Zoe admitted defeat and agreed to come in, the sun had set and darkness had filled in the space between the trees. While Rose readied dinner, Vlad stayed in the living room with Zoe, stretched out on the rug in front of the fire, coloring in books filled with ponies and race cars as she explained to him which colors were the right ones to use.
Vlad was utterly charmed by his daughter. The thought that he’d sacrificed those first few years of her precious life because of his hurt pride poked at him. He’d had a lot of logical reasons to believe Rose had cheated on him. But her scent hadn’t carried deception and she’d been glowing when she told him she was pregnant.
He should have known. He should have realized. Rose wasn’t the kind of woman to cheat or lie. It was one of the things he’d loved about her—that straightforward, honest attitude. If she’d wanted to sleep with another man, she would have just dumped him and gone off with the other man.
“You not watching,” Zoe scolded, nudging his hand. “See. You need green now.”
“Of course.” He smiled and pushed aside his dark thoughts. He could berate himself later.
Over dinner, Vlad had another hit of regret. Sitting down with Rose and Zoe felt so right. They were his family. His family. And he’d tossed them both aside because he’d believed what he thought was fact over what he’d known to be the truth.
How was he going to make that up to Rose? Would she ever be able to forgive him and trust him again?
He savored helping her put Zoe to bed, his chest tight with emotions too powerful to name as they tucked her in with her favorite blankie in hand and kissed her goodnight. When Rose said, “I love you, Zoe,” and Zoe answered, “I love you, Mommy,” Vlad thought his heart would break completely.