Page 23 of Doctor Daddies

“You’ve been alone there all this time? I mean, since Lewis was born?”

She nods. “Not like I had the money to move somewhere more expensive,” she points out. “And besides, when he was really little, I didn’t even notice how little space we had. I was just glad to have anywhere at all. You know how few places are willing to rent to a single mom, especially one without a full-time job?”

“Damn,” I mutter. “Can’t have been easy.”

“It wasn’t.” She sighs. “But we made it. And now—well, now, I actually have enough space for the two of us. It’s going to make such a difference.”

“Plus Cole and Ross to help out,” I add.

She smiles. “Yeah, I guess so,” she replies, sounding slightly nervous.

“You don’t sound entirely convinced.”

“No, it’s not that I’m not glad they’re going to be around,” she assures me at once. “I am, honestly. It’s just going to take some getting used to, given that it’s just been Lewis and me for so long.”

“So there wasn’t anyone else? No men you were seeing, I mean?”

I feel like I phrased it as neutrally as possible, but she instantly looks over at me, the flicker of a smile playing on her face. “Why? Would you have had a problem with it if I was?”

I raise my eyebrows. “Why would you think I’d have a problem with it?”

“Well, would you?” she demands. “Didn’t exactly answer my question.”

I consider it for a moment. Truthfully, it would have pissed me off to know that she had been with someone else, as ridiculousas I know that to be. I have no business deciding who she can and can’t be involved with. The two of us haven’t been in touch for nearly six years now, and neither of us have attempted to reconnect. I have thought about it a few times, but I know I wouldn’t have felt right doing something like that behind the backs of the other guys, no matter what my reasons for it.

“You answer mine first,” I retort, grinning. “You been with anyone else?”

She falls silent for a moment, and then shakes her head, finally admitting the truth. “No,” she replies. “No, I—I haven’t. And honestly, I didn’t want to be.”

“You didn’t want to be?”

It’s hard to imagine that a woman like her, a woman I shared a night like that with, wouldn’t have found herself with sexual appetites that she would have at least tried to fulfill. But I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t happy to hear it. The only people I’m willing to share her with are Cole and Ross, and anyone else laying a hand on her would have left me more pissed than was entirely logical.

“Hard to match up to being with the three of you,” she points out playfully.

“Oh, the three of us, huh?” I reply, leaning against the wardrobe.

Now that the conversation has turned to sex, I feel like I’m in my element. I know how to handle this side of myself—perhaps that’s why I’ve reached for it now, because I know that I’ll be able to make some sense of everything that has happened between us if I just play it the way I usually do when I find myself in the presence of the woman I want this badly.

“Yeah, not like I’ve had any other experiences like that.” She giggles. “Why, have you? Something the three of you make a habit of?”

“No,” I reply, closing the distance between us slightly. “You’re the only person we’ve ever done something like that with.”

She shifts her weight slightly, still half-facing the window, though she’s looking back toward me. “Really? The only one?”

“You think we could have found anyone else who lived up to that?” I reply.

Her cheeks darken slightly—fuck, I love it when she blushes, when she gives away just how easy it is to get under her skin when I talk to her like this.

“I just assumed…I mean, that doesn’t seem to be the kind of thing you just do once, right?”

“You’re the kind of woman you only come across once, Millie,” I reply, taking another step toward her. Her lips part slightly, and I can see her gaze softening, some part of her craving this, craving more.

“I don’t know if that’s true,” she replies, tucking a loose strand of hair back behind her ear.

“Why wouldn’t it be true?”

“I mean, three guys like you,” she points out. “You could have just about anyone you wanted, if you set your mind to it. I can’t believe that you would never have found anyone other than me, if you had gone looking…”