Page 138 of Red King

“You should go outside and see him,” Becs whispers. “I’m sure he’s waiting for you out there. He didn’t come all this way for a christening.”

Butterflies hit my stomach. “I don’t want to go outside.” I shake my head.

She laughs. “You have to. He came all this way to see you, Paisley. He gatecrashed a christening.”

“I know. I feel sick. I don’t understand how he found me or why he’s even here.”

“I’m telling you, he’s Russian mafia. They’re well connected,” Dave whispers.

“He is not!” I give him an affectionate smack on the arm.

Those butterflies have babies, so I clutch my stomach.

“Do you need a barf bag?” Becs starts toward her purse.

“No, I’m fine. Just nervous.” I suck in a deep breath. “I suppose I’d better do this.” I sigh dramatically.

“Good luck. You have the keys to our place in case you need somewhere private to talk or to…” She bobs her brows.

“Stop that.” I giggle.

“Go already,” she says. “We will see you later. We’ll take our time.” She winks at me.

I giggle again and step out into the aisle. By now, the church is almost empty. I stand there for a few seconds, trying to calm my nerves and my racing heart.

Crap!I can’t put this off any longer.

I start walking. I’m almost at the exit of the church when Jim steps in front of me. I was so focused on outside, so busy trying to find Arctic among the crowd, that I didn’t even see him there.

“Oh.” I clutch my chest. “Jim.” I smile. “Hi. You gave me a fright. Congratulations on the birth of your son and on his christening. You’re a lucky man to have such a wonderful family.” I go through the motions, hoping this is over quickly.

“Thank you, Pais. I appreciate it.” He smiles broadly.

Has he always had such deep crow’s feet at the sides of his eyes? Maybe he’s just tired. Yeah, that’s probably it. He just had a baby.

“I’m glad you could come today. You look…” He looks me up and down, taking his time about it. I’m pretty sure he lingers on my breasts. I hope not. It starts to give me theickwhen he finally stops. “Really great, Pais. Really, really great.” His voice drops a few octaves, and it makes me cringe.

“Thanks. Where’s Lexi?” My voice is clipped.

“She’s just changing Solly.” His hair looks like it’s thinning. “She’ll be out soon. She’s glad you came.I’mglad you came. I’ve been wanting to talk to you. I feel so bad about what happened between us and how things ended.” He doesn’t look nearly as built as I thought he was. “Will you meet me for a coffee sometime?” He touches the side of my arm, sliding his hand up and down.

I pull away. Is he flirting with me?

It feels like he is.

No! I hope not. Eeewww! He’s giving off creep vibes.

“Don’t feel bad. I’m fine. There isn’t much to talk about. Besides, I don’t think that coffee is a good idea since you’re a busy man nowadays. I mean, with awifeand a newborn son.”

He’s such a prick. Was he cheating on me back then? I think about all those late nights he spent at the office. All the extra hours he had to put in, late nights that became more frequent when we were having major fertility issues. When I was having to inject myself every day. When I put on twenty pounds from all the hormones. When I was sad and depressed. Come to think of it, Lexi was working as a nursing assistant on his floor back then. Were they…?

Oh. My. God.

“And they mean the world to me.” He chuckles. I used to love his laugh. It irritates me now. “If you change your mind,” he pauses way too long, “you have my number, Pais. We had a good thing.” He winks.

Winks!

I’m going to tear him a new one.

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