Page 56 of Her Cowboy Baby Daddy
“The attention you didn’t get.”
“My dad was very attentive.”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”
Her gaze didn’t waver as she nodded. “Yeah.” She worked the edge of her shirt between her fingers, the only sign that she wasn’t in complete control. She stopped the absent movement as soon as she noticed that he was watching.
“Are you tempted?” Spence asked softly.
She didn’t pretend not to know what he meant. “All the time.”
Her simple response made his groin feel heavy as the blood started abandoning his brain. What would it be like to feel Hayley moving beneath him?
Probably pretty damned fine.
Would he get a chance to find out?
Most assuredly not, judging by the way she was watching him. She had a boundary in that regard, and she was guarding it.
Her mouth tipped up at the corners, surprising him. “You have no idea how often. But, Spence? Sometimes you have to sacrifice for the greater good.”
“Meaning?”
“I have to look at the big picture.” She made adon’t-you-see?gesture. “You’re leaving in a matter of weeks. It’s what you do.”
“I don’t have to leave.”
She gave him a look that said she wasn’t buying his simplistic answer, even though it was true.
“I’d have to adjust my career,” he admitted, “but that’s doable.” He started to step toward her, then stopped. It wasn’t the time to touch. Not until they hashed this out. “I travel, but I don’t have to.”
“How do you know that?”
“I know.”
His words seemed to alarm her.
Her mouth tightened, then she pulled out a kitchen chair and sat. Spence did the same, resting his arm on the worn oak of the kitchen table again as he angled his chair to face her.
“Here’s the thing,” she said. “I’ve had no relationship role models in my life, other than the do-opposite variety.”
He nodded to show that he followed her. The more information he had, the better to make his point, which was that they should take a chance.
“I want a baby. I don’t want to navigate the ins and outs of something I’m not good at while trying to raise my child. All the instability in my life came from poor relationships. Why would I subject my kid to that?”
“You’re going to go through life alone? Never having a partner?”
“My dad did after he and Mom split up.”
“Do you think he was happy with that decision?”
“I think he chose what was best for him. He focused on raising me and running the ranch. It was a good life.”
Which Hayley planned on echoing.
“Hayley...” Her name fell from his lips, but he had no words to follow with. Frustration at being the victim of a situation he had no hand in forming twisted inside of him.
Hayley lifted her chin. “I can’t speak for the future, but I can speak for right now. My focus is the ranch and a baby.”
