Page 59 of Dare (Fighting Fate)

We watched Adam and Kara glance at one another, secretly grinning, then Adam met Noah’s gaze and twitched an eyebrow upward. “We have.”

I groaned. They better not be keeping it a secret. I was not good with that kind of stuff.

Kara smacked Adam’s leg with the back of her hand. “Stop teasing them. Her name is Harper. Harper Quinn Murphy.”

“That’s beautiful, Kara,” I said, letting my gaze sweep over Harper’s face. “It suits her perfectly.”

Kara shuffled the now-sleeping baby, covering herself back up as she held her outwards. “Who wants burping duty?”

Kaeli laughed. “I think that might be Jess. She’s jealous we’ve already had a cuddle.”

“I so am,” I said, reaching out to carefully take her out of Kara’s hands. “I’m not going to lie. I’m so excited I get to do this as a job soon.”

“Oh, yeah,” Kara said, fixing up her buttons, “I forgot you’re going into child care. We might have to employ you when I go back to work. That’s the biggest thing that terrifies me. I’d feel so much better if I knew the person who was caring for her, personally.”

Positioning Harper over my shoulder, I gently patted her on the back. Her little legs wiggled up and down as she squirmed, obviously feeling a little pain in her tummy.

Kara’s eyes widened as she turned to Noah and Kaeli. “Ooh, you guys have to come and see the nursery. Adam put the mobile you bought Harper up, and it looks so cute,” she said, pushing to her feet. “She loves it too. Every time we change her, she just stares at it with wonder.”

As the three of them disappeared from the room, Adam settled into the couch properly and shook his head with amusement. “She’s so in love,” he said, obviously smitten with his girls. “We both are. She’s just perfect.”

Harper’s tummy rumbled, and a little burp bubbled up her throat. I smiled as I glanced down at her peaceful face, letting her body slide down my shoulder a little so we were both a little more comfortable.

“So, how have you been?” Adam asked, his expression turning slightly more intense.

I didn’t bother to pretend I didn’t know what he was talking about. Neither of us was that stupid. “I’ve been okay,” I said, tilting my head side to side. “It’s been a little hard to get my head around the fact that my ex-boyfriend is actually gay. To know that everything someone said to you and all the promises they made were complete lies is a really difficult thing to swallow. It’s taken me a while to not feel used, if you know what I mean?”

He nodded. “I do.”

Harper wriggled again, a little cry letting me know she had another pain. Re-positioning her, I gave her back another pat, trying to ignore the intense look I could feel emanating from Adam. I knew where his mind was taking him, and it wasn’t something I wanted to talk about.

But I should’ve known he wouldn’t leave it alone. It was something the Murphy brothers were incapable of. Unless it was Eli, and I needed him to explain to me what was going on with him.

“You really like him, don’t you?” he said, his tone making it sound more like a statement than a question. “Eli,” he added to clarify.

I met his gaze and smirked to cover up the hurt. “It doesn’t really matter what I feel, Adam. Eli’s the one calling all the shots. I don’t get a say in it at all.”

He pressed his lips together into a sad, disappointed kind of smile before he sighed. “Eli would kick my ass if he knew I was talking to you about this, but can I offer some advice?”

Internally, I groaned. I was over talking about Eli. I was over thinking about him. But I couldn’t ignore the fact that since we’d slept together, he’d managed to creep under my skin more and more with each day that passed. I actually felt like he’d taken a piece of me with him when he left that day. I’d heard people say that kind of thing before, and I always thought it was kind of stupid, but it was true. It really did feel that way. Drawing in a slow, deep breath, I cautiously nodded.

Adam sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees, watching me intently. “Don’t give up on him, Jess. It might be taking him a long time to come around, but he’s going to get there.”

I shook my head. “But that’s just the thing, Adam. I don’t want to be part of a sacrifice. I don’t want to be a difficult choice that has a possibility of becoming a regret later on.”

Adam smiled, kind and patient. “I know what you’re saying, and I get it. But we men are not smart like you girls are. It’s true,” he said as I started to laugh. “We?

?re really not. You girls have this ability to look at an emotional situation and be able to see all these wonderful possibilities in it. We can’t do that. We have to experience it first before we can start to see just how good it can be.” He pressed his fingers together as he watched me. “But Eli’s even more stubborn than that. He and Micah have always been a little more analytical and strategic than the rest of us. But in a way, it makes them more passionate about what and who they invest their time in. When they find something that means something to them, they need to give themselves to it, one hundred percent. Their passion and dedication is fierce. It’s something I’ve always been in awe of. But, as you can see, it has its downside.”

A mixture of frustration and hope swelled inside me. “What do you suggest I do?”

He sat up a little straighter and pinned me with a heated gaze. “You have three choices, Jess. You can walk away and move on. You can wait until he works it all out and comes to you. Or you can take control and tell him how it’s going to be.”

I blinked at him stupidly. I couldn’t imagine anyone telling Eli how it’s going to be.

Adam shook his head. “You said he’s calling all the shots, but that’s only because you’re letting him, Jess. Take the decision out of his hands. Don’t give him a choice. Trust me. You’ll be surprised.”

As Kara moved back into the room, still chatting with Kaeli and Noah, I searched Adam’s gaze. He seemed so certain that I had this power, but I wasn’t nearly so confident. I just couldn’t see it. But maybe he was right. Maybe I could take control. I just needed to work out how.

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