“I’m fine,” Eve said, her mile-wide streak of self-preservation finally kicking in. “Put me down. Please.”
Dylan did as Eve asked. Setting her on her feet, he lifted her chin and looked into her eyes.
“You work too hard.” He frowned. “Just plain worn out. You need to rest. Hell, you need a vacation.”
Eve slapped away his hand. Turning, she realized her legs weren’t as steady as she thought. She grabbed the counter.
“I need you to leave me alone,” Eve said in a rush when Dylan would have reached for her again.
“No reason to take my head off.” Dylan sighed. “I thought we’d moved past the snap and growl stage of our relationship. Guess I was wrong.”
“Beyond Daisy, we don’t have a relationship.” Eve steeled herself against the flash of hurt in Dylan’s eyes. Afraid he would see the same emotion in hers, she kept her head down. “May I see the DNA results?”
“You don’t believe me?” Dylan asked.
“Why would you lie? And yet…” Eve held out her hand. “I’d be remiss as Daisy’s guardian not to verify her paternity with my own eyes.”
“Exactly what I knew you’d say.” The side of Dylan’s mouth quirked into a semblance of a smile. He took an envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket. “I brought you a copy.”
When Eve set the papers aside, Dylan frowned.
“You aren’t going to take a look?” he asked.
“Later.” Smiling at Daisy, Eve fed the little girl another bite of cereal. “You can go.”
“Guess I’ve been dismissed.” Dylan rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “We have things to talk over.”
“I’ll have Daisy ready for you to take first thing tomorrow.”
Eve spoke the words without a trace of emotion. Inside, she felt as though someone grabbed hold of her guts and slowly ripped them to shreds.
“So soon?” Dylan shook his head. “A few days won’t make any difference.”
“Why wait?” Eve shrugged. “The result will be the same. Besides, the sooner Daisy is exposed to her new environment, the faster she’ll adjust.”
The same goes for me, Eve thought. Like ripping off a Band-Aid. The faster the better. The pain would be excruciating at first. But eventually, she would get over the loss. Or so she wanted to believe.
“We’ll talk later.” Dylan paused at the door. “You want to throw Daisy away with so little regard?”
Dylan’s words cut deeper than any knife. She didn’t want to explain, but her pride and her devotion to Daisy made staying silent impossible.
“I’m not throwing her away,” she said, meeting Dylan’s gaze for the first time. “I’m handing her over to your care. Gently, and with reverence.”
“Could have fooled me.” Dylan’s expression turned thoughtful. “You seem pretty blasé about the whole thing.”
Did you forget? I almost collapsed into a heap. Fool.
“I may not be in Daisy’s life every day, but I will be watching.” Her words weren’t a promise, they were a threat. And she wasn’t afraid to say so. “If you and yours don’t treat her like the precious bundle she is, I will swoop in like hellfire and brimstone and rain hell on you in ways you can’t begin to imagine.”
“And she’s back,” Dylan said.
“Excuse me?”
“Had me worried for a second.” Dylan grinned. “I much prefer fierce, spitting nails at the world Eve. When you’re cold and distant, my stomach gets twisted in a worried knot.”
“Weren’t you on your way out the door?” Eve asked. She almost felt like smiling but she didn’t want Dylan to think he was the reason. “I need to get ready to go out.”
Dylan frowned.
“I thought you said today was your day off.”
To her consternation, Eve's lips had turned loose since she met Dylan. True, her rare day of rest couldn’t be classified as top secret, but she tended to keep personal information to herself. Last night, she spilled more than her day off. She told him about her mother—a subject she never talked about.
Problem was, Eve felt comfortable around Dylan. She found telling him things, whether general information or the deepest, most private parts of her past, easy. If she were inclined toward such things, she might even call her talks with him cathartic. Even healing.
The fact that Eve felt so comfortable around Dylan was another reason she wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. He didn’t belong to her any more than Daisy did. She was alone, something she let herself forget for a little while. Now that she remembered, she would be fine. Eventually.
“A day off doesn’t mean I can laze around the apartment all day,” Eve explained.
“Whatever needs to be done, I’ll help,” Dylan said. “We can get your errands out of the way then take a walk in the park with Daisy. Ice cream is on me.”
Without thinking, Eve almost said yes. She would enjoy every second with Dylan. But they weren’t a family. They were transitory acquaintances. The more time together, the more she was reminded of what she couldn’t have.
“No,” Eve said, shaking her head. “Thank you for the offer. But I don’t feel like company today.”
“If not today, then when?” Dylan wanted to know.
Eve’s answer was short, to the point, and like acid poured into her open wound.
“Never.”
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CHAPTER NINE
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IN FOOTBALL, EMOTION could carry a team to victory. In life, without passion, day to day living could turn into an endless grind.
As an athlete, Dylan knew the importance of loving what he did. If the only reason he stepped on the field was to earn a paycheck, he would have checked out of the NFL after he played out his first multi-million-dollar contract.
The wear and tear, both mentally and physically, was too much for a person to take long-term simply for the money.
Sitting in the park across from Eve’s apartment building, Dylan wondered how he could explain the concept of all work and no play to a woman who seemed geared toward
