“I’m thinking we should wait until the paternity results come in.”

“I would agree.”

He nodded. “I’ll call her.” I walked away, but he said my name, stopping me in my tracks. I glanced over my shoulder in question. “Thanks for everything.”

Once more the gratitude in his eyes affected me. In fact, I was hit with a wave of attraction so big I could only mumble “you’re welcome” before I had to walk away from him. I closed my eyes and prayed to God Aidan’s concerns were unfounded.

This thing with Logan and Maia… Would I end up getting hurt?

What on earth had I let myself in for?

CHAP TER 8

L ogan stood on my doorstep the next morning holding a padded envelope. His features were tight with anxiety. “The paternity kit arrived.”

I stepped aside to let him past. “It will all be okay,” I promised.

He didn’t respond. He was too focused on getting to Maia. I followed him into the kitchen, where we both stopped at the sight of Maia sitting in her new pajamas, scooping up spoonfuls of cereal with one hand while she held a book from my collection with the other. Her nose was practically pressed to the pages.

I’d discovered that Maia was like me in more ways than one. If I got engrossed in a book, the world around me ceased to exist. This morning, as Maia wandered into the kitchen with a young-adult novel in her hand, she’d barely grunted a “good morning” to me while I poured her a bowl of cereal and a glass of fresh orange juice.

“Maia,” Logan said. When Maia didn’t respond, he looked at me, his eyebrows raised.

“She’s reading,” I said, as if that explained everything. Logan stared blankly at me. I sighed and wandered over to Maia and gently plucked the book out of her hand.

She gazed up at me in confusion.

“Logan’s here,” I said.

“Oh.” She whipped around on the stool and smiled at him. “Mornin’.”

Logan gave her a bemused smile in return. “Good book, is it?”

“Hmm?” She frowned before understanding cleared her expression. “Oh, yeah. I borrowed it from Grace. It’s cool.”

“Well, I’m sorry to disturb your reading, sweetheart.” Logan slid onto the stool next to her, and I set about making him a coffee to help bolster him through this huge moment. “But the paternity kit arrived. I need you to take a swab of the inside of your cheek so I can send it off for the test.”

Maia’s spoon fell into her bowl with a clatter. “Okay. So… how long will it take? You know, for the results?”

“I’ll send it off today. The company I’m using has a forty-eight-hour turnaround, so we’ll know really soon.”

I watched her closely as I slid Logan his coffee. She had paled considerably.

“Maia, it’s going to be okay,” I said.

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “I should probably brush my teeth first.” She took the plastic packet Logan was holding out to her with the swab inside it. As soon as she disappeared out of the room, Logan took a deep gulp of coffee.

“Thanks,” he murmured, setting the mug down. “This is…” He glanced back at the door. “She looked terrified. She was practically crying. I… What’s going on? I thought she wanted this.”

“Exactly.” I slid onto the stool Maia had just vacated. “Logan, she’s not scared that you’re her dad.

She’s scared you’re not.”

He thought about this, and slowly the muscles in his clenched jaw relaxed.

“What about you?” I said. “How are you feeling?”

“Whatever happens happens.” He shrugged.

“Logan,” I warned. “Macho bullshit does not fly in this flat.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Macho bullshit?”

“Yes, macho bullshit. I can smell it a mile away.”

He looked into his mug of coffee like it had all the answers. “There have been a lot of ups and downs for me these last few years. I’ve learned to deal with those. I can learn to deal with this. It’s a lifestyle change.” He shot me a wry look. “I had to break things off with the American.”

Ignoring the weird sense of satisfaction I felt at his announcement, I tried to be nonchalant.

“Why?”

“It wasn’t serious between us, and right now it’s a distraction. I have to focus on Maia.” The violet in his eyes darkened. “C’mon, Grace. We both know this paternity test is going to tell us this kid is mine. My life as it was is over. I make this commitment to that wee girl in there, then I better mean business. What kind of arsehole would subject their kid to the fucking carousel of women I’ve had in and out of my life these past few months?”

I didn’t know what to say to make him feel better, because the truth was that life as he knew it was over. I got up to refill his coffee, and as I passed him, I squeezed his shoulder. “You’re one of the good ones, Logan MacLeod.”

All those moments would be lost in time… like tears in rain.

That sentence was still bugging me. I chewed my lip, wondering what the hell my fascination was with the damn sentence. While Maia seemed perfectly content to curl up in my guest room reading her book for the day, I was able to get on with my work. This manuscript was due back to the author in a few days, and I was going over all the bits I’d highlighted to return to before sending the edits back to her.

The sound of my front door slamming shut jerked me out of the manuscript.

“It’s just me!” Logan called from the front of the flat.

“Back here!”

My eyes darted around my bedroom. Thankfully, I didn’t have any embarrassing pieces of underwear on show. Which was good, because Logan sauntered right in and came to stand behind me with his hands on the back of my computer chair.

“How did it go?” I said, craning my neck to look up at him.

He was too busy frowning at my computer screen to answer me. “‘All those moments would be lost in time… like tears in rain.’ Why do you have that highlighted?”

I shut my laptop. “I have it highlighted because something about it bugs me.”

“Did you Google it?”

“No.” I frowned. “Why?”

“Because it’s a quote from Blade Runner.”

Recognition jolted through me. “Oh my God, it bloody well is.” I stared up at him, annoyed. “Ugh.

The last thing I need to deal with right now is an author trying to plagiarize cult classic films.” He smirked and then stepped back, taking a seat on the end of my bed. I pushed away thoughts of my author and what I was going to do to deal with it – after all, it could be accidental. Hopefully. “Logan, what happened at New Register House?”

He heaved a sigh and reached into his jacket. He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. It was a copy of Maia’s birth certificate. I scanned it. “Logan. This… You are named as the father here.”

I looked up at him, thrilled for him. “You realize this means you have legal rights now – don’t you?”

“It does?”

We turned to find Maia leaning in my doorway unsurely.

Logan nodded at her. “It does.”

“That’s good, right?”

“It’s good, sweetheart.” He shot a look at me, and I had a feeling he’d come in here to talk it out with me, to vent perhaps, but he definitely was not going to do that with Maia here. From what I’d already witnessed of his thoughtfulness around her, he wouldn’t want her to think he was troubled. He clapped his hands on his knees and stood up. “Why don’t you and I go out for a bit before my shift tonight? Catch a movie or something? We can let Grace get on with her work.”

Maia’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, okay. That sounds good.” She gave me a little wave and hurried off to get her shoes and jacket.

I looked over at Logan, who hovered in my doorway, gazing back at me. “This will all be okay.”

His mouth turned down at the corners before he said, “If you say it enough times maybe you’ll make it true.”

I managed to get only a couple of hours of work in and did not get much done in that time. I kept forcing myself to focus on the work, but Logan’s face flashed across my eyes more times than I could count. He was swimming against a stormy tide, and all I wanted to do was reach out and help him to shore. But my reassurances didn’t seem to be helping. They just felt empty.