Read Online Leave it to Max (Lori's Classic Love Stories Volume 1) by Lori Handeland - Free Book Online Page A

announce to Max that he was his dad and Livy was a liar,
and then cart the kid off for a painless and simple blood test.
Livy would have Garrett in jail faster than he could say, “I want a
lawyer.”
    He’d be within his rights, which would
eventually come out anyhow, along with the truth. But did he want
to start his relationship with his son the way his own father’s
relationship had been with him—one of “you do what I say and to
hell with your feelings or anyone else’s”?
    Garrett didn’t have to answer that question,
even for himself.
    After a considering glance at the bottle of
Poe’s best friend atop his kitchen counter, Garrett carried a book
out on the porch, instead. Drinking didn’t help, anyway; he’d best
nip the habit in the bud.
    But a Bud would taste so good right now.
    “No more,” he said aloud. “You’re a
father.”
    Garrett remembered his father sitting on the
porch, sipping a martini after work, J.J. hovering nearby, waiting
for a look, a word, a minute.
    Don’t bother me, Junior. I need to
unwind.
    As far as Garrett could tell, his father had
been wound so tightly nothing would ever have unwound him.
    A movement on the sidewalk caught his eye and
he stood to get a better view. Livy turned in to his yard and
stalked up his walk. Furious, she muttered unintelligibly as she
came up the steps, and she didn’t see him watching her from the
shadow of the eaves.
    She was so pretty, even wearing that
grave-dirt shade of burial suit. But the flame-red silk beneath the
suit made him hope that the Livy he’d known lay sleeping beneath
the woman she’d become. His Livy had always worn bright colors
against her pale, pale skin.
    The memory of that skin beneath the moon,
beneath him, made Garrett shift, and the movement brought her
attention from the front door to him. Heat flared in her eyes, but
not the kind of heat he remembered, not the kind he’d always ached
for when the cold loneliness overtook him.
    He expected her to scream, throw something,
maybe kick him in the shins. Instead, she spoke low and clear.
“You’ve got nerve calling my office for help.”
    “It was a mistake.”
    “Don’t do it again. And stay away from my
son.”
    “Or?”
    Her lips tightened. She said nothing.
    “You can’t keep me away from him—”
    “If I call the police and say you’re
bothering him, who do you think they’ll believe?”
    “You.” He shrugged. “Until I tell them the
truth and then prove it.”
    “Shit,” she said, but there was no heat in
the word, only a touch of desperation.
    “You’re scared.”
    Her gaze shot to his, and he saw that he was
right. So he moved closer, and he moved slowly. He had a chance to
make her see he meant no harm. If she ran now, he’d be chasing her
for a long, long time.
    “That’s okay. I’m scared, too.”
    “You were never scared of anything.”
    He shook his head. “It only seemed that way.
But you... You were the most fearless person I’d ever known.”
    She backed up a step, narrowing her eyes, and
he stopped advancing as he waited for her to flee or fight. The
tense readiness of her stance made him think she wanted to kick him
now, but she didn’t.
    “Things change when you have a child. You
can’t be the same person anymore.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because there’s suddenly someone more
important than anything or anyone, especially yourself.”
    “That doesn’t explain why you had to become a
lawyer and turn stiff as a board.”
    She glared at him. “I became a lawyer to feed
us.”
    “I can feed you now.”
    “I don’t need you. Max doesn’t need you.”
    No one ever needed Garrett. If he died
tomorrow, would anyone give a damn past the funeral?
    Except for Andrew, because of the loss of
that oh-so-special book.
    Garrett had thought he’d been living the
perfect life. But now he wasn’t so sure.
    “Maybe you should ask Max if he needs
me.’’
    “Why? He’s been doing fine without
you.”
    “Has he?”
    Though it