Page 137 of Fierce-Baker

A harsh breath left him. “You say you don’t want to fight, but it feels like you’re looking for one. Like you’re pushing me away becauseyou’rescared. Scared of what we have. Of what this could become. You’ve done everything on your own for so long that letting someone in feels like too much. Why can’t you just admit that?”

She threw her hands up. “Iamadmitting it. All of it. What you don’t get is that what I thought I had with Shane was wrong. One-sided. A mistake. I own that. But now I’m staring down the possibility that I’ll have to let that man into my child’s life, and I won’t get a damn say in how it goes.”

“It should have been that way from the start,” he said before he could stop himself.

“There,” she snapped, pointing at him. “That’s judgment. You said you wouldn’t. You weren’t here when I was going through this alone. You don’t know what it took.”

He held her gaze, his breathing not so level. “And even if I had been,” he said quietly, “I don’t think you would’ve let me in.”

“That’s not true,” she argued.

“I think it is,” he said. “You want space? That is what this is about? Why? Be honest. Is it because of what you said, that you have to let someone in and you can’t control it, so you’re goingto control the one thing you can? The one person who has been there for you for months while you dealt with this? The person who has loved you without condition even though you won’t admit it?”

Her mouth opened, then closed. Whatever she’d been about to say never made it out.

“Wait,” she said. “This is getting out of hand.”

It was only out of hand because he called her out and he was positive he was right.

He turned to leave. If he stayed another second, he was going to say something that would cut too deep. Something neither of them could undo.

“I can’t do this right now,” he said, his voice tight as he moved toward the door. “I won’t stand here and fight for space I’m being told I don’t have.”

“Baker—” she started.

He paused with his hand on the knob, his back to her. “I meant what I said,” he continued, quieter now, the anger giving way to something rawer. Something actually more painful. “I’m not running. But I won’t beg either.”

He came damn close to it once and once was enough. He still ended up alone.

“Don’t go like this,” she said, taking a step closer.

“Take the space you need,” he said over his shoulder. “Just don’t confuse it with me not caring. This is what you wanted, it’s what you’re getting. It’s just not the way you thought you could control the narrative. So that is on you.”

He wasn’t done though.

No way in hell.

He didn’t remember pulling out of the driveway.

He remembered the steering wheel under his hands, white-knuckled, tight enough to ache with the hum of the engine and his brain telling him what he had to do.

Rather than walk away like she wanted him to, he was going to do what he should have all along.

He was going to let her know that not all men were assholes.

Not everyone was going to be selfish either.

This wasn’t about jealousy. It wasn’t about territory. This wasn’t even for Tasha. It was for Micah.

Tasha wasn’t the only one who could find someone when they needed to.

The GPS announced his arrival before he was ready.

He pulled into the parking lot and sat there longer than he meant to, his chest rising hard, his jaw locked as he forced himself to slow down.

He got out of the car anyway because nothing was going to cool him down.

Each step toward the front door felt heavy with purpose because it was.