Page 9 of Stealing Home

Talia had packed diapers, formula, bottles. The bag still looked full, and Dom would bet there were extra clothes in there too. She’d thought through what Lucia would need before she’d walked up to his front door, and the realization made his heart hurt.

“What do I do now?”

“You breathe,” Evan said.

“I’m breathing.”

“You’re hyperventilating.”

Dom opened his mouth to argue, realized he actually was breathing too fast, and took a couple of deep breaths to slow it down.

“There you go,” Evan said.

“So what do I do now?” Dom asked again.

“You call Matt,” Evan said.

Dom frowned. “Matt?”

“Caldwell. Your agent.”

Dom stared at him, his brain struggling to catch up. It took a second before the name clicked into place. Right. Matt Caldwell. He’d switched agents after the season ended, largely because Evan trusted Matt, but beyond signing the representation agreement and exchanging a handful of emails, he didn’t really know the guy yet.

“Why am I calling my agent?” he asked, genuinely confused.

“Because, in addition to being your agent, Matt also practices law in California,” Evan said patiently. “This is exactly the kind of thing you pay him for.”

Dom looked skeptical. “I feel like this is beyond the scope of his job.”

“He’ll tell you if it is,” Evan said. “And if it isn’t, he’ll tell you what your next step is.”

Dom looked from Evan to CJ, who’d returned with a now happily eating baby. Both of them looked back at him with complete certainty. “You’re serious. You want me to call my agent”—he looked at his phone—“at nine-thirty at night?”

Evan raised a brow. “Bud, you just had a baby dropped into your world. Before you do anything else, you need to know where you stand legally.”

He hated when Evan was logical. Dom pulled out his phone and found Matt’s name. “What do I even say?”

CJ dropped a kiss to the top of Lucia’s head, then looked at him with a grin. “Hey, remember when you agreed to be my agent? Good news, now I have a baby.”

Dom huffed out a laugh, then hit call before he could overthink it. He rose from the couch to pace while the phone rang twice.

“Rizzo?” Matt answered, sounding more curious than annoyed. “Everything okay?”

Dom put him on speaker. “Define okay.”

“What happened?” Matt asked after a beat.

Dom looked at Evan, who gave him an encouraging nod. “My ex showed up at my house tonight. With a baby she says is mine.”

The silence from Matt stretched long enough that Dom checked to make sure the call hadn’t dropped. “Are you saying you have a kid?”

“I think so?” Dom answered.

“You…think so?”

“Talia handed me a baby, said her name is Lucia, and left.”

There was another long silence, then, “I’m coming at this as your attorney first. Did she leave you with any paperwork?”