Page 15 of Tattered (Lark Cove 1)

So I’d stormed out, leaving Thea and a million unanswered questions behind. Then I’d wandered aimlessly around Lark Cove, trying to understand how I’d come to Montana this morning for business and had my entire personal life turned upside down by evening.

I didn’t know how long I’d been walking or where. I’d found myself on a small, two-lane gravel road that ran along the lake. Rather than stop and get my bearings, I’d just kept walking. I’d followed the road until it curved around a point, and finally stopped walking to sit on a large rock overlooking the water.

I didn’t know how long I’d been sitting here either.

When my stomach grumbled, I blinked and focused my vision to check my watch. Four hours. It had been four hours since I’d walked out of the Lark Cove Bar. Four hours since I’d become a father.

I ran a hand through my hair and got off the rock, brushing off the seat of my jeans. The sun was beginning to set and it cast an orange glow across the lake.

“What the hell am I going to do?” The water didn’t answer.

I hated being out of control. I was always in control. I was the man in charge. There was surety in my every move.

Today had knocked that confidence down a peg or twenty. I’d never felt so helpless in my life.

I had no idea what to do with a daughter. I didn’t know how to braid hair, buy dresses or go to tea parties. Would she even want me around? What if Charlie didn’t like me?

The trees at my back were growing closer and the clouds above were closing in. I bent and gripped my knees, forcing air into my lungs before I fell over.

Fuck. I was going to pass out. I had no idea what I was doing.

But I had to figure it out. I wasn’t the type of man to shirk responsibility, and the fact was, that little girl was mine. I’d been part of creating her.

I had to pull my shit together.

When my feet were steady again, I took another slow breath and stood tall. Then I turned away from the lake and headed back down the gravel road. I still had no idea what I was going to do, but hiding out here wasn’t going to help. I needed to get back to Lark Cove and to Thea so we could make a plan.

And so she could explain how this had happened.

Thea and I had been safe. Hadn’t we? I’d used a condom the night we were together. A lot of condoms. So how had our one-night stand turned me into a dad?

Thea had charmed me instantly that night. I came into that hotel bar having escaped a fundraiser in the ballroom. My mother had been relentlessly trying to set me up with a friend’s daughter. I’d gotten so fed up with the matchmaking that I’d ducked out for a breather and wandered into the hotel’s bar.

There, I found Thea.

I skipped the rest of the fundraiser so I could sit and talk with her. Those hours of talking and laughing about nothing were so refreshing. Thea didn’t care that my last name was Kendrick. Hell, she didn’t even ask. She didn’t care about my money or my family’s status.

And because she didn’t care, I didn’t offer it up. Intentionally. We were just Logan and Thea, two strangers with c

hemistry off the charts.

I stayed until the end of her shift. I stacked chairs on tables while she cleaned and closed the till. And then I walked her out.

Three feet out the door, I kissed her. And that kiss lasted until dawn. The attraction that had been building between us for hours combusted like a lit match.

I whisked Thea upstairs to my hotel room, the one registered under my assistant’s name, where I worshiped her body until the next morning. Where one of the condoms hadn’t worked.

“Goddamn it,” I muttered as my strides got longer.

I’d been so desperate for some anonymity that I hadn’t mentioned my last name. What a fucking mistake. Just like it had been a mistake not to go back to that bar sooner.

Thea and I had agreed on just one night. One incredible night. The next morning, we’d walked away from each other with no strings attached. She’d gone back to her life. I’d gone back to my hectic work and social schedule, just glad that I’d had the chance to meet her.

What I hadn’t expected was for Thea to pop into my thoughts so often after that night. I’d think of her smile whenever I was at a hotel bar. I’d think of her laugh when I was at a boring fundraiser. I’d think of her whenever I saw a woman with long, sleek dark hair.

After months of her on my mind, I’d finally given in. I’d gone back to the bar to see her one more time.

Except she’d been gone.