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she’d be his date. But never in his wildest imaginings had he considered the night would end up here. He’d been suspicious of her, enough to follow her here.
    The sight of her draped in damp silk, white teeth biting her lush lower lip, had sidetracked him for an irrational moment. A hot, blow-his-mind moment that should never have happened. The lack of discipline was in no small part responsible for his...mood.
    No one ever accused him of being dense. She meant to suggest Jasmine was his daughter. And he dealt with numbers every day, so he could do the math. The timing fit. But not the circumstances. He never had unprotected sex, never.
    â€œCoincidence,” he stated.
    She groaned and shook her head. “You don’t strike me as a man big on coincidence.”
    She wasn’t wrong. But he didn’t budge. No way was she laying this on him. Family wasn’t in his future. In order to survive, he’d had to shut down his emotions. It was a lesson too well learned to change. Plus, he’d force no one to share his secret shame. All in all he sucked at relationships, lacked the skill set as one woman told him. When he hit thirty, he quit trying. He’d found Excursions about a year later.
    So no, no family for him. And he was fine with that. He’d come to terms with the notion long ago, had made it clear to all who knew him. Jethro wasn’t prepared for that to change now.
    Certainly not on the whim of a woman he barely knew. Even if she turned him so upside down he’d practically jumped her as soon as he’d walked inside the door. What had he been thinking?
    The problem was he hadn’t been thinking; he’d been feeling. Further proof emotions couldn’t be trusted.
    â€œYou have the wrong man.”
    Lexi slid from the stool and held the picture frame up in front of him. “She has your eyes.”
    Don’t look. It’s a ploy. She just wants a rich baby daddy to support the orphan and you’re the lucky dupe.
    The warning blasted through Jethro’s brain. But not even his legendary restraint proved stronger than the compulsion to look.
    The baby was beautiful. A little girl with wild black curls and a smile so big and sweet he felt blessed just seeing it. She danced in the picture, her arms were raised and her tiny butt was cocked to the side and one pink-sandaled foot poised in the air. Jethro spied a smudge on one wrist that could be a birthmark. She had light beige skin, a sharp little nose.
    And midnight-blue eyes ringed by lush black lashes.
    Yeah, the birthmark was iffy, but those eyes, he’d never seen that exact color anywhere but in the mirror. The shape of her eyes, and her straight little eyebrows also matched his.
    â€œI’m not looking for money.” Lexi broke the silence. “And I don’t expect you to change your life. I read that you don’t want a family.”
    â€œThen what is this about, Ms. Malone?” He placed the picture facedown on the counter, the better to concentrate on the woman before him. His life just did a one-eighty. He needed to focus. “What do you want?”
    â€œCan you call me Lexi?” Her cheeks flushed a delightful shade of pink. “We just shared...” She waved her hand in the direction of the bedroom. “...a moment. It seems foolish to be so formal.”
    â€œI’ve been foolish in more than one regard tonight, Ms. Malone—calling me on it isn’t your smartest move.”
    â€œWhy foolish?” she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.
    Her position drew attention to her breasts, which were small but plump. And pert, a detail he remembered in vivid Technicolor. Her stance also caused a thin strip of pale skin to show at her waist. His fingers itched to touch that silky skin again.
    â€œBecause you didn’t have control of every moment of the evening?” she went on. “Because you actually enjoyed yourself? News flash, people do it