I shook my head. “There’s no reason to be sorry. I understand. I hid from you for a while there as well. Just please know I never meant to keep any of it from you. I truly didn’t make the connection until that night at your apartment. And then…I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want to.”

“I know that now. It was just a lot of coincidences to take in at once. I needed some time to absorb everything, and then to realize none of this was a coincidence at all.”

I pulled back. “What do you mean?”

Hudson pushed a lock of hair from my face. “Why are you here right now?”

“You mean at the library?”

He nodded.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I was on my way home from work on the train, and I looked up and saw this stop. Something just compelled me to get off.”

“You know why I’m here?”

“Why?”

“I was also on the train, but heading uptown to your apartment. I glanced up for a half second, and through the sea of people packed into the subway car during rush hour, I saw you getting off at Bryant Park. My train had stopped on the track directly across from yours. I tried to get off, but we started moving before I could make it. So I got off at the next stop and ran all the way back here.”

My eyes widened. “You just happened to look up and see me getting off a train that I just happened to randomly get off when it wasn’t even my stop?”

“If I wasn’t sure what was going on before, I am now.” He cupped my cheeks and met my gaze. “None of this is a coincidence, sweetheart. It’s the universe conspiring for us to be together. It has been from the very start—before we even met.”

Tears rushed to my eyes all over again. The hollowness I’d felt in my chest over the last week began to fill with hope. I thought about how much we’d both been hurt—Hudson, of course, far worse than me. That damn diary had been at the root of it all, but he was right. It was more than just a series of coincidences. There’d been a higher power working for us all along.

I smiled and leaned in to brush my nose against his. “You know, I think we should probably give in. We don’t stand a chance if the whole world is conspiring.”

“Sweetheart, I didn’t stand a chance from the moment I looked at you.”

CHAPTER 33

Hudson

The last week had been grueling.

Though yesterday morning had been the worst. I was due to get my DNA results at 9AM, but the lab was running late. Stella had stuck around to be with me when I found out, but she’d had a lunch meeting with a vendor she couldn’t miss. Which had turned out to be for the best, because I cried like a damn baby when they finally called around noon and confirmed that my little girl…wasn’t actually mine.

By the time Stella came over in the evening, I was numb—and piss drunk. I’d passed out by nine o’clock, which was probably why I’d been awake since 3AM now, staring up at the ceiling.

How the hell was I going to look into Charlie’s eyes knowing she wasn’t mine? I’d feel like a fucking fraud lying to her. She was only six, but I was always honest with her. I wanted her to trust my word, like I had my father’s. And now that was all ruined. I kept thinking about a conversation we’d had a few months ago. She’d told me she hadn’t broken the handle off of a kitchen cabinet—one I’d often caught her using as a step stool to reach the counter.

Because of the way the screw was bent, I knew she’d been lying to me. So I sat her down and explained that no matter how bad a situation was, lying about it was always worse than whatever you were trying to cover up. That night, she’d come to me with the truth and told me her stomach hurt. I was pretty sure guilt had twisted her little belly into a knot. I was about to have a gaping ulcer from the lie I would be covering up.

About 6AM the sun started to stream in through the bedroom window. A ray of sunlight cut a thin line across Stella’s beautiful face, and I turned on my side to watch her sleep. She looked so peaceful, which gave me some comfort since I knew the last few weeks had been as stressful for her as they had for me. I couldn’t imagine how she’d felt the moment she put the crazy puzzle together. It must’ve been a lot like I felt right now, as if the bottom had dropped out of my world, and I no longer had footing to stand on.

As if she sensed me watching her, her eyes fluttered open.

“What are you doing?” she asked groggily.

“Enjoying the view. Go back to sleep.”

Her lips curved in a sleepy smile. “How long have you been up?”

“Not too long.”

She grinned. “Hours then, huh?”

I chuckled. The difficulty with soul mates was that when you shared a bond unlike anything you’d experienced with another human, they were pretty good at calling bullshit when you tried to hide your heartache.

I brushed a lock of hair from her face. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you this last week.”

“Without me, you wouldn’t have had the worst week of your life.”

I shook my head. “It would’ve come out someday. You can run from lies, but the truth always catches up to you.”

She sighed. “I guess.”

“I think I’ve decided how I’m going to handle things with my ex-wife.”

“You have?”

I nodded. “I think it’s best that I continue not to say anything to Lexi.”

“Oh…wow. Okay. How did you come to that decision?”

“The most important thing is that Charlie not be hurt. I’m the only father she’s ever known, and right now she’s too young to deal with finding out everything in her life is a lie. She needs stability, routine, and predictability—not for me to upend things just to ruin my ex-wife. Lexi wants child support and alimony from me. Jack does well these days, but he can’t afford the cushy life I foot the bill for—trust me. So I think it’s best she thinks she’s keeping some big secret. If she knew I knew, she’d feel financially threatened, and I wouldn’t put it past her to be spiteful and tell a six-year-old her father isn’t really her father.”

I rubbed Stella’s arm. “I texted Jack earlier to let him know, because it felt like the right thing to do. He said biology doesn’t make a family and she’s mine. He doesn’t sound interested in trying to push into Charlie’s life. I despise the guy, but he’s right. Charlie’s my daughter, no matter what the biology says. Not having my DNA doesn’t change that. Someday when she’s older and ready…” I started to get choked up. “I’ll tell her she’s not mine.”

Stella smiled sadly. “I think that makes a lot of sense. Though I can’t imagine it will be easy for you to deal with your ex-wife, knowing what you know.”

I shook my head. “Definitely not. But it’s fine. I’ll do whatever is best for my daughter…for Charlie.”

Stella reached out and cupped my cheek. “Don’t correct yourself when you say my daughter. You are Charlie’s parent. Because a parent is someone who puts the child’s needs before their own, and I’m pretty sure you’re the only one of the three adults in this equation who has always done that.”

I nodded.

Stella stroked my arm quietly for a few minutes. We laid on our sides facing each other, and my hand rested on the bed between us. Though when she attempted to weave her fingers with mine, I realized my hand hadn’t actually been resting on the bed. It was balled into a fist.

She pried my fingers loose. “You’re so tense.”

“Yeah. I should probably go for a run to burn off some of the tension.”

“Do you have to be anywhere today or do anything?”

I shook my head. “I’m not planning on going to the office for my usual half day on Saturday.”

She lifted my hand and brought it to her lips. “You know, I can think of a much more pleasant way for you to burn off some steam than pounding the pavement.”

Even with a sleepless night and the conversation we’d just had, the feel of Stella’s lips on my hand and the mention of pounding already had my mood changing for the better. “Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?”

She gently nudged me to roll to my back and climbed on top of me. Straddling my hips, she lifted the T-shirt she’d worn to bed up and over her head. Her full breasts had the best natural lilt. When I sat up to reach for them, Stella held up her pointer finger and wagged it back and forth. “Nope. This is your stress relief. Just lie back and let me do all the work.”

I folded my arms behind my head, assuming she meant she was going to be on top. But instead, she shimmied back and sat on my thighs. Her little hand pulled my cock out of my sweatpants, and her fingers wrapped tightly around it. She gave it a firm squeeze and licked her lips, then bent at the waist and slid her tongue across my crown.

Her eyes glinted devilishly as she licked the bit of precum from my tip and looked up at me. “Show me. Show me how you want me to suck you.”

I groaned and slid my fingers into her hair. Stella’s eyes closed. She lowered her jaw and took almost my full length into her mouth in one smooth motion.

Fuck.