He chuckled and continued to stroke her hand with his thumb. “The way he complimented your dress without looking at it. The grip he used when shaking my hand. The awkwardness you didn’t have with anyone else. Should I go on?”

“Please don’t.” She rolled her head to the side to look at him. He was handsome—more rugged than Christian with strong features and a dark completion. He was a natural in a suit—where she’d seen Christian squirm. There was an athletic build under that Armani and she’d seen it. They’d taken the kids swimming at his condo building last week. It had been the first time she’d been in a swim suit in over a year, but he hadn’t looked at the scars that riddled her body. He’d made her feel secure in her own skin.

Victoria took a breath. “We dated up until about eight months ago.”

He nodded and guilt plagued her.

“Okay, we didn’t just date. We were engaged.”

His thumb stopped moving against hers for a moment “It would have been nice to know I was being thrown into the lion’s den.”

“I know.” She slouched in her seat. “I’m so sorry.”

He smiled. “It’s okay. I’m a lawyer, remember. I’m used to the den.”

“But it wasn’t fair of me to do that to you.”

“So why aren’t you and the awkward groomsman married?”

It would be easy to throw Christian under the bus and make Scott hate him, but she didn’t even hate him—though she wanted to.

“After the accident he just couldn’t wrap his head around the loss and the injuries,” she sighed. “And the kids.”

“Your injuries?” His voice rose.

“His.”

The light turned red and Scott stopped and looked at her. “His injuries? He was in the car with you?”

She nodded. “He was pinned behind Dave. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t save him.”

Scott let out a long breath. “I didn’t know.”

“He’d already had injuries that had threatened his career, but the accident solidified that. In one moment he lost his best friend, his career, and the quiet life he thought we’d have. He just couldn’t take on being a father.”

When the light turned green Scott began to drive. “That family doesn’t seem like the kind that wouldn’t accept kids into it.”

“It’s not. It’s a very eclectic family. Chris’s dad is adopted as well as two of his aunts. Darcy is actually the daughter of his Aunt Regan, whom she gave up for adoption when she was born. She fell in love with Ed before they knew who she really was.”

Scott’s mouth pursed. “They’re cousins?”

Victoria laughed. “On paper only I suppose. Regan was adopted and so was Carlos. And Darcy has a different father than Spencer and Tyler. So in blood they aren’t related at all.”

“It’s a tad confusing.”

She let out a little laugh. “I think it’s beautiful.”

He was silent until they saw the hotel come into view. “If you’d like to go back to the reception alone, I can take the kids out to a movie or something.”

Victoria shot open her eyes and turned to him. “No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Very.”

Scott pulled into the lot and parked the car. As he turned off the engine she looked into the backseat. Both kids had fallen asleep. Their heads both leaned into the center toward each other.

“They are my life now,” she said softly.

Scott turned and looked at them. A grin formed on his lips. “They’re beautiful.”

“I may never have any of my own.”

“Why?” He turned to her and removed his dark sunglasses so she could see his dark eyes gazing at her.

Victoria shrugged. “No one wants a premade family.”

Scott lifted his hand to her cheek. “That’s not true.”

She could feel her lips begin to quiver.

Scott moved in closer to her. “Some of us think that what you’re doing is heroic. Unselfish. Sexy.”

She nearly let out a snort. “Sexy.”

“Mmm-hmm,” he let it roll from his throat as he moved in closer, pressing his lips to hers.

The heat in the car rose a good ten degrees as he worked his lips against hers. The weight of the guilt had given into a million sputtering butterflies in her stomach.

When he pulled back, his dark eyes fixed on hers. “Offer still stands. I can give you some room and you can go do some flaunting in front of Christian Keller in that dress.”

Victoria licked her lips, trying to savor the kiss. “I think I’d rather go in as a family.”

The subtle smile that now played on his pinked lips gave her hope. Christian Keller needed to be replaced in her heart and in her life. Scott Foster seemed to be the man to make that happen.

She looked back as Ali opened her eyes. A few more hours and she’d step away from the Kellers and start a life without looking back.

The butterflies in her stomach must have all died, she thought as the weight of them plunged to the bottom and she felt ill.

Chapter Six

Christian wondered how a person could unsee something. There had to be a drug or a drink or an operation that could take away pain in your heart and make you forget that you’d seen the woman you loved, and had turned away, kissing another man in the parking lot.

He didn’t like this Scott guy. She didn’t go for the business man type. She was more of an athletic man’s girl.

Christian clenched his fists tightly to his side. Well, she’d been his girl.

He watched from the front door of the hotel as she and Scott got out of the Lexus and each of them pulled a sleepy child out of the backseat. Ali rested her head on Scott’s shoulder and Sam was still asleep as Tori pulled him to her.

They began to walk his way—he with a swagger—she with a limp. Every step she took looked as though it caused her pain. And yet she did it while carrying a child—her child now.

“Party is inside, pretty boy,” Tyler slapped Chris on the back.

“I’m coming.”

Tyler looked in the direction which Christian was looking. “Looks like she’s moved on.”

He’d never hit family before, but Tyler might have it coming. “He’s temporary.”