“Hey.” He frowns and continues to caress my face, my hair. “Talk to me, baby. You’ve been acting strange since we were at the hospital.”

“I just…” I try to look away, but he grabs my chin and holds me in his gaze. “I love you,” I tell him simply.

And it’s true.

But I’m not right for you. I can’t make the words come. I’m such a fucking wimp. But I know him, and he’ll try to fix it, to tell me that everything will be fine, and I don’t think they will.

Seeing him with his family, worried over that unborn baby, soothing Olivia and holding her safely on his shoulder, showed me that I can’t fit in with his family.

I can’t give him a family.

And of anyone I’ve ever met in my life, Matt deserves that. I love him too much to ask him to do without it.

His face softens, and he kisses me tenderly before pulling away and lying next to me. He pulls me to him and nuzzles my nose with his. “I love you, too.”

His eyes are heavy, and soon he’s fallen asleep, breathing deeply.

I stay, watching him for a long time. I have no idea how much time passes as I listen to his even breaths, comb my fingers through his soft hair and take in every scent, every inch of his face and body, memorizing him.

Finally, when dawn is just beginning to come through the window, casting the room in a gray glow, I rise carefully, pull my dress down, retrieve my shoes and bag from the living room and let myself out of Matt’s home.

And his life.

Chapter Seventeen

~Matt~

I frown as I begin to surface from sleep and realize that Nic isn’t pressed up against me like she usually is in the morning. I open my eyes and glance around, but she’s not in the bed. The sheets are cool where she should be.

I lie and listen for a moment, hoping to hear movement in the kitchen. Maybe she decided to get up and make breakfast?

But there is no sound anywhere. Not in the kitchen. Not in the bathroom.

The apartment is still.

Where the fuck is she?

I push out of bed and walk through the apartment, just to be sure she isn’t curled up somewhere quietly reading, and when my suspicions are confirmed that she’s gone, I’m stumped.

What the fuck?

I pull my phone out of my jeans that were laying on the floor by the bed and call her, but she doesn’t answer, so I tap out a quick text.

Hey, baby. Where did you go? Please tell me you’re out getting breakfast.

I use the bathroom, splash water on my face and pull on some clothes. When she doesn’t respond to my text, I call her again, only to be sent to voice mail.

Did something happen to her? Did she get a call about her family, or the bakery?

Maybe she left a note?

I search the apartment again but come up empty. No note. No message.

She’s just gone.

Cold, hard fear grips my gut as I grab my keys and slam out of my apartment to go search for her. Anything could have happened to her. What if she’d gone out to get coffee and was mugged? Raped?

Jesus, should I call the hospitals?

I find parking in front of the bakery and knock on the front door, praying she’s here. She isn’t open yet.

Tess answers with a confused frown. “Hi, Matt.”

“Is Nic here?”

“No, this is her Sunday off. I haven’t heard from her.”

I nod and back away from the door. “Thanks.”

I jog upstairs to her apartment and bang on her door, but there’s no answer, and no movement inside.

Just as panic is about to set in and I reach for my phone to call Asher and Caleb for help in finding her, I hear footsteps on the steps behind me. I whip around to see Nic, sweaty in her workout clothes, loud music plugged in her ears. She’s watching her feet and hasn’t seen me yet.

My breath leaves me in a loud sigh. Thank God she’s okay.

She raises her eyes and startles when she sees me at the top of the stairs. Her eyes are read and puffy from crying.

“God, baby, what’s wrong?” I ask as she pulls the earbuds out of her ears. “What’s going on?”

She shakes her head and finishes climbing the stairs, unlocks her door, and leads me inside.

“What is going on, little one?” I soften my voice as I walk into her apartment and shut the door behind me. “Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?”

“Because you would have tried to make me stay,” she replies and marches into her bedroom.

I follow closely behind and watch from the doorway as she tosses her phone and earbuds on the bed and toes off her shoes.

“Of course I would have tried to make you stay. I love being with you.”

“I couldn’t stay.” She shakes her head and paces out into the living room, where I again follow her.

She’s not making any damn sense.

“Nic. Stop.”

She stops cold and looks at me with those wide green eyes, and my skin prickles the way it does when a case is about to go very bad.

I don’t want to hear what she’s about to say.

“We’re not going to work out, Matt.” She swallows and takes a deep breath.

“Why?” I fold my arms over my chest and lean against the wall, watching her. If she’s going to dump me, I’m not going to make it easy for her.

“You should have kids.”

I blink at her, sure I’ve misheard her. “Okay.”

“You have a big beautiful family, and you should have kids, too. Healthy kids. Lots of them.”

“Why do I feel like I’ve come in on the middle of a conversation?” I ask in frustration. “You’re not making any sense.”

“Do you want kids?” she asks desperately.

“Sure. Eventually.”

“See?” She throws her arms in a wide circle and begins to pace around the room again. “I mean, I know that talking about kids now would have most men already through the door and running down the block, but you see what I mean.”

“No, honestly, I don’t see anything at all. I have no idea what in the bloody fuck you’re talking about.”

She sighs and scrubs her hands over her face then looks me in the eye just as a tear slips down her cheek, almost sending me to my knees.

“Baby…” I begin, but she quickly backs away with her hands up in front of her.

“Don’t.”

“You have got to talk to me, Nicole.”

“I know I just…” She combs her fingers through her sweat-dampened hair and paces around her living room, then stops and props her hands on her hips. “I can’t be with you anymore.”