Instead of answering, Justin said, “I’m shocked at how many people I know read gossip magazines.”

He should have known. “Don’t believe everything you read.”

“So there isn’t anything between you two?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then there is.”

Victor took a drink, set his beer down. “Shannon and I are dating.”

Justin shook his head. “You don’t waste any time, do you?”

“It just happened. We were trying to wait a respectable amount of time—”

“That sounds like something a woman would come up with,” Justin interrupted.

Victor considered the couple they’d met in Tulum and Avery’s take on the time frame of rebound relationships. “Shannon needed assurance that I wasn’t using her to get over Corrie.”

“Are you?”

Okay, that hurt. “No. Why would you think—”

“Because it’s only been eight weeks.”

“Seven.”

“You’re counting?” Justin asked.

“No. Shannon is. I don’t care if it was yesterday or last year. Corrie was a mistake. Any feelings I had for her are long gone, if they were ever there at all.”

Justin set his beer aside and fixed his eyes on Victor’s. “Then I need to tell you something.”

“I’m listening.”

“The day I left Tulum I told Shannon that if I wasn’t dating Deirdre, I would have asked her out.”

Victor’s forearms tensed. “What did Shannon say?”

“That I was the man of her dreams and she wished she could change my mind,” Justin said, deadpan.

Victor’s jaw started to ache.

“Damn, you’re easy.” Justin broke into a grin. “Stand down, Vic. She politely told me she wasn’t interested.”

Victor released the breath he was holding. “Asshole.”

Justin started to laugh.

Victor slapped his brother’s back a little too hard. “Payback’s a bitch.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

“I need to change our plans for Saturday,” Victor told her as they walked around the loft.

They’d only been there five minutes, and her excitement over meeting Victor was swept away by his words. “Oh.”

“I said change, not cancel,” he clarified as he dropped an arm on her shoulder as if it belonged there.

“Clarify, please.”

He walked her past Gary, who stood in the middle of the room watching them, and over to one of the three massive windows.

“I completely forgot about a charity fundraiser that I sponsor every year. I’d like you to come with me. It’s a dinner thing, kinda fancy. I’d skip out of it if I hadn’t purchased a table and already seated it with some of my biggest clients and their spouses. Not going would be—”

Shannon stopped him. “I get it. You don’t have to explain. But are you sure you want to bring me? People will talk.”

“I absolutely want you to go so people do talk.”

“Great comeback,” Gary said from where he stood several feet away.

Victor looked up, smiled at the agent.

“Sorry. Eavesdropping. It’s a weakness.”

“Say you’ll go,” Victor said. “Get dressed up for me.”

His words reminded her of the conversation they’d had earlier in the week. “What time?”

Once they’d ironed out the plan, Gary drew their attention back to the room.

Victor walked around the space, asking questions and pointing out options. “You could drywall over the brick, but that might feel too modern. Or how about one of those plaster jobs with texture and color, maybe even leave some of the brick exposed like you’d see in Italy on a three-hundred-year-old building.”

Shannon stared up at the wall in question and the shape of it started to come into focus. “That’s a really good idea.”

“Brilliant,” Gary added.

She nodded several times. “What about the bedroom space upstairs?”

“You said you didn’t like modern.”

“Not particularly.”

“Then gut the bathroom. Start over with it. I’d suggest you wait to sell your house until after, if you can swing it. Give you time to make this exactly the way you want it.”

Gary pointed to Victor. “I like this guy.”

Shannon rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure if I could live here.”

Victor turned in a circle. “Who said you had to? You said you needed a change. Is this a big enough change, or are you wanting more?”

“I want something that is all me.” Not a byproduct of her marriage to Paul, or something she fulfilled because society, or in Shannon’s case, her parents, asked it of her.

Victor lifted both hands. “If this isn’t it, we keep looking.”

“We?” She picked out one word.

“You keep looking, and I keep offering my opinion and support,” he clarified.

“What do you think about this place?”

He regarded her for a second and then turned to Gary. “Can you excuse us for a few minutes?”

“Of course. I’ll meet you outside when you’re done.”

Once they were alone, Victor turned to Shannon and placed both hands on her hips. “What’s stopping you?”

“I’m just not sure—” The thought of change was exciting and new, but the reality of it made her skin itch with uncertainty.

“You said open space, this can open up. You wanted an ocean view. I’m not sure they get a whole lot better.”

“It is a pretty great view.”

“But?”

She dug deeper and tried to find the reason she was hesitating. “It’s the perfect place for a single person.” Which she was, but didn’t really want to be.

Understanding filled Victor’s eyes. “But not a family.”

She sighed, lowered her chin.

He brought it back up with two fingers. “Are you pregnant?” he asked.

“No,” she denied instantly. “We haven’t . . . I haven’t—”

“Is owning this going to stop you from getting pregnant?”

“Of course not.”

He paused as if waiting for her to add something else.

All she could think of was this was not the conversation she wanted to have with him, although Avery, Lori, and Trina would all be asking the same thing.

“Since you and I have this honesty thing going on, something that makes me a little itchy, I’m not going to lie . . . let me spell this out to you the way I see it.” He turned her around to look at the room and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

She relaxed in his embrace and rested the back of her head against his shoulder. It felt way too good, and way too safe, to stand like they were.

“You and I met, which I’m guessing from what you’ve told me, had you putting your getting-pregnant-by-a-stranger plans on hold. Am I right so far?”

“Yes,” she murmured, glad she wasn’t looking into Victor’s eyes with her confession.

“Phew. That’s a good thing. I haven’t punched a guy since junior high and don’t mind the thought of never doing that again.”

She giggled.

“Based on the fact that you haven’t jumped me and that you told me about those baby plans, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you’re not trying to trick me into being your baby daddy.”

“I would never—” She started to pull away and turn toward him.

He stopped her by holding her tighter, resting his chin on her shoulder, and kissing her cheek. “Shhh, I know you wouldn’t.” He paused. “Personally, and probably selfishly, I like the thought of you buying this place or a different one with the same layout. It gives you time to find your new pace in life and us time to get to know each other better.”

Her mind raced and caught up with his. “You know, when a man tells you exactly what you want to hear, it’s probably bullshit.”

He hugged her tighter. “I’m a pretty good negotiator. Even better when I know the motivation of the person I’m negotiating with. Which in this case is you. I promised I wouldn’t play you, and that’s not what I’m doing.” He sighed. “This is not the kind of place to raise a family.”

“It isn’t.”

“Which is why you’re hesitating.”

She stayed silent.

He placed his lips close to her ear. “You’re looking at this place as if you’re abandoning the idea of being a mother. And I look at this place as if you’re considering that I might just be the father.”

Shannon twisted in his arms, backed up, and stared him in the eye.

He stared back.

Dumbstruck. There really wasn’t another word to describe how rooted in silence she became with his observation. Maybe because the picture he painted made her realize that was exactly what buying this place meant.

“Most men would be running away if they thought that were true,” she finally uttered.

He reduced the space between them and placed a hand on her cheek. “You underestimate yourself.”

Her heart was racing. “Victor—”