Instead he sat down at his computer and started reading the files he’d collected on Scarlet. It was interesting to him how much of her life was available online. It went all the way back to her birth and childhood, as her mother had been a model and her father one of the richest men in the United States around the time she was born. He looked at all of the pictures of her online. She had grown up...well, in a very public wayand he had to wonder if she’d come to Cole’s Hill to see if he was a private man.
She didn’t want the spotlight to follow her child around. She knew how impossible it was to grow up that way.
He couldn’t postpone his trip to Seattle. His client needed him and one of the things that Alec prided himself on was delivering what his clients required. But one of the main things he noticed about Scarlet was that she’d been left by herself a lot. And now she didn’t even have her sister, who had died not that long ago. He wasn’t the wisest man when it came to reading the opposite sex but he thought that spending a week away from her when she was feeling so vulnerable might not be the best idea.
He didn’t want to make another mistake when it came to Scarlet. They’d seemed to really connect yesterday and she was expecting his child. They needed to find common ground.
Deciding on a course of action, he got in his car and drove back to Scarlet’s house. The ride took only five minutes as they lived in the same gated community. When he rang the doorbell, he heard the sound of barking and then voices before the door opened.
Scarlet stood there with the famous singer Siobahn Murphy and Billie, who didn’t look any friendlier than she had earlier. A miniature dachshund rushed forward and Alec bent down, holding his hand out to the dog, who sniffed it, then licked him and danced around his feet as he stood back up.
“Alec, I wasn’t expecting to see you again before your trip,” Scarlet said.
“I know. I’ve just been thinking that maybe we should spend some more time together and wondered if you’d like to go with me to Seattle,” he said. “I have a private plane so that’s not an issue.”
“She has one, too,” Billie said.
“Great. Either way. I have a nice house in Bellevue...” He trailed off, not sure what else to say.
“Let me think about it. When do you need to know?” she asked.
“In the next two hours. I was planning to leave in the morning,” he said.
She nodded, then bent down to scoop up the little dog, who was standing on her back legs and looking up at Scarlet. He watched her closely, still wondering what had caused her to leave him so abruptly earlier. Had he rushed her? Was he rushing her now?
Alec just wanted to do the right thing for her. She was pregnant, and she said the baby was his. He was beginning to realize she wasn’t the kind of woman who would have come to see him if she wasn’t positive he was the father. He wanted to get to know her. His online research had helped but that was her digital imprint; it wasn’t necessarily the true picture of her.
“I’ll just?—”
“Oh, come in,” Siobahn said, holding her hand out to him. “I’m Siobahn.”
“Alec Velasquez,” he said, shaking her hand and stepping into the foyer. He closed the door behind him as Billie shook her head and walked away.
“Go think about if you want to go,” Siobahn said to Scarlet. “I’ll keep Mr. Velasquez company.”
“Please call me Alec,” he said.
Scarlet chewed her bottom lip. “Okay, but be nice.”
“Of course I will be,” Alec said.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Scarlet said as she turned to walk down the hall.
“We can talk in here,” Siobahn said, leading the way into the formal living room.
Friends of Alec’s parents had previously owned this house and he noted that nothing had changed since he’d last beenhere. He sat on the love seat and Siobahn took the armchair adjacent to him.
“So you don’t know if you’re the dad?”
Well, she certainly got right to the point. He wasn’t prepared to be grilled but given the fact that she was facing a lot of unknowns from him, maybe her friends were justified. But he still hadn’t had a chance to make things right with Scarlet before he started answering questions from her friends. “Uh... I felt like it was a legitimate question to ask. I mean there was only that one night and I hadn’t heard from her since then,” Alec said. “But after we talked I realized that’s not the kind of woman she is.”
Siobahn leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “What kind of woman is she?”
He didn’t want to talk about his feelings for Scarlet. End of story. He wasn’t that kind of chatty guy. He didn’t know how to put it into words. But for all her flashiness there was something sweet and, odd as it sounded, innocent about her.
He chose his next words carefully, aware that her friend was ready to defend Scarlet if he said anything she didn’t like. He would be upset about this mini-grilling he was getting from Siobahn but he couldn’t fault her. He’d do the same for his brothers. He was quickly realizing that Scarlet had created a family for herself and their bond was stronger than any she had with her blood relatives.
“She’s an enigma so I can’t even begin to say that I know her. But she seems honest to me.”