A FAMILY'S CODE - Excerpt

Her mood changed in a heartbeat. Their playful banter switched to seething rage and the stove was forced to suffer the consequences of his question when she slammed the frying pan onto the burner.

Matteo had not really wanted to know how Kyle was doing. Yet he figured, as a friend, he should inquire about her relationships and then feign happiness for her. But her reaction piqued his interest.

Bailey marched to the refrigerator and retrieved a package of meat. She shoved the door with enough force it bounced back open.

Matteo pushed away from the wall and closed the door, then followed her and placed a hand on her shoulder. He noticed the chain the other man had given her was no longer around her neck.

“What happened?” he asked.

Bailey dropped the food onto the counter and shook her head. Her ragged sigh and the silence that followed made him certain he would have to seek out the other man and get justice for her.

As Matteo was preparing to ask for Kyle’s address, she sighed again. “He wanted me to choose between spending the night with him and taking care of my baby.” What the hell had the man been thinking? They had been together for two years. He should have known whather answer would be.

“What did he do?” Matteo asked.

She glanced back at the bedroom. Two feet peeped from underneath the bed, where Norma searched for clues in her quest to be a detective. Considering Bailey’s penchant for cleaning, Matteo suspected the girl would not find as much as a speck of dust.

Thanks to his daughter, he was familiar with children’s ability to absorb information, even when their attention seemed to be occupied by something else. He took Bailey’s hand and led her to the back yard and closed the door.

“What did he do?” Matteo repeated.

“He found company elsewhere.” She took a ragged breath and jerked her head towards the front of the house. “I caught him walking out of her building yesterday morning.”

Matteo did not need her to elaborate on whose house the man exited. Bailey’s blonde-haired neighbor had never been shy in expressing her interest in the opposite sex. And the woman did not discriminate. She flirted with him as much as she did with her tanner neighbors.

Matteo’s fists itched to beat sense into the other man. How could someone throw away a chance to be with a good woman and a sweet child for a piece of ass half the neighborhood had sampled?

“What is wrong with me?” Bailey muttered.

He unclenched his fists as his frustration at the other man gave way to sympathy for her. “Nothing’s wrong with you.” He tugged on her arm until she stepped close enough for him to wrap himself around her.

“I have the worst taste in men.” He strained to hear the words muffled by his chest. “There was Jose, who assumed, ’cause I had a child, I’d sleep with him on the first date. Then there was Ted, who wanted me to drop out of school and be a proper housewife.” She sucked her teeth. “And I can’t forget Norma’s father. I told him I was pregnant, and he took off so fast he probably hit Florida before I made it back to my parents’ farm from his.”

Yes, her track record was not exactly stellar. She tended to attract losers who were not worth the efforts she put into building relationships with them.

Matteo kissed her forehead to offer comfort and relay his sympathy. The energy between them suddenly shifted. There was a pull that, no matter how hard he tried, he could not fight…not that he wanted to.

They were repeating the scenario they had visited three years earlier when his wife left his bags, along with divorce papers, outside his house. Too dazed to figure out which direction to turn, Matteo had showed up on Bailey’s doorstep. As a friend, she welcomed him inside—and offered him a shoulder to lean on. But when she kissed his temple, she awakened a desire for her.

Matteo hooked a finger under Bailey’s chin and tilted her head back. In the second before he lowered his head, he saw the desire in her eyes.

Their lips crushed against each other, and the jolt to his system said the memory he had been carrying from their last kiss had not been an illusion. His heart raced and he became aware of every nerve.

Hers was a kiss that made him want more. But what he craved and what he could get were two different things.

Being with her would not be a reality. Not only was he off-limits to her, but she also had just gotten out of a relationship. She was hurting, and he was taking advantage of that pain.

Matteo forced himself to break the kiss and step back from her. He stared at her slightly parted lips and shook his head.

“You’re right. You have the worst taste in men…present company included.”