I stood and went to sit on the edge of the bed, stroking Axel’s calf with my hand. He looked up at me, his eyes rimmed with red. “I love Carrie with all my heart, Blaire. You know that.” I nodded, unable to talk around the golf ball wedged in my throat. “And I was trying so hard to force myself to love Milan’s baby that I thought was mine. I never wanted a little kid to feel like I did, and everything Milan said about me not treating her baby as well as I did Carrie killed me a little bit inside. She made me feel like I was my father. So, I just tried harder to love that baby, but deep down, I… didn’t.” That last word came out as a dismal whisper.

I crawled onto the bed and knelt between his knees, taking his beautiful, pained face in my hands. “Hey, look at me, Axel.” His warm, blue eyes stared at me, begging for understanding. “That doesn’t mean you wouldn’t have loved that child. Sometimes it takes a while to connect, and it hadn’t even been a week. You have such a big heart, Ax. You’re nothing like your father.”

“He always treated me differently from Oliver. When we were younger and even when we were older. He never complained about the girls my brother dated, but somehow anyone I dated wasn’t good enough. And my father respected Ollie because he was smart, but I was just some dumb jock. I knew I wasn’t as smart as Ollie; hell, I was a B student at best, and my brother made straight A’s. So, I tried to compensate in other ways, by being the fastest in school, by being the strongest, but nothing I did was ever good enough. I was just some fucking loser living in his house.” He dropped his head, and I saw another tear fall into his lap.

I understood then. I realized why he had been overcompensating so hard with Milan’s baby, and the knowledge broke something open in my heart. He really was just trying to do the right thing.

Grabbing the back of Axel’s hair, I yanked his head up. “You look me in the eyes right now, Axel Broxton,” I said fiercely. “Listen to every word I say. You are good enough. In fact, you’re a million times more than good enough. You’re enough for me, and you’re enough for Carrie. You’re our everything. And if you ever call yourself a loser again, I will kick you in the chicken nuggets.” That brought a tremulous smile to his face. “You are one of the highest paid athletes in the world, Ax. That is not the sign of a loser.”

“But that’s nothing compared to—”