Tessa waved a hand. “It’s no big deal. They’ll sleep in a bassinet the first few months, anyway.”

She was lying. It was a big deal. A couple months ago, when they’d first started converting their apartment’s spare bedroom into a nursery, Jasper had apparently bought paint the wrong shade of white (Eggshell White instead of Oatmeal) for the walls, and Tessa had called Micah and cried about it for over an hour.

It was sweet of her to offer the room, but even if he wasn’t putting them out by agreeing to move in…

Micah shook his head. “I can’t leave.”

Tessa threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. “Why?”

Because even though he knew Damon had washed his hands of him the moment he found out Micah was a cop, there was a tiny, hopeful part of him – just a speck of a speck, really – that thought maybe if he gave Damon time to think, he would forgive Micah for his treachery and come back.

And Micah had to be home if that happened.

It was pathetic, really, how tightly he hung on to that hope – so embarrassing that he couldn’t even admit to it out loud. But his thoughts must have been written all over his face because Tessa’s expression softened. “Oh, Micah.”

And he found himself wrapped tightly in her arms, her massive baby bump flush against him.

Micah clung to her like a child. “It wouldn’t be so bad if everything in this place didn’t remind me of him.”

When Tessa eventually pulled away, she had a thoughtful expression on her face. “Well, if you really won’t come stay with me, maybe you should consider getting rid of some of this stuff.” She fingered the diamond-encrusted Rolex wrapped around his wrist. “I mean, this watch alone is probably worth a year’s rent.

Micah snatched his wrist – and the watch – away from her, an anxious pang shooting through him at the thought of getting rid of it. It was the last gift Damon had given him, and he hadn’t taken it off since it had been recovered from the crime scene.

Micah hadn’t told Tessa, but he’d tried calling Damon on the iPhone the man had given him at the beginning of their business arrangement the day after the debacle. He’d had a minor breakdown when the robotic voice of an operator answered, informing him the number he was trying to reach was no longer in service.

The watch – with its panic button – was truly his last way to get in contact with Damon. Late at night, he contemplated what would happen if he set it off – if the man would come if he thought Micah was in trouble.

So far, Micah had been too much of a coward to find out.