“And I want her to meet you, too,” Landon said blandly.
I’d assumed I’d meet her along with Emma, but now I realized that that presented another set of complications. Her relationship to Emma was cut and dry, but what was I to Landon’s mother? It was complicated because I didn’t know what I was toLandon. Would he introduce me as his girlfriend, or simply Emma’s mother?
He caught me staring at him and raised a dark eyebrow. “Is that okay?”
“Of course, it’s just…how are you going to introduce me?”
“I thought I’d start with your name,” Landon said. We pulled into the well-lit garage where I could see the faint amusement on his face.
“And then?” I prompted.
The amusement faded. He shot me a speculative look. “How do you want me to introduce you?”
“I’m not sure,” I murmured. We pulled into his private garage where an elevator would take us right to his floor. It was as safe as it could possibly be, but I still looked around nervously as I got out. The space was wide enough to hold five cars. Landon’s other two were in there, and I couldn’t help walking over to make sure there was no one hiding on the other side of them.
“There are cameras in here,” Landon said as he got out of the car. He pointed to the ceiling where I saw a camera angled down from each corner. “My men keep an eye on them. You’re safe in here, Cami.”
Emma didn’t wake up fully as he got her out, just transferred her drooping head from the carseat to his shoulder. Her hair fell over her closed eyes, and she still held her doll under one arm. “I guess you could introduce me just as Emma’s mom,” I whispered as we got on the elevator.
“If that’s what you want.” Landon’s voice was neutral.
I wanted to ask if it was whathewanted, but there wasn’t time. The elevator shot us up to his floor, and then we were distracted by the long, drawn-out process of getting Emma to bed. She woke up fully when she had to brush her teeth and threw a fit when she couldn’t watch TV.
“It’s late, baby,” I said soothingly. “Get in bed. We can watch TV tomorrow.”
There was no reasoning with her though. She didn’t want a story, she didn’t want to hearTwinkle Twinkle, Little Star. She wantedBlueyand she wanted it now. I blew out my breath in frustration, half wishing I hadn’t insisted she brush her teeth. The half-finished conversation with Landon was weighing on me.
Landon saw my face and said, “Let me try.”
I hesitated. I’d always done the hard part with Emma and Landon had done the fun parts. I felt strange leaving the room and letting him take over.
“Trust me,” he said quietly.
I couldn’t argue with that. Even though it was difficult, I kissed the top of Emma’s head and said, “Good night, baby.”
She watched, shocked, as I backed out of the door.
Before I even got to the end of the hall, I heard her picking out what book Landon could read to her, no trace of tears in her voice.
When Landon came out into the living room several minutes later, I clapped quietly. He dropped his head in a mock bow, then raised his eyes to assess my face. “That’s a new thing for us,” he said quietly, stating the obvious.
I nodded, still unsure of how I felt about it. “It’s good,” I said slowly. “It’s just–”
“New.”
I nodded again. “I’ve always been the one to handle things with her. The good and the bad. Having a partner is going to be an adjustment.”
“You don’t have to tell me how hard it is to delegate.” Landon crossed the room and slid his arms around me. “You tell me when I’m overstepping. I’ll tell you when I need you to back off. We’ll figure it out.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, leaning my head back to keep my eyes on his face. “I think we’ll be good co-parents. Which, incidentally, I guess is what you could introduce me as to your mom.”
“As my co-parent?” Landon raised his eyebrows. “Sure. Or I could just call you what you are.”
“Which is?” I waited, breathless.
Landon’s eyes darkened as he looked down at me. “Important.”
“Because I’m the mother of your child?”