Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
She perks up, smiling at my suggestion. “Okay, Daddy. Bring Mia, okay?”
I laugh at the expected request. “Okay.”
Bailey takes a long sniff, and I frown. I hate that she is sick and I’m not there to take care of her.
“Hey. I bet your grandma would give you orange juice if you asked. And I’m also betting grandmas give the best hugs to make you feel better.” Mia smiles, forcing Bailey to grin back.
“Grandma! Can I have orange juice?” Bailey yells, causing me to wince at the decibel level she reaches.
“Let me talk to Grandma, kiddo.”
Another yell, and my mother’s face appears in front of the screen.
“How high is her fever? Did you call Dr. James? I can be home in two hours if she needs me,” I say, already thinking about what I need to do to clean and lock up the cabin. The idea has been in the back of my mind since realizing Bailey is sick.
“Oh my God, Austin. You’d think I didn’t raise a child myself!” my mother chides me. “Bailey has a cold. Her ears don’t hurt, her throat doesn’t hurt, and she’s got 100.1. Barely a fever. If it’s not gone tomorrow, I’ll make an appointment. No reason to rush back.”
“Okay,” I say, relaxing and easing back against the cushions. It is an instinctive reaction to worry.
Just as I worry now about the fact that Mia didn’t take my hand. I don’t understand and wonder what happened in the few minutes that caused her to back off.
“Grandma, orange juice,” Bailey says to my mother.
“Please,” Mia and I automatically say at the same time.
I grin, but she doesn’t smile in return. I shoot her a curious look, wondering what is wrong.
“We’ll be home tomorrow anyway. But I need you to keep Bailey for a little while longer. I hope we’re close to wrapping up at last one of the problems,” I say, not wanting to mention Kayla in front of Bailey and upset her.
“Okay, say bye to Daddy and Mia,” my mom says.
“Bye!” Bailey says.
“Feel better,” Mia says.
“Love you,” I add.
No sooner has the screen gone blank than Mia rises and walks across the room. “Is something wrong?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I’m just a little tired. I thought I’d lie down and take a nap.”
Considering I woke her during the night, her explanation makes sense. I believe her… up until she heads for the room with her suitcase and not my bedroom in order to lie down and rest.
* * *
Mia
I stretch out on the bed I’ve yet to sleep in and stare at the ceiling. I know I overreacted and didn’t make any sense to Austin, not when I refused to take his hand or when I chose this room in which to nap. I caught the surprised look on his face when I didn’t go to his bedroom to lie down.
What could I say to him, though? That when he held out his hand, out of sight from his mother and Bailey, I was smacked in the face with the reminder that our relationship is a secret? Will remain a secret? That I’m not his girlfriend, and I shouldn’t be spinning ideas about the future just because he held my hand when we walked through the woods? Or talked about him sharing the holidays with me and me seeing his family traditions? Or how incredibly intense sex with him just happens to be?
I raise my head, punch the pillow, and turn onto my side. Although I can’t rationalize all of my actions, like the hand-holding in the woods, I can, however, justify why he keeps our joined hands out of view of his daughter. Bailey is used to me as her nanny. Seeing me hold hands with her daddy would only confuse her… and maybe even cause the little girl to spin stories of her own, thinking we are more of a family than is accurate or true.
With the weekend ending soon, it isn’t too soon to start putting my own walls back in place. And if Austin pushes me for answers on my withdrawal… well, the truth will suffice. Because I have no doubt he doesn’t want a relationship in the true sense of the word. And I am at risk of losing my heart to the man. The same heart that warns me I already did.
I don’t realize I’ve fallen asleep until I woke up to a knock on my door. I roll over. The sun has gone down, and the room is dark, no light from the windows streaming through.
“Come in!” I push myself upright in bed.
Austin opens the door. “Light,” he says before he hits the wall switch and the nightstand lamp turns on.
I blink, my eyes adjusting. He walks into the room, having changed into his favorite relaxing outfit, a pair of black track pants and a random tee shirt. Today’s says Alpha on the front… and Security on the back. He always looks sexy, especially now, with wind-tousled hair he didn’t comb and a worried look on his handsome face.