Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 78164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“Up!” she says, flexing her little fingers at me.
I pretend to bite one of them, making her giggle.
“Come on, you little monster,” I say, picking her up. “Now remember, Uncle Ripley is bad. Can you say bad?”
Her eyes light up as we round the corner. “Dada!”
The name is a squeal as much as it is a word. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Gannon smile so wide in his life—not even the time he punched Renn in the stomach and Mom didn’t believe him.
Ah, the good ole days.
I hand Ivy off to her father and join Carys in the kitchen.
“I’m sorry if I upset you,” I say. “I probably should’ve approached that differently. I’m a third party here, and this isn’t about me.”
“No, I get it. If someone hurt Gannon, I’d act the same way.”
We watch him play with Ivy. The asshole who never said a nice thing to anyone is putty in a toddler’s hands. It’s almost hard to believe … but also not.
I can’t imagine what he feels when he looks at his little girl. I know what I feel like when I look at her, and she’s not mine. But for Gannon—to see himself and the woman he loves in one little person who is delighted to see him every day? That must feel better than anything in the world.
“You love her, don’t you?” Carys asks softly. “Aurora, not Ivy.”
I nod.
“Does it scare you that it’s happened so fast?” she asks.
I sigh, pulling my gaze to my best friend. “No, it doesn’t scare me. I’ve always told you that I would know the woman for me when I met her.”
“That you have.”
“I think she’s a little scared shitless. I’m trying to keep some distance so she can breathe, but—”
“But your style is to smother, I know.” She chuckles. “Make sure you bring her to your birthday party.”
“Hey, about that … I have an idea. It’s not fully formed, and I’m still getting it all together. But I might have a request.”
“You can’t make requests for your birthday party,” Gannon says. “That’s not how it works.”
“And hold off on selling the Raptors,” I say. “Let me talk to my girl.”
Gannon’s brows lift, and he gives me a smug smile.
“I’ll call you,” I tell Carys, walking backward to the door. I wave at their little family. “But, right now, I have to get to work—unlike some people who just stay home all day. I love you guys.”
“Watch it!” Gannon says.
I laugh as I walk out the door.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Aurora
“Hey,” I say, answering the phone as soon as I see Tate’s name light up the screen. “Can you hold on for one second?”
“Absolutely.”
I drop the phone to my side. “Can you finish getting that together and bring it to my office, Tally? I need to take this call.”
“That’s better, anyway. You make me nervous when you stand over my shoulder.”
“I do not.”
She laughs as I leave her office.
The building is relatively empty, with most of the staff leaving around four o’clock. The usual chatter between coworkers, phones ringing, and computers dinging is quiet. You can almost hear yourself think.
“Sorry,” I say, heading down the hall. “Tally and I have been fighting with the tech team all afternoon.”
“If you have work to do, ignore me.”
I slip inside my office and close the door behind me.
“You’re very hard to ignore, Mr. Brewer. I’ve tried.”
He chuckles.
“Also, you’re my boss.” I sit behind my desk. “I’m pretty much required to answer your calls.”
“I’m going to start saving all of my questions until we’re in the office.”
I laugh. “That’s unfair. I answer everything you ask me.”
“True, but at work, you’ll try harder to answer them the way I like them answered.”
“Whatever.”
“I’m on my way to the office. Should arrive in about twenty minutes. Do you need anything?”
My heart flutters at his thoughtfulness. He has so much to do, and so many people counting on him, yet he manages to see if I need anything on his way in. I didn’t know there were real men like this out there.
I could have saved a lot of heartache if I had known.
“I need some things, but nothing you can give me here,” I say, grinning.
He growls, making me laugh.
“I stopped by Gannon’s this morning,” he says.
Oh. “Did you?”
“I did. And I told them about us.”
I sink into my chair as blood rushes to my face. I knew he’d do this eventually, but I didn’t realize it would be so soon.
My emotions are all over the place when it comes to Carys. We did have a conversation, and yes, it ended well. But we said we’d meet for drinks, and we didn’t. The blame is on me more than her because she told me she was pregnant, and I didn’t reach out.
Maybe she hung up the phone that day and decided I was a bitch. She could’ve boxed me up with her father in her brain and burned us both to the ground. Carys has always been a sweetheart, and I don’t think she’d do that. But if she did, the news that I’m dating her best friend—her baby’s uncle—probably wouldn’t go over well.