Page 47 of Off-Limits Silver Fox Billionaire

Iris telling me she didn’t think her dad was going to feel the same way about me made me feel even worse than how it felt when I doubted Josh's feelings for me.

“I love you Bree and I want the best for you,” Iris continued before touching my hand lightly. “But this is your thing, and I can’t really get in the middle of it. I just hope you make the right decision for you, and for…”

She didn’t say the baby, but I knew what she was referring to.

“Will things ever be the same way with us?” I asked. “Do you think we could go back to being just Bree and Iris?”

“Only time can tell,” she answered with a light shrug, then stared down at her feet again.

I left Iris and headed back home after our conversation. Dad had taken Samuel out for some shopping when I arrived, and Allison was enjoying a glass of wine in the kitchen when I entered.

“Hey,” she said to me as I dropped the car keys on the table, then took off the jacket I wore over my blouse. “I haven’t seen you since you left for the bakery this morning. Are you alright? You look exhausted.”

“I am exhausted,” I told her as I sat, then took the glass of wine in front of her, lifted it to my nostrils and sniffed. “God I miss alcohol. It’s the fastest way to numb your mind and make sure you don’t feel a thing. I’d give anything to have a sip of this.” I lowered the glass to the table again and cleared my throat.

Allison stared at her nails briefly before she looked at me. “There’s alcohol in front of you right now, why can’t you have some?” she asked, completely clueless to the point I had been trying to make.

In the next second, Allison gasped, then plastered a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened. “Are you pregnant?” she blurted in a loud voice that shocked me.

I hushed her immediately even though there was no one else in the house to hear us. “Keep it down please.”

Her eyes remained wide as she stared at me in shock, then she blinked. “For Josh?”

I nodded my reply, then sighed. “What am I going to do, Allison?” I lamented, then shut my eyes and groaned again.

“Does he know? Does Iris know?”

I nodded to both questions. “Dad is the only one who doesn’t know right now, and I know I have to tell him but… I don’t even know where to start.”

“Oh boy, he’s going to be livid. Josh Sanders got his little pumpkin pregnant, I don’t think he’ll take that one well.”

“Gee thanks for helping me stay calm,” I replied and rolled my eyes. “Iris probably hates me now even though she’s never going to say she does. Josh might never love me or see me as anything other than a young girl whom he doesn’t want to hurt, and my dad is going to be so angry when he finds out. Right now you’re all I’ve got.”

“Oh Bree,” Allison sympathized, then brought her chair closer to mine so she could hold my hands. “You’ll figure it out, and I’m sure Josh sees you as the wonderful, brilliant woman that you are,” she encouraged. “But if you love him, if you love Josh, then you’ve got to tell him. Sometimes we need to go follow our hearts and hope that everything will be fine after that. It makes no meaning if you love Josh, and he doesn’t know about it.”

“So you think I should tell him?”

She nodded. “I think you should tell him and find out how he feels. That’s the only way you’ll know for certain if he loves you too.”

Allison’s idea made perfect sense to me, and I decided there to tell Josh about my feelings.

21

JOSH

Bree suggested dinner for the next evening, and I met her at a rooftop restaurant where she had made reservations. “This place is nice,” I said as I scanned through the menu and tried to decide on what to eat.

She was grinning wide, and I took a second to admire her. Bree had the loveliest smile, and each time she leveled it at me, my heart lurched fast in my chest and my pulse skyrocketed.

It was easy to get lost in her eyes. The familiar trickle of desire pummeled through me each time she was close. Bree lifted her gaze off her menu and our gazes met before she smiled again.

“You look beautiful tonight,” I told her. My voice had gained a lower pitch and the urge to touch her skin came, so I reached across the table and laced my hand in hers.

I hadn’t told Bree about the conversation I had with Iris the other day, but it kept bothering me. Hearing about Jenny and the Alzheimer’s made me worry.

How was she coping all alone in the nursing home?

My father had stayed in a nursing home before he died, so I knew how difficult it could get to care for someone who lived there. If Iris was doing that on her own, then it must have been hard for her.

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