Page 49 of Mr. Almost

Chloe rolls her eyes. “Okay? Come on, the guy blew your mind years ago, I’m sure that hasn’t changed. Especially now that he has the daddy factor.”

I raise a brow. “The daddy factor?”

“Come on, tell me that watching him interact with Ari doesn’t do something to your ovaries. There’s just something about a good dad that gets every woman’s engine running.”

“It’s so freaking hot,” I confess.

I have found myself distracted by him more often than not when he’s with Ari. Something about the way he loves and cares for her gets my body ready to give him another one. That’s not what we need at all.

“See! So that kiss was more than okay. Why haven’t you tried to turn it into more?”

The old me would have made a move by now. I was never one to wait for the guy to decide what was going on with us. I took the relationship by the horns and led that bitch.

Not anymore. Things are different now. I have to consider more hearts than mine.

“I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

“What am I not afraid of?” I laugh dejectedly. “Our lives are so intertwined now. We spend so much time together, it’s not even funny. He’s over every night and constantly in my space. Dammit, Chlo, when he leaves, I miss him and I have to stop myself from calling him and begging him to come back. Add in Ari, and god, she’s a goner.”

“You love him,” she says plainly.

Something about what she says resonates inside, but I refuse to acknowledge it.

“No,” I deny it.

Chloe huffs. “Fine, then you’re on your way to loving him. Better?”

“I can’t love him.”

“Why not?”

“Because what if he hurts me again? It’s not just me that I have to think about, you know?”

Chloe’s eyes soften as she grabs my hand. “Babe, he’s not going to hurt you like you think he will. Yeah, he might fuck up and make mistakes, but he’s human. I have a feeling he’s going to prove you wrong.”

“How do you know that? You haven’t met him.”

“Because no man who owns a home worth several million dollars willingly sleeps in an apartment that’s not even a thousand square feet in a less-than-stellar neighborhood for any reason other than love. Besides, from what you’ve said, he is head over heels gone for Ari.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do. Come on, Liv, pull your head out of your ass. You have a guy sitting here waiting to give you and your daughter the world. Take it. With both hands, grab it and don’t let go. Stop playing the what-if game. It never helps.”

“And if he breaks my heart?”

Chloe shrugs. “Then I’ll be here to pick up the pieces like always. Always baby daddy number one.”

I chuckle, wiping the tears that had formed away. “I love you.”

“I love you too, but I’ll love you more once you let that sugar daddy start spoiling you and me by proxy.”

I roll my eyes and laugh. “He’s not going to spoil me.”

“We’ll see about that.”

I have no doubt that she will have Mason spending money on both of us in no time. I hate accepting money from people, and she knows it. She will make me do it, though. It’s why she’s a good friend. She reminds me of what I deserve.

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