Page 64 of Secret Baby Daddies
“You’re killing me, sweetheart.”
“I bet I beat you to the gate this time!”
I heard her take off running and when I looked up I saw she was running like she’d been riding a horse for three days straight. I barely managed to get to my feet from laughing so hard.
“Come back here, cowgirl! Your horse needs a good rub down before you put him away.”
CHAPTER 44
Harley
“I made him have Belinda towed to a shop to be fixed. She’s going to be there for a few weeks.” I stared at the car stuck on a curb in front of a donut shop and turned my back to it. “They keep putting me in these expensive cars that can’t handle me, Rea. It’s just…stuck. I can’t call them because I’ll never hear the end of it and I don’t know—”
Reagan’s voicemail cut me off and I growled before calling back. It was my third message and I wasn’t sure where she was but I needed to vent.
“Oh, my god, Rea. You need to get a phone capable of recording longer messages. I’m trying to tell you my life is nuts. Where are you? Busy with your men and your beautiful son? Bitch. Just kidding. I miss you, though. Okay, here are my options for handling this. One. I call them and tell them their car is stuck. Two. I don’t call them and I walk away. Three. I call you until you answer and send one of your capable men to help me. Four. I just sit here and eat my donuts and wait until—”
I groaned and shoved my phone into my purse. Stupid voicemail. I decided that for the time being I was just going to eat my donuts. Maybe it was embarrassing that I’d broken the car and still gone in to get donuts but I couldn’t help it. The baby wanted donuts.
The guys were going to realize something was wrong when I didn’t get home right on time. They’d finally let me start driving myself to work and back but this was going to ruin it. I leaned back on my hands and let the warm sun wash over me. It was hot but I had donuts and a cold bottle of milk. I’d need to pee soon but otherwise I considered myself to be in a better situation than I could’ve been in. There were no anxious men hovering over me.
Not that I didn’t love the way they fussed over me. God, it was an entirely different life to have people who cared so much aboutme and worry about my safety. Reagan cared, of course. So did Susie and Hunter. They all had their own lives, though. The guys had somehow made it seem like I was their whole life. In just a few weeks they’d made me feel like ‘happily ever afters’ were possible. I felt things for them, deep and scary things. I thought they felt the same. We just weren’t announcing anything.
It’d only been a week since I’d lost my chance to drive Belinda home but we’d already settled into a routine. I spent my nights with them, checking out the ranch, watching movies, or in the greenhouse. I slept in their beds, sometimes with two of them, sometimes with just one. They fed me so much during the day that I hadn’t snuck down to the pantry again. It was fun. It was…easy. I felt safe for the first time in over eight years, maybe for the first time in my life.
It was too bad I kept breaking their cars. I couldn’t help wondering if there was a line I’d stumble across and not be able to get back. Was it two cars? Three cars? I didn’t know but I was nervous.
I called Rea back.
“Sorry. Me again. Do you think there’s a number of cars that would be too much and that would make them leave me? This is number two. Did I tell you I got donuts? And milk. How long is milk good for while you’re actively drinking it outside in the heat? Does it still spoil as fast? What am I even doing, Rea? They got tattoos for me. I…tattoos! I’m a mess. Susie won’t tell me if she—”
I took a deep breath and put my phone down beside me. I hated her voicemail. It was official. I swore as my phone made the sound it made when it died. So maybe Rea’s voicemail wasn't the culprit that time…
I’d eaten most of the donuts and finished the milk by the time I started to worry about what I was going to do. Without my phone I was kind of stuck.
I didn’t have to worry for too long, though. I watched as Jace’s huge truck pulled into the lot and stopped beside me. I sighed and slowly stood up. After all those donuts I wasn’t moving very quickly.
Jace sprinted around the side of the truck and pulled me into his arms.
“Are you okay? What happened? We’ve been calling you. Is anything wrong? Are you hurt? Where’s your phone?”
I would’ve batted his hands away but they felt kind of nice running all over my body.
“It’s the stupid car. Belinda could’ve handled that curb. Belinda would’vedominatedthat curb. Your stupid rich people cars aren’t made for driving.”
He looked back at the car and then back at me. At the car and then back at me again.
“I… You…”
“Please don’t dump me. I’ll pay for the car. If I ever find that check. I think I’ve got baby brain. That’s a thing, right? I’m a really good driver, Jace. I won’t crash another car. Follow-up concern…how many cars can I break before you’re done with me?” I bit my lip and stared up at him. “Please say it’s more than two.”
He lightly shook me and then leaned down to kiss me. He wrapped himself around me and held me tight while he devoured my mouth. It was a heated, wild kiss which left my chest heaving and my panties a thing of the past.
I ran my hands down his chest and grabbed his waist.
“Does that mean you don’t hate me?”
“Fuck, little girl. You scared the shit out of me. When I saw you sitting out here…I don’t think you should ever drive again. I’ll find a driver. A woman. I thought you were hurt.” He held me tighter and cupped the back of my head. “Fuck. I think that just aged me a decade.”
