Page 67 of Unexpected Forever
Lucas whistles low. “Holy hell. She’s hot. I don’t blame you for wanting to hook up with her.” He looks over at me, a teasing glint in his eye. “If you decide she’s not for you, you know I’m a sucker for curvy brunettes.”
“Don’t get any fucking ideas, Raines,” I growl, shoving the phone back in my pocket.
He holds his hands up, laughing. “Kidding.” He claps my shoulder. “You’ve got it bad.”
I scoff. “I don’t got it bad.”
Yes, I do.But I don’t want to.
“Whatever you say, Gentry. Where’d you meet her?”
“At Megan’s birthday party back in March. Charley’s her best friend. And her brother is my future brother-in-law.”
He blinks, then shakes his head. “That’s not complicated at all.”
I stand to pace. “Tell me about it.”
“And where does Charley live?”
“In the same town north of Atlanta where Megan lives—Madison Ridge.”
“Are you guys a thing now?”
“I mean, we live together. But we’re just friends.”
“Jesus, Nate. You live with her? Retirement didn’t slow you down, did it?”
I sigh and lean over the rail, wanting the field to bring me the peaceful, easy feeling it always does.
But it doesn’t.
I haven’t felt peace since I left Madison Ridge—and the curvy brunette who’s having my baby—over a week ago.
I sigh. “It was a one-night thing. We hooked up after the party.”
I still replay that night in my head. It might be my permanent spank bank visual.
I turn to face Lucas, laying it all out there. “The truth is I couldn’t get her out of my head. But I didn’t even try to call her because we had a deal. One night only.”
Lucas chuckles. “That turned out well.”
“Yeah, right? But we didn’t talk again until the end of May when I went back and she told me she was pregnant.”
I pin him with a look. “And I believe her because she has no reason to lie to me. It was as much of a shock to her as it was to me.”
“Well, then. I’d be hesitant too in your shoes.” Lucas lifts the ball cap off his head and runs a hand through his dark hair. “I wish I had some advice for you.”
“The truth is I can’t see how it would work anyway. I mean, it has to now that a child is in the picture. But as a couple? No way.”
“Why?”
“First of all, she’s too young for me. She’s only twenty-six and just starting out with her career. I just retired from one. And then there’s the fact that…”
I trail off, not wanting to voice my next thoughts out loud.
I’d spent the last couple of decades avoiding getting too close to a woman so I couldn’t hurt her. Getting close eventually led to a relationship, which led to marriage and a family.
With my fucked-up childhood, I don’t know how to be a dad or a husband, and I’ve never met a woman I wanted to try with.
