Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 101051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 505(@200wpm)___ 404(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 505(@200wpm)___ 404(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
She closes the door behind me, folds her arms, and leans against it, narrowing in on me with those cold blue eyes. “I heard your new nanny didn’t waste much time working her way into your bed.”
Anger rushes through my blood. “Jesus, Kyrstie. You just cut right to the gossip, don’t you?”
Her lips twist into a smirk. “I’m not gossiping. I’m looking out for a friend.”
She isn’t looking out for me. She’s looking for an angle. We used to be friends, but we started sleeping together as two lonely adults who both had reasons why we didn’t want romantic relationships—or at least I thought we were on the same page, until she tried to remove my wife’s belongings from my house without my permission. I ended it that day, and she still hasn’t forgiven me. “My relationship with Nic is none of your business.”
“Hmm.” She twirls a lock of hair around her finger. “It’s your family’s business, though. She sure found her place with them quickly. I wouldn’t imagine just any nanny would be welcome for holidays at the cabin. Unless she’s sucking your dick, that is.”
I glare at her. She was so pissed that she wasn’t invited to Memorial Day weekend at the family cabin. That should have been my first hint that she was looking for more than she said she was. “Back off, Kyrstie. My family’s affairs have nothing to do with you.”
“Well, maybe I’m wrong about her. I just saw something I thought you might want to know.”
My gut pitches. Last time Kyrstie “saw something,” I found out my wife was cheating on me with my best friend. Hell, maybe even then she was just trying to carve out a place in my life.
Don’t think about that shit.
“It’s your call,” she says. “I’ll walk out of this room right now if you want me to.”
I don’t want to ask, but knowing she has information about Nic will make me crazy if I don’t get it now. Kyrstie’s manipulative and cold, but she’s not a liar. “What?”
She doesn’t try to hold back her smile. She fucking beams at me. “Turns out little Miss Veronica Maddox has an appointment with my office next week.”
I frown. “What the fuck do I care where she gets her yearly pap?”
Kyrstie wags a finger at me. “Not a pap visit. A prenatal visit.”
I grunt. “That’s ridiculous.”
She arches a brow. “Is it? Don’t you think it’s convenient that she”—she makes air quotes—“‘didn’t know’ who you were and fucked you the night before she moved in with you?”
We didn’t sleep together that night, but I know everyone who was at the bar thinks we did. We were locked in the bathroom together, went home together. But we didn’t sleep together until a week ago. Even if that first time had resulted in a pregnancy, it would be too soon for her to know. But that doesn’t mean she couldn’t have been pregnant when she came to town.
“I like the way you look at me. You make me feel sexy and wanted.”
“Who made you feel like you weren’t?”
“A mistake.”
Was her fiancé a mistake because he got her sister pregnant? Or was he a mistake because she was pregnant too?
She was drinking that night though—drinking a lot. Sure, there are some young women who don’t care enough to abstain when they’re expecting, but Nic is far too conscientious for that.
“See?” Kyrstie says. “She’s not who you think. Are you ready to play daddy to another man’s baby?”
Other than a few sips of wine on her birthday, Nic hasn’t had a drink since the night we met. Could it be she didn’t know she was pregnant when she came to town? Maybe she recently found out and that’s why she’s so determined to leave in February—because she doesn’t want me to feel trapped. “When did she make the appointment?”
Kyrstie rolls her eyes. “You think I’m answering phones now? Who cares? She’s pregnant and she’s already made her way into your bed and your house. Somebody’s looking for a baby daddy, and she’s got her eye on you.”
God. It makes sense. And I’m fucking relieved, because I can handle this, and now that I know her secret, I can tell her and she can stay. She doesn’t have to move across the country to take a new job.
It would be just like Nic to keep this from me just so I wouldn’t feel obligated to care for her child.
“I have secrets, Ethan. There are reasons I can’t stay.”
“There are things you don’t know about me. Things that might change the way you feel.”
I cover my mouth, but Kyrstie must see my smile, because she gasps. “No. Please tell me you’re not falling for this and thinking the baby’s yours.”
I shake my head. “It’s not mine. But it doesn’t matter.” I’m grinning outright now. “When you love someone, it doesn’t matter.”