“Is it too early to start thinking about names?” Olivia asked a little while later, as we were strolling along Michigan Avenue.
I laughed. “Well, we've already heard her heartbeat,” I pointed out.
Olivia was quiet for a moment. “If it is a little girl, do you think we could name her Anne?” she asked. “That was Mom's middle name.”
I paused, pulling her around to face me and kissing her gently. When I finally pulled away, I rested my forehead against hers, looking seriously into her eyes. “Of course we can name her 'Anne,'” I told her. “Emma and Anne. Sounds pretty perfect.”
Olivia smiled over at me. “And if it's a boy?” she asked.
“Andrew?” I suggested.
“Andrew,” Olivia said, rolling the name around on her tongue. “Andy Jones. I like it.”
We smiled at each other and continued to walk. I barely suppressed a groan as we saw none other than Georgia Witherspoon coming out of one of the luxury stores with a couple of bags on her arm.
“What are the chances,” I sighed. Seriously, it was unbelievable that of all the days that Georgia might come to Chicago, and of all the places she might be in the city, she had to be right there. Again, I wondered if she was stalking me, but to be fair, I hadn't seen her that much over the past couple weeks. I'd assumed that she had finally given up once I'd made it clear that I was never going to be interested in her.
Olivia looked up at me, a small smile on her lips. “Well, I guess it was about time for the whole town to know, anyway,” she said.
Georgia stopped and stared at the two of us for a moment, and I half-expected her to stalk off in the other direction. But then, she marched up to us. “I guess you're fine with raising some other man's bastard, huh?” she snapped, without even bothering to greet us.
She must have realized it was over then, if she wasn't going to try to be civil and sugary toward me anymore.
I raised an eyebrow at her, knowing the best tactic was just to remain calm. “Good to see you too, Georgia,” I said pleasantly. “By the way, Buck told me all about your scheme. Paying someone to lie, just so that you could get a man, I wouldn't have expected that from you. But then again, I always knew you had no confidence or self-respect. Or class, for that matter.”
Georgia stared at us for a moment, and I could practically see the gears turning in her head. But she didn't say anything else, and when she hurried off down the street, she was practically fleeing to get away from us.
I looked over at Olivia prepared to apologize again to her, but then I noticed that she had a huge smile on her face. “Enjoying the show?” I asked her.
“Immensely,” Olivia told me.
Then, she sighed. “But I guess it must be time for us to head home, huh? Traffic is going to be pretty bad getting out of the city if we wait any longer.”
“I booked us a hotel room for the night,” I informed her, putting a hand on her lower back and guiding her up the street. “We're almost there now.”
Olivia blinked up at me. “You did?” she asked, sounding surprised. She shook her head. “Eric, you know you don't have to keep apologizing to me or trying to impress me,” she said quietly. “You've already got me.”
“Doesn't mean I shouldn't spend every moment that I have trying to make you smile,” I told her easily. “Besides, the hotel room is as much for my sake as it is for yours. I want to spend every minute of tonight making love to you, kissing every last inch of your skin, without having to worry about interruptions in the form of my little devil-child and the monsters that might be lurking beneath her bed.”
Olivia laughed. “Well, when you put it that way, I guess it doesn't hurt to spend a night in a hotel every once in a while,” she agreed.
“Just think of how it'll be when there's two of them,” I said, giving an exaggerated, playful shudder just to hear her laugh again.
“I've got a dinner reservation for us as well,” I told her. “It's a pretty nice place, so I was hoping you'd take my credit card and do a little shopping thi
s afternoon.”
Olivia raised an eyebrow at me. “You know I can afford a nice dress on my own, don't you?”
“Of course I do,” I said, rolling my eyes at her. “But I want to treat you today. And every day.” I grinned at her, kissing her again, albeit mindful of the fact that we were in the middle of the street still. “I want to spoil you rotten,” I told her.
Olivia hummed quietly. “I guess I could get used to that,” she said. “How nice is this place that you're taking me to?” she asked.
“However nice it is, you're going to be the prettiest woman in there,” I said, winking at her.
She giggled and ducked her head demurely. “What time is our reservation?” she asked.
“6:30,” I told her. “You have plenty of time to find the perfect outfit. Then come along to the Millennium Hotel.”