Millionaire Hero (Freeman Brothers 4)

And I was going to be a terrible best friend by asking her to come to my house instead.

Half an hour later, she and Remy were sitting in my living room. He was happily playing with the sensory toys I’d laid out for him, and she was sitting on the couch with her legs stretched out, her arm propped on the back and her head rested in it. The other hand held a cup of hot tea.

“Go through that all again,” she said.

I let out a breath and went through the entire story again. “But what could she possibly mean that I didn’t want to be saddled with her? Are you sure she didn’t say anything to you? Or to Mom?”

“She didn’t say anything. I don’t know what she could have meant. But here’s what you need to ask yourself. Why does it bother you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You have been saying all along you don’t even want to consider a relationship. You’re not ready. You don’t want to settle down. Blah blah. Every other nice way guys say they don’t want to be tied down. If that was really the case, why would it matter to you if she thought she was a burden to you? If you were never considering being with her, it’s a moot point, right?” she asked.

I leaned back against the chair cushion behind me and thought about that for a few seconds. I had no idea how to answer it.25BrynI woke up Thursday morning to a knock on my front door. One eye popped open, and I looked around. It definitely didn’t seem late enough in the day for anybody to be showing up at my house. Come to think of it, no matter what time of day it was, I couldn’t really imagine anybody who would just show up at my house.

I let out a sigh and shoved the blankets off with me. Anybody but Nick. After our awkward encounter outside his office building, I had been waiting for some sort of reaction from him. Going over there with the bridal magazine wasn’t the most thought-out plan I’d ever had in my life. When it showed up at my front door, I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

The cute little note attached to the front of the magazine made it very clear his mother was behind the delivery. There was no explanation. No reasoning behind her sending the massive tome of frothy wedding dresses and impossible-to-construct cakes to my house. Also, no explanation behind how she got my home address. But, honestly, that was the least of my concerns.

Within seconds of getting the magazine, I was in my car and headed to Nick. This was something I needed to end. I needed to nip it in the bud before Minnie got any more of the wrong idea than she already did. I had no idea what I was going to say to Nick when he came out. And when the snarky comment about him not wanting to burden himself with me came tumbling out of my mouth, I wished I had paid better attention to my high school English teacher. He always said preparation was key.

The thing was, as soon as I said it, I was almost glad I did. It was petty and childish, but I wanted to make a point. And I wanted him to hear it. I also wanted to know his reaction. When I heard it, I was shocked. And confused. What did he mean I didn’t want anything more than one night? How was that even a logical response?

The knock on my door told me he had finally figured out what he wanted to say and had come to my house to let it all out. Maybe I should have put some clothes on or run a brush through my hair, but frankly, I wasn’t feeling like it. He was going to be seeing a whole lot of the very real, all-natural me in the next eighteen years or so, and I figured it might as well start now. It wasn’t like seducing him again was an option.

To prevent my mother from completely somersaulting herself out of her grave because I showed off my clingy cotton pajamas to the whole neighborhood, I threw on a thin bathrobe before heading to the door. I tried to prepare myself for anything Nick was going to say. And right after that, for telling him about the baby.

Now was as good a time as any. Emotions were already going to be high. Things were already going to be uncomfortable. There was no point in letting all that priming work go to waste when we could just get everything out in the open and over with in one fell swoop. It wasn’t going to be easy, but it would be so much better once it was over. All I had to do was open the door and face… a box of cake samples.