She lifted her head to meet my eyes. “I didn’t know you were so philosophical.”

“Have you met my mother?”

She chuckled. “That’s true.”

When her smile faded, I asked, “What’s wrong?”

She rubbed her stomach. “Pretty soon, we’re not gonna be able to hide this. How do I explain it to the people at work?”

“You don’t have to explain shit to them. You don’t owe anyone an explanation.”

“But I want to do it before they start talking. I feel like I just need to lay it all out on the line and be the one to control when they find out before they start whispering about my size.”

I didn’t want this to stress her out and vowed to myself that I would take care of things.

“Don’t worry about any of that. I’ll handle it.”The next day at The Heights, I called a mandatory staff meeting right after closing. I wanted everyone there so that I didn’t have to explain myself twice. If employees weren’t on shift, they were still called in and paid for the hour.

I specifically did it during Gia’s night off, so that she didn’t have to deal with it.

Everyone gathered around me. I’d chosen the downstairs bar area as the site of our informal meeting. People were definitely confused. I think they might have thought I was closing down The Heights, because it was unlike me to call a meeting.

When it looked like everyone was there, I cleared my throat to get their attention. “I’m gonna make this brief. I know you’re all tired, and it’s late, so I’m not keeping you a second longer than I have to.” I took a deep breath. “You know I don’t normally talk about my personal life, because it generally has nothing to do with business, but because Gia is an employee here, I don’t want her to have to worry about people talking behind her back.” I inhaled before spitting it out. “She and I are together. She’s my girlfriend.” I paused. “I love her. And we’re also having a baby. If you have any questions or concerns about that news, you can see me. But I don’t want anyone making her feel uncomfortable because of it or treating her any differently—unless it’s to make her job easier.” I nodded once. “I have nothing more to say. You guys have a good night.”

I walked away, leaving the rumblings and whispers of my staff behind. No one had a chance to congratulate me or even respond. That was fine with me.

Large footsteps trailed me. I knew exactly who it was before his deep voice came up from behind me. “Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. You think you’re gonna make an announcement like that and not have to deal with me? You got another thing coming.”

As Oak followed me into my office, I couldn’t help the smile on my face because I knew he was gonna have a field day with this.

I turned to face him and sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you first. I went to find you earlier, but you were busy breaking up that fight and then the night just flew by.”

“This is for real?” He smiled.

“Yeah. It’s for real.”

Oak caught me off guard when he approached and gave me a huge bear hug. “I couldn’t be happier for you, man. How far along is she?”

I wracked my brain for an answer I hoped would make sense.

“A couple months…”

A couple months—ish.

“You guys have been together for a while, then. You had me fooled. It explains a lot about your crazy behavior, though.”

“We’ve been keeping it on the down low until we figured things out.”

He placed his hand on my shoulder. “Fatherhood is a gift. I’m glad you’ll get to experience it. I was worried you wouldn’t because you’re stubborn.”

“It wasn’t something I ever thought I wanted, Oak. But I guess when you meet the right person, that changes everything.”

“Damn straight.” He just kept shaking his head and smiling. “I knew from day one that you and Gia would end up together. I’m glad you finally saw it, too.”

That night on my way home, I went to light up a cigarette. For the first time, I really stopped to think about the fact that I needed to quit because of the baby. I couldn’t smoke around him and couldn’t be smoking around Gia anymore, either. Throwing the unlit butt out the window, I decided to give quitting a real honest try this time.

Then, I picked up the phone and dialed Gia. When she picked up, I simply said, “You know that work situation you were worried about? I took care of it.”A few nights later, Gia and I were headed out to eat when I said, “Do you mind if we stop by my house real quick?”

“No, not at all. You know I love your house.”

Tags: Penelope Ward, Vi Keeland Rush Series Duet Erotic
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