Billionaire Baby Daddy

“Oh, no. I’m good to go. Let’s do this. Should we race back?” I teased.

“Oh, I’d beat you for sure.”

I was pretty sure she was right. The endorphin high that Ana was on was insurmountable. I saw it in her eyes and knew she was going to beat me back. But a little wager still seemed like fun.

“I’ll take that bet.”

“I like bets. Let’s put some stakes on this,” Ana joked.

“You want to bet me money?”

Ana didn’t have any money, so I wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted to put up as the stakes to our bet. But I liked seeing her get worked up. I was totally not going to beat her back to the house though, so I needed the bet to be in my favor of course.

“No. not money. If I beat you back, you’ll till up some land for me to plant a garden.”

“Okay, and what about if I win?”

“That’s not going to happen.” She winked at me and took off running.

I laughed at her excitement, but still took off running behind her in an

effort to win. I’d have no problem at all helping her with a garden. It was one of the things that had been on my list of projects to get done while I was out there. Every year I wanted to start it, but then I’d take a job and have to leave the project for later on.

Ana had a kick going that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with. Her slim frame and good form had obviously come from years of running, and I felt ill equipped to match her. But I was going to do my best not to be left behind. I kicked my ass into gear, but I still fell farther and farther behind her as she ran.

There was a power in her stride. She had a genuine joy that I could see even as I got farther behind her. Ana was testing her physical limits. She was seeing what her body could do even after going through such a horrible time. It was exactly what I had done after my last deployment with the Navy Seals. The endorphins are going and your body is functioning better than you thought it would, so you keep pushing it and pushing it, waiting for it to give up and break. But the great thing about our bodies is that they are resilient and they don’t like to give up.

Ana didn’t look back at me. She didn’t check to see if I was catching up to her at all. She wasn’t in a race with me any longer. Ana was racing against herself. I was no match for that kind of determination and I slowed my run to a jog. I knew when I was outmatched.

Being in the Navy Seals wasn’t just about being the best. I learned when I needed others and when I needed to accept my limitations. It had been in my training from the beginning. Ana didn’t have that training and I could tell she was still in the process of learning when she could push through things and when she needed to ask others for help. It was a long road ahead for her.

When I finally arrived back at the house, Ana was sitting on the porch with her feet up and holding a large glass of ice water. She looked like she had been sitting there for at least twenty minutes before I arrived. Although I knew it was more like three or four minutes. It was nice to see her humor coming out as she made it look like she had been waiting forever for me.

“I guess I’m making you a garden,” I said with a smile as Ana handed me a glass of water.

“I guess you are.”

“You did great out there. How did that feel?”

“Feel? I don’t know. I don’t feel anything anymore. Or I feel everything all at once.”

“I understand.”

I sat down next to Ana and put my feet up on the handrail like she had hers. It was mid-morning now, the sun was warming up the woods, and the animals were all wide awake. The birds chirped, the squirrels ran through the trees, and Ana sat smiling and looking out at the wilderness. She had a look of happiness and contentment that I hadn’t seen on any woman who had ever visited my house. The wilderness certainly wasn’t for everyone, but I was happy to see that Ana was enjoying it.

We sat on that porch for a good three hours in almost complete silence. No obligation to talk, no need to fill the air with our words, just an utter enjoyment of the peace that we were surrounded by.

There weren’t too many people in the world that I could sit next to and feel totally comfortable with, but Ana was apparently one of those people. I felt like I had known her for years as we sat together and watched the day go by. We laid our heads back and looked into the trees, watched the wildlife fly around the forest, and just enjoyed the peace and quiet that was going on right there in front of us.

I loved my house and where it was located. It wasn’t near any highways, or even major roads for that matter. I could walk for hours without ever coming across my neighbors. Even the other houses that were out in the woods were empty most of the time, people from the city just used them for vacation homes when they wanted to get away from the hustle of their day-to-day life. But I got to stay there all the time and was always away from the hustle.

My wooded house was the perfect way for me to escape the reality of the world when I wasn’t working. I loved it and didn’t often share it with people in my life. Even my own family hadn’t been out to my house very often; I usually ended up driving into town and just seeing them there.

It felt right to have Ana there with me, though. It felt perfect.

Chapter Nine

ANA