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I considered keeping the news to myself, but my brothers are my best friends, and I needed to tell someone. This is huge. The woman who I could see a future with is pregnant with my baby. So, the second I got back to the hotel—after letting Nolan know I’ll be staying here until further notice and he’s to handle things in Dallas—I conference called them so I could share the news with them at the same time.
“Well, shit,” Carmine says with a chuckle. “You went there to get a woman and ended up getting an entire damn family. Mom and Dad are going to be thrilled to learn they’re going to be grandparents again.”
Fuck…our parents.
“You can’t say anything to them,” I say. “You know how Mom is. She’ll be begging to meet Paige, and right now, shit is complicated.”
“Yeah, well, I suggest youuncomplicate shit,” Dustin says, never beating around the bush, “because in less than six months, you’re going to be a dad, and the mother of your baby lives four hours away and didn’t want to keep in touch with you, let alone raise a baby with you.”
I release a harsh breath, knowing he’s not wrong. And my mind goes back to my ex. She cheated on me because I hadn’t given her enough attention. She strayed because I had been neglecting her. And yet we lived together in the same city, in the same house. How the hell am I supposed to make this work with Paige when we’re living hours apart?
“We’ll figure it out,” I tell him, refusing to compare Paige to my ex. “But in the meantime, I’m going to be staying here for a while. Nolan’s already been informed that he’ll be my eyes and ears in Dallas. All meetings will need to be online for the foreseeable future. I already planned to be here for a few weeks, but now, with this new information, I have a feeling my trip is going to be extended because there’s no way I’m leaving without Paige and me figuring out how this is going to work between us. It’s no longer just us we need to consider, but our baby too.
“Fuck, we’re about to have a baby.”
Dustin and Carmine both bust out a laugh, andwithout waiting for either of them to say something that I’m sure will piss me off, I hang up.
At six o’clock onthe dot, I pull up to Paige’s house. It’s smaller than a lot of the homes in the neighborhood, but no less cared for. Remembering that when Paige and I were spending time together in London, she told me it was the first home she ever purchased—and that she did it on her own—has me smiling, proud of her. It’s clear she works hard for everything she has, and to be the CMO of a multibillion-dollar company like Kingston is huge.
If I had to guess, that piece-of-shit ex of hers was jealous. He didn’t like the fact that she probably made more money than he did, and instead of supporting her, he put his career rather than their relationship first.
“Are you going to stand out there all night or knock on my door?” Paige calls out, making me laugh because I was standing at the end of her sidewalk, lost in my thoughts.
“Sorry,” I say, giving her my attention.
Unlike the professional attire she was wearing earlier today, she’s dressed in a flowy red-and-white polka-dot wraparound dress, showing off the swells of her breasts. Her hair is down in waves, and her lips are glossy.
My gaze descends to her toned, tanned thighs and calves and land on her black heels.
She looks fucking stunning, and I have no ideahow I’m going to get through an entire dinner without touching or kissing her…or sneaking off to the bathroom and fucking her.
You need to take things slow, I remind myself.Just because you’re ready to hit the pavement running doesn’t mean Paige is.
“My eyes are up here.” Paige says it in a serious tone, but her eyes are filled with mirth.
“I can’t help it,” I say, extending my hand with the flowers I picked up on my way here. “You look gorgeous.”
Blush tints her cheeks, and I can’t help but smile, loving that I still affect her.
“Thank you.”
She takes the bouquet from me and brings them up to her nose to inhale the scent. Since they’re already in a vase, she sets them on the foyer table without inviting me in, and then we head out in my rental to the restaurant where I made a reservation.
I’m not familiar with the area, but after doing some research, I found a small Italian restaurant with good reviews. Not wanting to be disturbed, I booked us a private booth.
The drive to the restaurant is filled with small talk, neither of us mentioning the baby. Paige tells me about work and how everyone is buzzing with excitement about the partnership, and I fill her in on what I’ve been up to since I got back from London. It feels natural, light, similar to the way it felt in London. Like, eventhough we barely know each other, we’re comfortable with one another.
I’m hoping the vibe continues once we sit down for dinner, but the second the waiter walks away after dropping off our drinks, Paige gets straight down to business.
“I know my being pregnant is a shock to you,” she begins after taking a sip of her water, “but I want you to know that you have options.”
“Options?”
She can’t possibly be talking about what I think she is.
“Yes,” she says, straightening herself like she’s in a business meeting instead of discussing something as intimate as her having my baby. “If you don’t want to be a dad, I won’t force you to be one. I know firsthand what happens when a man is forced, and that’s the last thing I want for my baby.”
Her hand goes protectively to her stomach, and before I can respond, she continues, “When I was fourteen, right before my mom chose to stop her chemo treatments, I found out that my dad never wanted me.” She says it so matter-of-factly, like it’s a speech she rehearsed. “Apparently, Mom always wanted to be a mom, so my dad gave in to what she wanted. After she died, he barely spoke a single word to me.”