Page 15 of Playboy Husband

CALLUM

“How was the Save the Oceans dinner last night?” Laney asked Mom from across the table, her thumb absently stroking her swollen belly and her free hand wrapped around a glass of ginger ale.

I swore, since she’d gotten pregnant, Laney had been drinking that stuff like it was the elixir of life. Sadie suddenly perked up, not even the nausea inspired by her unborn twins enough to keep her from getting excited about any fundraising opportunity that had to do with any kind of animal.

“That was last night? Shoot. I can’t believe I forgot. Oh, that’s why we’re only having this dinner tonight, isn’t it? It suddenly makes sense now. Sorry, my brain is like a sieve these days.”

Jameson smirked. “Only these days, huh?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, but the corners of her lips were twitching into a grin. “Funny guy. I’d tread lightly if I was you, or I might just send you on another run for olives at three a.m.”

“Go for it,” he shot back easily. “I stocked up. One entire shelf of our pantry is now filled with every type of olive you could possibly want.”

“What about tinned peaches?” Laney asked with a barely suppressed smile on her lips. “Did you think about those?”

Sterling groaned. “Don’t get me started on the tinned peaches, bro, and no. Fresh doesn’t count. It’s got to be tinned.”

Jameson paled a little, knowing he’d been beat, and Mom chuckled as she looked between the four of them with a very particular glow practically radiating from her.

“Oh, look at you all. I never thought I’d live to see the day.

” She focused on the women. “The dinner was fantastic. I picked up a few ideas for fundraising events for your foundation, Sades. We’ll talk sometime, but I’ve been looking at these functions in a whole new way recently. ”

It’s Sades now, huh? I almost scoffed out loud.

A few months ago, Mom hadn’t trusted Sadie for shit.

She hadn’t even really known her, but she’d been uncertain about Sadie being the right choice for Jameson purely because she had a reputation for throwing all her money after the causes she was passionate about. But look at them now.

At least it gave me hope that even if Gage had been right about my parents viewing Brody as too much of a complication, they could come around. They could—eventually—let go of their preconceived notions and embrace change. I was staring at living proof of that.

“Callum.” Mom’s voice suddenly sliced through the chatter like a tuning fork, high and clear. When I blinked myself out of my thoughts and looked up, everyone else was staring straight at me, too. “Tell us more about your friend from golf.”

Everyone around the table stilled. Except Sterling’s baby, who kicked so hard Laney winced. Way to put me on the spot, Mom. Thanks.

I set my wine glass down carefully, trying not to give too much away. “My friend?”

CC’s perfectly arched brows lifted. “Yes, the one I met with you at the club today. Maisie, wasn’t it? Maisie Morgan.”

Before I could deflect by pointing out that her question had startled her unborn granddaughter and that we should all be concerned about Laney right now as a result, Harrison leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. “Wait. Maisie Morgan?”

I frowned. “Do you know her? How? We were out of college before you were even born.”

“You’re only five years older than me, ass—” He cut himself off when Mom pursed her lips, but then he grinned like he’d just won some kind of bet when he refocused on me. “Of course, I know her. Everyone knows her, don’t they? Her brother is a broadcaster on ESPN. Carter Morgan?”

“That’s her brother?” I honestly didn’t think I’d known that. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same person?”

“That depends. How many Carter Morgans are there with sisters named Maisie? She was a diver, right? Champion level. If memory serves, she was a favorite for making the Olympic team, what, about eight, nine years ago, but she dropped out of the running pretty suddenly.”

The words landed like small explosions in my head. Diver. Champion level. Dropped out suddenly eight, nine years ago.

I remembered hearing her name all over campus, people whispering about the next Olympics, but then, one day, she’d just been gone. I’d never seen her again. I stared at my plate.

“Callum?” Laney’s voice cut into my thoughts, soft and curious. “Are you okay?”

I forced my features into something neutral, though my pulse was slamming against my throat. “Yeah, I’m fine. That’s her, yep. Maisie Morgan. Diver.”

Inside, the pieces were snapping together in a way I couldn’t ignore. Maisie had vanished from campus. She’d told me she’d stopped diving and had left college because she’d gotten pregnant, but for the first time in a long time, I felt the ground tilt beneath me.

She gave up her dreams. An actual shot at the Olympics. I mean that’s nuts. That’s the kind of woman I propositioned to marry me for the sake of convenience. A woman who is now seriously considering it not for the money or the name, but for that same child.

God, she deserves so much better than me.

“Why did she drop out, darling?” Mom asked, tilting her head as she looked at me like I was a specimen pressed between two thin strips of glass. “That seems unusual for an athlete rumored to have a shot at the Olympic team.”

I glanced at my dad, finding him already staring back at me, his gaze sharp and assessing. Suspicious. Shifting in my chair, I ignored the weight of my dad’s gaze and cleared my throat. “Maisie has a son. She decided to step back from diving to raise him.”

There was a beat of silence before Mom gave one of her emphatic, approving nods. “How very admirable. There are far too many young women who chase glory and neglect their children in the process. Good for Maisie. Our babies don’t ask to be here, but once they are, they’re our responsibility.”

“Yeah, sure. Admirable,” I echoed, though the word tasted strange on my tongue.

Leaving the feminism argument to my sisters-in-law, if they chose to have it and to point out to my dear mother that women could have kids and careers, I shoved another bite of potato into my mouth. Why the hell am I suddenly feeling guilty?

I couldn’t deny it, though. There was a sour wave of guilt rising up within me, and the only thing I could think about was her.

Maisie, barely twenty at the time, her whole future stretched out ahead of her and then, one day, it had just been gone.

She’d walked away from it all for Brody, a baby I assumed no one—including her—had seen coming.

To add insult to injury, there was some deadbeat dick out there, walking free after leaving her to shoulder it all alone. The very thought of it made my head ache. Right now, there was nothing I wanted more than to know his name. I wanted to find him and exact some kind of vengeance on her behalf.

Maisie was private to the point of being secretive, though.

I had to respect that. If she hadn’t told me who Brody’s father was, then I had to leave it alone for now.

Until she felt safe enough and comfortable enough with me to tell me a truth I would imagine would be deeply private for anybody in her shoes.

In that moment, however, I realized that if she agreed to go through with marrying me, she deserved someone who would pull out all the stops. Someone who wouldn’t just treat her like a business partner, but an equal. Someone who valued her. Showed up for her and for Brody.

Can I be that guy?

Around me, the conversation moved on. Laney complained about swollen ankles, Sterling told our parents about the progress with the house he was building, Sadie delved into Mom’s ideas about fundraising, and Harrison and Jameson laughed about whatever they were discussing.

It was the usual Westwood family dinner chaos, but I didn’t contribute tonight. Every time I lifted my gaze, I learned that my father was still watching me. It wasn’t casual either, or with idle curiosity about this new friend.

Instead, he was looking at me with that sharp, unblinking suspicion he was so good at. After dinner, I found him in his study, a glass of bourbon in one hand while the faint tick of the grandfather clock filled the silence in the room.

The rest of the family was still gathered around the table, but I needed to do this now. Plus, I had a feeling he was waiting for me.

He didn’t look up immediately when I stepped into the study and shut the door with a quiet click behind me.

Bringing his glass to his lips, he took a slow sip of his drink and swallowed it with a deceptive sense of calm about him.

Finally, his eyes flicked to mine. “Is there something you’d like to talk to me about? ”

“Yes.” My throat felt dry, but I forced the word out. Thankfully, my voice was steady. “Have you got a minute?”

“Is this Maisie friend of yours joining the family?” He gestured to the chair opposite him.

I sat, holding his gaze even though it felt like it might slice straight through me. “Yes, she is. If all goes well, but I’m sure it will. In fact, I expect her final decision within the week.”

Without wavering, I pulled out the folder I’d brought with me from under my arm and slid it across his desk.

“I’ve already had the paperwork drawn up.

It’s all there, the prenup and all the contracts that provide protections for her and for Brody.

That’s her son’s name. Brody. I’ve added a few additional clauses in there to make sure he’s properly looked after no matter what. ”

Dad flipped the folder open, skimming the neat lines of legal text with the ease of a man who’d spent his life making and breaking lives with the contracts he entered into. On the other hand, he was Harlan Westwood. He didn’t just have the ease of a man like that. He was exactly that man.

He didn’t say anything as he paged through the folder. Then he finally set the papers down and leaned back. His gaze came up to mine, piercing and serious. “Are you sure you’re ready for this? You’d be becoming a boy’s stepfather, Callum. That’s not something to enter into lightly.”

His voice was low and deliberate, those trademark Westwood blue eyes that were so like mine and Sterling’s loaded with worry.

“You haven’t been shy about letting us know that you don’t want to get married.

You’ve also been known for saying you never want kids.

And then, there have been those incessant jokes about how you probably already have a few running around that you don’t know about. ”

I stiffened, the words striking harder than they should have. “That was a joke.”

His brow arched. “Was it? Because it seems to me that marrying this woman would be agreeing to everything that you’ve sworn up and down is the exact opposite of what you want.”

Something hot flared in my chest, a protective urge so intense that it surprised me. “I’m not walking into this blind, Dad. Maisie isn’t just anyone. Not to me, and Brody is a great kid. I’m ready to be there for him. For both of them.”

Harlan studied me in silence, the weight of his stare pressing down until I thought I might choke on his disbelief and perhaps even mild disapproval.

Disapproval I knew wasn’t aimed at Maisie, but at me.

He didn’t believe I could do this, or maybe it was more that he didn’t think I knew what I was getting into, but after a few long seconds, he finally nodded.

“Okay, Callum.” He snapped the folder shut. “If these are your terms, I’ll accept them. You seem to have made adequate provisions for the girl and the child. Let me know if anything changes, but you have my blessing.”

Relief loosened something in me, but of course, Dad’s gaze hardened again. “I want to meet them both before this marriage takes place, obviously.”

I swallowed hard, but I wasn’t surprised. It also wasn’t like I would have been able to live out the rest of my life married to her but without my family ever meeting them. “Fair enough. I’ll set it up.”

Deep down, however, I still felt that strange, protective heat burning in my chest. I was feeling defensive of them for some reason. Possessive, even.

Maisie and Brody hadn’t even agreed to join my crazy, loud family yet, but somehow, it really felt like they were already mine. No matter what my dad thought, I was ready for this. In so many ways that I wasn’t sure even I understood them all just yet.