Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
“Horrific? Hyperbole, much?” Lucy laughed and when she rolled her eyes I regretted the video call.
“It’s not hyperbole. I’m pregnant and what happens if the elevator breaks down? I’m not dealing with that shit. And I want my kid to have somewhere to run and play and get dirty. Is that so wrong?”
“No,” Lucy sighed. “It’s not wrong. But if I recall, Brady’s place has plenty of green space that would be perfect for a growing kid.”
“It would be. In fact, it is perfect for the kid he already has and wants. Layla.” He’d given no indication that he wanted anything to do with this baby. “I can’t force him to want something else, Lucy. I won’t.”
She sighed, exasperated. “Men are stupid, Toni. How many times have you said that to me?”
“Enough times,” I grunted.
“Exactly. Brady might not have said what he meant in the most eloquent way, but did you really give him a chance?”
“Yeah, I did. I gave him multiple chances to tell me what he felt, what was in his heart and he couldn’t do it.” That was just as bad as if he’d rejected me outright. “No matter how he feels, his fear is greater than his feelings.”
“Ugh,” she rolled her eyes and shook her head. “See? Stupid. They may be strong and brooding and sexy, but above all else they are incredibly stupid. Remember that.”
Her words made me smile. “I will never forget again,” I promised just as a knock sounded at the door.
“Oh! Did you order birria tacos? Please say yes and let me watch you eat them!”
I laughed. “I wish, but morning sickness is kicking my ass. It’s probably a relator who somehow sensed I was putting my condo on the market and wants to take a peek.”
“Good luck,” she called out with air kisses before she ended the call.
The knock sounded again and I frowned at the door, wondering who had the audacity to show up at my place without an invitation. Annoyed and heartbroken and angry, I marched to the door and pulled it open with a scowl “What the hell do you want?” My heart caught in my throat because it wasn’t a pushy realtor and it wasn’t Molly who was supposed to stop by today. “Brady.”
He flashed a shy smile and nodded as he shoved his hands deep into the pockets of jeans that hugged his thighs and hung low on his hips. “Toni, hey.”
I folded my arms and did my best to look uninterested and intimidating. “What are you doing here?”
“A few years ago I dated a woman, Nina Katarova. She was beautiful and just a little bit geeky, the perfect woman for me. Or so I thought.” Brady sucked in a deep breath and scrubbed a hand over her face. “She liked a lot of the things I liked so I was eager to learn about some of the things she liked that were foreign to me. I tried Russian cuisine and even attended Fashion Week. I thought we were in love, moving towards the bigger picture, you know? Engagement and marriage and family.” He laughed bitterly. “Until I heard her saying that she could put up with a lot for a seven figure bank account. It gutted me, at first. And then it made me angry.”
My heart ached for Brady. He was a good man with a lot of positive traits that had nothing at all to do with his wealth. He was gorgeous and funny, slightly grumpy and so damn sexy even now my body responded to him. “She sounds like a total bitch.”
His lips kicked into a lopsided smile. “She was,” he agreed. “But it took me a long time to realize that she was the problem and not me.”
“Sounds like low self-esteem,” I diagnosed and stepped back, motioning for him to come inside.
“That was part of it,” he admitted easily. “Mostly it was that I was so blind, possibly willfully so that I ignored the signs. The suggestions of where to go for dinner or an impromptu vacation, what kinds of clothes I should wear and events we needed to attend. So I closed myself off. Shuttered my heart and stole my faith in women, and in myself.”
My arms folded protectively over my chest and I stared back at him, ignoring the desire that welled up inside of me to forgive him and jump into his arms to make us both feel better. “I never asked you for anything,” I said for what felt like the thousandth time.
“You didn’t, but still I waited for the other shoe to drop. You were too beautiful and sassy, too lively and confident to actually want someone like me.”
“But I did, Brady. I wanted you. I wanted to know you, but that’s not what you wanted so tell me why you showed up here on my doorstep?” I needed to know and I was desperate for answers.