Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 156145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
“We haven’t found someone qualified to fill either of those roles.” Cameron frowned. “I can’t even find someone qualified to man the damn front desk, and that’s a simple enough job.”
“You don’t think anyone is qualified.” Finding someone to work with them who could handle the job—and Cameron’s surliness—was an impossible task.
“I have exacting standards.”
“More like...” He caught a strange expression on Cameron’s face. “What?”
“What the hell is this?” Cameron stalked over and snatched the top baby book off the pile Aaron had placed on the far side of his desk when the box showed up. He flipped through it, the book looking tiny in his massive hands. “You planning on procreating?”
He hadn’t planned on sharing the information like this—or at all until strictly necessary. Aaron rubbed a hand over his face. “A girl I was, ah, seeing. She’s pregnant.”
“It’s yours?”
He gritted his teeth. “It’s mine.” Becka said it was, and he had no reason to doubt her. Going down that path lay madness and ensured that any relationship blossoming between them would be dead and gone.
“Huh.” Cameron set the book down. “Congrats, then, I guess. Or condolences?” He narrowed his eyes. “Which way do we fall on this?”
“I don’t know yet.” It was nothing more than the truth. The baby was unplanned and even with the surprise and shock wearing off, he had mixed feelings. He’d never planned on having a child with someone he wasn’t married to. The whole concept was old-fashioned and he should just set it aside, but it bothered him. Things with Becka weren’t buttoned up—and showed no signs of being buttoned up any time in the foreseeable future. They were making progress, but it was slow going. “We’re keeping it, and that’s enough for now.”
“Guess so.” Cameron scrubbed a hand over his shaved head. “Look, I’m sorry about Kim Jones. I didn’t know that offering my opinion would make her freak the fuck out like that. And then she was yelling and I was yelling and...” He shrugged. “I said we’ll hire someone and we will. I’ll set up another round of interviews this week.”
He opened his mouth, but there was no point of going round and round with this shit. He’d known who Cameron was when he went into business with the man. Aaron had made his peace with being client-facing, but he hadn’t expected it to chafe quite so much. If they could get a good third in here, it would smooth over a lot of their random little issues. It just had to be someone Cameron wouldn’t scare off inside of a week.
But his partner had said he’d handle it, and so he had to let it go. “Appreciate it.”
“Now, get to work. Sounds like you have more mouths to feed in the near future.” He grinned. “Any chance it’s twins?”
“Oh, fuck right off, Cameron.” He shook his head and sat behind his desk. There was plenty of work to be done, and he had to get it finished in time to pick Becka up after work. No matter what bullshit arose during the day, he wasn’t going to let anything endanger another date with her.
Not when he was actually starting to make progress.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
BECKA RAN BACK to her apartment on her lunch break to grab more clothes. She stood in the middle of the living room and wrinkled her nose. Living surrounded by Aaron’s understated luxury made it hard to see this place as anything other than the shithole he’d labeled it. It was home, sure... Or at least it had been. It didn’t feel like much right now except for a letdown. She gave herself a shake and headed into her room to grab a bag to throw some dresses into. At some point soon she’d have to face the reality of maternity clothing, but she wasn’t ready to deal with it yet.
Great job, Becka. Just avoid anything and everything related to the baby until you absolutely have to face it. That sure won’t blow up in your face.
Impossible to ignore the little voice when it spoke hard-core reason at her. She’d asked Aaron for time before they got down to the nitty-gritty about baby stuff, and he’d mostly respected that in the few days since. Her reprieve wouldn’t last, and she could hardly blame him for that. They were about to be responsible for another person, and flying by the seat of her pants might have gotten her this far in life, but his regimented scheduling and research-based personality were probably better suited for parenting than hers was.
It seemed like everyone was better suited to be a parent than she was, and yet look how things had turned out.
As if summoned by her thoughts, her phone rang. Becka knew who it was even before her sister’s name scrolled across the screen. Lucy had been calling every couple of days for the last month, and Becka could tell her excuses for not picking up were starting to wear thin.