 by Tory Baker.jpg)
Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 52598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
There’s something about a woman who has no problem putting a man in his place. And Kody does exactly that, she doesn’t take my surly attitude or the way I try to ignore her every move.
My heart has other plans, there is no keeping her at arms length. Not when I see her everywhere, the way she looks, her sweet voice, and the way she loves my daughter. Now all I need to do is prove I’m worthy of Kody’s love and I’m going to do everything in my power to make it happen.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
PROLOGUE
ONE WEEK EARLIER
Jameson
“Come on, Josephine, let’s play while we wait for momma to get here,” I tell my nearly two-year-old daughter. Her mom and I aren’t together. We were each scratching an itch. Add a busted condom, and now here’s Josephine. Anyone who tells you that you can’t feel when a rubber breaks is a dumb-ass liar. I pulled out, not fast enough. She knew the moment it happened. A few weeks later when Emma called me, I knew what it was about. There was no doubt in my mind that Josephine was mine. Emma is a lot of things, but a liar isn’t one of them. We knew the two of us were like oil and vinegar. One night and a handful of talks later, once the doctor's appointments were out of the way, we set up a game plan. There wasn’t a chance in hell we wouldn’t be toxic to one another, and friendship is way better than two people vehemently hating one another for the rest of Josephine’s life. Our daughter didn’t deserve to know what a loveless marriage looked like and what she thought would be okay in her future relationships.
Emma and I are type-A personalities, both competitive, both hardworking in our respective careers, and both control freaks. We knew it’d be a recipe for disaster. I accompanied her to every appointment, and anytime a new milestone was hit, Emma would call me. It didn’t matter if the baby kicked, if she had weird cravings, or if the doctor said her blood sugar wasn’t within the right parameters. We kept an open line of communication and still do.
“Ma-ma coming?” Josephine's baby blues light up her entire face. She’s the perfect combination of Emma and me. Our girl has soft blonde hair like I had as a child; it’ll more than likely turn darker like mine has. She’s also got my blue eyes. The shape of her mouth, eyes, and lips, well, those are all Emma’s. Today, she’s decked out in a white frilly top, white and pink belle-bottom-style jeans, a gift from my brother and his wife the last time they stopped by. It’s now a repeat outfit for Josephine, and far be it for me to fight with her over clothes. Oh no, we deal with that enough when it comes to her hair. I’m a guy. I get that I’m not the best. I’ve tried the trick of using the hairbrush to get the bumps out of her ponytail, making sure it’s wet, and have even attempted the vacuum cleaner trick to get it all slicked back in a secure pony or two pigtails. It’s never what Josephine wants, and try as I might, Emma does it better. So, when she’s with me, it’s a sloppy whatever I can manage to do. I’ve got big fucking hands and big fucking fingers.
“She’ll be here in a few minutes.” I check my watch, seeing it’s later for Emma to arrive than usual. She’s usually prompt or will call to give me a heads-up unless a meeting kept her later than normal and she can’t pull her phone out. Emma’s job as a cooperate lawyer forty minutes on the outskirts of town means she’s in the thick of it. Our schedule of sharing Josephine works. We trade off back and forth—one week I get her four days, the next week I’ll have her for three days, and if we need a breather or something comes up, we work around it. While we’re at work, my parents help with Josephine for the most part. Though Emma has it in her head that Josephine should be in school. We’re supposed to be interviewing three next week. Where she found these schools in our small county, I’ve got no idea. I’ll say one thing: I’m not sold on the idea. Josephine is barely two, and I hate the thought of her being around strangers. Even if they are teachers. My parents love having her a few days a week. We’ve made it work. Sometimes, I’ll bring JoJo to work with me or Emma will work from home. So, it sucks that she’s willing to mix things up and cause this to be our biggest hurdle to date. I’ve asked Emma to reconsider it, but so far, it’s gone unanswered.