Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Determined to get an answer, he propped himself against the wall outside the bathroom door and settled in to wait. Aurora–no last names needed–had gotten away from him once before.
He wasn’t about to let it happen again.
* * *
Aurora sat in a chair in the outer room of the restroom, attempting to pull herself together.
“Breathe,” Chloe said, putting a hand on Aurora’s back.
“Trying.” Aurora’s mind was spinning. Nick was here! She thought she’d never see him again.
Shortly after their time together, she’d found herself pregnant and alone. Then Braden and Willow Prescott, whom she’d met at the free clinic where she’d gone for prenatal care in Florida, had given her a place to stay. And not long after that, Linc had shown up and told Aurora she was a Kingston. And though she’d no longer been alone, through it all, she’d been a single mother. It was the way she’d identified herself, then and now. And she hadn’t expected that to change.
But now Leah’s father had surfaced, and questions filtered through her brain. Would Nick want to be part of his daughter’s life? Would he fight for custody? Was that possible? She didn’t know him at all—not really. There was one thing she was certain of, though—things were going to change. At the thought, she began hyperventilating again.
“Okay enough.” Chloe got down on her knees. “You need to tell me what’s going on, because I’m starting to panic.”
“I… Okay. I just…”
“Let’s start with why you ran out of the ballroom.” Now that she had Aurora’s attention, Chloe’s voice gentled.
Aurora nodded and pulled in a longer breath. “I saw someone from my past.”
Chloe placed a hand on Aurora’s knee, steadying herself. “Who?”
Tears filled Aurora’s eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “Leah’s father,” she whispered.
“Holy shit! No wonder you’re in here hyperventilating!” Chloe pushed herself up. “Sorry, I have to stand. This position is killing my knees.” Then she looked at Aurora and sighed. “Do you want to tell me how you met him?”
Aurora had never discussed that night with her family. It hadn’t seemed to matter. After all, she couldn’t track Nick down no matter how much money she now had.
“It was my birthday. I had aged out of foster care that day and I’d gone to work at the diner, as usual. I’d already made arrangements with the owners—they’d agreed to let me sleep in the back room, thank God,” she said, recalling her past. “I waited on a table of guys. One of them—his name was Nick—asked me out that night. Normally, I’d have said no but it was my birthday and I figured I deserved something good that day…” she trailed off, remembering.
She’d been attracted to Nick from the moment she saw him. The other guys around the table had been cocky, prep-school types. Most had blonde hair and sticks up their asses. They’d whistled and winked at her but they had just been showing off for their friends.
Nick had been different. Kinder. Confident in an innate way. He didn’t have to prove himself or act superior. He’d just been a hot, sexy guy who’d known what he wanted. She couldn’t believe he’d chosen her.
Chloe waited patiently for her to continue.
Aurora drew a deep breath. “We had dinner, walked on the beach and talked, a lot. We ended up back in his room and…you know the rest. But he used protection.” She waved her hands in the air, as frustrated now as she had been then. “It was just one of those freak things.”
She’d never regret having Leah. She adored her child. Leah was her life. But at the time, her fear had been overwhelming.
“Nick and I never exchanged last names. We both knew he was in town for a short time visiting a friend, and that he’d go back to his life. And I had to figure out mine.”
“But now he’s out there?” Chloe asked.
“He was standing with the so-called Dirty Dare brothers.”
Chloe narrowed her gaze. “You said Nick.” She pulled her phone from her purse. “Don’t worry. I’m just asking Sasha if there’s a Nick Dare.” Her fingers tapped on the screen.
Aurora blinked. “He looked like Harrison,” she whispered.
A few seconds later, Chloe’s phone beeped and she glanced down. “And we have a winner. Nick Dare is your baby daddy.”
Aurora nodded slowly. A Dare. A cousin to Dr. Braden Prescott and his wife, Willow, who had helped her when she was pregnant.
Well, that was a coincidence, but it was one she could handle. Nick being here, now, would be harder.
“I have to face him. He needs to know about Leah.” Her insides trembled at the thought.
Chloe sighed. “He does. But why don’t you start with just seeing him again, then go from there. Can you do that?”
“I have no choice.” Drawing a deep breath for courage, Aurora rose to her feet. Though she was mortified that she’d run away like a coward, she’d needed time to get over the shock.