Page 41 of The Billionaire's Wife

“Hey, guys.” I lifted a hand.

“Heya. Where’s the soda?” Austin nodded toward my can.

I pointed.

“Cool.” Austin crossed to pull open the door and looked at Scott. “You want?”

“Sure. I’ll live on the edge. Does he have an orange soda in there?”

Austin moved cans around, then held an orange one in the air. “You’re in luck. You know what? That sounds good.”

I winced. “How can you drink that?”

Scott scoffed. “Oh please. It’s all just bubbly sugar water anyway.”

“Yeah, but orange?” I gave a mock shudder.

Austin chuckled and popped open his can, then took a long drink. “Ahhh. Just like radioactive fruit should taste.”

I laughed in spite of myself. “I don’t have a mechanism for comparison there, so I’ll take your word for it.”

“Everyone’s a comedian.” Austin shook his head and took another drink. “Why are we here on a Monday?”

Scott jammed his elbow into Austin’s side. “Wait for Wes.”

“Ow.” Austin glared at Scott. “Just trying to get a feel for how long it’s going to take.”

“You don’t have to be here.” I couldn’t help that annoyance laced my words. Here I was trying to do what the guys were always nagging me about and keep open and honest communication, and Austin was already trying to leave.

“That’s not what I said. Or meant.” Austin sighed. “Kayla gets antsy when she doesn’t know exactly when I should be home. I’m putting the blame solely on pregnancy hormones and praying it changes when the baby’s here.”

“At Christmas.” Scott shot Austin a look. “That’s like three months still.”

“You don’t have to remind me of this.” Austin reached for his soda.

“You should turn on your location sharing. Then she can track you like a stalker on her phone and you can be less annoying to your friends. Everyone wins.” I spread my hands. “You’re welcome.”

Austin clicked on his phone, tapped, and then held it up so I could see the screen with location sharing enabled. “She can see where I am whenever she wants. Doesn’t seem to make a dent in her anxiety.”

I winced. So much for that. “And her doctor says it’s normal?”

“Eh. Her doctor says sometimes pregnancy hormones cause paranoia and if it gets unbearable to let her know and she’ll discuss options.” Austin shrugged. “So far, keeping her in the loop is enough to make it all work, so for now we’re letting it ride.”

It didn’t sound like it was working to me, but what did I know?

Wes came back, this time with Noah and Cody in tow. “Pizza’s almost here. I’ll wait for it and then be back. Just another couple minutes, promise.”

The same conversation about soda and general greetings batted around the table for Noah and Cody. I leaned back in the chair—it was a lot more comfortable than my desk chair. Maybe I ought to give in and buy myself something nicer for work. It wasn’t as if I couldn’t afford it. Just because I’d gotten the office furniture for a steal didn’t mean I had to stick with it.

“You okay?” Noah dropped into the seat beside me and cracked open a can of Sprite.

“Not really.” I pressed my lips together. I’d planned on saying that sure, I was fine. It was one thing to keep the guys in the loop. It was a completely different thing to admit that I wasn’t dealing with this whole situation very well.

Noah nodded. “Reasonable. Probably a lot to deal with, with the whole secret wife showing up out of the blue thing.”

I closed my eyes. “Is that going to hound me forever?”

“Probably, yeah.”

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