Page 123 of Daddy By Design

I choked on the sip of Firefly.

“That’s a yes.” She picked up the water bottle and took a long sip.

I set my bottle down and pressed my lips together. “I…”

“It’s fairly obvious.”

“I was…doing that.”

“You can say it. Obviously, I still do it.” She patted her flat middle. “Soon it’ll be...” She made a big curve as if she was super pregnant. “Damn giant of a husband.”

I blew out a breath. “Okay, first of all, why didn’t you tell me you had a brother?”

“Long story. Mostly family shit. I used to go out with his best friend.”

“Oh, well, crap.” And here I was, not exactly going out with my friend’s brother, but I was definitely, kind of, sort of involved. At least I had been.

“Yeah, got a bit sticky. Especially since his best friend ended up being a shit.”

I played with the tail of my braid. “We only hooked up a few times.”

“A few times?” Macy drank deeply from her straw. “I don’t want to know details, thanks.”

“Good, because no way.”

We both laughed.

“But we…” Hell, I didn’t know what we were. “We just fight. And then he pisses me off and we rinse and repeat. I’m tired of it.”

“Hmm.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” She took another long drink and the echo of her hitting the bottom of the cup was the only sound in the room.

“I just need to focus on the house and getting the build done.”

“Sure.” Macy went to the fridge and refilled from the water dispenser on the door.

“We can work together. It’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.” I drained the last of my bottle. “Now what do you need help with?”

“We’ll let the men do the meat thing. Everything else is done. Let’s let them wait on us for once.”

I grabbed another Firefly. “I’m good with that.”

I followed Macy onto the porch. Michael was running circles around Nolan with his Nerf…something. Maybe a bow and arrow type thing?

Nolan was sizing up the target even though Michael was doing everything he could to distract him. There was already a foam arrow stuck to the board on the ring outside of the red bullseye.

Nolan deliberately dropped the plastic bow down and shot next to Michael’s arrow.

“He let him win.”

Macy grinned. “Yeah, he did. He used to do the same with me. Nice to know some things don’t change.” She headed down the stairs. “I’m next!”

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