Page 22 of A Package Deal

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too. Not that I had any right to Warrick.

“I’m not touching!” Keva said innocently before her face morphed into an evil grin. “I’m just looking. He’s very nice to look at, don’t you think?”

The girls all agreed. I stayed silent, wishing I could disappear into the background. I absolutely would not be commenting on the looks of my client. Or say anything about moving in with him.

“Listen, we’re all happily married, Em, but if we weren’t, Warrick Wolfe would be the first man I’d flirt with.” Audrey winked at me.

“He wears snakeskin boots,” I finally said, offering my first thoughts on the subject.

Paisley whistled under her breath, her voice barely a whisper. “He looks like he’d be an animal in bed.”

Audrey leaned forward, eyes gleaming. “Overpowering, you know?”

Marlo nodded. “Strong, for sure.”

Keva dealt the deathblow. “You know he could last all night, even in middle age.”

I scraped my chair back, face so hot I felt like I might have a sunburn. Their thoughts mirrored just a shade too closely to my own. “Sorry to dash out of here, but I have some work I have to do this afternoon. Thank you all for such a lovely lunch.”

The ladies all stood and gave me hugs, promising to invite us to the next lunch. Despite the conversation topic that had me running like a scared goat-dog, I’d enjoyed our lunch. I could see myself being friends with them.

Georgia tried to pitch a fit about leaving Aster, but I promised we’d arrange a playdate soon and that was enough to get her to leave the restaurant without a full-blown meltdown. Her mother, on the other hand, was having an internal meltdown. The talk about Warrick had taken that nagging little voice that whispered how handsome the man was and poured gasoline on the fire.

I needed to get home and take a cold shower. I had zero intention of ever getting involved with a man again, and certainly not now that I was in the middle of a shit show in my personal life. It was all the marriage talk Friday that had gotten to me. That was it. I just needed to tell him no and then everything would go back to normal. I’d call him Dick, he’d call me Slaywright, and I’d work on his house while throwing insults at him. He’d smirk and walk off, getting his ass handed to him by a farm animal. All of that I could handle.

Except when I got home, I didn’t get that cold shower until much later that night. Because I’d spent the rest of the day on my phone, researching court cases and calling lawyers’ offices again. The panic was back and this time it had nothing to do with Warrick.

My ex had texted me while I was out to lunch with the ladies.

Cayden: You might as well call me back, Emmerleigh. The court won’t like how you absconded with my child. Better we work this out before we go in front of a judge.

My hands shook so hard with rage I could barely read the screen. Absconded with his child?? There were so many things wrong with that one sentence I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t take Georgia from him. I begged him to be involved in her life, but he refused. In fact, he fired me and then left me out on the street to fend for myself, pregnant with his child. Once I realized who he really was, I hadn’t even gone after him for child support like I should have. I just wanted him out of our lives. Hence, the move to Blueball and our fresh start here.

Now he wanted to come back into our lives acting like he was the victim? Hell no.

Georgia may have some of his genes, but that didn’t mean she was his in any way that mattered. I’d raised her by myself for five years and he could rot in hell for trying to take her from me now. I would fight this with everything I had. Every dollar, every ounce of my sanity. Even if I lost, Georgia would know that her mama went down swinging for the fucking fences.

Me: Go to hell. See you in court.

I threw the phone on my nightstand. The loud clatter made me wince. I paused, listening for Georgia, wondering if I’d woken her up. When I heard nothing for long minutes, I sagged to the bed and hung my head.

I would fight this, there was no doubt.

Even if it meant asking for help. Even if it meant humiliating myself.

Sucking in a deep breath and letting it go again, I grabbed the phone and fired off another text. This time to Warrick.

Me: I accept your proposal.

The bubble indicating he was writing me back appeared instantly.

Warrick Wolfe: I’ll call the courthouse tomorrow and get the ceremony set up for Tuesday after you drop Georgia off at preschool.

My thumbs hovered over the screen. I bit my bottom lip and tried to push down the rising panic about the direction my life was going in. I should say thank you. I should explain why I’d said yes when I had had every intention of saying no up until that text from Cayden tonight.

Instead, I turned my phone off without a reply and went to bed.

CHAPTER TEN

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