Page 17 of Fated Secret Baby

“So that’s a yes?” Her eyebrows lift, some of the worry disappearing.

My smile is genuine. “It’s a yes, Calista.”

“Okay. Um. Your house?”

It’s better than I could have hoped for. “I’ll make dinner.”

“Cool. Um. I’ll… see you tonight,” she says.

“It’s a date.”

I turn, deciding to take my win and go. I make it to the truck door before I hear her call my name. “Orion?”

It’s not fair that after all these years, it can still give me goosebumps when she says my name. I turn.

Calista smiles. “Thank you for the flowers.”

The door shuts, and she disappears.

I take a breath, settling my nerves.

None of this is going the way I would have wanted it to. I never wanted Calista to leave. I wanted her to be my mate. I wanted to have children with her, and most of all, I never wanted this strange, ugly distance between us.

You can’t change the past. You can only accept it.

The affirmation helps.

As I start my truck, the distance that was once too large between us feels just that much smaller. Even though everything between us is wrong, the promise of dinner feels right.

Calista, in any capacity, always feels right.

I spend the whole day trying to get ready for dinner.

Ingredients are purchased. More flowers are obtained. I clean, even though I’m a fairly clean person. I want everything to be perfect.

I have so many questions about Calista and her daughter. I’m dying to know who the father is. Why they’re not together. Why she was so curt when I asked.

If this male somehow harmed her…

I shake the thought. I need to let Calista set the pace between us. I need to prove to her that I’m worth her trust again. That whatever reason she had for leaving before, doesn’t exist anymore.

I just want her in my life again.

When the doorbell finally rings, I take a deep breath before opening.

“You’re right on time,” I say, a smile plastered on my face.

When I see Calista on my porch, the smile slides off, replaced by sheer shock.

She looks amazing. Her long legs look like they never end. She’s wearing a blue dress that buttons down the front, with short straps on top that show off her arms and a lot of skin right at her chest…

I look away. Don’t be a creep. “You look great,” I manage to grunt.

“Thanks,” she says softly.

“Come in,” I say.

She slides past me, and her scent hits me in the gut again. Somehow, with Calista, I feel like I’m always living the same story, over and over again. Everything about her feels right, familiar, and perfect.

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