Page 89 of Embody

I wait until the door shuts and I hear the water come on before stepping outside and putting the phone to my ear. “Mr. Morgan, this is Jefferson Kendrick. Nice to finally talk with you, sir.”

And that’s all I get out for the next fifteen or so minutes. The man scarcely takes a breath, much like I’ve witnessed of his daughter, and I gotta say, could give my own father one helluva run for his money.

I listen while he vents all his concerns, then answer his questions when he arrives at the portion of the conversation he’s deemed as my turn to speak. I lie straight through my teeth. For Bellamy. And I don’t feel a bit damn guilty about it either.

“Mr. Morgan, I wasn’t supposed to tell you this, and I’d die before betraying your amazing daughter in any way, but I think you and your wife need to know.”

“I don’t care how much money you come from, boy. You got her in the family way and I’ll kill you.” His voice is ruthless—he’s not joking even a little bit.

“No sir, nothing remotely close to that, I swear to you. Bellamy’s been working very hard to plan, and save for, a way to take me and my family on a weekend visit to you, or to pay for you and her mom to come here. A meet and greet holiday of sorts, so we can all get to know each other. She wanted it to be a surprise, and she really wanted to handle it herself. Wouldn’t let me even talk about chipping in on costs.”

Jesus. Housewarming gifts, meet and greets? This girl has turned me into Martha Fucking Stewart.

“Oh, uh,” his voice dips to a shamed octave and he clears his throat. “She didn’t mention any of that.”

“Like I said, she wanted it to be a nice surprise for everyone, especially you and her mom. Again, you can’t tell her I told you, please. Two things I admire most about your daughter are her selflessness and pride.”

“Me too,” he mutters. “So, what should we do, Jefferson?”

“You can call me JT. Bellamy kinda likes to keep Jefferson reserved for herself.”

“All right,” he almost laughs, “what’s the plan,JT?”

“Up to you, sir. Would you like my very large,enthusiasticfamily to descend upon you or would you and your wife prefer to come here?”

“Can you give me a while to consult with the Mrs.?”

“Of course. How about you take my phone number and call me back, anytime, to let me know what you decide and I’ll take it from there? We can turn Bellamy’s surprise into one for her.”

“Hmm, sounds like you’d do just about anything to make her happy.”

“That’s because I would.”

“Do you love her?” Oh yeah, he and my dad are gonna get along just fine with their blunt asses.

“Honestly sir, I don’t know the answer to that yet. What I ammore than sure aboutis that I haveneverfelt this way about another woman in my entire life.”

“Good enough for me. And young man, I respect the hell out of the fact that you got on the phone with me. I’ll get back to you soon on the other. In the meantime, tell my girl I said ‘Daddy was wrong, but not for too long. Will you give him a break, cure his ache?’” He does laugh this time. “Don’t worry, she won’t think you’re insane. She’ll know what it means.”

“I’ll tell her. And nice to meet you, via phone, and I’ll look forward to hearing from you.”

“Why would you be hearing from my dad, and tell me what?” Bellamy startles me, sneaking up from behind just as I hang up.

I turn and there she stands in the doorway, wearing only a barely-there robe, arms crossed over her chest and beautiful, green eyes shooting darts of suspicion at me.

“Let’s talk inside. That robe isn’t covering near enough of you for a chat out here.”

She heads in first anddamn, that thing’s even shorter in the back, a little bit of ass meets thigh peeking out to taunt me in the very best of ways.

And then my heavenly view is gone, planted firmly on the couch. “What happened? Talk! I’m dying here.”

I run a slow hand up and down my jaw, trying to process it all. “Honestly, I don’t even know where to start. Would’ve thought it impossible to fit one more thing into this day. Never a dull moment with you, is there, baby?”

“Nice try, but I’m pretty sure all the hub-bub showed up when you did,” she laughs. “Before I met you, I would’ve said I had the dullest life possible. Pathetically so.”

“Damn sure not the case now. We got a lot to talk about, but I can’t focus with you in that tiny ass robe, woman. And I’m starving. So how ‘bout you go change and I’ll run out to grab some food, then we’ll tackle one thing at a time. Sound good?”

“Sounds like it requires more patience than I have in me right now,” she snips, stomping down the hall.

 

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