Page 46 of Auctioned to Dr. Daddy

I can practically hear the sultry tone that he uses when he says that.

A shiver runs down my spine. I click the button on the toy and toss it aside, not bothering to get out of bed and clean it up just then.

Instead, I close my eyes and let that thought put me to sleep.

Good girl. And he always sounds like he means it.

By morning, I’m feeling a little more certain of myself. Maybe it’s just that not having the rain coming down improves my mood. Maybe it’s something else entirely. I’m not sure. What I do know is this—I’m super excited for Nathan and Tabitha to show up.

When they do, I go outside to meet their car. Nathan gets out and unhooks Tabitha from her car seat. She’s too short not to ride in one, especially not in a sports car like that.

He’s dressed her in a pair of jeans and a white shirt with flowers on it. White’s not the best color for a farm day, but it’ll work.

“Hey there, Tabby! Are you ready to see some horses?” I ask.

Tabitha nods and gives me a shy smile. “Yeah.”

“She’s been talking about it all week. Thanks for having us both out here,” Nathan says.

He looks pretty excited about it too. Maybe just because this is family time. It means that there’s something more serious between us, right?

Yeah, it does.

I lead the way out back, toward one of the empty paddocks. The tall grass is soft to walk through, and the whole world seems fresh in the wake of all that rain. The sunlight has burned the dew away already, meaning that the blanket stays dry when I lay it down over the grass.

Tabitha looks around. “Where are the horses?”

“They’re having lunch too,” I tell her. “We’ll see them once we eat. There’s a pretty brown horse I think that you’re going to love. Her name is Princess!”

“She sounds pretty,” says Tabitha, sitting down on the blanket.

Nathan sets down a bright pink backpack next to her. “You wait right here. I’m going to help Demi get the rest of our lunch brought out, alright?”

Tabitha nods, already unzipping her backpack and pulling out crayons and a coloring book. The paddock is fully fenced in and empty, so there’s no risk in leaving her to color while we go back to my house to get the food.

I pull out the large platter that I picked up at the store the day before. It’s a plastic party platter with different meats and cheese and crackers. I’ve got a second one filled up with fruit because that seemed like the kind of picnic finger food that a little girl would like.

“I got cupcakes too, the mini ones. But I didn’t know if she could actually have them.” I turn around and find that Nathan’s standing right in front of me. His hands settle on my hips, and he leans forward, crashing our mouths together in a passionate kiss.

His tongue runs over my lower lip, and I breathe out hard, letting him in. It’s brief, but the kiss is still so hot that it almost leaves me dizzy. As he pulls back, Nathan takes the food trays from me.

“She can have cupcakes. It’s a special day, right? Not often that she gets to come out to a place like this,” he says.

“She could come out more often.”

“Is that so?” Nathan asks. “Would I also be out here more often?”

“Unless you plan on letting her drive the car early,” I say.

This is a risk. It’s a big one. I take it anyway. “Nathan, I thought that maybe we don’t pretend that this is hands-off anymore.”

Nathan's brows raise, just a little. “You want to be serious about it. Is that what you wanted to tell me the other day?”

It’s part of it. I’m still neglecting to mention the bun that I’ve got in the oven but this is a step in the right direction. Why tell him about the baby if he doesn’t even want to be officially steady, right?

So I give a little nod, ducking away from him to grab the container of miniature cupcakes out of the fridge. “I just don’t want to act like there’s not something between us.”

A moment of silence from behind me. Then Nathan says, “I think that’s a good idea. There was never any chance that we were going to keep things quiet forever. I can’t get enough of you, Demi.”

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