Page 64 of Auctioned to Dr. Daddy

“You did it,” I tell him, gripping him tightly. “You really did it!”

He wraps his arms around my waist and hefts me up, just enough so that he can spin me around. When my feet touch the ground again, he presses his mouth against my own in a frantic kiss. It’s tongue and tooth, entirely too passionate for being out in the open like this, but I can’t help leaning into it, letting him devour me.

When we part, it’s only because we’re both desperate for a breath of air. “You have the farm.”

“I have the farm!” I let out an overjoyed laugh, stepping backward.

It still feels like a dream. Any moment, I’m going to wake up and find that I’m hunched over my desk in the guest house of Apple Green, trying to figure out how to stay at the farm. But there’s nothing to wake up from.

This is real. A genuine part of what my life has become. Looking at him fills me with the kind of love and relief that only a true connection can bring.

“You saved me,” I tell him, the words coming out almost without me meaning to say them.

Nathan shakes his head. The corners of his smoky blue eyes have scrunched up, giving him just a touch of crow’s feet. It’s a good look on him. “I didn’t save you, Demi. I just made something a little easier to get through.”

“Just take the compliment,” I scold, pressing a kiss on his cheek, then a second one, straight at the corner of his mouth. “And then take me home.”

“Your wish is my command,” says Nathan, with a jaunty little tip of a non-existent hat. He takes me by the waist and guides me over to the Rolls Royce, opening up the door for me. As I slide into the seat, he says, “You had better start figuring out which room you’re going to turn into the nursery.”

My belly flips at the mention of our soon-to-be-born child but for the first time, it’s not with nerves. It’s excitement that builds up inside of me. I can’t help but picture everything that could happen with a new baby in the house.

It’s going to be hard. I’m going to have a fragile person depending on me, and one that is so very, very easy to get hurt and get sick. This might be my job—taking care of others, saving their lives—but the responsibility when it comes to my child, makes this whole thing seem so much harder.

But I won’t be alone, not the way that my mother was.

I’m going to have Nathan there with me, helping me out every step of the way.

He’s already got experience with infants under his belt, having raised Tabitha, and I’ll be honest, being around his daughter so much lately has given me a lot more confidence in my ability to handle a child of my own.

Plus, the baby is coming anyway. I think it makes a lot more sense to become excited over it instead; to find the joy in the moment, just like I’ve found the joy in all of the moments with Nathan so far.

When Nathan gets into the driver’s seat, I reach out and tell him, “I think that’s something we’re going to have to decide together. We can do a tour of the house soon as Mindy moves out and pick the room out then.”

The look he gives me makes me feel more important than even the sun itself.

“Well, how am I supposed to say no to that?” Nathan says.

The answer is: he’s not. And it’s very, very clear that he doesn’t want to, either.

Things really are starting to look up.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Nathan

Thelastfewdayshave been a dream.

The bliss on Demi’s face since the day she signed the papers and Tabitha’s joyful chatter about the time we’ve been spending on the farm lately make me more and more hopeful about my future with Demi.

There are a lot of things we still need to discuss but for now, I just want to enjoy every step of the way.

Once we make our way back home, I realize that there’s going to be no better time than the present to let Tabitha know what’s going on. I adjust the rearview mirror slightly so that I can easily see into the backseat. “Hey, Tabby Cat?”

“Meow,” says Tabitha, in answer. She puts down the colored pencil and the sketchbook that she had been scribbling in.

I can’t help but smile. God, this girl means the world to me.

“You know how much fun we’ve both been having with Demi, lately?” I ask.

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