Page 34 of Won’t Let You Get Away

“I mean this politely,” Connor starts, coughing once before continuing. “Did you fall off a horse and hit your head?”

I shoot him a glare in response.

“Noah, you only met the woman a week ago. I know we love Ma and Pa Jones, but you can’t just find out someone’s pregnant and claim the baby as yours. Maybe ask her on a date or two first, then?—”

“Actually,” I interrupt his tirade. “We met three months ago.”

Connor’s jaw drops open. “What? How? Where?”

AJ lets out a laugh, shaking his head at my brother’s rapid-fire questions but doesn’t say anything.

I open my mouth to explain how I spent my time on the vacation he forced me on when a thought hits me.

“Con, how did you and Dad pick the resort for me over Christmas?”

My brother looks at me as if I’ve grown a second head.

“What does that have to do with Sabrina?”

I shrug. “Just answer the question.”

“Um, I’m not exactly sure. Like I told you before, Dad planned it all. I just entered the credit card information.” He taps his glass and continues. “The day he asked me to book it, I was running behind after a client showed up late, so Ma Jones offered to keep him company until I arrived. By the time I got there, Dad already had a piece of paper with all the resort packages, room bookings, and dates and asked me to book it for you.”

I blink once, processing all of that with the new information about Bri, then burst out laughing.

Connor and AJ jump, staring at me as if I’m going crazy.

“They set it up,” I say, trying to explain between bouts of laughter.

My brother leans back, turning his head toward AJ but keeping his concerned gaze on me. “I think he really did fall off a horse.”

Taking a deep breath, I compose myself enough to share my realization.

“I met Bri—” My teeth grind as I correct myself. “Sabrina—three months ago at the resort that Dad and you so wonderfully shipped me off to.”

“We didn’t ship you—” Connor starts but catches himself. His eyes widen as he reaches up to tap AJ’s shoulder. “Holy shit. Dad sent you there because he knew Ma’s daughter was gonna be around and alone.”

“That’s right, genius,” AJ grumbles, pushing away Connor’s hand.

“Dude. How could you not tell me you knew the Jones’s daughter?”

“I didn’t know she was their daughter until we saw her last week.”

Connor snorts. “What’d ya do, hook up for a few days without telling each other your full names or talking about where you’re from or any of that basic stuff?”

I scratch my jaw and shrug my shoulder.

“I mean, pretty much.”

Connor drops his head back with a groan and I let out a light chuckle before explaining those few days to him, with as few details about my sex life as possible.

“We hit it off pretty quickly. We had all the same excursions booked,” I shoot a half-assed glare towards my brother before continuing. “We hung out in all our free time after that first day. It was easy, light, and fun—nothing deep or personal.”

Sighing, I run a hand through my hair and swallow the lump in my throat.

“But when you called in the middle of the night about Dad, I was torn. I needed to be home, needed to be with you, but I didn’t want to leave her. So I left my number. She never called and then she showed up here last week and I found out she was pregnant today. So, yeah.” I finish with a shrug.

“Damn,” my brother says. “And here I was thinking you were just holed up in your room staring at a wall.”

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