Page 74 of Resisting my Roommate

But Iwilllet her go.

“If I only have a little more time with you…” I hook an arm around her waist and tug her against me, “I’m going to need to get my fill.”

I crush my lips to hers, a vice squeezing my heart at the idea that this will be one of the last times I’ll ever taste her. That I’ll ever feel her. That I’ll ever hear her tiny moans.

But this is how it needs to be. Any time I question if I made the right decision, all I’ll have to do is look at the door to the nursery and remember what it feels like to lose my entire fucking world.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

JUDE

I stand behind the bar and look out over the packed taproom. It feels like the entire town is here. I’m not surprised. After all, it’s Abbey’s last night of work. If you can even call it work, considering she hasn’t poured a single beer or taken a single order.

It doesn’t bother me.

All these people wanted to stop by and say goodbye before she leaves in two days.

Two fucking days.

That’s all the time I have left with her.

After I urged her to take the job and she told me when she’d need to leave, it seemed like a lifetime away.

But those ten days went by in the blink of an eye.

Now, in less than forty-eight hours, she’ll leave Sycamore Falls.

All because I refuse to give her a reason to stay.

I keep telling myself I’m doing the right thing. I don’t want to be the one to hold her back from an amazing opportunity that pays a ridiculous amount of money.

And that’s the part I struggle with. She may not have come right out and said it because I wouldn’t let her. But she’d give it all up for me in a heartbeat.

If I would stop being such a coward.

“You look like hell.”

At the sound of Finn’s voice, I pull my attention away from watching Abbey and face my brother. As I take in his own disheveled appearance, my brows furrow. His dark hair is unruly, and it looks like he hasn’t slept in a few days, his eyes red and droopy.

“Did you have a fire last night?” I grab a glass and place it under one of the taps, then set the honey brown ale in front of him.

He nods his thanks, then takes a sip. “I’ve been off. Working a twenty-four tomorrow, though.”

“Then…”

“I’m thinking about offering to help Genevieve have a baby.”

My jaw practically falls to the floor.

Of all the things Finn could have said to explain the reason he looks like shit, this is the absolute last.

“I’m going to need you to back up and tell me what you mean.”

I swipe a pint glass off the counter and fill it up with a Belgian-inspired whitbier. I normally don’t drink while I’m working, but I think this warrants an exception.

“She wants a baby, but after her divorce, she has absolutely no desire to date. She decided to have a baby on her own.”

“So….what? You’re going to provide a sample?”

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