Page 42 of Finding Out

Harper eyed me.

Lowering my attention, I whispered, “Yeah. I’m sorry.”

Avery tugged me aside, frowning. “That was a bit much.” She whispered as she glanced around. “I get why you wouldn’t want people thinking you were dating a client, but jeez, Wren. You were way too hard on poor Harper.”

“Sorry. I—” The truth was I didn’t want to be here. All night, my mind had been hung up on Tom. I should have been talking to him, not messing everything up. “I think I’m going to leave.”

“Are you okay?” Avery cocked her head, studying me.

I nodded, and once again, guilt turned my stomach.

Because there was so much I wasn’t telling her.

Baby Girl: Tonight went horribly.

Me: What? Why?

Baby Girl: Everything felt weird, so I left the party.

Me: Come over.

Baby Girl: It’s almost 10.

Me: I don’t give a shit. It could be 2 a.m., and I’d say the same thing. Come over and talk to me.

Baby Girl: Are you sure?

Me: I want you here.

I flung open the door,unsure of what she’d said or what had happened. All I’d gotten from her texts was that she was upset.

This shit should annoy me. I didn’t like drama. But at the moment, the only thing I cared about was Wren’s well-being.

She stood on my stoop, shivering and coatless in the cold night. Looking gorgeous in her red skirt and strappy black shoes. My dick jumped in my sweatpants, and I practically growled at it. My priority was Wren, so my desires would have to settle the fuck down.

After golf with her dad a couple of hours ago, the last thing I should have been doing was inviting her into my house. But I didn’t care what people thought anymore. I realized Avery and I would have to work through this, but I knew my daughter so I knew we would figure it out. Everyone else? I just didn’t care.

“Wren?”

“I’m fine. This is dumb. I overreacted tonight.” Her shoulders slumped. “The truth is, I’m here because I wanted to see you.”

More beautiful words had never been uttered.

I pushed the door all the way open and stepped back. “Come in.”

I was thrilled that she was here. Even more than that, I was fucking ecstatic that she’d acknowledged that she’d come just to be with me.

She walked past me and through my foyer, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor. Between the hem of her red top and her skirt, a hint of her smooth, tan skin was exposed. I homed in on it. God, she was gorgeous. I longed to reach out and brush my fingers along her soft flesh.

“Is it okay if we talk?” Wren asked as I followed her into my open-concept first floor.

“Always.” I leaned against the back of the sofa and waited.

Moving deeper into the room, past the bookcases, she silently surveyed the space. After a moment, she spun back to me.

“I’m surprisedStonehengeisn’t in here.”

Although I had two watercolors on the wall on either side of my entertainment center and an oil painting hanging above my buffet, none of them held much value.

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