Page 57 of Waiting on You

“My dad and I never fought,” Paige says softly. “Sometimes, I wish we had. Then, we could have gotten it all out, you know?”

“It’s not too late.”

“It feels like it is.” She shrugs and then changes the subject. “Are we doing anything tomorrow? Valerie and Penny asked me to go to breakfast with them.”

“Ahh, yes. Tomorrow is their monthly girls’ brunch. My brothers and I usually go golfing, and the girls go to brunch at the country club. I can skip it, unless you want to go.”

“I do,” Paige says. “I’d like to spend some time with them since our time here is limited.”

“We can come back anytime you want,” I tell her,tugging her chair closer so I can wrap my arm around her. “I know Rosemary is your home, but here, with my family, can also be your home.”

chapter twenty-one

PAIGE

“Uncle Nate!”Annemarie, Nate’s three-year-old niece, yells. “Come and throw me in!”

“Me too!” Dylan, her two-year-old brother, adds. “Throw me in!”

Nate looks between the kids and me, torn on leaving me, so I say, “Go! Go play with your niece and nephew. I’ll be fine right here.”

“Or you could go in with me.” Nate waggles his brows. “You know I’m dying to see you in that swimsuit you put on this morning.”

“Uncle Nate, please!” Annemarie begs.

“Go play, and I’ll think about going in.”

“Fine,” he says, standing and pulling his shirt over his head, exposing his washboard abs, chiseled chest, and sexy tattoos. He drops his shirt onto the table and then reaches down to tie his board shorts that came loose.

The act has my gaze sliding down his abs and landing where that perfect V, along with his happy trail, dip into the front of his shorts like the biggest tease.

Nate leans down, gives me a quick kiss, and then takes off running toward the pool—his backside almost as perfect as his front—yelling, “Cannonball,” as he jumps in and makes a show of splashing the kids.

“Might want to wipe that drool,” Carol, Nate’s dad’s assistant, says with a smirk. “You know, they say it’s bad for the mom-to-be to be craving anything. When I was pregnant, my husband insisted on making sure I got everything I craved. His mother said if a pregnant woman doesn’t get her cravings fulfilled, the baby will come out drooling.”

I bark out a laugh at the gray-haired woman who’s old enough to be my grandmother. “Is that so?”

“Yep. So, if it’s your baby daddy you’re craving, make sure it’s being fulfilled.”

She winks at me, and I laugh harder, seriously loving this family.

“Well, in that case”—I glance at Nate, who’s taking turns throwing his niece and nephew into the water—“I’d better go get my fill.”

I wink back at her, and she nods in approval.

I’m about to head over, but my bladder screams in protest, so I take a detour inside to use the bathroom. One thing I won’t miss about being pregnant is the constant need to go pee, and from what Kira and Ana have told me, it’s only going to get worse as my pregnancy progresses.

Once I’ve washed my hands, I head back out, but before I get to the doors leading outside, a masculinevoice says my name, stopping me in place.

I look back, assuming my name was being called by Nate—maybe he followed me inside—but the next spoken words have me realizing my name wasn’t called…it was mentioned.

“She doesn’t want to move here, and Nate isn’t going to force her.”

I glance around the corner and see Dustin and his wife, Valerie, standing in the kitchen, talking. It must’ve been Dustin who said my name.

“You could always step up as COO,” Valerie says.

“Yeah, except I like my position, and I’m not sure I’d be able to run Bradford the way Nate does. He’s going to work remotely for now. Besides, if anyone should be stepping into that position, it’s you. You’ve been working under him for years now.”

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