Page 47 of Beautiful Storm

“That’s fine.” Luke waves me off. “Mine does.”

He starts to pace, but when I tell him it doesn’t work that way, he spins around in shock.

“Why the hell not? It’s my baby.”

“Yes, but until the baby is born, it’s based on my insurance.”

Luke shakes his head like that piece of information is meaningless. “Okay. So, you need better insurance.”

“We all need better insurance.” I huff out a laugh.Isn’t that a dream?

“I don’t,” he gloats. “My insurance is amazing.”

I put on a smile, hoping it will stop me from showing him how I really feel.“We’re not all star football players,” I grate.

“No, you’re not. But lucky foryou, I am.” He finally sits down before pulling his phone from his pocket. “How much does it cost to upgrade you? Or can I just pay for everything without insurance?”

“What?”Did he really just say that?“Are you out of your goddamn mind?”

“Too much? Fine. Call your insurance company and let me know the additional cost to upgrade. I’ll send you the money. Our baby deserves the best.”

I stare his way, and if I wasn’t working so hard to maintain my composure, I have no doubt my jaw would have dropped. “Who are you?”

“What does that mean?” He has the nerve to be offended.

“Barely thirty minutes ago you thought I was a gold-digging whore and now you’re throwing money at me?”

“I never said that.”

“You kind of did.”

“I never used the word whore.”

I raise an eyebrow and frown. “It was implied.”

“Okay. I was in shock. You caught me off guard. You had me worked up thinking I was a side piece and—”

“You what?” Aside piece?I burst out laughing. I bruised his ego.I knew it!But now is not the time to celebrate that win.

“Never mind,” Luke continues. “Point is, I said the wrong thing. It’s not the first time someone has tried to convince me I’m a dad, but I never expected it from you.”

“Ugh.” I cringe at the thought of that. Picturing all the little Lukes out in the world.Once again… of all the people I could have slept with.“I didn’t need to know that, but does our baby have any siblings?”

Luke chuckles, though my question is no joking matter. “Not that I’m aware of. They were all faking it.”

“Why don’t I trust that answer?”

“You’re going to have to.” Luke shrugs. “It’s the only answer I’ve got. So back to the insurance…”

I let out a sigh before running my hands down my face. “I appreciate the thought, but you can’t just pay to upgrade it.”

“Let me look into it.”

“Sure. But you won’t—”

“Let me try.”

I reluctantly agree despite it being a lost cause. I already considered it. I’ve scoured the Internet, checked out all the possibilities. I even looked into quick moneymaking opportunities. Bank loans. Switching insurance companies. Everything. But at the end of the day, none of it mattered because no one would upgrade my pregnancy coverage until after a twelve-month waiting period and that was a few months too late. Yes, I found some that were closer to ninety days, but the coverage wasn’t much better than what I had. For what Luke’s proposing, I’d have to wait.

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