Page 26 of Saved by my Baby Daddy Spy
I take a deep breath before getting up and heading for the door. “I’ll be back later tonight with some good food for dinner.”
He mutters a sarcastic reply that I barely hear as I shut the door behind me. I walk down the hall with my hands in my pockets, trying to figure out what to say to Hannah.
“Hey,” Preston says as he opens the front door. “I didn’t know that you were coming over tonight. Kerrigan is in a foul mood, which means that Hannah is too. She might bite your head off if you look at her the wrong way.”
“Good to know,” I say, though it makes me feel even more nervous to talk to her. “Actually, I came over to talk to Hannah.”
Audrey appears out of thin air, her arms crossed, and her eyebrows knitted together. If looks could kill, I would be dead on the spot.
I hate the way she eyes me, like she knows something I don’t. It makes me feel unsettled.
“Why do you want to talk to Hannah?” Audrey asks, glaring at me as she steps to the side and lets me into the house.
“Because I owe her an apology for some things that happened two years ago.” My shoulders slump as I look at Audrey, hoping that she isn’t going to make this as difficult as possible.
I wouldn’t blame her if she did, but I’m hoping that she is going to take mercy on me.
“You’re damn right you owe her an apology. I really like you, Holden, but I’ll warn you again. If you continue to hurt my sister, you’re going to regret showing your face in our home. The both of you are family, but I love my sister more than almost anything in this world.”
“I know.” I tuck my hands in my pockets and rock on my heels. “I’m going to do everything I can not to upset her. I just want to talk to her for a few minutes.”
“Let me go get Kerrigan from her so she can come out here and talk. If she wants to,” Preston says, kissing Audrey’s temple before taking off down the hall.
Audrey disappears to go check on Teddy while I stand in the front hall, wondering what the hell I’m doing here.
Maybe this is a bad idea.
I’m in the middle of running through every worst-case scenario when Hannah walks into the front hall with her dark hair piled on top of her head and a loose t-shirt dress that hangs off one shoulder.
My heart skips a beat as I look at her. All words die on the tip of my tongue as my gaze connects with hers.
“Hey,” I say, sounding like I’m choking on the word. “Thanks for coming out to talk with me.”
Hannah arches an eyebrow. “I wasn’t sure that you would leave if I didn’t. I’m sorry for taking off earlier. That run is the only time of day I truly get to myself anymore.”
“I would have taken off if I was you too. I should have messaged you and told you how sorry I was for putting you in danger. I could have told you that I had to go away for a little while, but I didn’t.”
Hannah smiles softly and the tension that’s been between us since I got back finally breaks.
“So,” she says, thankfully choosing to move on from my apology. “Is there any other reason you’re here, or did you just plan to come apologize and hope to get dinner out of it too?”
I chuckle and shrug, suddenly feeling better than I have for the past two years. “I’m not sure, honestly. I didn’t plan for the dinner, but I was going to ask you out. I was hoping that I could take you on a date that doesn’t involve running to a safe house.”
Her smile fades slightly. “I don’t know about that, Holden. I have a lot going on right now. I’ve got a new book due to release this week and a signing for it this weekend. On top of that, I have another book that’s in the middle of movie rights negotiation. On top of that, I have an idea for a new novel in a new genre that I’m trying to write.”
It's then that I take a closer look at her and see the dark circles beneath her eyes. Somewhere else in the house, her toddler starts crying.
“And then there is Kerrigan too. She’s going through this horrible sleep regression phase. On one hand, I’m getting a lot of work done when I can’t get back to sleep in the middle of the night, but on the other, I’m exhausted.”
I smile, trying to put her at ease. “Hannah, is that supposed to scare me off?”
“You want to date an overworked woman who is trying to raise a toddler.” She shakes her head, her eyes widening slightly. “You have to be insane.”
“Or very interested in her mother.”
Hannah scoffs and crosses her arms. “Holden, we barely even know each other.”
“Which is the point of dating.” My heart thuds against my chest as I study her, trying to figure out what is holding her back beyond what she says. “Hannah, if you don’t want to go out with me, that’s fine. Honestly. If you do want to go out with me, well then, that would be great. Either way, Hannah, the answer isn’t going to make things weird between us.”
