Page 78 of One and Only

“It’s nice to have a bonus grandbaby,” she said quietly. “Erik and Lydia live too far away, so I’ve only gotten my hands on Isla a couple of times since she was born. And I know Olive is still getting to know all of us, but … it’s nice to think about having her over here.” My heart tore in two at the sound of her voice. “Maybe she could help me bake some cookies or something, if she likes doing that.”

I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes and fought a wave of cold, prickling tension as it crawled up my body. Somehow I managed to keep my tone light. “I don’t know if she likes baking. I certainly won’t be any help there if she does.”

My mom laughed. “That’s the truth, my darling daughter. That is the truth.”

We chatted for a few more minutes, and when I disconnected the call, I decided to work out, channel some of the uncomfortable energy left lingering at my mom’s innocent excitement.

You idiot,I thought, a vicious edge to my internal voice.

This is the shit Cameron warned me about, and I just didn’t want to listen, so focused on the why, so focused on the good that it would bring. And all those things were still true, but there was a fallout that we’d have to talk about. Boundaries that we’d need to discuss.

I eyed the clock while I changed into leggings and a tank top. Beckett told me he’d pick up Olive from school on his way home, so I had some time to kill until I could talk to him about all this … extra.

Maybe I’d talk to him about the morning too.

As I wandered across the backyard to where he had his gym equipment set up in the heated barn, I thought about all the various ways that might play out.

I stretched, thinking about the way he’d uttered that single solitaryfuck.

I warmed up with a slow jog on the treadmill, thinking about the heat of him at my back, the size of his body compared to mine.

I moved to the rower, a sleek machine angled so that I could stare out at the gorgeous land surrounding his house, and as my body hummed, my blood pumping and the sweat beading along my back and chest, I found myself thinking about his thumb.

I pushed harder, thinking about the roughness of the skin and the gentle touch he’d given me when he wasn’t thinking.

The air sawed in and out of my lungs, and I thought about the way his hips pressed against my backside.

I snapped my eyes shut and refused to go any further in my head.

Because I had a feeling that the very quiet, very serious man who I shared a bed with every night could unleash holy hell on me.

The really, really good kind.

I climbed off the rower, my legs shaky and my lungs screaming for air, when a call interrupted the music playing in my earbuds.

“’Lo,” I said through my labored breathing.

“Oh my gosh, were you having sex?” my sister Adaline asked.

“Do you think I would have answered if I was?”

She paused. “No.”

I laughed. “He’s at the team facilities. I was feeling jittery and decided to get some energy out after I ate lunch.”

“You’ve been married for a couple of weeks and you still have enough energy to work out voluntarily during the day?” She hummed obnoxiously. “Anything you’d like to share with the class?”

My face—already hot from the workout—felt bright red. “Nothing juicy, calm down. Olive has been having nightmares, so there are a lot of … interruptions at night,” I answered carefully.

She made a sympathetic noise. “Stepmom life, eh?”

Gawd, my family. Maybe they had a meeting that morning and decided to shove all the complexities of my situation right into my face.

“Yup,” I said lightly. “She’s a great kid. It’s hard to complain.”

“When our house is done, you’ll have to bring her up to Bellevue. Maybe we could do a girls’ weekend, have Lydia and the baby come. Poppy too, if her schedule allows it.”

“Don’t you have, like, six to eight months of construction left?”

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