Page 48 of Wicked Little Secret

“Can you have coffee?” he asked.

“I can, but I already had a cup, so I’m going to have orange juice.”

She stood and he shook his head. “I got it.”

“I can get it.”

He gave her a stern look that made her sit back down. “Olivia, I can pour you a glass of juice.”

Setting the glass in front of her, he returned to his seat and asked, “Did you shut my alarm off?”

“I thought I’d let you sleep.”

“That was thoughtful of you.”

Olivia took a drink of juice and set it down with a sly grin as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “You’ll find I’m actually a pretty easy person to get along with. An ideal person to share custody and co-parent with.”

He wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Or an ideal person to marry and raise a child with.”

“Why are you so dead set on getting married?”

“Well, darlin’, you disappeared on me once, and had it not been for a blizzard, I might not have ever known I have another son, and he wouldn’t have known anything about me. I don’t think I have to tell you how I feel about that. Or the idea of another man raising my child.”

“No, you don’t,” she said quietly. “But you know about him now, so that’s no longer an issue.”

“The issue now is you want me to be a part-time parent, and I’m not interested in that.”

“But why married?”

“Call me old-fashioned, sweetheart.”

“Even though we’d just be roommates?”

“Who said anything about roommates?”

“We have separate bedrooms.”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “But do we?”

Sonofabitch.He’d played her.

Standing abruptly, she announced. “I’m going home.”

He took another bite of breakfast and shook his head. “You are home.”

****

Maverick

“Why are you being like this? Are you trying to punish me?”

Was he?

Yeah, maybe a little. He still was wrapping his head around the fact that shemeantto get pregnant. And thought she was going to keep it from him. But he wasn’t going to tell her that. And she still hadn’t admitted she didn’t really have a boyfriend.

“No, you daft woman, I’m trying to take care of you and our son.”

She crossed her arms across her chest defiantly.

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