Call Her Mine (Harmony Pointe #1)- Melissa Foster Page 0,7
to freak them out.”
“But it’s okay to freak me out?” Great. If that doesn’t tell me where I stand, nothing ever will.
“No! That’s why I stopped.” He sighed heavily. “I’m sorry . . .”
For what? Freaking me out? Having a baby? Having sex?
“Okay, so no Talia yet,” she agreed. “But Zane won’t say anything.” As she said the words, she realized they probably weren’t true. Zane didn’t keep secrets from Willow, and Ben’s disbelieving expression told her he was thinking the same thing, but he had to know this sucked for her. “The last thing I want to do is talk about the people you’ve slept with.”
“Trust me, I don’t want to tell you any more than you want to hear it.” He took her hand, holding it tight. “But I’m freaking out here, Rels. I’ll figure it out on my own if I have to, but I don’t want to do the wrong thing to that little girl. Don’t leave me alone with her, please? For her sake? I don’t even know how to hold her.”
She looked away from his pleading eyes, and he squeezed her hand, drawing her attention as he said, “I don’t think there were a lot of women. Please? I trust you with this personal information, and I don’t want to do this with anyone else.”
She closed her eyes for a second, steeling herself against the jealousy clawing up her neck. He’d been there for her so many times over the past few years—after every shitty breakup, when she’d cried all night after her grandfather had died, and countless other times. She could do this for him, put aside her feelings and be there when he needed her most. “You realize I’m freaking out and I can’t call any of my girlfriends and talk about it because you’re related to them, right? I can’t even call Remi, because chances are she heard about you and Payton.” She set down her purse and walked toward the kitchen.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
She stopped short, and Ben barreled into her and mumbled, “Sorry.”
“You owe me.” She stared into his gorgeous, grateful eyes and said, “Big-time. It’s a good thing I haven’t opened the bookstore yet, or you’d be on your own.” The grand opening of Chapter One was a few weeks away, but even if the shop had been open, she’d have helped, because he was Ben, and he never asked for help with anything.
“I’ll do anything you want,” he said. “That is, if you don’t hate me by the end of the day.”
It’d be hard to hate him over a baby as beautiful as the little girl in the basket. Jealousy might be gnawing at her every nerve, but she was a realist above all else, and she knew unplanned pregnancies happened—and not everyone could raise their babies. Having been orphaned at birth drove that reality home. Even though her grandparents had never made her feel like anything but a treasured gift, she knew they’d missed out on a lot by raising her.
As they settled back at the kitchen table, she said, “I’ll text Remi and make up an excuse to get Craft Services Girl’s last name.”
“Thank you.”
She picked up the pen, pressing the tip into the paper as she asked, “Who’s your New York fuck buddy?”
He uttered a curse. “She’s an attorney. Blond, a few years older than me.”
“I don’t need her résumé . . .” Or visuals, thank you very much.
“Aida Strong. Listen, I’ll just call her. We hook up—”
Her hand shot up, cutting him off. “Don’t even go there. I don’t want to know.” She wrote Big Apple Fuck Buddy next to Aida’s name, set down the pen, and folded her arms, wanting to go there and hating herself for it. This was a mistake. She felt sick.
“Was she all your Thursday night meetings?” When he didn’t respond, she asked, “Have you been with her in the last few months?”
He nodded, looking regretful. “Not all that recently, but . . .”
“Then it’s obviously not her. I think you would have noticed a pregnant belly.” She crossed out Aida’s name. “It’s not going to be a lawyer anyway. Whoever did this has got to know she could get in legal trouble for abandoning a baby.”
Ben scrubbed his hand over his chin. “There were only two others that I remember.”
“That you remember . . . ? Men are such pigs.”
He narrowed his eyes. “How many guys were you with last June and July?”