Didn't Expect You (Against All Odds #2) - Claudia Burgoa Page 0,68

no space for him in my life. And he just showed me that he doesn’t have a problem boarding a plane and flying to the other side of the country to pick me up because…why did he do it?

“Why are you here again?”

He looks around and throws his sexy grin at me. “You have selective hearing. I told you, I missed you, I didn’t want you to take a commercial flight, and I couldn’t wait to see you.”

“Nate…” is all I can say because all of those reasons are sweet.

They also make me think that maybe we could try to act upon my feelings, but what about his?

Bronwyn will always be the love of his life. I’m expecting a kid, and he has issues when it comes to children. I won’t neglect my baby to spare his feelings, and I know he can never care about my kid enough to accept her into his life.

“Before you protest, we need to discuss your living arrangements,” he says as we walk toward a black sports car that sits almost in front of the entrance. “It’s nice of Pierce to offer you his brother’s brownstone, but that’s a long commute to Manhattan.”

“That’s one option. The other two are his father’s home, which is across from Central Park,” I inform him. “Or one of the suites of Merkel’s hotel.”

“Living in a hotel sounds stressful. The father’s penthouse might be a good choice, but you can just stay with me where you have a twenty-four-seven cook at your service, Demetri to assist in case I’m not in town, and as a bonus, you get Brock,” he says with a voice that sounds more like a game show host than himself.

“I forgot how ridiculous you are,” I claim as I get in the car.

“Stop denying it. You missed me,” he argues as he turns on the engine.

So much so that I’m starting to worry about the feelings I refuse to acknowledge.

“How’s New York?” I ask, changing the subject because even though I missed him, we shouldn’t be discussing the possibility of an emotional entanglement that is going to leave us hurting.

“Hot, rancid, and humid,” he answers.

“Rancid?”

“There’s a putrid smell characteristic of the city that increases during the summer,” he explains.

“If you had a choice, would you just stay in Seattle?”

“Probably,” he responds. “There are times when I want to move everything to Washington.”

“Why not Colorado, your brother lives there?”

“It’s something I can contemplate soon. He moves so often that I can’t just make the decision to uproot thousands of employees when he might just say, well now, I’m going to North Dakota,” he answers.

I laugh. “I doubt that Persy would follow him there.”

“What if they break up?”

I consider it for a couple of seconds and say, “I’ve never seen my sister so in love with someone.”

“Good, because my brother has never been in love before your sister, so if they break up…I’m not sure he’ll survive.”

“That’s impossible,” I argue. “How can a thirty-five-year-old man… Really? Persy is his first?”

“Yep. Believe me when I say he got the brains and I got the heart,” he confesses.

“So now that they might settle down you could entertain the possibility of moving everything to Colorado?”

“At least the New York staff. My commute would be shorter, or…Ford can take care of that part of the company while I stay put in Seattle.”

“You wouldn’t move?”

“I’d commute. There are too many affiliates in Seattle and packing would be too costly and not worth it in the long run,” he answers. “Where are you opening this law firm?”

“Oregon, but we’re going to be able to practice in several places since we both passed the Bar exam in New York.”

“But you studied in North Carolina,” he amends.

“Yes, but if you take the test in New York, it has reciprocity with several states,” I explain lightly. “Back then I had no idea where I wanted to work.”

“What made you decide to move to Colorado?”

“You can only be away from the parents for so long?”

“The ones that drive you crazy?” he asks mockingly.

“Those,” I confirm. “I love my parents, which is going to make it hard to be away from them for the next few months.”

“What if you have to live permanently in New York for this job?”

My heart stops because that’s not something I would ever consider. There’s a huge difference between needing a few days alone and not seeing my parents for weeks at a time.

“I don’t have to. Pierce and I discussed it already.