Call You Mine (The Baker’s Creek Billionaire Brothers #4) - Claudia Burgoa Page 0,31

Mozart. I share him with you.”

For fuck’s sake, she’s kept me interested since…it’s been so long.

“You’re just twenty-eight,” I remind her.

“God, you sound like my father,” she protests, exasperated. “If things continue like this, you’re going to find love before me. Look at your brothers. They’re all getting married. Mills is next, then Vance, and you—”

“I doubt I’ll get there,” I stop her.

“You say that now, but one day someone is going to come, knock you down, and take you away.”

How do I explain to this woman that she owns me?

She’s owned me ever since I met her, I just didn’t know it. I’d walk through the storm, climb mountains, fight death only to be beside her. She’s insane if she thinks that someone can come and tear me from her.

“Away?” I try to sound cool.

“From me.” She sighs. “We know how that goes. Friendships don’t withstand relationships.”

“We’re forever, Grace,” I remind her. “No matter what happens in life, you’re my person. Is this why you’re in such a hurry? Because you think I’m going to fall in love and forget about you?”

“No…”

I glare at her.

“That’s partially true.” She slumps her shoulders. “Ever since your father died and you moved here, I realized that I’m alone. It’s made me wonder about our future. What’s going to happen once you grow up and have a life?”

I live for you. You’re my entire world.

We can’t happen. I made my choice all those years ago.

You break rules all the time. How different is this from the rest?

I have to think about this long and thoroughly.

“Are you sure I’m going to grow up?” I smirk, gently pulling some of the loose hair strands, like a small child bugging his first crush.

She bursts into laughter. “We both know there’s a lot more to the Beacon you show to everyone else. He wants a family. You might not want it right now, but later you’ll find the woman that’ll be perfect for you. She’s going to fill that emptiness in your heart. I can see it already, a full house filled with little Beacon Aldridges.”

I could tell her that she’s wrong. There’s no emptiness in my heart because she lives in it. Though, she’s right. I want a family. Kids were never part of my fifty-year plan, but that changed a month ago. Carter stole my heart when I met him. Wanting and being able to have something are two totally different things.

I want Grace. I can’t have her.

I want kids. I don’t know if Grace and I have a future.

But will I ever deserve her heart?

Would it be amazing to have a little version of her? It’d be life altering. I don’t even know if that’s possible since she’s reluctant to have children who might end up with diabetes just like it happened to her.

Then there’s our undercover gig.

“Are you quitting The Organization, G?”

She shakes her head. “It has nothing to do with…” She closes her mouth and sighs.

Her father might’ve made things work for him. However, he didn’t marry until he was in his thirties, I think. By then, he started slowing down.

Grace and I have a double life. We each have our music careers, and when The Organization needs us, we do some undercover jobs that no one else can do. Most of them aren’t too dangerous because we’re public figures and have to keep a low profile.

That is also why they use us. It’s impressive how much information people provide to celebrities without even noticing.

“Would you quit?” she asks after a long pause.

“G, this is too deep of a conversation when all you want is to learn how to date, don’t you think?”

“Why did you stay in the bunker for three days?”

“Let it go,” I request.

“That’s not you.”

“Maybe I felt alone?”

“How can you feel alone when you live in a house filled with people who love you?” she asks, exasperated.

“Do I?”

“Do you even understand what you’re doing?”

I’m sure something so stupid is driving her insane, and she’s finally going to chide me about it. “No, but I’m sure you’re going to explain it to me.”

She growls because she hates when I’m obtuse.

“You can’t accept my family as yours, and you can’t trust your family either. Nothing can make you happy.”

“You make me happy.”

See, right here, I don’t lie to her. She just chooses to ignore me when I tell her how important she is to me. Maybe she doesn’t believe anything I say because I take life lightly and joke about almost