Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
After we were halfway through produce, I leaned in toward Joy and shook my head as I playfully said, “No, you won’t. There’s no way Declan is gonna let us near his rich friends. Uh-uh. No, he’s not.”
Rome looked like he had money. Even dressed casually in a polo shirt and shorts, what the man was wearing seemed to be worth at least a month of my usual salary. He was nice, though. Friendly. Definitely the nosy type. As soon as he was away from Declan, I had a feeling Rome would report to the rest of their mutual friends that he’d seen Declan holding some strange guy and his baby in the grocery store.
“My apologies,” Declan stated on my left. I jumped. Joy and I had stopped at the end of the produce section, where I was attempting to figure out where the freaking baby stuff was located.
“No big deal. I hope I didn’t cause any problems for you.”
Declan grunted and shook his head. “No.”
“The…Sebastian he mentioned…is that…?”
“Yes, Sebastian Courtland, CEO of Courtland Enterprises. I’ve known him since high school. Rome attended the same university as us.”
“So, this Rome is going to report to Sebastian that he caught you with another guy and a baby, right?”
Declan made a noise, but this time it was in the affirmative.
“And you’re fine with your friends knowing that I’m your friend?” I pushed, putting extra emphasis on the last word.
Declan narrowed his gaze at me, looking as if he thought I’d lost my mind. “Of course. Who I choose to be with in my own time is my business. Not theirs.” He reached inside the cart, grabbed the handle on Joy’s carrier, and lifted it out of the cart so that he could hold her while I pushed the cart. “Do you have a list of things we need? I have no other plans today, so it’s fine if we need to make multiple stops prior to returning home.”
And like that, the matter was settled. I got the impression that Declan didn’t give Rome and the rest of his friends another thought as we collected the massive list of baby needs. We might have even stopped to grab some basic supplies for me so that I wasn’t relying on Declan’s toiletries. However, I didn’t miss the frown that grew on Declan’s face when he realized what I was doing. It was too much to hope that the grumpy man liked me using his shampoo and deodorant.
Despite the rocky start to the trip, Declan turned out to be a good shopping partner. He was happy to carry Joy and keep her entertained. Plus, it seemed as if he hadn’t been in a grocery store in a while, because he made multiple stops to inspect random things before tossing them into the cart. In the end, it was a fight to get him to allow me to pay.
I thought I’d won a battle with him…until we got to his house a few hours later.
10
PARKER CAIN
Oh, my fucking God.
What has he done?
When we arrived at the massive house, there was a large delivery truck parked in front, and several men were rushing in and out, carrying bags and boxes. In fact, it appeared as if heavy boxes would go in and then another group would carry out collapsed empty boxes.
“What the hell? Are you moving in? Or out? What’s going on?” I demanded as Declan drove past the house to park in the long, multi-car garage.
“Patricia worked faster than I expected,” Declan mumbled as he pulled the vehicle into the open spot. The place looked like no garage I had ever seen. It was a car showroom. Declan owned a mix of sedans, sports cars, and SUVS. All of them gleamed and shone in the overhead lighting. The tile floors were spotless, and there wasn’t a single gardening tool or speck of dirt to be seen.
“Who? What? Who’s Patricia?” I stammered, jerking my gaze from the pretty Jaguar that I so wanted to take for a test drive.
“She’s my personal shopper. The one I asked to pick up a few things.”
As I climbed out of the car, I stared at the delivery truck. “You keep using that phrase: ‘a few things.’ It doesn’t mean what you think it does. This is a lot more than a few things.”
“Good afternoon, sirs. How can I assist you?” Franks inquired as I pulled Joy out of the car in her carrier. The man had just popped up from out of nowhere as if he were a secret wizard.
“The baby food, formula, and new bottles can go in the kitchen. Everything else goes in the baby’s room,” Declan directed.
The baby’s room?
I was in the fucking Twilight Zone. When the hell had Joy acquired her own room? How long were we fucking gone?