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Chapter 11
Bella’s dad wasn’t as big of a prick as I would have expected. He seemed surprisingly chill about her bailing on her wedding at the absolute last possible minute. He had to have lost a fuckton of money, but he hadn’t even mentioned that.
Maybe he had so much it didn’t matter.
Maybe his daughter mattered more than money.
If that were the case, then I respected him despite his air of arrogance. Hell, if I had that much money, I’d be arrogant too.
Some people might argue that I was anyway, and I didn’t have jack shit.
After Bella’s father left she wrinkled her nose. “Sorry about that.”
I shrugged. “No big deal. He seemed cool about everything.”
“So…I threw my phone into the woods last night. I think I should go look for it.” She bit her fingernail and looked at me, expression sheepish.
That seemed out of character for her, but it had been a hell of a day. “Why don’t you finish your burger first? Then I can call your phone and we can see if we find it.”
She nodded and followed me into the house. “Do you think I’m being irrational for being annoyed about Bradley buying me a house? I mean, am I crazy?”
I was pretty sure if someone bought me a house and handed it to me I’d be cool with that. But I could see her point. “I think that seems like a romantic gesture in theory, but that yes, maybe you would want to be a part of that decision. It seems like couples should choose a house together.”
Bella yanked her chair out and sat down hard, picking up her burger. She made a face. “It’s cold now.”
“I’d throw it back on the grill but it will just dry out. Let me make you a new one.” I handed her Camp. Then realized how readily I did that. Like we were a couple. A family. Bella was a woman born to be a mother. Her father had said that straight out and I agreed with him.
It was terrifying.
Because I liked it.
She gave a vague Bella kind of polite protest. “No, that’s okay, silly, I don’t need a new burger. I can eat this one. Even if it is cold.”
That made me snort. She wanted nothing more than for me to grill a fresh burger, it was obvious on her face. “I’ll grill you a new one.”
She was feeding Camp a tiny piece of her hamburger bun. I really needed to get this kid on vegetables. Between Bella and my sister he was going to be a carboholic. It was like they were living vicariously through his baby metabolism.
Bella gave me a smile, my son on her lap, that made my gut clench. “Thank you. You’re the best.”
“You’re welcome, beautiful.”
I grilled that burger patty and I knew I was in way over my head. We were playing house. That’s not what this was supposed to be. I had met her the week before and been both attracted to her and annoyed by her and had wanted to have sex with her. Now it went way beyond complicated.
I was fucking grilling her lunch.
My son was on her lap.
Times like these I wished I were closer to my twin brother. This was the kind of thing I should be able to talk through with him. He would commiserate, make fun of me. We’d laugh. But I had ruined that relationship and I wasn’t sure we would ever get it back.
“Here you go, princess.” I placed the fresh burger in front of Bella.
“Thank you,” she murmured, but she looked pensive. “Do you think it’s okay to have secrets?”
Oh man, did I ever. “Give me some context here. That’s kind of an open-ended question.”
“So, like the house thing. That’s a huge secret. And cheating. That seems like a no-brainer. But even small stuff shouldn’t be a secret. Because isn’t a secret just a lie?”
“No. Not at all.” I had never lied to my sister about her father. I just didn’t tell her because it would hurt her. “I have a huge secret and I will never reveal it because it’s not going to be good for anyone if I do.”
