Page 44 of The Billionaire Invitation

“Yeah. He’s a good guy to bet on. In business,” Brody tacked on.

She didn’t think he’d meant it as a dig, but she noted the distinction. The Crane men were fluent in the language of loyalty, but a bit stunted when it came to trust.

“No wedding date yet?” she asked.

“Well—”

“Just what I popped in here to talk about!” Jaylyn leaned past the doorway of the kitchen, her long, dark hair trailing over one shoulder. “Honesty, would you and your rosé join me for a moment? Reagan wants to talk to you.”

“Me?” That was surprising.

“You are the nutrition expert who talked our cousin Eli into partnering with you, yes?”

“That was mostly Dante, but yes.”

“Then it’s definitely you she requested.” Jaylyn tugged her out of the kitchen and marched her through the living room and down the narrow hallway. They stopped at the last door on the left. Jaylyn cracked the door but didn’t open it all the way. “She does actually have a food question. But she also wants to meet the woman who stole Dante’s heart years ago. I don’t think she believes it’s true.”

“J, leave her alone,” Reagan whisper-shouted from the room. Through the narrow crack, she waved them in. “Come in here you two.”

Jaylyn pushed the door open the rest of the way. Reagan was propped up in bed, surrounded by blankets. In her arms was a sleeping, grunting, cooing newborn.

Honesty was frozen in the center of the room, her eyes flashing back and forth from the older woman in scrubs to the bedding. She’d never been around anyone who had just given birth. Let alone in their home.

“I’ll leave you to it. I’ll be outside,” the woman wearing scrubs said.

“Thank you.” Reagan smiled at Honesty. “My doula.”

“How are you feeling?” Honesty asked.

“Like what I expected to be a traumatic experience was actually a spiritual one that produced a miniature human.” She smiled down at her sleeping daughter with so much love, Honesty could feel it from across the room. “I can’t fully wrap my mind around her being real.”

“She’s amazing.” Honesty shook her head in awe.

“Isn’t she?” Jaylyn plopped down on the bed and gently touched her niece’s tiny toes.

Reagan looked up from her daughter. “I know this is weird, so thank you in advance for letting Jaylyn drag you back here. I have a legitimate reason for wanting to see you.”

She shifted the baby in her arms, and the infant grunted, one fist opening to five fingers and then closing again. All the while her eyes stayed closed.

“What’s her name?” Honesty asked.

“Sloane Elizabeth. Named after my grandma Betty.” Reagan smiled.

“It’s a beautiful name. For a beautiful baby.” Honesty felt a palpable tug toward Reagan’s bundle of joy she didn’t quite understand. She’d never been a “baby person.” She preferred the company of adults. If she had a biological clock, no one had made her aware of it. She considered herself a nurturer more than maternal. Maybe she was both?

“Careful, Honesty. Baby-itis is in the air. It’s highly contagious.” Jaylyn waggled her eyebrows.

“Don’t scare her, J.” Reagan tsked.

Honesty’s cheeks grew warm. “The last thing I need is a baby. I want to have a husband first.”

“Or second,” Reagan joked. “That’s sort of the reason I wanted to talk to you.”

“About having a husband?” Honesty squeaked.

Reagan and Jaylyn both burst out laughing.

Reagan pulled herself together first. “No. We’re not matchmaking. But I am getting married and my husband-to-be and I would be happy eloping.”