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“Stop trying to twist my words!”
“Okay, how about this.” His tone got noticeably icier. “Marrying me is better than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a custody battle you won’t win.”
She glared at him. He had the upper hand and they both knew it. Still, she dug her heels in.
“I have a boyfriend.”
“Really? Where is he? You’d think he’d be here for such an important event in your life.”
“He’s—he’s snowed in. He went skiing in Vermont and is stuck there.”
“Well, break it to him over text so he doesn’t hurry back.”
“I’m not marrying you,” she reiterated. “And unless you want be thrown out of this hospital room, you’ll stop talking about it. I just pushed a tiny human out of my vagina not more than twelve hours ago. I don’t have the energy for this argument.”
She was going to milk that for as long as she could.
He studied her for a minute, as though he was trying to decide whether or not to call her bluff. He must have sensed she wasn’t bluffing, because he didn’t say anything more.
Just then Rose walked in with a clipboard and looked at Maverick. Olivia could tell she was curious about who he was, but all she said was, “I have to examine mama, so you need to step out into the hall.”
“Yes, of course,” he said, and immediately exited the room.
Rose put on a pair of blue gloves, then pulled the blankets off her and pulled up her gown while Olivia opened her legs. She knew the drill—she’d just never been on this end of it before.
“How are you feeling, my friend?” Rose asked as she probed and prodded Olivia’s beat up female anatomy.
“As good as can be expected.”
“You didn’t tear, so that’s good. Everything looks like it’s recovering fine.”
Rose helped Olivia get situated back under the blankets and picked up the clipboard from where she’d set it on the side table next to the bed.
“You’ve been able to nurse him without any problems?”
“He latched on with the second try.”
Rose brought the clipboard down in front of her and looked at Olivia with an affectionate smile. “You did amazing, you know. Way better than I did when our roles were reversed.”
“That’s because I had you for my doctor. I was so relieved when you walked through the door.”
Her friend laughed. “So was the poor kid whose hand you were squeezing.”
“He was great, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah, he was. I love how he proclaimed himself an honorary uncle once we put Sawyer in your arms.”
“Yeah…” Olivia’s voice trailed off. “There’s a funny story behind that.”
****
Maverick
The tiny powerhouse that had come in to examine Olivia walked out of her room and straight toward him. Based on the fast, no-nonsense click of her shoes as she approached, he assumed Olivia had told her who he was.
He was still mulling over whether or not she really had a boyfriend. His gut told him she was lying.
“Rose Baker,” she said as she thrust out her hand. “I’m Olivia’s doctor and business partner. I understand we need to get you a daddy ID bracelet.”
