Page 31 of His Claim

The microwave dinged, and Tatum stirred everything.

“What do you want to drink?” I asked. Tatum was doing more than enough by warming up my food. She didn’t need to wait on me.

“Uh, I’ll just have water.”

I grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and set them on the kitchen island. “How come you didn’t drink today?”

She shrugged and set the plates back in the microwave. “I thought it was best to keep my wits about me. Meg tried for about two seconds to get me to drink, and then she let it go.”

I nodded and sat back down. “Sounds like Meg. She wants everyone to have fun but won't make you do anything you don’t want to.”

“Well, I don’t know if that is entirely true.”

I tipped my head to the side. “What happened?”

Tatum tapped her fingers on the counter. “Uh, well.” She sighed and set the fork in her hand down. “I’ll just show you. But you have to promise to tell me you love it even if you hate it.”

“So, lie to you?” I laughed.

Tatum nodded and turned her back to me. “Exactly.” She gathered her hair in her hands and pulled her hair into a ponytail. The underneath of her hair was a shocking and vibrant shade of purple.

“Whoa,” I laughed. “That is purple.”

She glanced at me over her shoulder. “That doesn’t sound like you like it.”

I held up my hands. “I’m just shocked, baby girl. I never thought you were into funky hair.”

She dropped her hair and spun back around. “I’ve always been too chicken to do it. Having it this way gives me the funky hair when I want it, but when I don’t, I can hide it.”

“Do you like it?” I asked. It didn’t matter if I liked it; all that mattered was if Tatum did.

She smiled wide. “I really do. It makes me feel like a rebel or badass.”

I chuckled and nodded. “Then I like it, too, baby girl.”

She quirked her lips to the side. “Why do you call me that?”

“I always call you that.” Tatum had always been my baby girl from our second date. Something about her made the nickname fit.

“When we were dating, you called me that.” She tipped her head to the side. “And then you broke up with me.”

“Yup, I did.” I didn’t regret breaking up with Tatum back then. As much as I told myself that I wanted someone to share my life with, I hadn’t been ready for that. Not then.

Now? Now was a different story.

She was back in my life, and something told me this wasn’t a mistake. Not a one-off, and I shouldn’t brush her off.

She was back in my life, and I needed to figure out if that was where I wanted her to stay.

“Are we going to talk about that or save that for another day?”

I shrugged. “You want to?”

She furrowed her brow. “Uh, how about we postpone it until tomorrow? Or the next day? I kind of like the vibe we have going right now.” The microwave dinged, and she pulled the steaming plates out.

She set one in front of me and grabbed two forks from the drawer. She held it in front of me. “Do we have a deal?”

“We act like there isn’t unfinished business between us and just enjoy the next couple of days?” I asked.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com