Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 156145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
She laughed. “Oh, Aaron. She’s got you twisted in knots, hasn’t she? You already tried to plan your way out of this and it blew up in your face.”
He narrowed his eyes. “How’d you know?”
“Because you’re our fearless leader. You attack every single problem the exact way—as if you’re going into battle. Which is great, and useful, and the reason that you’re as professionally successful as you are now.” Another laugh. “But you can’t date like that, Aaron. I mean, you can, but if you’re calling me, that means she’s independent and isn’t going to respond well to that sort of thing.”
Aaron started piling plates in the sink. “Everything I do pisses her off.”
“Hmm. Have you tried listening?”
“She doesn’t want to talk.”
“Because you make it into an interrogation when you aren’t paying attention. Figure out what she likes. Do that. See if you relaxing doesn’t relax her a little bit.” A hesitation. “Though if she’s fighting you this hard, maybe it’s time to write the whole thing off? Some walls aren’t worth beating your head against.”
“This one is.” He forced a smile into his voice. “Thanks, Trish. You should come down to the city to visit soon.”
“Sure thing. Just as soon as I figure out the rest of my life. Love you, big brother.”
“Love you, too.” He hung up the phone and went to work on the dishes. His sister’s advice wasn’t necessarily groundbreaking, but she had a good point. He’d approached this from the baby standpoint, because the baby was the only thing they appeared to have in common.
Well, the baby and the sex.
Aaron shook his head and scrubbed harder at the pan. If he wanted to pave the way to a future with Becka and the baby, he needed to know Becka.
He stopped.
Was that what he wanted? Both of them? Because that was a different scenario than simply being a father. He just had to be able to be cordial with Becka in order to do that, and they’d both go on with their separate lives. It was the simplest solution for a child born of a one-night stand.
And yet.
He thought about the vivid woman who’d caught his eye in the first place, the determined one who’d faced him down time and again over the future, and the bowed shoulders she’d worn tonight when she walked back to her room alone. Complicated did not begin to cover Becka Baudin.
There was nothing wrong with complicated, though.
Aaron finished the dishes and dried the pan, still thinking. He just needed to figure out what common ground they had and work from there. It was entirely possible that they had nothing in common and this was all a lost cause, but he wasn’t prepared to believe that. There was something there. Aaron just needed to figure out what it was.
CHAPTER EIGHT
AARON WAS GONE by the time Becka crawled out of bed the next morning. She tried to tell herself that it was for the best, that she didn’t really need to see him every single morning before they both left for their respective jobs, but the truth was that she’d gotten used to their shared silence as they drank their daily cup of coffee in the kitchen. He never seemed to feel like he needed to fill the silence. It was nice.
She opened the fridge and stared. Three plates sat on the shelf at eye level, each with a yellow sticky note attached. Peanut butter and grape jelly. Peanut butter and strawberry jam. Peanut butter and sliced bananas. Becka smiled, shook her head and grabbed the peanut butter and banana sandwich. She turned to the coffeemaker and found another sticky note. Still smiling, she read his chicken-scratch handwriting. Have dinner with me tonight. No baby talk, promise.
“How can I resist an offer like that?” She checked the time and typed out a quick text promising to be home by six.
The day flew by. She had spin at nine, TRX at eleven. The first two classes were at Transcend.
After TRX, she got cleaned up and changed then headed to the elite gym where she coached. Half her clients were looking for weight loss, and the other half were hard-core training for various events. All four of her sessions that afternoon were of the extreme variety. She normally liked to switch up her schedule a little more—the intensity could wear on her after a while—but today she welcomed the requirement of extra concentration.
Anything to keep her from watching the clock and counting down the hours until dinner tonight.
She probably shouldn’t have agreed to go. It wouldn’t end well, and the whole point of this exercise was to create a stable foundation between her and Aaron so that the baby wouldn’t suffer. Dates were not part of the equation.
Still, she didn’t linger at the gym like she usually did after work. Becka took a cab back to Aaron’s apartment and, after arguing with herself for a solid five minutes, jumped in the shower and started her beautifying process. She didn’t have to pull out all the stops for dinner—it would look weird if she did—but that didn’t mean she had to go in fitness wear and without makeup.