Present

“Distract me, Mickey. How’s expansion? Did you meet with Nordstrom’s?” Keyra asks.

The fact that we’re sitting on this bathroom floor waiting for her pregnancy test results, and she’s asking me about expansion, is crazy to me. But she’s obviously all over the place emotionally right now and needs something else to focus on.

Just the thought of our current expansion brings a scowl to my face, especially because there’s one person I immediately think of. “One of my advisory board members is intentionally making my life difficult, and I’m ready to dump him into the Hudson.”

“Need me to encourage him to play nice?” She looks hopeful, like the thought brings her a little more peace. A true mama bear, my sister.

“No, he’s just…ugh.” My fists ball on their own and I force myself to relax them. Not only is he really challenging me when it comes to decisions for Bold, he’s still been pursuing me outside of that in the smallest, but most noticeable ways.

But it’s not something I’m ready to share with my sisters yet.

They’ll think I’m being ridiculous, and I don’t feel like justifying myself to them at the moment.

“Ugh, huh?” Kaija asks, looking at me skeptically. Damn little sisters. “He’s hot, isn’t he?”

The fact is undeniable.

I close my eyes and lean my head back against the wall with a deep sigh. “The ground sizzles when he walks on it.”

Keyra starts giggling, and then all of us are laughing so hard that real tears are running down our faces.

God, it fills my soul up being with them this way. I wasn’t always so close to both of them, and I’m grateful that we’re closer now.

You need family if nothing else.

Keyra’s timer goes off, and I feel her tense, so I grab her hand.

“We’ll look together, okay?” I squeeze her fingers in mine, and we all raise up on our knees and shuffle towards the counter with our eyes closed.

“1…2…3!” I open my eyes and peer at the test with them.

Holy shit.

* * *

Well, that’s one way to react to your girlfriend telling you she’s pregnant.

Men. Sometimes, they really aren’t the brightest bulbs in the box.

Both my sister and Dane are dealing with a lot right now.

I think he can be forgiven, and I think the chances are high that Keyra is level enough to understand that him being confused about them using protection wasn’t a personal shot at her.

It’s a lot to process when the man just found out not too long ago that he has a 4-year-old.

Some dangerous swimmers on that one.

“How do you feel now?” I ask, watching Dane’s face fill with regret after Keyra goes into the house.

“I’m still in shock. Except now it’s shock and I feel like the biggest cad in the world.” He shakes his head, and it warms me a little to see his distress.

He really loves Keyra.

That means he gets to live.

“That’s good. Use that.” I suggest. My phone rings, and just seeing the caller ID darkens my entire mood.

It has been blissfully silent for a week, a week of my sanity and willpower not being thrown into question.

“I have to take this.” I get up and walk away, heading for the stairs. I don’t particularly want anyone to overhear me because I’m definitely going to cuss Hawk out and they don’t need to wonder about it.

I answer my phone as I move along the edge of the water, walking over the rocks.

I need all the imagined peace around me that I can get.

“Did you know that harassment isn’t attractive?” I kick a small rock into the water.

“Is that what I’m doing? I believe this is called communicating, sweetheart.” His smooth drawl flows over the line and annoys me even more.

Everything about this man is tap-dancing on my last nerve.

“I thought I’d finally gotten rid of you when I went a whole week with no stupid voicemails on my phone.”

He’s silent for a second, which makes me suspicious because he’s rarely silent. That’s the whole problem, he’s always had something to say.

“Is that why you’re so prickly? You missed me?”

Immediately, words of denial spring to my lips, but before I can get them out — he keeps talking.

“I thought about you all week while I was away. I’m thinking about you now too, while I’m lying in bed.”

“What a lucky girl I am,” I mutter, knowing I sound like a petulant child. It’s either that or I purr because I want him so much that I can’t think straight.

But I can’t have him. I’ve stayed on track this long, I just have to make it a little longer.

“I’m goin’ to let you be rude until I get back stateside, then we’ll talk about your attitude.”

“It amuses me that you think you have any say on my attitude.”

“When I tell you who I just brought on, I think you’ll feel differently.” His voice is smug and even though I’m battling some heavy denial, my curiosity is peaked.

While he’s been trying to break down my defenses, he’s undoubtedly been more of an asset to Bold than I could’ve ever anticipated.

Yes, he’s been challenging me in the advisory board meetings, but the result has been that I’ve been 100% certain about the decision after having to talk him into it.

If it’s been something I couldn’t articulate and fight for as well, it’s turned out that we came up with a better idea.

Officially, he’s a consultant. A bit of a jack of all trades. He has a lot of connections and his hands in a lot of pots, that’s all I really know.

“Who did you just bring on?”

“I think I’ll let them surprise you when they contact you tomorrow.” He says, and I can hear the rustle of covers as he moves around. He’s really lying in bed.

I blink away the very unprofessional images that come to mind.

“I don’t like being blindsided, Hawk.” I clear my throat.

“Michaela,” His voice sobers, “I’d hoped you’d realize by now that I’m only here to help and watch you grow. Have I done anything to hurt you or your business up to this point?”

I quiet.

“Have I?” He prods, voice deep.

“No.” I sigh. I can make myself believe a lot of things, but that isn’t one of them.

“So when are you going to let me in?” This isn’t the teasing, mischievous man from the past few weeks. I can brush that one off. But I can’t just ignore the sincerity in his voice now.

“Why?” I sink down into the sand and palm a light pink shell, running my fingers lightly over the raised ridges.

It’s a beautiful color, but a piece is chipped off the top.

“You know damn well I haven’t stopped thinking about you, and I don’t want to. But you have to give me something to work with here or I’m really going to start feeling like some kind of stalker.”

“That’s because you are.” My lips lift and I sigh. “I can’t do this, Hawk. I’m trying to be a different person than the one you met that night.”

“Well, that’s too damn bad, because I didn’t see a thing wrong with that woman. One date.”

I hesitate.

I know that my goals only make sense to me. I know that the changes I’ve made to my personal life probably seem easy to everyone else, common sense even.

But the way I was, the way I’ve always been, cost me something I’ve dreamed of for years…

What if I lose even more this time?