Chapter 2
GREYSON
The entire night, I’m kept up by thoughts of Penny pregnant with my child.
I wish I understood what she was going through. Why she was so angry.
I think back to our interactions, remembering the comment inside Dottie’s about the heifers.
I guess this is what I get for acting like a playboy my entire damn life.
How do I let her know I’m a changed man? I haven’t been with another woman in months because she’s the only one I want. I just need to let her know that.
My phone pings with a message from Penny, and my heart all but stops.
Penny: I’m coming down. Don’t you dare talk about you-know-what!
Greyson: message received
I wait for her, staring out the window, giddy to see my baby momma.
Maybe I shouldn’t call her that.
Exiting the hotel, she keeps her head tilted forward so that it’s impossible to see her expression, even as she enters my vehicle.
“Good—”
“Not a word.”
Her voice is raw, and I wonder if she’s been crying all night. It pisses me off that I haven’t been there for her. That I let her down.
With a five-hour car ride ahead of us, I decide not to piss her off, but two hours into the trip, I hear her stomach growling.
“Care for breakfast?”
“No.”
“You have to eat.”
When she says nothing, I follow up with, “For the baby—”
“Didn’t I say not a word?” she snaps.
Refusing to let my baby go hungry, I pull into the next diner I see.
“You can’t be serious!” she huffs.
“I’m not leaving this parking lot until you eat something.”
“I can’t eat.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because I’ll throw up all over your truck again.”
“Well, that just means we’ll have to get a barf bag.” I exit the vehicle and go around to the passenger side to help her out.
Ignoring my hand, she jumps down from my raised truck.
“From now on, you’re letting me help you in and out of the vehicle.”
She walks past me into the diner.
Despite her hesitation to eat, she puts down enough food to fill three grown men, which brings me relief, because there’s no way in hell I’d tolerate her eating like a bird in her condition.
Her chocolate brown bangs fall into her egg yolk. She grumbles as she wets her hair to remove the offensive food, then tucks the lock behind her ear and continues eating. Which delights me.
Surprisingly, despite her condition, I’ve never been more aroused by a woman, which is odd considering I’ve never looked twice at a pregnant woman before, let alone popped a boner for one.
But all I could think about last night in my freezing cold truck is how sexy she would be with a white tank top stretched around her belly, her nipple poking through the thin fabric.
I press my eyes closed, willing my erection to soften.
I need to stop thinking in the moment. A baby isn’t a temporary thing. It’s a commitment.
And right now, I need to prove to Penny that I’m all-in.
When she’s done eating, she pushes her plate away and pants, like she’s exhausted.
“Now that we have breakfast out of the way, we should come up with a plan.”
She spikes a brow. “A plan?”
“We need to make a doctor’s appointment.”
“I already have. It’s in three weeks.”
“Three weeks? That’s a little late.”
“I drug my feet and couldn’t get in sooner, but don’t worry, other than morning sickness, I’ve been fine.”
Deciding not to micromanage her doctor visits, I bring up the next important item on my growing agenda. “I’ll need to hire you an assistant of your own, and we should probably go ring shopping.”
“Ring shopping?” Her voice rises in alarm. “But you’re already engaged!”
My brow pinches in confusion. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes—you are. I heard you after we…” she looks down at her lap. “You know what, never mind. I found a job, and I plan to—”
“No, you don’t get to say never mind. Why the hell would you think I’m engaged?”
“Because I saw you with that pretty woman. The blonde, outside of your office, after the party.”
I think back to all the parties we’ve had, which are many, trying to figure out what she’s talking about.
“She said she was going to be a good Mrs. Prosper, and you kissed her.”
Suddenly, it clicks, and I laugh, despite the glare Penny is leveling at me.
“What’s-so-funny?” Penny snaps, and I swear, for one terrifying moment, it looks like she’s going to stab me with her fork.
“You saw what you saw, but you sure as hell didn’t understand it.”
“What do you mean?”
“That woman, Ms. Faraday, is going to be Mrs. Prosper in the television show Concable Productions is producing about my family. Ms. Faraday is an executive producer and will play my great-great-great-grandmother.”
Penny’s mouth drops. “Oh…”
“So, now that we’ve got that out of the way, are you still mad at me?”
“Of course! In fact, I’m more mad.”
“Then tell me how to make it right between us and convince you to stay.”
She frowns. “It’s not that simple.”
“I don’t see why the hell it’s not. You’re pregnant and I’m the father. It’s my job—my responsibility—to take care of you both.”
“That’s just it. I don’t want to be some guy’s ‘job’. I’ve seen you over the years, Grey, and I know your type—size zero, bottle blonde, implants big enough to serve as flotation devices.”
“Penny, that’s not my type.”
“Then tell me why the last few girls I’ve seen on your arm had those three things in common.”
“Because they were easy.”
“Obviously. I’m surprised you didn’t knock any of them up.”
“I didn’t mean it in that way.”
“Then tell me, how did you mean it?”
“I’m a busy man, you know this. I don’t have time for dating. But a man has needs, and women like that are the type that approach me at parties.”
“Yep, gold diggers will do that.”
“They were a convenient distraction from my busy life, but I never invested any time or money into them, and knowing their true intentions, I always wore condoms. Please believe me when I say they were never who I wanted.”
“Then who did you want?”
“You, Penny.”
She rolls her eyes.
“I’ve wanted you since I first saw you, but you were all of eighteen, and I was thirty.
It wasn’t decent. But that night…I just couldn’t anymore.
All those women in their skin-tight dresses, trying to press up against me, made me feel hollow.
Then, there was you, working your ass off, never complaining, so fucking adorable in your messy hair and oversized glasses.
I wanted you so badly, but I was determined to do the right thing.
It was the alcohol that made me slip, but I’m not at all upset by it. ”
“So you want to raise the baby together?” she says, her voice wavering ever so slightly.
“Not just together, Penny. As husband and wife.”