Unfinished Ex (Calloway Brothers, #2)(69)

I throw the rest of our breakfast in the sink and wrap my arms around her as she checks messages on her phone. “Come right back here after work. It’s our bye week. We have all night together.”

“It’s Friday,” she says. “I have to be in bed early.”

Spinning her chair around, I trap her to it with my arms and lean close, letting my breath flow over her ear. “Oh, I plan to have you in bed early. I plan to have you all kinds of ways.”

“Then I’d better get going. If I play my cards right, I can be out of there by four and into your bed by five.”

My dick likes her answer. It stresses my boxer briefs.



~



Drying off after my shower, I hear what can only be an eighteen-wheeler pulling up outside. I peek through the slats in my blinds. The Papadakis’ moving truck is here. I have hours before I need to meet Mom. I throw on a T-shirt and jeans and go out to see if I can help.

“Morning, Mr. Papadakis,” I say, finding him on the front sidewalk. “Moving day, huh? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I appreciate the offer, but four men bigger than your linebackers just went inside. Looks like they have it covered.”

“It’s going to be strange not having you around. I’ll never know when it’s Saturday if I don’t smell your brisket.”

He appraises the yard he’s spent decades mowing. “It’s been a great twenty-five years livin’

here. But it’s time to move on.”

“Do you know when the new family will move in?”

His head shakes back and forth. “That deal fell through. Something about the financing. Poor things. I know they really loved it here.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Back to the drawing board?”

He studies me strangely. “I thought for sure you’d heard. We sold it to that pretty little thing who comes around your house sometimes.”

A smile splits my face in two. “Nicole Forbes bought your house?”

“Not her. The other one. Technically, she hasn’t bought it yet. The deal was only signed a few days ago. She’ll be renting until the sale goes through ’bout a month from now. Moving in tomorrow actually.”

My stomach turns as my future flashes in front of me. “You’re selling to Calista Hilson?”

“That’s the one. Cash sale, too. I think her daddy helped her. Should happen quickly.”

Standing here pretending my world isn’t tumbling out of control is very hard to do. “Okay, then. I hope you enjoy your new condo. You’ve been great neighbors.”

He shakes my hand. “You too, son. Good luck with that football team of yours.”

“Thank you.”

I walk casually back to my house, get Heisman and my running shoes, and then hit the pavement, not stopping until I’m banging down the door to Calista’s apartment.

It opens and I plow through. “What the hell are you pulling here by buying the Papadakis’

house?”

She bends over and pats Heisman. “Well, good morning to you too,” she sings happily.

Glancing around her place, all I see are boxes, packing paper, and rolls of tape. “I mean, what the fuck, Calista?”

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? Think about it, Jaxon. When you told me you were going to want shared custody, all I could see was us carting the baby back and forth, shuttling him between our places. This way, we’re both right there. We’ll be thirty feet away. We can literally walk our child through the grass to each other’s house. I was even thinking of removing the fence between our yards.

Wouldn’t it be great? We can put in a huge swing set. Maybe even a pool when the baby is older.”

The more excited she gets, the more pissed I become. She’s played it cool the past three weeks.

The texts have been the only real communication we’ve had about the baby. At school, we pass in the hallway and say hello. We talk cordially in the teachers’ lounge. It’s been better than I thought it would be. Now I know why. “Have you been planning this all along? Is this a stunt to get me back?”

“Stunt? This isn’t about you, Jaxon. Believe me, I don’t want you back. I deserve a man who loves me unconditionally. This is about the baby, plain and simple. When a realtor friend of mine told me about the deal that fell through on the house last week, it all started to make sense. I believe it was fate. Don’t you think so?”

“Fate?” I glance at her still-flat stomach. “You think fate had you getting knocked up just when my wife came back in the picture?”

“Ex-wife.”

“Fuck! Whatever.”

“Listen, what’s done is done. I’m moving in tomorrow in case you’re interested.”

I peek in one of the boxes. It’s loaded with books. “You have help?”

She leans against the back of her couch, smiling. “You offering?”

“You shouldn’t be lifting heavy boxes, especially down from the second floor. And, no, I’m not offering to do it myself, but I’ll help pay for someone so you don’t get hurt.”

“Look at you being all protective of me.”

“Calista, I don’t have any other choice. Protecting you is the only way to protect my baby.”