Ready or Not (Ready #4)(34)

I ducked as my deep laughter filled the backyard.

“I’m just f*cking with you, Liv.”

Her gaze fell back on the wicker chair that was flipped over on its side in front of her.

After a few days of walking back and forth past my patio door, I’d decided against buying new patio furniture. Instead, I’d asked Liv to help me revamp the existing pieces. I’d seen what she’d done with some of the chairs and tables in her own house, so I knew she was experienced in salvaging old furniture. Plus, it was time alone with her.

When I’d asked Noah if he wanted to help tonight, he’d looked at me like I was clinically insane. He was happily inside where it was cool and air-conditioned, probably blowing up aliens or cop cars on the PlayStation.

For the next hour or two, I had Liv all to myself.

Dating a single father was an imperfect science—especially when the single father happened to be new in town, had a brand-new, highly demanding job, and had little babysitting contacts.

Adding in Liv and her own responsibilities, I had the biggest case of blue balls known to man.

I wasn’t complaining.

Okay, I was—slightly. But I knew it would be worth the wait. Liv was worth a thousand dates that ended at the door rather than in a bed. The longer I knew her, the more I realized that Liv was the one woman I intended to keep. So, I could deal with the blue balls and dates that weren’t really dates since we were never truly alone. I was in it for the long haul.

I just hoped she was, too.

“So, where do we start, boss?” I asked, kneeling down beside her.

“We need to scrape and sand off as much of the old paint as possible. It’s not going to be fun,” she warned.

“Guess we’ll have to find something fun to talk about then,” I replied.

“Like what?”

She handed me a gritty piece of sandpaper, and I watched as she began moving her own piece along the wicker, creating a plume of dust.

“Hmm…” I mimicked her movements with my own sandpaper. “Let’s play Truth or Dare,” I challenged.

Her smile turned mischievous, setting down the sandpaper to grab a large metal tool to scrape off a large patch of paint that had begun to chip away.

“Okay, but how exactly are we going to do dares when we are supposed to be working, genius?”

“Just truths then?”

“So, basically, you just want to know all my darkest, deepest secrets?”

“Yep,” I admitted.

“Fine.” She laughed. “But I get to go first,” she said, her eyebrow angling up in amusement.

“Deal,” I agreed.

“How old were you when you lost your virginity?” she asked, a gleam of wickedness cascading across her face.

“No holding back, huh?”

“Nope. Spill it.”

“Okay, okay, but no laughing.” I sighed. “I was nineteen.”

“Nineteen!” she squeaked. “I would never have guessed.”

“Yeah, well, I was a tenderhearted youth, and I had it in my head that I was going to wait until the right girl came along.”

“And did she?” she asked hesitantly.

“Nope,” I answered bluntly. “But I got Noah out of the deal, so I think that counts as a win.”

I tried to cover up the bitterness with a smile, but I could tell I wasn’t doing a great job.

“Her name was Natalie,” I finally said. “We met in college. Coming from my middle-class, Southern upbringing, Nat was completely foreign to me. She was from Arizona, and she had lived on an Indian reservation for part of her life. She was exotic and looked like Pocahontas, and she was totally out there in the way she lived her life. To a wide-eyed boy like me, she was completely dangerous.”

“Dangerous how?” Liv asked. Her sanding had stopped, and she was now focused solely on me.

“Everyone told me to stay away from her. They said she was bad news and that she’d bring me nothing but misery, but I was young and naive. She’d come from a questionable past, and she had broken a dozen hearts by the time we found each other. The attention she gave me was hypnotizing and addictive, and I swore she was the one I was meant to be with forever.

“I thought I was the special one because she’d stayed. We dated through college and lived together. Shortly after graduation, she told me she was pregnant. I was ecstatic, but she was less than thrilled. It wasn’t great timing, but I knew we’d figure it out. I bought her a tiny diamond ring and promised to marry her after our son was born. When I saw the hesitation in her eyes, I told her that my father had given me a large sum of money. I thought she would be happy.”

“Oh, please tell me she didn’t—”

“She did,” I said. “Being the trustworthy dumb f*ck that I was, I gave her access to the account. She was my fiancée, and she was carrying my child. I wanted her to know that I would take care of her. Weeks after Noah was born, she was gone—along with the money.”

Liv’s hand touched mine, and I felt her warmth seeping into me.

“Were there any clues? Or were you completely blindsided?”

I shook my head. “I knew something was amiss. She hadn’t been happy for months—basically since she’d found out she was pregnant. Toward the end, she was on the phone a lot. I tried to tell myself that she was just adjusting, but now, I don’t know. There was probably someone else.”