“I can’t take that,” Millie says. She’s shaking her head no as she says the words.
“Like I said. I don’t lie. As much as I love how good you are to my girl, I’m doing this for her.” I shrug. I might as well admit it all. “Also for myself. Bailey needs more room to work. You need a bigger staff. This way she isn’t working all the time.”
Millie laughs. “So she has more time for you.”
“Yep.”
My sister lets out a snort. She hates when she does it but can’t help it when she finds something extra amusing.
“Really?” Bailey steps closer to me, out of her friend’s hold. I pull her in. She clings to me like a little koala bear and I wonder if I should change my nickname for her.
“Yeah, my little protester. Really.” She peppers those sweet kisses all over my face as she easily climbs my body. There is no shyness to her action. She does what she wants and doesn’t care who sees it.
“Where’s my breakfast?” she asks after a beat, making us all laugh.
“Go put more clothes on and I’ll show you next door and get you some food.” I give her ass a small squeeze before I let her go. I know I can’t go with her or we’ll never get out of her place. I’ll have her pinned to the bed again. I need to let her rest. I took her long and hard last night. She needs time to heal. My control all but shattered when I had her. I think I might have broken her headboard too. I didn’t need her roaming around next door in tiny sleep shorts and my shirt she’s wearing that barely covers them. I need her to go change. Alone. As much as it kills me to miss her doing it.
“You really love her.” My sister lets out a long, happy sigh. I thought she’d be good with this but she is a little happier than I thought she’d be. I know she came down to check on me but she is taking this a little far. She is the one that kept telling me to get a life.
“Yeah.” I nod.
“When you know you know,” both Millie and Andrea say at the same time. Their eyes snap to meet each other’s. Clearly on the same page. Both of them obviously know the feeling already.
“You can’t be in love. You’re a workaholic,” I remind my sister. She has been out here for more than twenty-four hours now. Things might be changing for her too. Not to mention she is again dressed down. I am liking the idea of her not working so much either. Soon she’ll be an aunt and I want my sister to be a part of all this. We have always been close. My life is changing and I’d be a liar if I didn’t want her to change some too. I see what love is now and I want her to have it too. I want her to realize like I have that not everything has to be about work.
“Looks like things are changing for everyone,” Millie chimes in. “I’m going to get you a table out front reserved.” She slips out the back kitchen doors to leave my sister and me alone.
“You know I was only checking on you, right?” She slides in next to me. I wrap an arm around her, kissing her on top of her head. I did know that and I think my girl got that too once she thought on it. She’d do the same for Millie. Make sure her head was on straight. To me this is only a coffee shop. I don’t need one here. Hell, I don’t need any of them as long as I can have Bailey. She is all I need. My eyes have been opened to a new way of life and I want to enjoy every second with her.
“You know you don’t have to work like crazy. You have a good team around you and I’m willing to help you set it up so you can be a little bit more like me.”
“A bum?” she teases.
“A bum for now but a husband and father soon enough.” For the first time Andrea doesn’t shudder at the idea of babies and marriage.
“I’m pregnant,” she blurts out. My hold on her tightens for a moment. “Can’t let you beat me at something,” she teases again but I know she’s a little scared. I can tell by the waver in her voice. I tighten my hold around her, letting her know that she has my support.
“You’re a smart woman, Andrea. If you got pregnant you knew what you were doing.” She licks her lips before she nods in agreement.
“Mom and Dad are going to be over the moon when they get back.” Andrea turns in my arms so I can give her a better hug. “We can do this.” It’s something we always said together growing up.