“Am I?”
“Yes, you are, and I’m tired of it. In fact, I’m utterly exhausted. You’re exhausting the hell out of me.”
“You want to know what I’m tired of?”
“I’m dying to know. What could you be possibly tired of?”
“I’m tired of the excuses.”
“Excuses! Please elaborate.”
“You’re too tired, you’re too busy trying to be everything to everybody, and you’realwayson the most important business call of your life.”
“You freakishly tall jerk! I just carried and delivered your colossal, ten pound son eight months ago, thank you very much. So yeah, I am tired and I am busy. Hell, I’m frackin’ supermom. I should get an award for bringing your child into the world. They should name a Medal of Honor after me!”
“And what does giving birth to our love child have anything to do with being too busy to marry his father?”
“What did you say?”
“Or have you just conveniently forgotten about the big-ass diamond promise I put on your finger?”He points resentfully at my hand.
Roman has never mentioned having a problem with us putting the wedding on hold until today, and to be honest, I haven’t given a vast amount of thought about it. We love each other. We’re raising our son together. I thought we were fine to wait until things settled down in our lives. I assumed we were on the same page.
I have been consumed with all the growth in the business and with being a new mother. I’m not even sure how it happened. It’s not like we formally discussed waiting, but we just never really started planning. I want to marry him. He is my forever after. He and Knox are everything to me. How could he think this is some sort of avoidance issue for me?
Dammit.
The moment I realize that I’ve totally forgotten that Jacob is patiently waiting to finish our meeting, Roman recognizes it on my face.
“You can call him back. We’re talking.”
“I can’t just leave the president of—”
“I don’t give one flying fuck what rinky dink college he is the president of.”
“Well, I giveallthe fucks.”
“I’m warning you, Elizabeth.”
So maybe now I’m pissed too. Some of his points may be valid, but Roman is being unreasonable, and that man knows how to push all of my buttons both good and bad like no one else in the world.
I stroll over to the mirror, slide my hands into the roots of my hair and fluff my curls a bit. I add some moisture to my lips by giving them a long lick and then I flippantly say to him, “Be right back, baby daddy.”
I’m crystal clear that I’ve now officially pissed him off.
“Elizabeth, don’t go in that office.”
“And what are you going to do if I do?”
“I doubt that you want to test that.”
“This is not a test,” I say sarcastically. “I repeat, this is not a test.”
I stroll back into my office, sashaying my hips exaggeratedly as I do. I lock the door behind me and take a seat. Jacob is still there, working on his computer, and pops his eyes back up when he sees me.
“All good?”
I unmute myself.
