Page 9 of Hired By My Rich Baby Daddy 3

I looked toward the kitchen.

“Let me grab you a bottle of water.”

I got her an ice-cold one out the fridge and brought it back over. She tried to turn the cap, but her face tightened up.

“I got you.”

She let me take it. I opened it and handed it back, then went to see what she had in the kitchen that she could eat.

I came back with some crackers and set them beside her.

“Eat something, too.”

“Thank you.”

She took a few sips of water before reaching for the crackers. I waited until she’d eaten a couple before I spoke again.

“You still feel like you about to pass out?”

“I mean, yeah, the food hasn’t settled in my stomach yet, Ozy.” She chuckled, then looked up at me. “I do have a question for you, though.”

“What’s up?”

“Are you… mad at me?”

I didn’t answer right away. This wasn’t something to take lightly. I had a baby who I hadn’t met. I never thought shit would be like this if and when I had my firstborn.

“Yeah, real talk, I’m just tryna keep my cool, ’cause ain’t shit I can do about it now other than try and figure all this out.”

Her eyes lowered, and she nodded like she expected it.

“Okay. I understand. I deserve that.”

“The shit that Ginger did is some shit that we can never come back from.” I put my hands in my pockets. “But I expected more from you, and I ain’t tryna come at you sideways, love, but understand, I ain’t taking it easy on you either. You feel me?”

She nodded, then took another sip of water. “Yeah, I feel you a hundred percent, and honestly… I’m just glad the secret is out. It was weighing me down, and I felt so bad about keeping it.”

“I wanna be there for her, Noree. That don’t mean taking her from you.”

She pressed her lips together and nodded, her eyes glistening again.

I sat down on the arm of the chair next to her.

“What’s her name?”

“Oaklynn.”

“Oaklynn,” I repeated. “I’m fucking with it. It’s pretty.”

Noree nodded, watching my face. “Yeah, I, uh… wanted her name to start with an O. Like yours.”

A smile pulled at my lips. I liked knowing that even when Noree thought she’d never see me again, she had still given our daughter that little connection to me.

“What’s she like?” I asked.

A small smile came across her face. “She’s funny. Busy. Always getting into something. She’ll have you laughing without even trying.”

A whole little personality, and I ain’t know nothing about her.