Page 95 of Possessive Ink

“Sorry about that. I’m Octy, not Octavia,” Octy says, holding her hand out to me.

Reaching out, I take her hand, trying not to make it obvious that I’m looking her over. “I’m Lemon,” I tell her, surreptitiously taking her in. She’s wearing a babydoll-style dress with puffed short sleeves and layers of netted underskirt that make me want to reach out and swoosh it. Her nails are painted black. She’s wearing thick platform-soled boots that are laced with pink ribbons up to her knees and matching bows in her hair.

“Gothic Lolita,” she says amusedly.

“It suits you.”

“I know.” She grins, turning to Atticus. “Did I hear you right? Did you call her your fiancée?”

Atticus nods, drawing me back to him and pinning my back to his chest.

“Congratulations. Betty didn’t tell me.”

“She didn’t know,” Atticus says.

“Wait,” she says. “I thought Cody renovated that warehouse you bought?”

“He did.”

“It’s new,” I say quickly. “We just got engaged yesterday,” I tell her.

“Oh. Well, congratulations.”

“Sit,” Knight growls, interrupting our conversation by lifting Octy off her feet and carrying her over to the chair at her station.

“I’m barely pregnant, Knight. You need to chill out. Standing for more than five minutes won’t hurt the baby,” Octy snaps at the big guy.

“You’re pregnant?” Atticus asks, clearly surprised.

“Yep,” Octy says, placing her hand on her stomach. “I’m five months now.”

“I can’t believe you’re having a baby,” Atticus says, his tone softening. “Congratulations. I’m happy for you both.”

“I’m just starting to show, although my dresses pretty much hide my bump.”

A grumbling growl vibrates from Knight, and Octy looks over her shoulder at him and smiles. “Knight wants me to be as big as a house so everyone knows I’m taken.”

“Ring on your finger, baby in your belly, and your man standing guard…I’d say people will get the message,” Atticus says, nodding approvingly at Knight.

“Urgh,” Octy says, rolling her eyes. “Lemon, are you just visiting, or have you moved from the Big Apple to this tiny town in Montana for this guy?”

“Oh, I’ve been living in Rockhead Point for almost two years,” I tell her.

Blinking, she swings her gaze from me to Atticus, then back again. “Wait…” Her lips purse in thought, then curve into a grin. “You guys met here?”

I nod.

“When?” she asks, still grinning.

My cheeks heat, and I feel myself tensing for her judgment.

“Does it matter?” Atticus growls.

“Oh my god, you guys got hit by the Barnett legacy, didn’t you?”

“The what?” I question at the same time that Atticus says, “Only Barnetts I know are Betty and Cody, and I’m confident they aren’t the reason we’re engaged.”

“Lemon, if you’ve been here for a while, you must know about the Barnetts,” Octy says.