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She nods. “It’s just, I’ve never met anyone’s family before. Not even as a girlfriend, and now I’m supposed to be someone’s wife.”
I freeze. “You haven’t?” I spent so long thinking she was a single mom that it hadn’t occurred to me that no one has tried to claim her yet.
She shakes her head, flipping a pancake and shoveling eggs onto a plate. “I’ve never been in a relationship because I’ve been so busy with Zander.”
That could be the only reason. Any man with eyes would ask Zoe to be his. I’m just the lucky bastard who got there first, and if I can prove myself to Zoe, I’ll be last too.
“I just don’t want to say the wrong thing and ruin things for you. What if your uncle doesn’t like me? What if he knows it’s all a sham?”
I want so badly to reach for her, to pull her into my arms and reassure her that everything will be fine. But I can’t. I can’t touch her. Not now when my cock has a mind of its own. It’s impossible to hide a hard-on when you’re wearing sweatpants. Remembering how she tensed up last night, I don’t want to make her any more uncomfortable.
“My uncle and cousins will love you,” I say, taking two plates from her and setting them on the table. One is decorated like a smiley face with chocolate chips for eyes and scrambled eggs for hair. The next is a fruit platter of dew melons and pineapple in the shape of a stegosaurus.
After Zoe mentioned her case workers' constant complaints about a lack of fruit, I made sure to cram the fridge full of it. Zander isn’t the only one who doesn’t get enough of it. If Zoe arranged my fruit into my favorite shapes, I’d eat it too. I can think of a few, like two grapes, each on a round slice of cantaloupe.
Don’t look at her tits.
Don’t...
But I do as she hands me a steaming mug of cocoa filled with a melting marshmallow smiley face to place with the rest of Zander’s food.
The fact that someone like Zoe could be concerned about anyone not liking her is downright insane. Seriously, what’s not to love about this woman?
“You’re hardworking,” I say. “And super dedicated to your brother. My family will see that first.”
Zoe fiddles with the little bow on her neckline, drawing my attention once again to that deep crease between her breasts. “Will that bother them? That I’m basically a single parent?”
I frown. “Why would it?”
“Most families don’t want outside additions. That aside, I work at the diner.”
“And you're one of the best damn chefs I know,” I say, not liking how this conversation is going. There’s nothing shameful or wrong about either.
She blushes. “I’m not anything special, Cole. I’m just a line cook.”
“You’re not just anything,” I assure her, but she doesn’t look convinced. “You’re still young. You have plenty of time to make your dreams come true. What do you want to be?”
“It’s a small town I fully intend to stay in, so I don’t think I need a specialty. I’m more or less interested in tweaking the diner’s menu and whipping up specials,” Zoe smiles softly. “Sometimes when I’m flipping burgers in the diner, I imagine it’s totally mine, and I have full creative control.”
“What else do you imagine?” I ask, wanting to know all the dreams floating around in her gorgeous head.
But then she freezes, growing stiff and shuttering her emotions again.
“It doesn’t matter. I better get Zander before the food gets cold.”
“Wait,” I grab her wrist, breaking my no-touching rule. Everything in me tells me to drop it, but my fingers have a mind of their own. “It matters to me.”
“It’s just a fantasy. Shouldn’t we concentrate on reality? Like the fact that your family may be less than impressed with me?”
I stroke my thumb over her fingers. So this is what this is about.
“You think they’ll think I can do better than you.” It isn’t a question, and she doesn't deny it.
“You’re thirty-two and gorgeous with no baggage. You own your own company. Two of them! The lumber mill and the cabin building business with your cousins. You have two beautiful homes and enough spare time to actually enjoy them. I’m a twenty-two-year-old single parent with no college degree who can’t even afford her own apartment or a babysitter for her kid. I work a dead-end, minimum-wage job at a small-town diner. If I can see how mismatched we are, won’t your family? Maybe this was a mistake. I don’t know why you chose me. You can do so much better than me.”
She’s spiraling. She is getting so far into her head that I worry I won’t be able to pull her out.
“Zoe, there is no better because you’re downright incredible,” I say seriously. “They won’t see Zander as an unwanted addition or a burden. They’ll see him for the smart, funny, hyperactive little boy that he is. Foresters are all about family; it doesn’t matter how the relationship came about or if there’s no blood involved. It wouldn’t even matter if he had four legs and a tail. If I claimed him as my own, so would my family. Mark my words that Buckee will be waiting with a scepter to crown Zander the next Earl of Forester Ranch by his second visit.”
