The Bachelor Contract by Victoria James

Author:Victoria James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: City Life Fiction; Romantic Comedy; General Humorous Fiction; Contemporary Women's Fiction; Contemporary Romance Fiction; Clean & Wholesome Romance; American Humorous Fiction; Women's Literary Fiction; Women's Short Stories; RomCom; Small town Romance; Sweet Romance; Heartfelt Romance; Closed Door; New York Times bestselling author; Victoria James; Single Title Romance; Second Chances; Starting Over; Opposites Attract; Sweet; Emotional; Fall; North America; Coming of Age; Grumpy Hero; Girl Next door; Humorous; Uplifting; Rules; Entangled Publishing; Amara; Family
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

May stared at Austin as he pulled his T-shirt back on. In truth, she was trying to process the wild range of emotions and events that had just happened tonight. From having Reese apologize, to confronting her father in the parking lot, to having Austin swoop in and basically admitting he was attracted to her, too, to kissing him and crossing that line. And now, he was here asking if they could pick up Caroline with her. And spend the night. And that he knew what a Pack ’n Play was.

She stood, fixing her own shirt, smoothing out her hair, her mind swirling with all the different options and scenarios. “I’m not sure what to say. I mean, what do I tell Callie? And what do we say to your parents when we both go over there to pick up Caroline? We’ll basically be throwing ourselves in the spotlight. And what was this? We don’t even know.”

“We do know, if we’re honest about it, but our timing was off is all. Now it’s not. And God, May, I missed you. I don’t want to say goodbye now,” Austin said, pulling her into his arms.

That was totally unexpected and something she could get used to. She’d shut herself off from true connection with adults since that day her mother died. Not that affection was something she’d ever been given or shown, but she’d secretly yearned for it. For a hug. For a kiss. Whenever Mrs. Merrick had hugged her, it had felt like sunshine. At first, she hadn’t even known what to do. She’d been so blindsided and awkward. And then she’d craved her hugs.

With Caroline, she worried she’d do what her adoptive parents had done. Would affection come easily to her? She knew babies needed to be held and loved and how important that was for their development, and she’d worried she might not be able to give Caroline what she needed—that there was something wrong with her.

But the minute she had held her, her fears vanished. Caroline had made it impossible not to love her and hold her. In some ways, it had been a bittersweet realization because she had no idea how her parents couldn’t have been more loving with her. Babies were so helpless, so needy, so trusting, and yet so free with their love. She couldn’t imagine denying Caroline that kind of love. Had she cried for someone to pick her up as a baby? To hold her more? What had she thought about why she wasn’t given that kind of love?

But Austin reaching out to touch her so naturally was…a little piece of heaven. Austin pulled back and looked at her. He reached down to give her a soft kiss, and she wondered if she’d be enough for him. Would she be able to reciprocate physically? He was so easy with his affection, reaching for a hand, a kiss, a hug. Could she do that? “I know my family is irritating, but you look really worried.

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