Page 5 of One Little Mistake
Her eyes fill with tears—just what I needed.
She paces the room nervously, one hand on her lower back, phone to her ear again and again. Then she disappears for a bit, before coming back. Eyes red from crying, lips bitten, face flushed.
She looks straight at me.
“Vivienne will confirm who’s telling the truth. Because she knows Max. The real Max.”
There’s a spark of determination in her eyes.
“Good idea. But it’s too late to bother the neighbors. We’ll wait till morning,” I say, trying to sound indifferent.
Erin snorts and leaves the kitchen again.
I lean back in the chair and rub my eyes.
What a surprise from the universe. Just insane.
I slowly poke at the sausages with my fork, going over a hundred versions of how this girl could’ve ended up in my house.
What if she really is a con artist? I should probably check if the safe is still here.
“Max?”
Her worried voice cuts through—and I meet her eyes, wide with fear.
“I think I’m in labor,” she says through tears, clutching her stomach and gasping.
CHAPTER 3
Max
“You’re kidding me?” I choke on my food and start coughing hard.
That’s just what I needed to complete this perfect day.
“Nope.”
The girl shakes her head, completely lost, her face twisted in pain. One hand’s braced against the wall, the other—like always—is rubbing her belly.
“I’m calling an ambulance,” I shoot up from the chair, fumbling around for my phone.
“A cab. Not an ambulance.”
“What do you mean, a cab?”
“I need to get to the hospital.”
“You get to a hospital in an ambulance, not in a damn cab.”
“Should I go pack a bag?”
She looks at me like she’s asking for permission.
I nod like an idiot, trying not to freak out—but all my so-called composure and manly calm goes straight to hell the moment Erin walks back into the kitchen with a small duffel bag in hand and mumbles:
“My water broke.”
“Screw the ambulance. I’ll drive you myself. You’re not giving birth in my house.”
