Dirty: The Complete Series (Secret Baby Romance Love Story) by Nella Tyler Page A

her, taking more bites of the soup. It warmed me up and I
could feel the pressure in my head starting to relax, my sinuses starting to
ease up on me. It made my throat feel better, too; the heat, saltiness, and the
chunks of chicken were just exactly what I needed.
    “There’s
more in the jar—I left it out, but if you’re going to wait to eat the rest of
it you’ll probably want to put it in the fridge so it doesn’t spoil.”
    “I
appreciate it,” I said, nodding as I set the bowl aside and picked up the glass
of Gatorade. “And, thanks for coming out all this way to bring it.”
    Autumn
shrugged, blushing again. “I just thought… I didn’t know if you’d have anyone
else to bring you soup or anything, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
    “You
really don’t have to hang around if you don’t want to,” I told her. “I mean,
I’m not asking you to leave or anything, but I’m sure you’ve got important
things to do around the house, and of course Adelyn probably isn’t used to you
being away from her for very long.” Autumn smiled.
    “She’s
in very good hands with my mom. And, dinner at home isn’t for another few
hours, so it’s not like anyone will miss me for a bit.” She gave me a quick,
almost stern look. “Take the medicine before you finish off that Gatorade.”
    “Yes,
Ma’am,” I said, almost laughing at her sternness. I poured myself a shot of the
medicine in the little cup that came with the bottle and knocked it back,
chasing it with the last of the Gatorade in my glass like chasing a shot of
whiskey with a slug of beer.
    Autumn
stood and gathered up the tray, taking it back into the kitchen, and I heard
her rinse the bowl out in the sink. She came back into the living room and sat
down. “If you don’t mind, I’ll just stick around until you start feeling
sleepy,” she suggested.
    “I
don’t mind at all,” I said, nodding. Autumn had brought the bottle of Gatorade
with her and handed it to me.
    “You
might as well drink some more of it while you’re still awake,” she pointed out.
I poured myself another installment of the drink and sipped it, sitting back on
the couch. I pulled the afghan my mom had made sometime years before around me.
    “You
know, maybe it’s forward of me, and if you don’t want to answer, I’ll back
off,” I said, “but what’s the story with you and Adelyn?” Autumn laughed—a
little bitterly, I thought.
    “You
mean, why am I a single mom?”
    I
shrugged and half-nodded. “Not that I’m passing judgment or anything. I was
just curious how a beautiful woman like you ended up taking care of a baby all
on your own.” Autumn smiled sadly.
    “I
was engaged when I got pregnant with her,” she began. “And for the record—I
didn’t get engaged because I got pregnant, I got pregnant because Adelyn’s
father and I had stopped being careful after we got engaged.”
    “Sounds
normal.” I could feel the medicine starting to work—not just drying me up, but
making me a little drowsy, a little dopey. It wasn’t so bad that I’d tell
Autumn to leave, but it was making my tongue a little looser than usual. “So
what happened?” She looked down at her hands and sighed.
    “Titan
was his name,” she said, meeting my gaze once more. “He—I guess—found someone
online. I guess he was technically cheating on me just about the whole time,
though it feels weird to say it since he never…”
    She
shook her head. “Anyway, a few months into my pregnancy with Addie, he told me
that he wanted to move out East because he’d found someone online who lived out
there. New York maybe, or somewhere like that.”
    “What
a pissant,” I said, frowning. I couldn’t imagine exchanging messages with
another woman when the woman I was engaged to—the woman I loved—was carrying my
child. But then, I knew from some of my friends that there were plenty of men
out there who were only ever interested in the hunt. “That’s no kind of