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I probably did a pretty shitty job at hiding that.
In fact, if I had to guess, I had a feeling that quite a few people knew about it.
And, obviously, his brothers did, too.
“We were just curious if you’d ever… you know.” Bronx lifted his eyebrows suggestively. “Because there was this tension in the air, and every single time y’all were near each other, we could practically feel it coming off of you two in waves.”
I closed my eyes as embarrassment started to flood through me.
“Not sure that any of us expected a pregnancy, though,” Jim admitted, leaning back in the booth as he alternated looking at Sin and I. “Though, technically, we probably should’ve planned for that. Because it’s not like Sin can carry those things around with him. Nor can you, I guess.”
I felt my eye start to twitch.
“I knew it,” Bellini said as he took our drinks from the waitress and put them down onto the table. Seconds later the bread followed, making my mouth water. “I told them that it was going to happen. The last time I was there visiting, he kept looking at you across the room. Everyone agreed that Sin would be good. But I knew that he wouldn’t give a fuck.”
My brows rose. “You knew that he was going to do bad things to me in prison?”
Bellini shrugged. “I saw you. Saw how he reacted to you. Saw it coming a mile away, actually. I just kind of didn’t expect quite this level of explosiveness.”
He gestured to the paper that Jim and Bronx were studying with their heads together. As if they were looking at something that was out of this world.
Which, it kind of was.
I still didn’t have my head wrapped around it, and I’d had a month to prepare.
When I looked over at Sin, it was to see him already looking at me.
“What?” I asked.
He gestured to the bread.
“You might want to eat that while it’s hot,” he said. “That’s when it’s the best.”
I looked at the bread that I hadn’t touched, then back at him.
“You’re okay with this?” I whispered quietly, hoping that his brothers who were now all three looking at the photo wouldn’t hear.
He looked from me to his brothers, then back to me. “I’m more than okay with this.” He paused. “It was never my intention to make you think that I wasn’t okay with this, honestly. I love kids. Did I expect to conceive one while I was in prison? No. But that’s not going to change the fact that I want this baby. That I want this baby with you. That I want you. I was just trying to get my life straightened out before I started making demands.”
“Making demands?” I asked, feeling my heart rate accelerate.
He pulled a roll out of the basket and started to butter it. The moment he was done, he handed it to me.
I took a bite and was just about to swallow after chewing when I nearly choked due to his words. “I think you needed the time just like I did. You told me you needed me to come to terms. But I think that you needed to come to terms, too. And I was serious earlier. I think that we should move in with each other. We already know we’re compatible.”
Oh, we were compatible.
We were more than compatible.
“What if you can’t stand me?” I asked. “What if I do things you don’t like?”
“What if you can’t stand me? I haven’t had to live with anyone that I actually gave a fuck about in a really long time. You may think I’m annoying as fuck and leave me… but you won’t know until you try,” he countered as he urged me to take another bite of the roll.
It was very good.
I took another bite and listened as he spoke. “And there’s no other way to know if we like each other at this point but to bite the bullet and move in. If nothing else, you can always go back to your brother’s place if you decide I’m annoying.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
On one hand, he had a point.
But…
“We could get to know each other by, you know, dating,” I pointed out.
He snorted. “I think we’re a little bit past that. I did hard time because I beat the shit out of the person that was set on raping and beating you to death. You and I are now expecting a child. I’m not sure how we can put the horse back into the barn, but if you really want to try…”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”
“So you’ll move in?” he asked, sounding hopeful.
“I’ll move in if you do me a solid and not laugh when I freak out about ghosts,” I conceded. “Because I bet your place has them. And I’m going to have to come to terms with that.”
