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“Friday.” Seeing Mae’s arched brows, Honor quickly added, “We kept it to ourselves a couple days until we could tell his family this morning. Then we went over by my mom’s this afternoon.”
“Let me guess. Merit was at brunch this morning, so he knew you were pregnant already when I told
him I was. That’s where his stupid idea of us planning this came from.”
“Yes.” Suddenly her friend’s smile faded.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She tilted her head as her stomach tightened with unease. “No, what?”
Honor let loose a soft sigh. “He made a wise-crack after we told everyone. I heard him joke with Asher, ‘Better you than me.’”
Disappointment swelled once more that Merit didn’t seem to be any different than Ian’s father. Which was stupid, because she already knew he wasn’t. The thing was, she’d only spent one night with Merit compared to six months with Patrick, so she shouldn’t have even a smidgeon of hope that she wouldn’t have to do this all on her own again.
Hearing Honor’s words, even the smidgeon vanished.
She straightened her spine. “It’s fine. I already told him I don’t expect anything from him.”
“Still, maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. He was probably just joking around.”
“I have no illusions about the guy, Honor. Especially since his booty call for the evening showed up just as I was leaving.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. Some coffee shop girl—or I assume from the name and phone number on his cup.”
“Lyssa.” Her friend made a face as she explained, “I saw the cup this morning at brunch, but honestly, he didn’t seem all that interested.”
“Well, she was at his house, so apparently, he was.” She glanced down at the counter, hoping Honor hadn’t seen her disappointment as she traced a vein running through the laminate. “The thing is, I knew who he was when I slept with him, so I can’t really blame him.”
She said the words as much for her friend as to remind herself.
“Maybe he’ll step up.”
“I’m not holding my breath.”
“You know, come to think of it, he has asked about you more than a few times since the wedding.”
A spark of hope tried to ignite, but Mae squashed it fast. It didn’t matter if he’d asked about her after their one night stand. With the baby in the mix, she had to put it and Ian first. Plus, she’d had a hard enough time getting over Patrick when he deserted her. Even more so than Honor knew. She wasn’t going to set herself up for that kind of hurt again, and she was smart enough—when she wasn’t all stupid giddy on wedding bliss and champagne—to know Merit could hurt her bad.
“He did try contacting me after,” Mae admitted, “But I ignored him.”
Honor frowned slightly. “Why? Was the sex bad?”
The question made her smile, but she hesitated to answer.
“You asked how Asher was back when we first got together,” her friend pointed out with a sassy grin.
“I know, but now it just seems weird, being they’re brothers and all.”
“Oh, no.” Honor’s hand rose to cover her mouth as her eyes rounded dramatically. “It was bad, wasn’t it?”
“No.” She glanced toward the stairs Asher had disappeared up earlier, then leaned forward and lowered her voice. “It was actually pretty darn great. Like, scream his name multiple times great.” Heat climbed her neck from both the memory and actually saying those words out loud.
Honor drew back, waving her hands, palms out. “Whoa, no, that’s good enough. Otherwise we’re getting into the same territory as you not wanting to know about me and Asher here in the kitchen.”
