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“Two weeks, I know. But when has E. ever waited the full term to pop out a kid?”
True.
“So that means Mason and I are leaving, like right now, and taking the kids over there to babysit Pick and Eva’s crew. We’ll be gone a few days. Will you be okay? Or do you need—”
“I’ll be fine,” I rushed to reassure her, knowing she was in a hurry. “Don’t worry about me. If I need anything, I’ll just”—my gaze caught Caroline’s— “I’ll ask the Gambles.”
“Great. We love you. Take care. See you in a few.” Reese hung up before I could say anything else, so I just laughed at her enthusiasm and hung up the phone.
“Pick and Eva are having their baby?” Zoey guessed.
When I nodded, both she and Caroline squealed in delight and jerked up their own phones, mostly likely to text their hubbies. My first impulse had been to immediately tell Brandt the news. But watching Zoey and Caroline contact their guys made me pause and feel as if I was trying to slot him into the husband position, especially after everything I’d bought today. And that was totally not what I wanted to force him into.
I was still happy and content being just his best friend. I wasn’t trying to push for more. The sex part was just because I only trusted him to help me ease into the next stage of my life, except I’d kind of forgotten why I was so determined to lose my virginity in the first place. Being a virgin certainly wasn’t painful or in any way uncomfortable. I was perfectly happy to stay this way for the rest of my life if need be. If only assholes like Seth—
Oh, right. Seth.
I’d started this whole stupid crusade because I wanted to show that jerkface I could attract a man without him being paid to do me.
But the more I wanted to shove Brandt into the role of the doer, the crappier I began to feel about the whole idea, especially after the way he’d reacted the first time I’d asked him.
“Oh my God, my husband is a genius,” Caroline squealed, looking up to shake my arm. “With Eva going into labor and Reese and all them leaving to babysit the other three Ryan kids, you know what this means, don’t you?”
I wrinkled my brow, having no clue what that meant. “That Eva and Pick will now have four kids?” I guessed lamely.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “No. It means you’ll be home alone for the next few days.”
“Oh,” Zoey gasped, catching on. “That’s perfect. I thought we’d have to wait weeks to organize seduction night, but...wait, does Brandt have to work tonight?”
“Nope.” Caroline read the screen of her phone with a grin. “Colton says he’s off both tonight and tomorrow.” She looked up and wiggled her eyebrows at me. ?
??So that gives us two nights to work with.”
Uncertainty churned through me. “You know, I’ve been thinking. Maybe trying to force Brandt into—”
“It’s a great plan,” Caroline cut in. “Just trust us.”
Trust them.
Sure, my mind screamed very uncertainly.
I have no idea why trusting Brandt’s siblings felt like the worst idea ever. Shouldn’t they know what he needed more than I did?
No, I was his best friend. Not them. I knew him better. And he would not appreciate this...at all.
I think that was when I decided I wasn’t going to go through with Operation Bang-Brandt, even though I’d just let Caroline believe otherwise.
~*~
When Caroline encouraged me to follow them to Zoey’s house from the mall, I agreed. I didn’t think there’d be any harm in it, since the alternative was me going home alone.
Ten was waiting by the door when we arrived. For some reason, Caroline had grabbed my bag-o-sin from my SUV when I’d parked. I had no idea why—I certainly wasn’t changing into anything here...maybe even anywhere. I was probably going to “lose” the entire bag as soon as I got home.
“Hey, Hot Wheels,” Ten greeted me first thing. “Did you pick out something really naughty?”
“Oh my God,” I gasped, my face going beet red. I guess I should’ve known everyone would be in on Operation Bang-Brandt.
Yeah, now I really couldn’t go through with it.
