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Twenty-Seven
Devon
I’m going to murder Emma. Wes on his knees literally licking the sweat from my body is pretty much the sexiest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. Or, at least, itwasuntil it all came to a screeching halt at the sound of Emma’s voice.
“What are the odds she’ll go away if we ignore her?” I venture.
He arches an eyebrow. “I’d say…non-existent.”
I sigh in resignation. “You want to wait here?”
In lieu of an answer, he strides to the fridge and retrieves a beer, snapping the cap off before hopping up to sit on the island.
I roll my eyes. “I own chairs, you know.”
Wes just smirks around the neck of his beer bottle. “I know.”
I give a wry shake of my head and leave him so I can go answer the door, finding a frantic Emma on the other side.
When she sees me, she lets out an obvious sigh of relief. “Oh, thank god. You’re still in one piece.”
My brow furrows in puzzlement. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
She looses a dramatic sigh and steps over the threshold into the front hallway. “I broke the news to Wes and, well, hekind ofassumed you were the father,” she says with a cringe. “And before I could correct him, he stormed off muttering about kicking someone’s arse so I thought he might have been headed here.”
I’m about to assure her that Wes didn’t jump to that conclusion at all and was more upset about me keeping such important information from him, but then I replay what she’s just said and realise she still has no idea that Wes and I are together. Obviously, Wes didn’t get a chance to break his news before all the drama went down.
“Ah, listen, Emma…about Wes—”
She nods eagerly. “I know, I know.”
I stare at her in confusion. “You…do?”
“Yeah.Of course,it makes sense that he’d jump to that conclusion. I’m four months pregnant. We broke up four months ago. It’s a reasonable assumption to make.” She gives a little shrug. “I doubt he’ll be the only one.”
“The only one…what?”
“To assume you’re the father.”
“Uhh…” I’m usually an excellent conversationalist. Finding the right words to say to people in difficult situations is why I’m so good at my job. Right now, though, I’m having trouble stringing two thoughts together, let alone two words. “But…obviously you’ll tell them I’m not.”
Emma draws in a deep breath, biting her lip in a way that tells me she’s nervous. “Okay, here’s the thing. What if I didn’t?”
“Didn’t what?”
“Correct people’s assumptions.”
“Excuse me?”My eyes literally feel like they’ve bugged out of my head Roger Rabbit style, I’m so shocked by what she’s suggesting.
“Not forever, of course,” she says quickly, as though that makes her suggestion seem less crazy. “Just for the initial shock period. You know, to soften the blow so to speak. And it’s not like I’d be saying you’re the father. I just wouldn’t be saying you’re not.”
“Emma,”I grate out in a warning tone.
“Look, I know I sound insane—”
“You don’t justsoundinsane, Emma,” I growl. “Youareinsane if you think I’d go along with this farce just to save you from having to tell your family you got knocked up by some random guy you’d only known an hour.”
She winces at my words. “Sorry, I know I’m being insensitive. You have every right to be mad at me. Truthfully, I’d probably be a little upset if you’d gotten someone pregnant so soon after—”
