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“The timing is kind of perfect,” Isaac said with a small wince. “I guess?”
Logan snorted. “Ellison with a baby? Kidd—you’ll have twice as much work taking care of those two than you would with just the little guy.” He dropped his chin and chuckled to himself, head shaking. “Ellison with a baby.”
A week ago, if someone had told me to picture Abbie with a child, I’d have laughed too. She’d made a point of telling anyone who listened that motherhood was not for her, but something about the way Logan had phrased it put a fire in my belly—an explosion of purpose that made the hair on my arms stand up.You’ll have twice as much work taking care of those two…
Images I’d replayed a thousand times before spun through my head. Abbie waiting for me in my loft in nothing but her panties. Abbie sighing at my touch. Her skin warm and soft under my tongue. Her mouth pliant. Her knees open, and her thighs wet. Abbie in my bed every night. My bed and only mine. No more of the arseholes she’d been fucking all these years. Abbie choosing me because she was the only one whosawme, and finally, she saw something she believed in.
A new one. Abbie arching her back and clawing the sheets. My ring on her finger.
Where the fuck did that come from? The idea of commitment was as big a turn-on as the image of Abbie writhing underneath me, and I wasn’t strong enough to look too closely at that. My cock swelled, and I pressed my eyes closed to shut it all down. Now wasn’t the time to fantasise about Abbie. I saved that stuff for the shower.
I nudged Isaac with my elbow, leaning into it to shove him out of the booth, and I slid out after him. “Just forget about Abbie, okay? I’ve got less than half a day to make my place fit for a kid, and I need to get to work.”
11
Abbie
Will, with that babystrapped to his hard, broad chest… Smooth, tanned biceps bulging underneath his dark cotton T-shirt… His light brown hair falling across his earnest, boyish blue eyes… The way he fumbled nervously at the buckles and furrowed his brow when testing the weight of Seb against the restraints… The fucking dimples that had dropped a thousand pairs of knickers…
Metaphorically speaking, mine were closer to my ankles than they’d ever been, and I’d always had perfect self-control where Will Kidd was concerned. What the hell was wrong with me? Will was like a planet. His daddy energy was gravity, and as long as I stayed in his orbit, I was at risk of crashing in a blaze of sexual glory.
Don’t think I wasn’t tempted because, mark my words—the collision would indeed be glorious. It’d also be plain stupid. I was a strong woman, and I never equated sex with love, but Inever wanted to wake up the next morning and have to pretend that sleeping with Will meant nothing to me.
“All right,” Birdie said, following me into the loft. “Tell. Us. Everything.”
“Oh, just try to stop me.”
I closed the door behind Emily and Tash, who made her way to the sofa. She stretched out on it and flung an arm over her face with a groan.
“Can I get you anything, sweetie?” I asked.
“A bucket would be nice,” she mumbled.
“On it.”
I raided Will’s laundry cupboard for something appropriate and handed a large plastic bowl to Tash. “Anything else?”
“No, thank you. It feels better when I’m horizontal.”
“That’s what he said,” Birdie quipped.
Her joke released the knot of nervous energy in the room, and I laughed in disbelief. “Oh, my God, you guys. Will has a baby!”
Birdie folded herself onto the floor at the foot of the sofa. “Sit and give us the details.”
“Okay, but first—snacks.”
Emily ran her fingers through her short dark hair, making it stick out at awkward angles now that she’d decided to grow out her pixie cut, and sat down on the other side of the coffee table while I raided Will’s pantry. I returned with a selection of random packets plus four bottles of water.
Emily took a drink and shook her head. “I still can’t believe it. A woman Will used to date knocks on his door, drops off a baby, and leaves?”
I lifted my shoulders and let them drop with a sigh. “That’s about it.”
“And then he called you for help?”
“God, no. A pipe burst at my studio, and I’m officially homeless for a few days. I arrived right after Seb, looking for a place to live.”
The silence was deafening. The careful expressions were even louder. Even Tash uncovered her face and raised her head, though she avoided looking at me directly. I knew they’d react like this.
