"I'm great. I'm doing great." I give her my widest, most convincing grin and brace the door, ready to shut it.
That only makes my mother more suspicious.
She peers around me. "We didn’t see you feeding the animals with the guys this morning when we were out for our jog.”
Though I have plenty of farm hands to carry out the morning feeds, I’m usually right out there with them. Clearly, Ma knows my schedule.
Good lord. You’d think that once you’re in your thirties, you won’t have your mom on your back just because you’re a few minutes late to work. I guess this is just one of the pitfalls of operating my farm on the family property.
And, 'we'? Who the heck is 'we'?
When I peer over the top of Mom's head, I see Jessa energetically chasing Callie around my yard. Meanwhile, Iris stretches big and emits a tired yawn. She slumps against the railing of my front steps and sends me a lethargic wave.
Ma follows my gaze and smiles. "Alexia's due date is in a few weeks and the baby is breeched. We're trying to get the stubborn little thing to flip over. Exercise helps with that."
I blink, not quite sure what all that means.
Right then, Lexi waddles around the side of my house, adjusting the crotch of her running pants. She grins. "Hey Walker." I think my pregnant sister-in-law just took a piss in my damn bushes. "You don't mind, do you?" She juts her chin toward the scene of her presumed pee-fest and tugs up her waistband over her big belly.
I don't bother to answer. I'm too focused on the emergency at hand—I need to get these nosey women out of here. Pronto!
I’m about to give my mother one hell of an excuse as to why I’m still at home this morning, but she bumps the door open further. “Is that bacon I sm—” She freezes in her tracks. Her face fills with shock. “Penny…?”
In the yard, all heads snap toward the front door.
Fuuucccckkkk!
I groan, turning around to see my bed buddy drowsily trudging out of my bedroom in the direction of the bathroom.
There’s no denying what’s going on here. Not when Penny’s makeup is smeared under her eyes and she's buttoning up the front of the too-large flannel shirt draped over her narrow shoulders.
The girl looks freshly-fucked.
And my semi-hard cock fully endorses the look.
Penny's bare feet come to an abrupt halt when she spots my mother at the door. Frozen with one hand reaching for the bathroom handle, she looks like a burglar caught in the act.
This would be funny as hell if it weren’t my life.
Penny's eyes flutter like she's trying to blink herself out of a nightmare. “Um…Hi, Mrs. Kingston?”
When I glance back at Ma, it's rainbows and butterflies, bridal gowns and baby strollers in her eyes. The rest of the girls jam themselves around my mother, their wide-ass grins crowding up the doorway.
Oh, god.
This'll be a hard one to explain.
24
Walker
Thankfully, I managed to pry Ma off of my doorjamb and escort her back to the guesthouse before she did something dramatic. Like call up her minister and order him to clear out his weekend schedule to squeeze in the Walker and Penny wedding she’s been planning the last twenty-something years.
Now, my mother is standing at the prep counter in the kitchen of the family guesthouse. Her eyes glitter blissfully at the ball of pie dough in front of her.
Yes, she’s making pie. I cringe.
“You and Penny are adults," she declares. Her words are diplomatic but her voice practically twinkles with enthusiasm. "If you two have decided to start up a relationship, it's none of my business. You don't owe me an explanation. You don't need to justify it. You are perfectly entitled to be together.” She’s still avoiding eye contact because she knows that if we make eye contact, she won’t be able to hide her excitement.
Dad leans against the sink with his coffee mug in hand, his mouth in a grim line as he glares at my head. He’s been glaring at me since Mom skip-hopped into the house a few minutes ago and ‘casually’ mentioned that Penny spent the night at my house.
He knows what I know. Once Ma discovers what’s really going on between my friend and me, a whole lot of drama is about to go down.
Lying would probably be easier but Ma has always been able to see through my bullshit. My brothers say I'm the worst liar of us all. I guess they're right. In any case, I’m a grown-ass man and my family’s just going to have to accept the decision I’ve made, even if they don't like it.
I pull in a breath. "Penny and I..." I search for the right words. "Penny and I aren't in a relationship.”
The woman waggles her brows. “Well, sometimes a little something-something leads to everything, if you know what I mean." There's so much hope on her face it breaks my heart.
Dad and I share a look.
Mom’s been trying to match-make for years. However, the vulgar reality is nowhere near the fairytale she has been trying to wish into existence.
"It's not like that, Ma. Penny isn't interested in me that way.” I sigh.
Now, she's glaring at me, too. “Are you really going to lie to me, Walker Edward Kingston? I'm not crazy. I know what I saw."
"Yeah, I'm not denying that Penny and I..." I glance to my father for help but all I get from him is a stony expression. "...spent the night together."
Ma’s smile widens with glee.
"But it's a lot more complicated than that," I continue. "I'm doing her a favor...I'm helping her get pregnant."
Ma stops the dough-rolling. She blinks. "You're helping her get what?"
"Penny wants a baby and I volunteered to help her."
Her expression is slathered with suspicion. "You volunteered to get Penny pregnant?"
"Yeah, Ma."
My mother looks utterly confused by the words I'm saying to her. "And when she does get pregnant, then you'll be in a relationship?"
I hate having to break this to her. "There won't be a relationship. Penny will raise the child as a single mom. We've met with a lawyer. I've already signed my parental rights away."
The rolling pin tumbles from her fingers and spills over the edge of the counter to hit the floor with a crack. "You did what now?!"
"Penny wants a baby. She was going to head down to the sperm bank and grab a vial of some stranger's DNA. I couldn't let that happen. So, I offered to father her child."
Mom is frighteningly still. She doesn't breathe. She doesn't blink.
And then, she explodes into action. She swoops up the dirty rolling pin off the kitchen floor and she gets to rolling. My mother is beating that pie dough with a level of aggression I've never seen before.
Dad and I both flinch. She's pissed. Silently, I wonder if my brothers will ever forgive me if our mother has an aneurysm over this.
My father sets down his cup and ambles over to her. He cups his palms on her shoulders. "I think you should sit down for a minute, Snowflake."
She shakes her head vigorously. "I'm fine."
"Diana..." he insists.
"No, I'm fine. Really." She keeps on hate-rolling the dough. "Walker is an adult. And so is Penny. And they have decided to do this 'thing' and if that makes them happy then, what can I say? Y'know? What can I say?" A moment later, her shoulders start shaking. Heaving sounds escape her. She breaks down sobbing. "But Lucas, are you hearing this? He's getting her pregnant? He signed his rights away?"
Dad braces her by the shoulders. “Diana, even though we don’t approve of their decision, we have to accept it.”
She pulls back and wipes her eyes on her sleeves. “I know I seem overbearing and I really don’t mean to be. It’s just…” Her gaze darts over to me. “It’s just that, after everything we went through when you were a child, after everything your father and I had to do to protect you and keep this family together, after all that, hearing that you signed your rights away? Hearing that you are okay with walking away from your own child? It guts me, Walker.”
<
br /> Fuck—Those words are like an elbow pressing directly into my emotional sore spot. Ma really does know how to make a guy feel like shit. I hate that she’s trying to make me feel guilty about this. I’m just trying to help my friend make her dream come true. I’m not the bad guy here…
Or am I?
My dad sighs. “I tried telling him all that. He wouldn't listen.”
When my father says those words, Ma's eyes snap up to his. “Wait—you tried telling him that? When?” She takes a step back from his embrace. “You’re in on this? You knew he was planning to do this?"
"Diana, as you said, he's a grown man and Penny's grown, too. We can't go meddling just because—”
“No.” She backs up further.
“Come on, Snowflake,” Dad pleads.
"You fix this," she threatens, wiping her eyes again. "You fix this, Lucas. And just so we're clear, the outcome I'm looking for is a big wedding and a new daughter-in-law and another beautiful grandbaby to love all over."
On that, she storms out of the room.
I scrub a hand down my face. Oh, fuck. But I can’t wipe away the layer of grime piling up in my chest. Dammit—guilt is creeping in. Can I really walk away from my own child? Before the little thing is even born?
When I glance up, I’m met by Dad’s penetrating glare and I know I’m about to get an earful. “Penny is a huge part of your everyday life and this child will be, too." He folds his thick arms over his chest. "Do you really plan on going the next eighteen years, seeing that kid all the time and not getting attached to him? Not having an opinion when Penny enrols him in some bullshit all-boys school or lets him sign up for men's synchronized swimming as an extra-curricular or gives him an awful bowl haircut? Trust me—having to watch your child’s life from afar like a spectator is going to eat you alive, son.”
Son…Thirty-five years and my heart still scrapes on my ribs every time he calls me that.
“This is fucking hard, Dad.” I sound like a whiny brat, even to my own ears.
Romantic relationships are hard. I’ve known this since I was a child. One day, two people are head-over-heels for each other. The next day, they’re in court, tearing each other apart for the whole world to see. I can’t let that be the outcome for Penny and me. I’d rather play it safe. I’d rather stay friends.
My father cuts me no slack. “Life is hard, Walker. Protecting anything worth loving is hard. You think I didn't have to fight for your mother? You think our love story came easy? You think there weren't road bumps that the rest of the world didn't see? But I fought for her. I fought for you and your brothers and this family. To keep us together. Because I knew that I didn’t even stand a chance at finding happiness in this hard world unless I had all of you in my life." He clasps my shoulder with his massive hand. He gives me a meaningful stare that grabs me by the guts. “And, son, I have never regretted putting my all into that fight.”
On that, he turns for the doorway and follows after Mom, leaving me all alone with an unsettling reality. After having Penny's warm body in my bed last night, I don't know if I have the strength to face my cold sheets alone from here on out.
25
Penny
So...about that artificial insemination thing...?" Jessa clutches a steaming coffee mug between her palms and grins.
Lexi's grin is even wider. She sits at the kitchen table, both hands braced on her belly. "Looks like you and Walker decided to take a detour, huh? 'Cause there's nothing artificial about that hickey on the side of your neck."
"And that limp, girl." Iris laughs as she munches on fresh fruit. "You're gonna need to go get that checked out."
We're all gathered around Walker's kitchen table with burnt bacon and eggs and coffee sitting in the middle. My friends continue to make light of my situation but my heart is a tight fist in my chest. I'm still trying to process everything that's happened in the past eight hours.
My best friend licked my pussy like a desperate man trying to survive a drought. Then he fucked me hard enough to chisel his name into my bones. And then he made me breakfast?
Dammit, Walker Kingston. Would you stop melting my ovaries? I'm trying to get pregnant over here.
I slide a piece of bacon into my mouth. "Do you assholes want to hear what happened or do you just want to keep taking snarky jabs at me?"
I'm met with the girls' eager nods. From where I'm sitting, I have a clear line of sight to Callie, lounging on the couch, watching a children’s show on Jessa's phone. I double-check that she's out of earshot before I dive into my story because this is definitely not one for innocent, little ears.
I start all the way back at my last appointment at the clinic, the way Walker changed his mind at the last minute and then suggested we go the au naturel route. I explain to them that I tried to resist but last night, my desire just became too much. I tell them that I showed up here uninvited and then I go into detail about what happened next. The girls hang onto my every word with undivided attention.
"So is he a beast in bed?" Lexi takes a bite of her toast. "He looks like a beast in bed."
I gnaw on the inside of my lip when I think of the things he did to my body. I don't understand it. From the second we touched, he knew exactly how to kiss me, how to tease me, how to get me there like no other man ever has. "He's a beast in bed..." I tell her. "...and on the couch...and in the hallway...and in the shower..."
Uproarious laughter rolls across the table.
"So are you guys together now?" Jessa asks. Her hope beams blindingly bright. I can tell that she's really rooting for me to get a happy ending. With Walker.
I glance out the window, in the direction of the Kingston guesthouse. Walker is over there with his mother now. He's probably getting grilled. For me. I flinch.
The man is so many kinds of wonderful. But still, he's not mine. And I can't let myself forget that.
When I bring my eyes back to Jessa, she's still waiting for my response. I laugh but even I can admit it sounds sad. There's no fairytale ending for us. "No, Jessa. We're only trying to make a baby. Aside from that, we’re nothing more than friends.”
Lexi looks downright skeptical. "Well, if you say so. All I know is, me and Cannon weren't supposed to end up together. Let’s be real—our relationship started as a marriage of convenience. But once I got a taste of that Kingston dick? Girl, it was all over for me." She grabs her belly and winces. We all snap to attention. She's ridiculously close to going into labor. And ever since her baby shower last week, the second she so much as sneezes, we're all ready to cart her off to the hospital. She waves off our concern and goes back to her bacon.
Iris makes a face. "Same. I tried my best to hate Jude, but those Kingston men have a way of sucking you in whether you like it or not. And once you have sex with them? There's no turning back."
Jessa's eyes go hungry with curiosity and I realize that she’s the only woman at the table yet to have a sip of the sweet, sweet Kingston nectar. "Really? It's that good?"
Lexi nods at her younger sister. "The Kingston charm is one thing. The good looks and those big, strong bodies, too. But once you get that dick—instant addiction—your brain will never be the same."
Something throbs in my chest. I hate admitting it, but I already know that Lexi is right. My best friend has ruined me for every other man.
26
Penny
Walker just called to say he's on his way over.
Deep breaths, girl. Deep breaths...
Immediately, I wipe sleep from my eyes and limp out of bed, delicious bites of pain searing my tender inner thigh muscles. I barely got a few hours of rest after stumbling home from Walker's place, the events of last night still playing vividly in my head.
The sun blazes high in the afternoon sky. I'm staggering around my apartment, trying to wash up my dirty dishes and tidy up my coupon clippings while simultaneously brushing my teeth, flat-ironing my hair and changing my panties.
I'm getting a little overwhelmed here.
I have to remind myself that this isn't a freaking date. It's just my friend coming over to talk. About last night.
I need another reminder to breathe.
There's a knock at the door. My heart is pounding when I open it.
Walker stands there, his chest as wide and solid as a flannel-draped bookcase in my doorway. "Hey..."
There's a chemical reaction in my blood when he talks in that low, gravelly register.
I try to keep my shit together. "Hey..."
God, every part of my body is awake as I watch him. I want to drink him up.
He assesses my flustered expression. One corner of his mouth tips up into a smirk. "Can I come inside, maybe?"
I shake myself out of it. "Yeah. Sure. Of course." I step aside for him.
As he's passing by me, he pauses to sweep his lips across my forehead. I nearly melt right there against the doorjamb. Walker swaggers in, a fresh dose of confidence in his movements.
Is it just me or is it hot in here?
I brush past him and head for the kitchen. I grab a tall glass, fill it straight from the tap and down it in an instant. I must be red-faced and fidgeting because he asks, "You good?"
I nod. "Yeah, I'm great. Just a bit...tired." I fill a second glass and hand it to him.
That I-know-your-dirty-secret smirk is back on his face. "Yeah, I'm pretty tired, too." I see the way his gaze lingers on my lips. His eyes stay on my mouth even as he empties his glass in big gulps.
I wonder if he's picturing me naked—'cause, newsflash—I'm picturing him naked.
Naked, naked, naked.
And sweaty and drilling into me.
A bead of lust trickles down into my panties.
"So, uh, w-what did you want to talk about?" I ask, scrambling to fill the silence.
He slides his empty glass across the counter. "I wanted to apologize for the way I bolted out of there this morning. My mother showed up unexpectedly and immediately I was out the door. I feel like it all happened really fast. But I didn't want to let Ma anywhere near you before we'd gotten a chance to talk."
Mister Baby Daddy (Bad Boys in Love Book 3) Page 13