Proving Paul's Promise(7)

“I want to tell you I feel the same,” I say. I close my eyes, and he startles me when he places a kiss on each of my eyelids in turn.

“What’s stopping you?”

“That guy I was with yesterday,” I say. I put a hand on his chest to push him back, but I don’t want him to go anywhere.

He leans back on his heels, but he leaves his hands on my knees. I close my legs, because without him there, I just feel…empty.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“No.”

“Then why was he kissing you?”

“So, I could make you jealous,” I blurt out. I cover my face with my hand because I’m mortified to admit that.

“Well, f*ck. It worked.”

Why doesn’t that make me feel good? “I thought you kissed me and then crawled back into bed with Kelly,” I admit.

“I can see how you’d think that.”

“But that’s done?”

“Done.” He dusts his hands together. “You want to have dinner with me tonight?” he asks. He brings my fingertips to his lips and regards me over the top of my hand. He lingers there long enough for his warm breath to tickle up my arm and shoot desire straight to my girlie parts.

“Um, well,” I say.

“What now?” he asks.

“Cody and Garrett,” I start. I don’t even know how to tell him this part.

“The guy from yesterday and the guy from last week?”

“Yeah.”

“Who are they to you?”

“Well,” I say. I close my eyes and steel my heart for the next part. “One of them might have gotten me pregnant.” I open my mouth to tell him about the surrogacy. But he interrupts before a sound can move past my lips.

“Fuck!” he swears as he gently shoves me back from him. My chair rolls backward until it softly bumps the wall. He jumps to his feet.

“I didn’t know you had feelings for me at the time!” I yell.

The bell over the door to the shop tinkles, and Paul yells, “Out!” at the top of his lungs. I see Sam back out the door, with Logan behind him. Sam is explaining to Logan why they’re leaving when they just got here. At least as well as he can. He probably has no idea.

“I won’t even know if it’s positive for nine more days!” I yell.

“You let me pour my f*cking heart out when you were f*cking those two guys?”

My gut twists. “You think that highly of me, huh?” I ask.

“What else am I supposed to think?” he yells. Paul never yells. He has this quiet way of leading.

“Nothing!” I yell back. “You’re supposed to think nothing!”

I get up and smooth my dress. Paul just glares at me. Then he looks at my stomach. I lay a protective hand over it.

“I didn’t know you had those kinds of feelings for me,” I say.

“I liked it better when I thought you were a lesbian,” he says.

“Yeah,” I toss back. “Me too.” I jerk a thumb toward the door. “You had better go let your brothers in.” All of them are pressed against the front window with their hands wrapped around their eyes so they can see in, even Matt, who must’ve showed up while we were yelling.

“You go let them in,” he says. And he stomps toward the back of the shop.





Paul

It was so much easier lusting after Friday when I thought she liked to eat * as much as I do. I could put my arm around her and pretend like the scent of her didn’t shoot straight to my dick, since I couldn’t do anything about the attraction anyway. But now all I can think about is putting my arm around her and having her perfume shoot straight to my dick. Then I think about kissing her again. Then pulling her on top of me and letting her ride me until we’re both sweaty and satisfied.

Fuck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck.

I have rotten luck. And even worse timing, apparently.

Friday could be pregnant. That means she’s been getting it on with one or the other, or both, of those bozos. She’s been having a great time while I’ve been wearing my hand out to thoughts of her.

I get a bottle of water from the fridge and tip it up, closing my eyes as I drink it gulp after gulp.

The privacy curtain I pulled shut makes a clinking sound, and I keep drinking with my eyes closed. I know it’s not her because my skin doesn’t start to sizzle. When I open my eyes, I find Matt leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. He has a smirk on his face that annoys the hell out of me.

“What the f*ck are you doing?” he asks.

I hold up my water bottle. “Drinking water, numbnuts. Why?”

“You know that’s not what I mean.” His foot starts to tap.

“None of your business,” I murmur. I hate it when Matt does this. He’s so gentle and quiet. He’s pretty much the opposite of me in every way, except for our looks. And even in that, he’s thin and wiry, but strong. And I’m…not thin or wiry.

He points toward the front of the store. “Friday is all of our business,” he hisses quietly. “She’s family, Paul.”

“I know,” I breathe. “Another reason why it’s best to keep things the way they are.” I throw my bottle into the recycling from across the room.