Happily Ever All-Star: A Secret Baby Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,28

rested over him, and Jude tensed. He rolled us both, but our legs tangled. His hands jammed against the cushions. My head fell back.

And my stomach lurched.

Thud.

I grunted as we tumbled from the couch and collapsed in a panting pile of almost-regret and awkward-relief.

“Are you okay?” Jude laughed as I twisted under him. I freed my arm from his leg. “Sorry. I thought…”

I forced myself to speak—to say anything as quickly as I could before the truth escaped.

“You mean rug burns aren’t normally part of a kiss?” I asked.

“I usually save that for later, Doc.”

I nervously laughed. The fake giggle even annoyed the baby. Genie decided to bubble in her lamp, and I clamped my lips shut before any magic hurled out.

Jude helped me to my feet, granting me a charming, carefree smile. “I think we’ve got this kissing part down.”

“Yeah.” I struggled to breathe.

“I didn’t jostle Genie, did I?”

No, but he’d tumbled everything else inside me.

I pulled away, washed in guilt so thick I swore he saw me sweating it out.

What was I doing?

It was wrong of me to think and feel the things I did for Jude, especially since I was pregnant.

Especially since it was another man’s baby.

Especially when I knew I’d be raising the baby alone. I had to put Genie first. The baby was my life now.

And I’d love her more than my heart could ever break for Jude.

“I should get ready for the movers,” I said. “They’ll be here soon.”

Jude winked. “Sure thing, darling.”

“Right…” I gave him an awkward gun-slinger tip of my fingers. “Daddy.”

He chuckled, and I escaped from his touch, his scent, his presence.

I should have called the movers and cancelled everything. Should have told him it was a bad idea, and that this would only get us in trouble.

I couldn’t have a fake relationship with Jude.

Not when everything already felt so real.

6

Jude

“Are you sure you’re ready?”

My question broke the stillness. In the dim morning light, Rory’s face bathed in shadows.

Her gorgeous eyes widened with a dangerous curiosity. “I’ve been ready, Jude. I’ve been waiting forever.”

“You know we can’t go back after this.”

“I know.” Her breathing wavered. “But I want you to take me.”

“I promise I won’t go too fast.”

“I just need you to get me there.”

“Tell me if you need me to stop or slow down. I want to be safe.”

“I always feel safe with you.”

“Then say the word, Doc, and I’ll take you on a magic carpet ride.”

Rory tossed me the keys to my Jeep and grabbed her lunch. For the third time, she peeked into the paper bag and frowned.

“Okay, I’m ready to go. But can you run me past the store super quick? I’m not feeling this peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

I handed her a twenty from my wallet. “Treat yourself. Or, you know, eat in the cafeteria with the rest of the team.”

She refused the money, but I stuffed it in her bag regardless.

“I can’t eat with you guys,” she said. “All those smells make Genie mad. She gets out of her lamp and stomps on my stomach.”

“She?”

“What?”

I shouldered my bags. “You keep calling the baby a she.”

“I do?”

“Ever since you told me about her. Do you have a feeling? Mother’s intuition?”

Rory went quiet.

Uh-oh.

Her pregnancy hormones ticked like an active bomb strapped to her tummy. And, like an idiot I kept plucking the wrong wires. I backed off.

“Never mind,” I said. “It’s not important.”

Rory looked away. “I guess…it just seemed like the right thing to call her.”

“Then I’m sure it is. Go with your instinct.”

Rory’s lip trembled. Shit. My instinct was to duck and cover.

Too late.

The tears welled. Rory covered her mouth. She sobbed.

I dropped my bags. This wasn’t the first time I’d accidentally made her cry, and one of the many times I had no idea why she got upset.

“Oh my gosh.” She sniffled. “I didn’t even realize I was calling her a her. I had no idea. I never thought about it. The baby was just…something in my life. She wasn’t…she wasn’t…”

I froze. Did I hug her or dive away? Give her a smile, or offer her more money?

I finished her sentence with a hope and a prayer. “A…girl?”

“Real.”

Thick tears rolled over her dark cheeks. Rory fanned her face, but her voice still quivered. “It’s all so real all of a sudden.”

“It hasn’t been real before?”

“No!”

“But it’s been twenty weeks.”

That didn’t help. Wrong thing to say.

“Oh, God. You’re right. It’s been twenty weeks, and I’m just now thinking of the baby as a real person? I