hands fall to her hips, and I know I’ve pushed her over the edge. “First of all, Walker, this is my decision, and you don’t have the right to be mad.”
Fuck, she's absolutely right. And I don’t know why that bothers me so much. I shift my head to try and hide the scowl I can feel on my face.
She pauses. Her voice softens. “Secondly, I would have told you, once I’d done all my research and figured everything out.”
It’s wrong for her to be doing this whole pregnancy deal alone. It’s too much for one person. Not only is it expensive, it’s emotionally draining and physically exhausting, too. I don’t know if I can watch her go through it on her own.
That’s just the thing with Penny. She’s never needed nobody. Probably because of all the times she's been let down by her mom. After being repeatedly disappointed by the person who's supposedly biologically programmed to have her back, my friend got used to depending only on her own damn self.
"I just don't understand why you want to do this," I grumble. I fold my arms across my chest.
"Of course you don't understand." She shakes her head. "You come from the perfect family. You have parents who love you, siblings who have your back. You don't understand what it's like to be me. How fucking alone I feel. I am all alone in this world, Walker. So maybe I'm selfish for wanting a baby but there is no doubt in my mind that I can love this kid. I will love him...or her...or them."
I rise to my feet, now towering above her. Her breath hitches. Her gaze slowly rakes up my body until she finally meets my eyes. She may be tall, but I’m still a head taller. She moves to step back, but without thinking I grab her by the waist.
“You're smart. Funny. Beautiful." Her skin pinks up when I utter that last one. I know I'm toeing the invisible line between us. "You shouldn't have to do this."
Her gaze drops to the floor. She mutters, all snarky. "Well, thank you very much but being 'beautiful' doesn't keep a girl warm at night..."
I lower my face to catch her eyes and force her to look at me. "You deserve a good man by your side, starting a family. Not some faceless college student jizzing into a specimen cup for a few dollars so he can fund his next drunken rager.”
She's still giving me that attitude of hers. My cock loves when she gets all sassy like this. “Let me tell you something, Walker. This is the twenty-first century, and not every woman has the luxury of being swept off her feet by Prince Charming.”
“Well, you may not have Prince Charming, but you have a best friend. You have me.” I say words I never thought I’d utter in my lifetime. “I’ll be your sperm donor, Princess. Let me be your...baby daddy.”
8
Penny
His too-large hands are still gripping my sides. My jaw drops.
Let me be your...baby daddy.
I need to pinch myself. The man of my dreams just offered to jizz into a cup for me. On a countdown of the wildest conversations Walker and I have ever had, this one officially takes the top spot. I’m floored that he’d even suggest this.
I can’t deny the way my body rouses at the sound of him begging to be my baby daddy. Yet I can't accept his offer.
“I don’t think so,” I say slowly, stepping back out of his reach. I can’t have a conversation about having babies with Walker’s hands on my skin.
Putting distance between us does little. I can still feel the warmth of his imprints. The last time he grabbed my hips like this was when he was helping me climb out of his truck a few years ago, when he was taking me home from the hospital after my liver procedure. Crazy how something so fleeting is still seared into my memory.
Those stormy honey brown eyes leer at me some more. “Give me a good reason why not,” he counters in that demanding tone of his, the words gruff, raspy and thick. His bossiness was the root of many arguments during our childhood. But now it doesn’t phase me. It’s just Walker, and for some reason, he can’t control the aggressiveness in his voice.
To be honest, sometimes I even find it a little sexy. Sometimes, the growly man's disapproval is kind of exciting.
But that’s beside the point. Or