other guys in her life: friends and co-workers she occasionally hung with. This happened about three months into hanging out with her off and on. Felicia wasn’t drop dead gorgeous, but she was good-looking enough, and Orlando knew that’s all it took for most guys, if it was just going to be a physical thing. She didn’t bring up her guy friends often, but after hearing her mention who she’d hung with during a weekend he went to Vegas with the guys, he had to ask, “You sleeping with him?”
Her appalled expression had cracked him up as much as it relieved him. “Of course not. He’s just a co-worker and a friend.” But it opened the way to a conversation that had him regretting asking. “Are you sleeping with anybody else?”
Orlando had been honest because it’d been easy. He hadn’t slept with anyone else since he’d met her. Except he left out that it wasn’t out of loyalty. He’d just been too damn busy, and Felicia was convenient. He figured he was convenient for her too. It’s why he’d asked if she was sleeping with the dude she’d hung out with. Orlando had yet to presume he was her one and only. Even after the conversation, he dared not make such demands either, because, despite the slight annoyance he felt when hearing her speak of her guy friends, he still wasn’t sure he was ready for such a commitment. So, he hadn’t made any promises either. While he gave her the respect of behaving like her boyfriend in her presence, old habits died hard, especially when he’d never once committed to killing them in the first place. Despite his giving into the curiosity and asking if she’d slept with her friend, he hadn’t asked her to cut him off because, technically, he hadn’t cut off any of his girlfriends either, and he had no intention to. Felicia was the one who’d initiated the whole “I don’t have time for anything serious” disclaimer when they first started, and he was holding her to it. It was the closest they’d come to even touching on the subject of exclusivity. But it hadn’t been brought up since, except it felt like an unspoken precedent had been set. Both were okay with things staying as they started, but both would appreciate a heads-up if someone new came into the equation. It was absolutely the closest Orlando had come to being in an actual grown-up relationship. And since he was so busy, he could live with the understanding for the time being. Felicia was cool people to hang with, and given a choice of who to bring to hang out with him and his friends, he was more comfortable bringing her than any of the other chicks he knew. So, even his friends had jumped to the assumption that things were getting serious. Despite all that, it still didn’t take from how awkward as fuck today’s conversation was about to get. He stood in his small kitchen, having to give her the news about the baby. He hadn’t seen or really talked to her in days, since he’d been up to his eyeballs dealing with lawyers, social services, and being interviewed by the police. Now, days after he’d been hit with the bomb, he was just now getting around to giving her the details about it.
She stood across from the small kitchen island, staring at him silently as he told her everything he knew so far. The results from the paternity test weren’t back yet, so her first question didn’t surprise him. “Do you think it’s your baby?”
Orlando shrugged, not wanting to admit the truth. As crazy as it seemed, with each day that passed and he remembered what it felt like to hold that little guy, his heart yearned for it to be true. He’d already been gently warned by his mother and not so gently by Beast and Nine that this could all be a hoax. He shouldn’t be getting his hopes up for anything and instead be prepared to be disappointed. It wasn’t unheard of for unscrupulous women to pin kids on men who weren’t actually the father. “It’s no secret that you’re part owner of a shop that stays so busy our waiting list for restorations is huge and we’re now scrambling to find qualified help, O,” Beast had reminded him. “I wouldn’t be surprised if word’s already gotten out about the number of celebrities we now cater to and that