The Rock Star's Baby Bargain - Lili Valente Page 0,15
crazy. I shouldn’t have said anything. I just want to have a baby so badly, and I thought maybe you might…” I flip my hands over in my lap, palms up in silent supplication. “That this trip might be the perfect chance…” I shake my head, my breath rushing out. “But it’s way too much to ask, way too soon, and I’m… I understand if you want to call this off. You can drop me off at the next Greyhound station. I’ll take a bus home so you won’t lose any travel time, and when you get back from your trip, we’ll never speak of this again.”
Zack drags a hand through his hair, then brings it back to the wheel, but he doesn’t say a word—not a word—for so long that I risk a peek at him from the corner of my eye, surprised to find him looking remarkably…serene.
Judging by his profile, you would never think that he’d just been asked to make a baby with a near stranger.
I bite my lip, and when that threatens to fail me, I nibble the edge of my thumbnail, determined not to say anything wilder than I have already. If there’s even a chance he’s considering my suggestion—or just considering keeping me around for the fun time we planned—I don’t want to do anything to derail that.
Yes, I want to get pregnant, but I also want to kiss Zack again.
To do more than kiss Zack…
I swear, he gets more handsome with every passing mile. How have I never noticed the delectable way his biceps strain the seams of a T-shirt? Or the sexy veiny-ness of his forearms?
Yes, I’ve been in a serious relationship, but I’m not blind.
But then, when I’m in love, other men tend to go into soft focus. I’m still aware they’re there, of course, but they don’t capture my attention. When I’m in love, my man is the only one sharp around the edges.
As recently as a few days ago, my heart still belonged to Fernando, no matter how rough things were getting between us. My love blinders are just coming off. I’m in a vulnerable state. I should be taking time alone to heal or, at the very most, taking baby steps back into the dating world. Jumping into bed with someone else is almost certainly a bad idea.
So if Zack decides to send me home on the next bus, I resolve to be at peace with it. I’ll thank him for a lovely drive, assure him there are no hard feelings, and hope we can part ways as friends.
I’m about to break my vow of silence to tell him so when he says, “If we did try… If we decided that this is something that makes sense for both of us, I wouldn’t want to sign that paperwork.”
The record playing in my head screeches to a stop, leaving stunned, buzzing silence behind.
“What did you say?” I ask, certain I must have misheard him.
He flicks on the right turn signal, pulls onto the wide shoulder of the highway, and shifts the car into park. He shuts off the engine and turns to me, his soulful brown eyes meeting mine. “If we decide to try to get pregnant, I won’t sign paperwork giving up my rights. I’d want to be a part of the baby’s life.”
I blink faster, joy and disbelief slapping each other silly inside me as I stammer, “R-Right. Of course. Yes, that would be fine. Wonderful, even! Babies need fathers.” I wave a shaky hand through the air. “I mean, I never had one, and I guess I turned out okay, but I hear they’re good to have around.”
Zack’s lips stay pressed into a tight line, making it clear he’s not joking about anything right now, making my head spin so hard I’d need to sit down if I weren’t already.
“My mom wasn’t even sure who my father was,” he says softly. “When I was younger, it bothered me. I wanted to know so badly. For a long time, it felt like a piece of me was missing.”
I nod. “I get it. It hurt so much that my dad wanted nothing to do with me. I mean, I know I was an accident, and he never wanted children, so it wasn’t personal, but still…”
“Exactly.” Zack reaches out, and I take his hand, the feel of his fingers threading through mine comforting and tingle-inducing at the same time. “I swore I’d never do that to a kid. If