Page 62 of Sacrifice Bunt

“I can make that happen. She's my best friend. I can easily fix it so that you can have all the time in the world with her wherever you want.”

“If that were a promise I remotely thought you could deliver on, I’d give you whatever you wanted.” He laughed even though he felt like crying. He was losing his night with Zara.

His weekend of doing nothing but fucking her between games was gone.

“Zara's going to call you and give you all the details. She’s just as annoyed as you are and says I’m losing my position as her best friend. Only you can smooth this over.”

“You are going to owe me.”

“Listen, if Edwin lets me, I’ll name this baby after you.”

He stopped walking, unsure if he’d heard her correctly. “What? What baby?”

“Shit. I am horrible at keeping a secret.”

“Are you pregnant?” All his anger over joining the bachelor auction was gone.

“Yes, but you can not tell anyone. It's supposed to be a secret, and so far, I’ve told about a half dozen people. Apparently, pregnancy brain makes me tell the truth.”

Noah laughed. “My lips are sealed. You will be a great mom, Hannah.”

“I'm glad you think so because I still have my doubts.”

His phone beeped, and when he pulled it away from his ear, he saw it was Zara. “Your co-conspirator is calling.”

“Take it, and don't tell anybody that I told you I’m pregnant. Act surprised when you hear the news.”

He laughed, saying goodbye and answering Zara’s call. “I hear I'm doing a bachelor auction tomorrow night.” No use in beating around the bush.

“I know, I know. It sucks, and you have every right to hate me, but I don't know what else to do. I helped facilitate this with the animal shelter, and I sort of feel like I have to make it work. Hannah had taken over for me so that I could come to see you, and now it's all falling apart, and you're my only option. Please don't hate me.” He could hear the desperation in her voice.

“I don't hate you. It just sucks that I will lose the whole night with you. I had plans. Ones that involve you in my bed naked except for maybe some handcuffs strapped to your wrists.”

“We can do it. I promise. I'll make up for all the plans you had. I'll let you handcuff me to the bed the whole night if you want. Plus, if you think about it, I'll be with you at the auction, so really it'll be like we're together.” She was working hard to sell it to him even when he could tell she was just as unhappy about the situation.

He chuckled. “I highly doubt it'll be like we're together when I'm being auctioned off to some random woman for a date.”

“First, it could be a guy who bids on you. You have no idea, and second, I'm not really happy about the ‘you being auctioned off’ part of the night, but everybody knows going into it that these are platonic dates. It's for charity. I've done these before in the past with other organizations, and nobody thinks they're real dates. If that were the case, I wouldn't be letting you do this.”

“Letting me do this?” The thought of her being a little possessive turned him on.

“Yes, letting you do this. Girlfriends don't let their boyfriends go to bachelor auctions to sleep with other women.”

“Or men,” he added, trying to lighten the mood.

“Can you be serious for a second,” she said, the annoyance in her voice evident. “Is this okay? Are you okay with doing this? I would never make you do something that you don't want to do or that you can't do. If this is too much for you, I will figure out a way to make it work without you.”

He knew she was asking about his panic attacks, and he put her mind at ease immediately. “This would not cause a panic attack. They don't come from being in the public eye. I'm good at it. I like being around people, talking to them, and....”

“Letting women ogle you,” she finished for him.

“That too.”

“I'm going to owe you big time for this. Anything you want, it's yours.”

He stayed silent because the only thing he wanted was her, forever. He was pretty sure this was not the right moment to let that slip.

“Heath is going to give me so much shit for this. I want you to know that. All he did this morning was bitch about it during our run.”

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