Page 17 of Somebody To Love

“What’s so me?”

“Your approach to this whole…strange situation.”

It wasn’t strange. She was simply asking her best friend for his sperm so she could make a baby and—okay, it was a little strange.

“You’ve done a lot of research on this.” He indicated the binder with a nod of his head.

Clutching the pale blue plastic filled with hours upon hours of research, months of careful planning, and years of hopes and dreams, she nodded.

“I have. I know what I’m doing. I know what I am asking of you. You can be as involved as you want. Your family can be as involved as they want.” Because she knew the Jacksons, and they would want to be a part of this child’s life. She was completely okay with that. Heck, her life had been much better for having them in it. No way would she deny her own child the amazing love that was the Jackson family. “All I want is my baby.”

He stared at her, those pale blue eyes serious, devoid of their usual humor and lightheartedness. After a few moments of silence, he nodded.

“Then I want to help you. My family will want to claim all the grandmother and auntie/uncle privileges. That includes spoiling the kid rotten, so get ready for that. And I’d like to be there too. To help you and…be in the baby’s life.”

Hope rose within her. Her heart pounded in her chest, threatening to burst from her chest with joy. Afraid this all might be a wonderful dream, she dug her nails into her palm until she felt the sharp sting of pain.

“Then, does that mean…?”

“Yes.” BJ rose from the table to come and stand in front of her. “I’ll donate my sperm to help you have a baby.”

“Oh, BJ. Thank you!” She placed the binder on the table, flinging her arms around his neck and squeezing tight. His muscular arms wrap around her waist as he returned her embrace.

Joyful surprise filled her. He’d said yes! This was the happiest day of her life. She’d finally get everything she wanted. Not everything. Okay, she wouldn’t be getting a devoted husband who loved her and stood by her side like she’d always imagined, but she was getting something better. A baby. She didn’t need a husband. She had a best friend, a wonderful, amazing best friend who agreed to give Penny her heart’s deepest desire.

Within the wave of euphoria crashing over her, a tiny storm cloud hovered in the distance. This was simply the first step in a process that could be filled with setbacks and disappointments. BJ said yes, but that didn’t mean everything would work out like she hoped. She’d done her research. She knew the stats and success rates on IVF. Nothing was guaranteed.

She pushed away the pessimism trying to rain on her parade. Right now wasn’t the time to dwell on probabilities. Now was a time to celebrate the first step in achieving her heart’s dream. She was on the path, and it was thanks to her wonderful, generous, amazing best friend who was going to help her father a child.

She laughed a little at the absurdity of that statement.

Okay, she’d admit it. This was a strange situation indeed.

CHAPTER 9

BJ had to admit, the look of pure happiness on Penny’s face made him feel ten feet tall. The underlying fissure of apprehension in his gut eased the moment those pale pink lips turned up, a huge grin splitting her face. When she’d flung her arms around him, he felt as though he could damn near fly. Nothing made him feel better than making the ones around him happy.

To the sacrifice of your own happiness?

What? Where had that come from?

He ignored the little voice in his head. How would making Penny happy make him unhappy? He never wanted to be a dad, but he always figured he’d be an uncle. Looked forward to spoiling his nieces and nephews rotten. Hyping them up on sugar and then handing them back to their parents. Sounded like a blast. That would essentially be his role with this kid. Penny’s kid.

“What’s the next step?” he asked when she released him and took a step back.

“You’ll need to set up an appointment with my doctor and provide a…sample for testing.”

“Testing? Like for STDs? I had my checkup a few months ago and everything is negative.” He’d also been in a bit of a dry spell for almost a year now. Self-imposed. Casual sex had become empty. He didn’t want a wife or anything, but he wanted a deeper connection than casual dating. He craved…more.

She waved a hand in the air. “I’m sure it is, but it’s standard procedure to test all donations. Plus, they look for other things in the test sample related to genetics and all that.”

Okay, he could fill a cup. After all, he’d have to do that anyway for the procedure, right? Man, this was weird. He didn’t even know how any of this worked. Did they give her a turkey baster and a cup full of his boys and let her have at it? A small part of him wanted to ask, but the rest of him wanted this whole embarrassing situation to be over and Penny to have her dream. If curiosity got the better of him, he’d look it up later.

Thankfully, he lived in the age of the Internet.

“And if you’d like any monetary compensation, I have the funds stashed away for what I was prepared to pay an anonymous donor.”

Monetary compensation? Did Penny just offer to pay him to jerk off into a cup? Nothing about that sounded right. He narrowed his gaze.

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