Page 30 of Somebody To Love

He wasn’t too sure about that, but Mrs. Jones was right. BJ had never cheated at anything, ever. He figured if he didn’t earn it on his own, he didn’t deserve it.

“Stop stalling, Apple. Are you in or out?” His mother tapped her fingers on the table.

A hush fell over the room. Tension rose as the two women eyed each other. He knew what was going to happen before it did—because this happened almost every game day—Apple swore and threw her cards down.

“I fold.”

With a small, knowing smile on her face, his mother gathered her winnings.

“Are you at least going to show me what you had?”

“No, but if it makes you feel better, you can think of this win as your contribution to Delta and Cassie’s wedding gift.”

“You better put my name on the damn card.”

A new hand was dealt, and the ladies talked about the upcoming wedding. BJ headed behind the bar to start his daily tasks. First up was checking the front stock. As he went through the liquor bottles, counting what they had, what was low, and noting what they needed, his ears couldn’t help but overhear the conversation.

“So nice to see those two happy together.” Olive’s cheerful voice carried in the mostly empty room.

“Yes,” Mrs. Johnston chimed in. “But strange. I never imagined Del would be the first to get married. He’s always been such a wild one, Dorothy.”

His mother’s laugh made him smile. She didn’t do it nearly enough, in his opinion.

“Yes, he’s always been my firecracker, but I think Cassie is the one to keep him burning without blowing up.”

It shocked the hell out of everyone, him included, when Del announced he was getting married to their sister’s best friend. At first, everyone thought it had been a joke, and it had turned out to be a pretty complex situation. But the look of love and happiness he saw on his little brother’s face every time Del looked at his fiancée made BJ smile. And ache. He never wanted to get married himself. After he saw the way his father’s death had devastated his mother, he vowed never to bind himself to another person in a way that would cause them such grief in the event of his demise. Since leaving the Marines, his risk of sudden death had gone down drastically. Still, he couldn’t seem to align himself to the idea of being someone’s entire world.

That being said, he envied what his brother had. Some part of him wished for the close bond Del and Cassie shared. The all-encompassing love he saw when they looked at each other. He didn’t want to be someone’s everything, but it’d be nice to be someone’s desire.

Penny seemed pretty damn eager to eat him up the other day.

He couldn’t deny their kiss in his office the other night had been hot as hell. Who knew his geeky best friend had lips soft as silk. Or a tongue that could make a man’s mind go wild, imagining it sensually stroking other bits of anatomy.

Even the softer—but no less powerful—kiss they’d shared at her door yesterday had damn near blown his socks off. Shit! He didn’t know what was going on with them, but his body sure seemed to like it.

“How long before you hear the pitter-patter of little grandchildren, Dorothy?”

His hand jerked as he wrote down the number of gin bottles they had left, pen flying from his grasp to land on the floor. As he bent to pick it up, he heard his mother chuckle at Olive’s question.

“Who knows with these two? They seem to go at Mach speed with everything. I’d wager sooner rather than later.”

Sooner. Much sooner than she thought. Because Del and Cassie weren’t going to be the first to make his mother change her coffee mug from World’s Greatest Mom to World’s Greatest Grandma. He was. Penny said his family would be welcome to be in the baby’s life. Eventually, he’d have to explain the situation to them all.

That’ll be fun. He held back a snort of disbelief.

They’d understand. The whole thing was a little unconventional, but his family would never turn their back on one of their own. No matter how they came to be. Which made him think. This whole artificial insemination thing was fine and all, but maybe unnecessary. He paused in his tasks to mentally list the facts.

Going about this the way Penny planned would cost money. More and more, if she had to try multiple times. Doing things the old-fashioned way, Penny could save her funds for raising the baby. Plus, it would be much more fun. They had chemistry, a freaking boatload if the other night was anything to go by. They were best friends, got along great, had tons of fun together. Hell, what they had was better than most marriages from what he’d heard.

Why couldn’t they switch up the plan? They would simply be adding another layer onto their existing relationship. A friends-who-have-a-kid-together type thing. She didn’t want a husband. He didn’t want a wife. Things shouldn’t get too complicated if they added sex in the mix. It was perfect!

Now all he needed to do was propose the idea to Penny. She’d see his logic and agree. They were best friends. Of course she’d like this idea. It might seem a little outrageous at first, but so was her plan to ask him for his sperm. He was simply taking her idea and building on it. The rush of excitement sent his pulse racing. Yeah, this was great. Everything would work out perfectly.

BJ knocked on Penny’s door. He’d texted her earlier asking to come over tonight, but she had some dress-fitting thing for the wedding in Denver plus dinner with his sister and Cassie tonight. So, he’d ducked out of work for a few and headed over in the afternoon. Great thing about being the boss—or one of the bosses anyway—he could take some time for emergencies when needed.

Getting laid is not an emergency. Contrary to what most men thought. Besides, he wasn’t going to get laid. He was going to talk to Penny about shifting her baby-making plan. This wasn’t about sex…okay, it was a little about sex. He merely wanted to provide her with all her options, make his case, give his two cents in the matter. Because no matter what she said, he was involved in this. He wasn’t some random sperm donor. They were best friends. He knew she’d want to give him a chance to be heard.

Penny opened the door with a concerned frown on her face. “Hey, BJ. What’s wrong? It sounded important when you texted.”

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