Page 15 of Surprise Baby for Daddy's Best Friend

I rolled my eyes and sat at the foot of his bed. The memories of the night before flooded my mind. There was no way I could ignore that evening. I leaned forward a little.

“I need to know what our plans are going forward. While I’m not exactly a fan of letting everyone know about our night, I’d rather we be on the same page and not surprise each other with the news in front of everyone.”

He crossed his arms and nodded, “You have a point, and I don’t disagree with wanting to let everyone know.”

“So, we keep it a secret and pretend as if nothing happened?”

Jared remained silent.

“Or we could just stay quiet and continue having fun until we have to return to reality, return home?”

His brows twitched as if he was considering the offer for a moment before returning to his stoic nature again. I wished I could understand what he was thinking.

He sighed and pushed off the chair. “It’s better if we just pretend nothing happened for both our sakes.” He reached around me and grabbed a shirt. The scent of his soap drove me wild. I squirmed a little at how close he was to me, “So, we’ll remain as we were when your dad introduced us. Just a familiar friend.”

His voice gave away that what he was saying, wasn’t really what he wanted. I wasn’t going to argue it. I was at odds myself, so having him decide for us was a better option.

Before Jared could pull away from me, I reached for his face and cupped his cheek in my hand. He stayed like that, staring into my eyes.

“I can pretend all I want, but that night will still be fresh in my mind.”

I stretched up to kiss him, parting my lips just slightly so I could fully taste him. He moved his hands to my shoulders and deepened the kiss for a moment longer before pulling away.

“Damnit, no, we can’t do this.” He moved away from me, “You’re really nice, but I just can’t do anything with you anymore. Trust me, you don’t want to be around me more than you need to. I’m…” He bit his lip as he tried to figure out the best word to use, “I’m broken. Every woman that gets close to me, I just fuck it up and hurt them.”

I took his hands in mine and looked him in the eyes, “I don’t think you’re broken. You just haven’t fully healed from whatever has hurt you so much.”

He shook his head and pulled away again, “I doubt I’ll heal. There’s a lot about me that you don’t know and I’m good at keeping it that way. Makes ending this week a lot easier for the both of us.”

His constant pushing was grinding on the back of my mind, but I needed to accept it. I agreed to let him make the decision when I couldn’t make one.

“Fine,” I sighed and stood up. “But I still don’t think you’re as bad as you make it sound.” I squeezed his hands, “You’re not a bad person, you’ve just had some rough patches in life.”

Jared shrugged and pulled away. “Maybe, but I’d rather not hurt you. Especially when it means I’m also hurting my only friend in the process.”

There wasn’t much more I could do to convince him to acknowledge my thoughts. He needed the time to see he wasn’t a bad guy.

“Fine. But life is too short for you to dwell on the past. If you don’t do it for me, then do it for Mandi.”

His face twitched again, “So, you figured that out, eh?”

I shrugged, “It doesn’t take a genius when there aren’t very many choices.”

He chuckled and shook his head, “Well, you best get out of here before someone wonders. Terrence is already talking to the others about our escapade from the night before.” His cheeks had a slight tint of red on them.

“Too bad we can’t give them a second show.” I chuckled and stood up on my toes to place a small kiss on his cheek. “It was a pleasure to know you, Jared. Perhaps one day we could reexplore this thing once more.”

His body tensed as he grabbed me.

"Fuck," he growled and dropped his head.

6

JARED

Her scent was intoxicating. Everything about her made me want to pin her on the bed and take her then and there. I needed to remember to keep calm. I couldn’t show her I was interested anymore.

The final kiss she planted on my cheek sent every part of my body ablaze.

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