Page 15 of Be My Baby

She rubbed her face and shook her head. She knew exactly why all she could think about was how he’d look with his hand wrapped around himself, giving himself pleasure.

“Stop it. Stop it now!”

She picked up the latest home magazine from the coffee table, which she hadn’t had time to read yet, and fanned her face.

Is it getting hot in here?

What would she do if he couldn’t…doit? Should she offer to help?

“Good God, Millie, what the hell?” she grumbled. She’d love nothing more than to touch him, stroke him, have that be the end result of her touching his body.

All those smooth planes, all those muscles she’d seen rippling beneath his shirt when he was all sweaty from lifting heavy boxes…

But this was Max. He was as interested in her as he’d been in that pushy chick at the bar. Sure, she knew he cared about her. A lot, if she really admitted it. They’d been friends for ages.

But the guy still wore his wedding ring. Was still—for all intents and purposes—hung up on Lucy. Not that she blamed him for that in the least.

How could she? Luce had been her best friend. They couldn’t look more different if they’d actively tried, but in their hearts they’d been, at the least, sisters. At the most, soul twins.

No. She was so damned lucky he’d agreed to this crazy idea in the first place. She couldn’t jeopardise either their friendship, or this chance to have a family, because of lusting after a man who simply wasn’t available, emotionally or physically.

She started to chew on one meticulously manicured nail, then grimaced, berating herself for the bad habit she’d tried so hard to kick.

What would the rest of the Jameson family think, if it worked?

She knew it would raise eyebrows all over town, not just with them. Her godmother would have kittens when she found out.

Which was precisely why she hadn’t mentioned that she was considering it to Mildred Appleton.

Although… Aunt Millie had been rather subdued and surprisingly restrained since Ryan’s accident. As if she blamed herself in part for what had happened to him.

The man must have an angel sitting on his shoulder. To come out of that accident with only some scars and a few missing memories defied reason. Aunt Millie had even stopped by her house and sat her down, insisting that Millie listen up and listen good. She’d gone on a—subdued—tirade that Millie was headed down a slippery slope of misery and nastiness that simply had to stop. That she had to promise her aunt she would give others more of a chance and not be so demanding or critical, and that she step back and reassess what would make her happy and go after it with all her might. That life was too short and one could never know what was waiting around a corner, ready to take everything from you.

Millie had thought the timing extremely suspicious, particularly since she’d heard through the local grapevine that Aunt Millie had been rather snippy and condescending with Darby at the supermarket.

Yes, she definitely felt guilty. Although, why aboutRyan, she hadn’t quite figured out yet, and actually asking Aunt Millie was out of the question.

She rather liked having her entrailsinsideher, rather than eviscerated and spread all over the living room floor.

No. She was glad Ryan and Darby had finally sorted themselves out. Millie had known about Darby’s feelings for Ryan or, at least, she’d strongly suspected. And Ryan had had a hangdog look about him for years when looking at Darby when he thought he was unobserved.

But how would Darby and Emma feel about her having Max’s baby?

Would they be upset? Angry? Would they think she’d simply moved on to the next eligible Jameson?

Technically Ryan wasn’t a Jameson, but he may as well be. Ed and Mary even called him the fourth Jameson son.

That would mean that Simon was the only Jameson male she hadn’t chased.

Millie cringed at the thought. What did Max think about all that? Did he wonder the same thing, that she didn’t care which Jameson she hooked up with, as long as he had that last name?

It didn’t bear thinking about, and if he hadn’t already thought it, she certainly didn’t want to be the one to bring it to his attention. It hadn’t been intentional. Unfortunately it had just worked out that way.

Gabe had been a friend. They’d gone to school together and she had been so damned lonely that she’d decided they should get together—not because she loved him, no, but because of some whacked-out reasoning that sincehewas alone, and so wasshe… And she’d made an absolute ass of herself in the process. She was lucky Emma spoke to her at all, considering.

Her nail was back at her teeth. She spread her fingers and checked the damage to the edge of her nail. She’d have to fix that before it snagged on something.

“Dammit!”

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