Page 25 of Be My Baby

Max laughed and shook his head. Gabe raised a brow at him.

“All right, already.” Max scraped his hand over his jaw and looked out over the mountain that rose up beyond the Cow, a few streets east of where they sat. Morning mist twisted and curled around the top, burning off beneath the autumn sun.

How to tell them? They already knew he liked her, maybe that he more than liked her. That wasn’t the issue here.

“Millie wants a child and was worried she’d never meet anyone. She’s asked me to help her get pregnant.”

Simple. Succinct. And completely gobsmacking, by the looks on his brothers’ faces.

“Pregnant,” Simon said.

“Holy crap,” murmured Gabe. “And you agreed? But you’re not together?”

Max could understand his confusion. “No. Not together.” Unfortunately.

“But sleeping together?” Simon asked.

Max looked at him and shook his head, laughing. “What is it with you and sex? No. Not sleeping together. Insemination.”

Simon leaned back and raised his eyebrows. “Wow. Harsh, man. You don’t even get to have fun while trying.”

Gabe sighed, scraped a hand over his face and shook his head. “Seriously, dude.”

“What? It’s true. At least with Amy and me we have fun with it.”

Max watched the interplay between his brothers with a grin on his lips. This is what he loved, the camaraderie. Their quirks and personalities bouncing off each other. The open and obvious love they shared. He was so glad to be part of the family he’d been born into.

Simon’s words connected in his brain. “Are you two trying?”

Simon’s mouth twisted. “Yeah, on and off for the last year. Well, we’re not activelynottrying, if you get me. Apparently things are fine with both of us, it’s just not… working for some reason. We’re looking at options, but we’re not in a hurry.”

Max saw Gabe’s hastily covered smile. “What are you grinning about over there?”

Gabe’s eyes glittered in the morning light. “Must be the season for it, is all I’m saying.”

Max’s grin erupted with a laugh. “Not you too? For the love of cheese. We’ll be sprouting kids all over the place. Darby’s about to pop in another couple of months. Do Ma and Dad know?”

Gabe and Simon shook their heads.

“Not until we have something worth telling them,” Gabe replied.

“Same,” said Simon.

A sad chill slithered down Max’s neck and he looked at Gabe a bit closer. “And Emma? Is she… I mean…” He frowned at his own lack of conciseness of thought. “With Sasha and what happened with her ex. Is she okay with trying?”

Losing both her cheating ex and her little girl in a terrible car accident had left Emma emotionally floundering, her gentle heart aching, scared of leaving herself open to that kind of pain and rejection yet again.

Gabe looked out at the mountain and nodded slowly. “Yeah. I mean, that pain will always be there, but I think I’ve finally got it through to her that she’s my world.” He looked at both his brothers, his face shuttered with determination, his flint-grey eyes hard and gleaming. “She’ll never have to wonder if I love her, or worry that I’m no longer attracted to her. She’s everything to me.”

Max nodded and patted Gabe’s shoulder. Emma would understandably be nervous about Gabe and his reaction to her being pregnant, considering the hell her ex-husband had put her through. He knew Gabe would be especially patient and attentive to allay any worries Emma had.

“I know this is going to sound pathetic, but this is so cool. They’ll all get to grow up together, like us.” Max couldn’t help the warmth that spread through him at that thought. He’d all but given up the idea of any kind of family until Millie had asked him that crazy question. Now? Sure, they still had to deal with the possibility of it not working, but any chance was better than none at all.

“Not pathetic at all. I couldn’t think of anything better,” Gabe murmured. His eyes narrowed at Max. “But if you guys aren’t together, how will that work? I mean, interaction-wise. And your responsibilities to the baby if it works?”

Max waved at him. “We’ve already talked about it. Trey is drawing up a legal document for that side of it, and we’ve agreed that the family would have full access to the child, and vice versa. She’s happy with that.” He held Gabe’s gaze. “That wasn’t negotiable on my part. I want any child to be part of our family. It has to be.”

“I hate to be Negative Nancy here, but Darb… She’s worried, man.” Simon’s voice had softened, as if afraid to bring up the subject he knew they were skirting around. “She didn’t tell us why, that we had to ask you, but she let us know she was really concerned.”

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