Page 14 of Claimed By the Cowboys

“Have you… wanted… that… with us for long?” Brent manages to grit out.

I shoot him a quick look, and I can see that he’s just as fucked up over this as I am. His jaw twitches, and his neck looks like the tendons in it are going to snap.

Dalton, apparently, is the only one of the three of us taking this in stride. He lounges back, his eyes glued to Piper, and his face is completely blank.

Fuck. Dalton’s probably thinking of his parents.

“No. I mean. I don’t know. That’s a complicated answer. But um. I think that I might just be feeling a little more urgent when it comes to having kids,” Piper breathes.

Brent gives a curt nod. “Look. Piper. I don’t want to…”

He trails off. As he should. Because I just stomped the hell out of his foot.

Piper looks at me, and I give her a smile. “Can we have some time to talk about it?”

Her eyes look like they’re about to spill over with tears. She rises. “Yeah. Um. Okay. I’ll just… see myself out.”

“You can still stay for dinner,” I offer weakly.

Piper gives me a smile. “I know. But I want you to discuss this privately.”

No. I don’t want her to leave. I can tell Dalton’s brain is doing the same thing, because he stands up and drifts for the door. Piper puts a hand on his chest.

“I’m fine. It’s totally okay if the answer is no. And I’ll help you with the marketing no matter what because you really have a good plan… and you are my best friends. I just thought…” Her voice trails off.

“You thought what?” I prompt.

She shrugs. “I don’t know. I thought maybe I’d finally get that ‘one door closes, another one opens’ thing. I understand if yousay no. We’ve been friends for a long time, and I know you don’t think of me like that.”

Brent makes a kind of strangled noise, and Dalton shoots him a look.

“Call me if you need me,” Piper whispers. Then, she’s gone, the slam of the screen door the only sign that she was here at all.

I look at my friends. It’s like a fucking bomb went off in here. All of us look totally dazed. Piper’s truck purrs to life, and it idles.

“What. The. Fuck,” I breathe.

Brent shakes his head. “No. We can’t.”

“Like hell we can’t,” Dalton growls.

I start to pace. “Shit. I just… I had no idea…”

“She’s always wanted to be a mom,” Brent says.

“Well, yeah. But she really just asked…”

“How much wine did she drink?” Dalton interrupts.

I freeze. Brent looks like he swallowed a lemon.

Dalton runs out the door before I respond.

The truck’s engine cuts off. But I don’t hear anyone on the porch.

I turn to Brent. “Yes. We have to.”

“We do not,” he snarls.

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