Page 57 of Flirting With My Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

I shake my head. “It’s nothing.” The truth is, there’s nothing more that I’d like than to hold Jenni’s baby in my arms. There’s got to be more that can be done to help her have kids if she wants them so badly. Maybe in vitro or a surrogate. I don’t know much about infertility, but I’m not willing to give up hope. And she can still have a foster child if she wants. I just want her, and I want her to be happy. More than anything. It’s destroying me to know that she’s been in all this pain and has been hiding it all this time.

I’m just learning about this fight, and I don’t want to give up so easily. Is that insensitive of me?

“Hey, whatever you two are going through, I hope you know I’m here for you both. Jenni is already like family to me. I’d love for her to become my sister-in-law one day.”

“I’d like that too. I know I’m in love with her. I think I have been for quite some time and haven’t been willing to admit it to myself.”

“She’s a fiery one and was keeping you at arm’s length. I wonder if it had to do with the way she was feeling too,” Weston says.

“I don’t know. But I am worried about her. I hate to think that she’s home alone and suffering. I feel so helpless. I want to go after her, but I also think she might need some space.”

“I know you’ll figure out what the right thing to do is.”

“Weston?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think there’s something wrong with me? Some reason why I might be chasing off the women in my life?” I hate feeling this vulnerable in front of my brother. It’s not like me. Usually, we’re all bravado and macho.

“Well, your ears are kind of funny shaped.”

I slap a hand to my ears. “You have the same funny shaped ears.”

He only laughs at me. “You asked me, and that’s my answer. Also, you could use a little mouthwash. Your breath is pretty bad.”

“I just brushed my teeth at the campground this morning. And I used mouthwash. You think I wanted to be stinky around Jenni?” That’s what I get for asking Weston for his honest opinion.

“All kidding aside, there’s nothing wrong with you, bro. You're a Keith. We’re all handsome devils. We work hard, and we love even harder. We’re loyal and family means everything to us. If there are women out there who don’t want a piece of that, then it’s their issue, not yours. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t improve a little. Like brushing your teeth more.”

The punk. I have excellent hygiene. I cover my mouth and breathe into my hand. Now he’s making me paranoid. No bad smells, but I pop in a mint just to cover my bases.

Weston slaps me on the back in a brotherly way. “Should we get back out there? There’s some overwhelming cuteness on display between those two kiddos out there.”

I follow him to the living room where Hayden is playing peek-a-boo with Angel by hiding behind the couch and then popping up to make her dissolve into the cutest giggles.

My heart swells to see my son being so good with his little cousin, and I’m proud to call him my own.

15

JENNI

Igo home and shower, but the hot water does nothing to relax me. Langston’s devastated face is all I can see and think about and it’s tearing my heart out. I scrub at my hair with a vengeance, but it’s not helping me get my frustration out. I feel like screaming. Why did this have to happen to me? If it weren’t for this infertility, Langston and I would probably be together and happy right now.

And how I wish I could feel his arms around me. I need his comforting arms, but I can’t have them. I can’t hurt him like this. Hot tears run down my face and mingle with the water falling on me.

After my shower is finished, I turn off the water and let the sobs fully loose as I climb from the shower and wrap a towel around me. Because now I haven’t just lost my ability to bear my own children. Now I’ve lost Langston, and there’s no way to make it better. It’s hitting me now how deeply I care for him, how deeply I’ve cared for such a long time.

He’s always been there, even when we were “enemies” or whatever you want to call it. I’ve been lying to myself about him for a long time, and now that I’ve finally admitted my feelings for him, I’ve lost him. Not just as a boyfriend, but as a friend too. I don’t hang out with a lot of girls. I never really have. It’s always been me and Ronnie and the Keith boys, mostly Langston.

How can I even face his family now? They’re going to have so many questions about why we’re breaking up. And Langston won’t have answers for them, not unless he’s willing to tell my secret, which I know he would never do. So he’s just stuck in this weird place where he can’t explain the breakup to anyone.

But I know he’ll be better off in the end. He’s an amazing catch. He can find a woman who can give him the babies he deserves. That will never be me. I’ve known I was playing with fire, but I got caught up in the moment and allowed myself to fall in love.

Maybe it’s just better if I never get married. I’ll just have my foster kids, eventually adopt some babies. Some people don’t get their happy-ever-afters, and that’s just life.

Noodle meows, coming up to me as I’m getting dressed. I sit on my bed, scrolling through pictures of Langston and me at the theater, and Noodle curls up next to me, like she understands how sad I am. She’s always been like that. She’s a fantastic emotional support animal, even though I didn’t get her for that reason. She purrs and stays with me as I allow myself to have a good cry. I just sit there and pet her and pet her, and she never moves away.

Once I’m dressed and my hair is dried, a knock sounds on my front door. I go get it to find my mom on my doorstep.

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