Page 61 of Bad Boy for Hire
“Beg your pardon?” Lisa’s eyes were wide with accusation.
“Hyperbole! Calm down.” May took her own advice and ignored her racing heart. She hadn’t thought too deeply about that statement, and doing so now would be ill-advised. “So, I drove to his house after girls’ night?—”
“Straight from Lou’s? Do not pass Go? Do not collect two hundred dollars?”
“Yes, straight from Lou’s. I couldn’t risk him hearing the news from anyone but me.”
“So after you dropped the bomb, what happened? Did he pass out? Demand proof? Start crying?”
May chuckled at Lisa’s theatrics. “None of the above. We knew it was a possibility. But we didn’t talk about it. Didn’t plan for it. Not really.”
Lisa’s eyebrows jumped in a quick show of surprise, and maybe a touch of impressed disbelief. “That doesn’t sound like you.”
Didn’t she know it. Ever since Posy’s wedding invitation had arrived, May felt like she was being pulled back to the version of herself who’d lost everything. Her mother had died. Her father had never recovered. One moment, she’d had a family. The next, it was gone.
She hadn’t caused her mother’s death, but guilt had clung to her like smoke. It’d seeped into her pores; she’d tasted it on her tongue. She hadn’t been there at the very end. And her father’s grief had consumed him to the point of leaving…because May wasn’t enough.
That was when she stopped trusting herself. Not just in moments of crisis, but all the time. Her romantic life had been outsourced to Prescott. Her future had been entrusted to the Stantons. She’d stopped relying on her instincts, stopped asking what she wanted.
Lately, she’d been listening to that quiet voice she’d spent years ignoring. Even when it told her things she wasn’t ready to hear…
Like when you blurted out that you loved Xavier, then backpedaled?
Hmm.
“So, what did he say?” Lisa prompted.
“He said the same thing as before. He told me there wasn’t anything we needed to do in the moment and that there was no need to worry.”
“And then what happened?”
“And then…we had sex on his sofa.” May sipped her too-hot tea, mainly to give Lisa a moment to gather her wits. It took her longer than usual. May enjoyed the stark look of shock on her friend’s face before continuing. “Then we moved to the kitchen table. After that, we did it against the counter.”
May was expecting a high five, or at least a quip about pregnancy hormones, but Lisa surprised her. “Let me get this straight. You told him you were with child. His child. And then you proceeded to go at it like bunnies?”
“That sums it up.”
“Where is my best friend, and who are you really?” Lisa narrowed her eyes. “Don’t laugh. I’m not kidding. Are you even the same person who swore her no-hot-men rule would stand the test of time?”
“Hey, three years isn’t bad.”
“The mere suggestion of going out with Xavier used to send you into an overthinking spiral, and now you’re”—she gestured meaningfully at May’s torso—“and barely thinking about it?”
The comment hit May sideways. Because it was true, or because Lisa’s tone was a tad accusatory. “Just because you haven’t talked to me this week doesn’t mean you know what I’m thinking.”
Lisa’s mouth went tight, but then she nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just…I guess I’m shocked.”
Or, May reconsidered, the issue wasn’t with Lisa at all. Maybe it was her own nerves, stretched thin from too many sleepless nights and not enough deep breaths.
The intense moment ended as fast as it’d begun. She and Lisa had never been able to stay angry with each other. It wasn’t in either of their best interests.
“I’m shocked too, okay? I didn’t go to his house to hook up. It just happened.”
Lisa nodded, accepting that rationale. “Have you talked to him since?”
“We text every day.”
“Huh.” Lisa took a moment to sip her coffee and digest that information. “I know he’s a calm guy, but this is some Zen master shit.”
