Page 28 of Baby By my Best Friend's Daddy

Landon grinned and shrugged before he made his way to his bed. He threw his crutches aside and groaned when he rolled onto the bed and lay back against the pillows. He took off the moon boot, the Velcro straps making a ripping noise.

“I hate this thing,” he said. “It makes me feel like an invalid.”

He patted the mattress next to him when I didn’t get on the bed right away.

“I don’t bite,” he said with a grin and a twinkle in his eye.

I hesitated. The armchair would have been a safer choice for me, but it would be downright rude to watch a movie from the chair. I wanted to be on the bed with him.

I climbed onto the mattress and crawled to the pillows, sitting back.

Landon picked up a remote from the nightstand and pressed a button. I gasped when an eighty-five-inch TV slowly lowered from the ceiling.

“Wow,” I said.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Landon said with a grin. “What do you want to watch?”

I shook my head. I had no idea.

“Have you ever seenDie Hard?” he asked.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s a movie about—”

“I know what it’s about.” I laughed. “I’ve only seen it a million times.”

“Oh good,” Landon said. “For a moment, I wondered if you had any taste at all.”

“What?” I asked, incredulous. He grinned at me, waggling his eyebrows, and I laughed again. Landon was funny. I was seeing a different side of him now than I’d seen before. He was completely himself without any masks or facades, and I liked what I saw. He was such a down-to-earth person, fun to be around, and he didn’t seem to care much about his image. Even if he had a huge house with no expense spared He didn’t seem to care about the money; it was more like he had the good stuff because he didn’t know what else to do with his money.

He was so different from the other Cavaliers I’d met. It was a nice change—Landon was a breath of fresh air.

You can’t think about him that way, he’s Brad’s dad, and he’s completely out of your league. Hell, he’s out of your galaxy.

Landon put on the movie, and it forced me to focus on the pictures on the screen. We settled in and watched John McClane run around with a gun.

“I love this guy,” Landon said. “He defined action movies. And family.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I love it when peopledofor family. Not everyone gets it.”

“I think he gets it,” Landon said with a grin. “It doesn’t have to be about family, as in blood, you know.”

“What other kind of family is there?” I asked.

“We choose the people we want to be our family. We don’t have to be stuck with the people we’re related to. Most of the time, they’re assholes.”

I laughed. “You can say that again.”

Landon rolled onto his side and casually threw his arm over me. His face was suddenly very close to mine.

“I guess what I mean is that you don’t have to let your family get to you as much as they are. I know it’s tough, but you have people in your life who are there for you a hell of a lot more than the people who gave birth to you, from what I hear.”

I swallowed hard, aware of how close Landon was to me.

“Thanks,” I said in a husky voice.

“Brad is very protective of you,” Landon said. The mention of Brad made my stomach turn. “I know he’s always there for you, but I want you to know he’s not the only one. I’m here too.”

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