Page 35 of Baby By my Best Friend's Daddy

“I’m with you on that,” Brad said. “You think we have less pressure than you do?”

“You can eat whatever you want, and no one will tell you that you should fit into a size two if you ever want to marry well,” Celine snapped. “I’m lucky I’m a natural zero, but that’s not the point.” She turned to me. “Haven’t you heard? Breaking up is so last season. These days, we just misbehave until he gives up.”

I shook my head, still laughing. The whole thing was so bizarre. Was this the world Landon had grown up in too?

“Okay,” I said. “Slutty it is.”

Celine smiled sweetly. “Despite your background, you do understand.”

“More than you know,” I said with a smile. “Especially about the misbehaving part.” I winked at Brad, who looked confused.

“Don’t worry,” Celine said, patting him on the shoulder. “If it gets too much, we’ll drop you off at a pub, and you can drink while we shop.”

“Like I need a babysitter, and you get Beck all to yourself? No, thanks.”

Celine glanced at him before she tilted her head at me. “If you guys weren’t so obviously platonic, I would have thought he’s being possessive. Luckily, we both know he’s just weird.”

“And you’re such a ray of sunshine,” Brad said.

Celine smiled as if she didn’t get the sarcasm, and we turned and walked into the mall.

We went from boutique to boutique, shopping in stores I’d never even been into. These stores didn’t have price tags on anything. I’d been taught long ago that if you had to ask how much something was, you couldn’t afford it.

We went through lingerie, and Celine went for the dirtiest outfits she could find. Leather, feathers, lace, sheer material. There was even a bra with only the underwire and no cups. It was meant for support, nothing else.

“This is perfect,” Celine said.

Brad shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

“I’m starting to reconsider the babysitting drink.”

Celine giggled and tossed the cupless bra into her basket before we moved on to G-strings. After she’d purchased lingerie with barely any fabric for the price of a small house, we walked to the next boutique. She tried on dresses that left next to nothing to the imagination. Celine shamelessly paraded every dress before us.

“I don’t know how much more of this I can do,” Brad groaned when Celine went into the dressing room for the last dress. “I don’t know why she bothers closing the door. I think we’ll be less shocked seeing her change than seeing what she changes into.”

I laughed. “It’s not so bad. See it as a free day at the strip club.”

“I don’t usually know the girls at the strip club and drink with their brothers and fathers.”

“Hmm,” I said.

Celine came out with a dress that looked like it had been painted on; it was tight, with a plunging neckline and a skirt so short, it looked like a belt.

“I think this is it. Thigh-high boots and Aunt Moira will choke on her gold-plated inhaler. What do you think?”

“I think it’s perfect,” I said with a giggle.

When I looked at Brad, his eyes were glued to Celine’s body. I nudged him with my elbow.

“Yeah,” he said and cleared his throat. “Perfect.”

Celine looked triumphant before she turned around to get dressed in her modest outfit and pay for her scandal dress.

“Not your speed, did you say?” I teased Brad.

“Hey, I’m still a guy,” he commented, and his face turned bright red.

I laughed. “She’s hot. You’re allowed to like what you see.”

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