Page 78 of Baby By my Best Friend's Daddy

“We’ll figure this out, Beck,” he said. “Just don’t want to lose our friendship. The rest of it will come.”

I nodded, my chin against his shoulder. “I don’t want to lose what we have either.”

He finally let go of me. “So, a brother or a sister, huh?” He glanced at my belly. “That’s going to be fun. I’m going to buy it every noisy toy on the market and drive you guys crazy.”

I giggled. “We’ll assign babysitting duty to you when we have date night.”

“I’m going to teach him or her to drink at sixteen.”

“You can’t do that!”

Brad laughed. “It’s going to be great.”

I nodded, smiling. “It really is.”

Brad and I were okay, and whatever the future held—in whatever shape or form—as long as we were all okay, we could take whatever came.

24

LANDON

WhenIwalkedintothe Cavaliers HQ, it was with a grin on my face and a spring in my step. I was a man with a beautiful woman at his side and a baby on the way.

The men all stood together, talking loudly, lifting their drinks in a toast.

“What’s going on?” I asked Ted, who stood at the bar while the other Cavaliers were collected in the middle of the room. He leaned his elbow on the bar and watched the commotion.

“Atwood’s boy got engaged,” Ted said. “It’s a big thing. He came in here and announced it with pride.”

“Ah,” I said.

“To the future Mr. and Mrs. Atwood!” Archie cried out, lifting his drink and everyone lifted their glasses.

I didn’t have a drink yet but lifted my hand in agreement. It was good they’d gotten engaged. Gunner had been serious about Maddison for a while now. Elias might not have agreed with the match, but that didn’t matter. Gunner would do what his heart wanted.

“I think they’ll be happy,” Ted said.

I nodded. “I think so too. Love conquers all, eh?”

Ted laughed. “Yeah, something like that.”

“You don’t agree?”

“Love isn’t enough to make it through. You need all the other good shit, too, like communication and dedication and the will to never stop fighting for what matters, but without love, that goes to shit anyway. So yeah, love does conquer all, I guess.”

I laughed.

“You look like you’re in a good mood,” Ted said. “Did you and Rebecca kiss and make up?”

I nodded with a wide grin. I couldn’t help myself. “Yeah, we did. She’s having a baby too.”

Ted raised his eyebrows. “That’s a lot.”

“It is,” I said. “But you know what? I’m ready for it. I’ve been ready for it for a long time.”

Ted clapped me on the shoulder. “Congrats, man.”

“I’ll keep it quiet for now,” I said. “I won’t steal Gunner’s thunder.”

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