Page 48 of Baby By my Best Friend's Daddy

“About that,” Landon said.

My stomach twisted. “About what?”

“I want to talk about us.”

“Oh no,” I said. “That sounds ominous.”

Landon shook his head. “Not at all. I love you.”

I blinked at him. “What?”

“You heard me. I love you. I’ve wanted to tell you, but every time I’m worried it’s too soon, I should wait… that doesn’t change how I feel about you, though. I love you, and I love spending time with you.”

My face broke into a smile now that I realized he wasn’t going to give me bad news. On the contrary, the news was very, very good.

“I love you too.”

“Yeah?” Landon asked with a grin.

I nodded. “Yeah. I’ve wanted to say it for a while, too, but I didn’t want to scare you off.”

“I don’t scare easily,” Landon said.

I giggled. “I wanted to at least wait until you weren’t on the strong meds anymore so we both remembered what you said, and I knew you meant it.”

Landon laughed. “I wasn’t that bad on the medication.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Did you forget how all this started?”

Landon laughed. “If this is what poor security gets me, I’ll leave my door open every night.”

“I’d rather you didn’t,” I said with a giggle. “I’m already in your bed.”

“Just where I like you,” Landon said and winked at me. “I want to make this official.”

“What do you mean?” I asked with a frown. “We’re already official.”

“Yeah, but I want the world to know so we can do our thing and not worry about who sees us. I want to go out with you. I want to be seen in public. I want a picnic in the park on the days it doesn’t rain. I want to take you to my favorite restaurants and bring you to events as my girlfriend.”

My heart sank. “I want that more than anything, but that will mean this bubble of happiness will burst.”

Landon nodded. “I’m aware of that, but I don’t want to keep hiding.”

I turned my wineglass around and around on the table with my fingers on the stem. “The only person I’m really worried about is Brad. I can handle everyone else. Brad… and maybe my parents.”

“Let’s worry about your parents later,” Landon said. “But don’t worry about Brad. I’ll handle him.”

“How?”

“I’ll talk to him.”

I nodded. If Landon talked to Brad, that would make a world of difference. If Brad found out the right way, everything would be different. I doubted he would be happy, but at least I wouldn’t have to lie to him when he phoned me unexpectedly to go out, and I was in Landon’s bed, or he wanted to pick me up from work, but Landon was already on his way.

“If Brad is okay, and we can figure that part out, I’m happy to go public with this,” I said. “I like the idea of us being together in everyone’s eyes.”

“You might end up in a tabloid or two for a short while,” Landon warned.

“Hmm,” I said. “Almost like a celebrity. That’s going to take some getting used to.”

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