Page 78 of Her Billionaire Bargain (Kensington Square)

How I could be less…like me and more like them, since they were both in successful long-term relationships and I was not. Had never been in one.

The mere idea that I might want to try to be in a relationship was enough to cause my near and dear to fear for my very well-being. Or maybe they were fearing for Shelby’s. None of them had gotten specific.

Probably a good thing.

“Take slow, even breaths,” my brother advised Bishop from the driver’s seat as he, in deference to the urgency of the situation, was speeding through Kensington Square approximately seven miles above the speed limit. Sometimes even eight.

I could tell from the way he was clutching the wheel he felt as if he was being completely reckless.

“I can’t help her birth this baby.Ourbaby. I’m going to throw up.”

“No, you are not,” I said calmly from the backseat, my contribution to the situation. “Women have been giving birth without assistance since the dawn of time. For years, there were no medical teams to help. They had to squat down in the woods and let nature take its course.”

“Seriously?” Preston met my gaze in the rearview mirror. “That’s your idea of help?”

I jerked a shoulder as Preston took a hard left without even signaling. Clearly, we now were facing dire straits. “It’s true. Women know so much more than us as a whole. Even first-time moms. I bet April will do just fine. She’s utterly capable in every possible way. Her grandmother is there, right?”

“Yes.” Bishop grabbed onto the “oh, shit” handle above the passenger door as Preston gassed it to approximately twelve miles over the speed limit. We were practically racing now. “Grams and Key and Michaela and Luna and—”

“And Ryan,” Preston added before Bishop could. “They’re setting up a circle of warmth for the baby.”

“Warmth? It’s been nearly eighty today.”

“Not that warmth. A witchy thing. So, the baby feels comfortable and loved as he or she makes his journey into the world.”

“Oh. Hmm.” This was all new to me. I was reasonably sure such a thing would be new to Shelby, too, and she’d actually given birth before. “Well, whatever works. How is she feeling? April, I mean.”

“She’s okay. She’s so strong. So fucking strong.” Bishop mopped his brow with his sleeve. “Hopefully, Ginny is getting close. They only went to Waterloo, so she wasn’t that far. Why she felt comfortable going.”

I leaned forward to rub his shoulder. “Everything is going to be fine. Trust me.”

He took a shaky inward breath and clapped my hand. “You’re right. With that crew, she’ll be just fine. Ginny will be there soon. Maybe she’s there already.” He stared hard at the side of Preston’s head. “Can’t this thing go any faster?”

Preston floored it. Well, his idea of flooring it, which meant we might have made it fifteen miles above the speed limit.

“Hey, guys, while we have some spare time here,” I gestured around us, since we were still a good number of miles from Bishop and April’s new home, “what would you say I should do if I want to win over a woman?”

“Really? Is now the time for this?” Preston snapped.

“It’s a good distraction, right? I mean, she was won over enough to sleep with me, but she thought the worst of me with the pet-sitter and I don’t think I reacted appropriately to her questions. I was pissed,” I added, rather than keeping them in suspense. “So, I let her think I could be meeting a woman tonight instead of you two. What should I do? I thought maybe not talking to her until she realized her error would work,” I gripped the headrest of Bishop’s seat when Preston slammed on his brakes at the next light, “but, well, I can’t wait that long. She’s stubborn as hell. For all I know, she might freeze me out until Halloween.”

We had our volunteering session coming up, but still. I didn’t want to depend on external events to ensure she was going to speak to me. We also had the renovation ahead, but I wanted to keep our relationship personal, too, not just professional.

I wanted Berry to keep coming over to play with Bob. I really wanted Shelby to spend the night at my place while Berry stayed down the hall.

Like a real couple, for fuck’s sake. Was that just a pipe dream?

“Just tell her you spent the night with us and Bishop’s having a baby and you wanted to help him.”

“Have his baby?”

“Just play up how moved you are by the whole process. She has a daughter, right? The more moved you are, the better.”

“You’re telling him to lie to a woman to get her not to be mad at him?” Bishop reached up to run his fingertip along his collar. “Bad move.Bad.”

“Not lie. Okay, it’s Dex, it’s probably a lie. Look, dude, do you want a real relationship with marriage and children, or just indiscriminate sex?” Preston’s voice was ear-piercingly sharp.

“I just want sex with her. Not indiscriminate. I mean, I’d be good with high frequency, yeah, but only with her. And I want to be real with her, not put on some fake front to woo her. I think I’m basically a good, albeit clueless dude about the ways of relationships.”

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