Page 105 of Her Billionaire Bargain (Kensington Square)

“Ow, fuck me.”

“Can I take a rain check right now?” Shelby was standing barefoot in the doorway, a cup of something steaming in her hands.

I tried to reply and only groaned instead.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Back,” I managed, feeling like an old man as I tried to shift on my pile of pillows to something that approached a comfortable position.

“Oh, no. What happened to it?”

I gestured around myself. “I knew better and yet I wanted to spoon. Or spork. Or just cuddle with someone besides my dragon-breath dog.”

“Aww, or else your athletics last night.” She came closer, hiding her smile behind her mug as her eyebrows lifted pointedly.

“I’m not even thirty, for fuck’s sake. I think my problem is I haven’t been gettingenoughathletics. You and Berry should move in.”

I only heard myself when her eyes widened. Her grip faltered on the mug, and she bobbled the cup, splashing the leg of my pajamas. “W—what?”

I frowned at myself. So much for convincing her through traditional means. Should’ve figured I’d never be patient enough to ask a friend for help, and, you know, actually execute a plan.

I got up on my knees and walked over to her that way, doing my best not to wince at the ache in my lower back. “I mean, it makes sense, right?”

“Sense how?” Her voice was officially in squeak mode.

“I love being with you. I love being with Berry. If you both were always here, I can’t say I’d mind.”

“It’s really that simple for you. You have a whim, so why not make it reality?”

“Pretty much.” I jerked a shoulder. “Not a whim I’ve ever had before, admittedly, but I’m willing to roll with it. What the hell, right? I know you’re going to say you can’t live on a whim for your daughter, but she’s like me. She’d be into it, we both know it.” I gripped her hips and kissed the little slice of skin visible above the stretchy pants she’d changed into. “So, let’s just go for it.”

“Dex, she’s not even nine. Sure, she’d be into it. She also thinks two scoops of ice cream is a perfectly acceptable dinner.”

“It’s not?” When she laughed, I kissed her belly one more time. “It’s a wild ride, I know. But I like wild rides. I want to go on this one, but only with you and Berry. And I won’t change my mind next week.” I lifted my gaze to hers. “I won’teverchange my mind. Not when it’s made up like this. I promise you.”

“Last weekend, I accused you of sleeping with the pet-sitter. Remember that?”

“Vaguely.”

“You let me believe you were meeting a female friend—”

“I met my brother and Bishop and then we went to attend April’s bath birth. The female I spent most of the night with was expelling a large, surprisingly cute baby girl from her nether regions. So, you weren’t altogether wrong on the area involved, I just didn’t do the implanting.”

“You are officially crazy, you know that?” She brushed her fingers through my hair and gulped what smelled like coffee.

“I am. And we don’t make any kind of sense on paper. I know you think I’m halfway insane.”

“Three-fourths?”

I shrugged. “Fair. But I never did any of this with anyone else. Know why?”

Her lips trembled. “No. I honestly have no idea.”

“Because they weren’t you.”

She shut her eyes and steadied herself with a hand on my shoulder. “I’m not saying no.”

I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding in a rush.

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