Piper shakes her head. “I’ve got enough on my plate right now. First, I need to figure out the job situation.”
“About that.” I take a step forward. “You don’t have to rush into anything.”
She looks confused, like she’s not in any way picking up whatI’m laying down. “I’m not going to desert you and Ellie, if that’s what you’re thinking.” My heart starts to beat like crazy in my chest. Because what in the world am I trying to say?
“Is that whatyou’rethinking, Felix?” Sadie asks slowly.
“No…not exactly…I mean…” I’m fumbling here, my mind racing as fast as my heart.
Ian visibly cringes, then makes a slashing motion across his throat with one finger, like he knows I’m about to step in it.
But I can’t stop now, even though I still have no idea where I’m going with this. I focus on Piper, grounding myself in her clear gaze and those ultrasound pictures she’s still holding. “I mean, you don’t need to worry about money or finding a new job right away. You’ve got me.”
Her eyes widen a fraction, and her gaze cuts to Sadie for a moment before returning to me. “We’ve talked about this, Felix.” Her voice is measured. “I can’t just?—”
“We should get married.”
The words are out before I can stop them, hanging in the air like a bomb that just detonated in the cozy living room. Ellie keeps playing with Beast, completely oblivious to the fallout about to land on me. But Piper, Sadie, and Ian go completely still.
“Excuse me?” Piper whispers.
“A wedding. You and me.” Now that I’ve said it, I’m doubling down. It makes a strange sort of sense, at least in my heart. “Your job can be as my wife. I’ll take care of you, the baby, and Ellie if I end up keeping her. We’ll be a family.”
Yeah, I like the sound of that. A family of my own.
Except Piper’s staring at me like I suggested we join a cult. “Have you lost your mind?”
“As proposals go,” Ian says slowly, “that was stupendously bad.”
Sadie elbows him, but she’s not looking much more supportive. “Felix, maybe you should?—”
“I’m serious.” I drop onto the sofa–fucking weak knees–butkeep my focus on Piper, whose hazel eyes are filled with an emotion I can’t read. I don’t think it’s excitement, though, which…okay, I get that. But it’s a legit idea. “I’ll get you a ring with a diamond you can see from outer space.”
Ian snorts, and I resist the urge to flip him the bird. Where’s the brotherly love when a guy needs it? “Come on, Hart. We’re good together. This could work.”
“‘Your job can be as my wife?’” Piper repeats, her voice climbing. “Did you seriously just say that?”
“I meant?—”
“I know what you meant, Felix. I should give up on having my own life, my own career, my own identity, and become Mrs. Felix Barlowe, my entire existence revolving around you and showing off the giant diamond you’re going to put on my finger.”
Oh, shit. When she puts it like that, stupendously bad doesn’t even cover it. “Piper, I didn’t mean?—”
“Just like Bradley wanted. Just like everyone thinks Ineed. Poor little Piper, so lost and helpless. She obviously needs a big, strong man to take care of her.”
“That’s not what I’m saying at all.”
“Then what are you saying?” Her eyes are blazing now, and…fuck, this is going so very wrong. “Because it sounds like you’re trying to turn me into some kind of trad wife fantasy.”
She stands and heads for the stairs, not waiting for an answer.
I also get up like I’m going to follow her. “Piper wait?—”
Only, she’s gone. A moment later, the sound of her bedroom door slamming echoes through the house, cutting off whatever pathetic excuse I was about to make.
Ellie continues to happily babble to Beast as he follows her around the main floor of the house. At least someone survived my stupidity unscathed.
“Well,” Ian says with a grimace, “that went well.”
