Jesus. She really is insane. And she ain’t alone; I’m losing it too. Because I swear I’m seeing more than admiration in her gaze. More than desire for a child, too.
She looks…hungry.
Hungry for me?
But it can’t be.
This is Taylor.
My best friend. My constant. My order in life’s mess, and the only chaos I’ve ever craved.
And I’ve spent years pretending…
Pretending I don’t track her whenever she walks into a room.
Pretending I don’t ache when she laughs and it ain’t for me.
Pretending I don’t want her in ways that would ruin everything.
I ain’t her type. Not safe. Not malleable. Not willing to hand over control.
But now she’s here. Offering me something I never dared dream of. Talking about a baby. My baby. Inside her.
And she wants it done clinical. Cold. A damn turkey baster.
No.
Fuck no.
There’s only one way I’d agree to put a baby in her and that’s…
That’smy answer.
If I tell her that, she’ll run. She’ll have to. She’ll see what I already know: I’m twisted. Messed up. And this… this is wrong on every level.
‘Okay, Stone.’
Her eyes flare, breath catching. ‘Okay…?’
‘I’ll do it.’
‘You will?’ she rasps.
‘Yeah… on one condition.’
She wets her lips, and that tiny flash of tongue almost takes meto my knees.
‘Name it.’
‘It’s just you and me. No third party. We do it the old-fashioned way.’
She pulls back, eyes narrowing. ‘You don’t mean?—’
‘No clinics. No syringes. No sterile rooms.’ I watch her eyes widen with every word, her pulse beating wild in her throat. ‘Just you. Me. For as long as it takes.’
‘You can’t be serious, Axel.’
I don’t blink. ‘Do I look like I’m joking?’
