My Babies and Me

Business was the only thing he felt sure about. The only way he knew how to cope. To shut off the fears and concerns that were nagging at him, the uneasiness he couldn’t seem to dissipate with logic.

A man could only think so much about sex without embarrassing himself.

SETH’S DARK-BLUE Bronco was parked in front of the condo when Michael pulled up in his rental. Fond as he was of Susan’s brother, Seth sure as hell could have picked a better time to come visiting.

“I heard you were going to be in town,” the big blond man greeted him as Michael let himself in. “Thought I’d stop by and see if you two wanted to take in a movie or something.”

Susan, curled up on the couch, raised her brows and grimaced behind her brother’s back.

Michael shrugged out of his overcoat and hung it on the brass tree by the front door. “Don’t think so, buddy,” he said. There was no way in hell he’d be able to sit through a movie right now.

“The new Star Trek movie’s playing downtown,” Seth coaxed.

Exchanging glances with Susan, Michael shook his head. Trekkies though they were, a movie was still a two-hour wait in the dark. “It was just released,” he told Seth, pulling his keys out his jeans pocket to drop them on the hall table. “And it’s Saturday. The theater’ ll be full of kids.”

Dressed in beige khaki slacks and a black longsleeved fleece shirt that hugged her waist, Susan looked great. And eager. Her eyes were glowing as she shared an intimate glance with him.

“How about a game of basketball, then? I can call for a court.” Seth picked up the phone and dialed.

“I didn’t bring gym clothes,” Michael said, disconnecting the call. He met and held his friend’s gaze. “Seth, go home.”

“There’s a new restaurant on the other side of the river I’ve been meaning to try,” Seth said, still clutching the phone. “We could have lunch....”

Turning his ex-brother-in-law toward the door, Michael grabbed Seth’s coat off the rack and handed it to him. “Go home.”

Seth took his coat, put it on, and turned back, looking from Susan to Michael. “I think we should talk about this.”

“I think—” Susan began.

“Go home,” Michael interrupted her, giving Seth a little shove.

“You’re sure?” Seth asked quietly.

Hell no, he wasn’t sure. But Susan was. And he’d never be able to live with himself if he forced her to ask another man to do this.

“Go home.” he said one last time.

Swearing, Seth let himself out, slamming the door.

Michael locked it behind him.

SUSAN STARED at Michael’s back. He was still staring at the door he’d just locked, almost as though he were thinking about heading out himself.

“You want something to eat?”

He turned, walking slowly back into the living room, not meeting her eyes. “Nah, I had breakfast at the airport.”

He slipped his hands into his pockets, stretching the denim of his jeans taut across his fly. Susan couldn’t help noticing how attractive he was. She’d never been able to look at Michael without thinking about sex. But today there was more. Today she saw the man who was going to give her his baby.

The thought scared her just a little. What if this changed things? Not her life; of course that was going to change. But what if things between her and Michael weren’t the same afterward?

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” she blurted suddenly.

His gaze swung to hers, intent, hopeful. “You’ve changed your mind.”

“No.” Susan shook her head. She needed to be a mother. “But it doesn’t have to be now, today,” she said even as she realized that putting it off wasn’t going to make any real difference. “It doesn’t have to be you.”

But she wanted it to be. She couldn’t imagine carrying anybody’s baby but Michael’s.