Sidelined (Game On 3)

He smiled, their eyes meeting and shooting out a spark of electricity that shocked me even on the other side of the room. “Okay, cushions are fine. Leave the books and DVDs to me.”

“DVDs aren’t heavy either.”

“Just let me do it, okay? You pack, I’ll carry.”

Well, that answers my question. Okay, they weren’t really arguing,but I realised the battle of wills that somehow brought them closer would always exist. Probably wasn’t such a bad thing. At least things would never get boring between them.

The daddy-to-be part of Radleigh had really taken over. The look on Leah’s face told me she found it a bit smothering, though.

“Hey, Radleigh.” I turned to him. “Could you go make us some tea? We’re getting a little thirsty. All this work is exhausting.”

“We’ve only been here forty-five minutes.”

I gave him a pointed look. “Fine. Go make us some tea because we need some girl talk.”

Leah busted out laughing and Radleigh’s lips twitched into a grin. “You’ve got five minutes.”

He got to his feet and strode out of the room, ruffling Leah’s hair as he passed. When he’d gone, I slid across the floor on my butt to sit beside Leah, who was still chuckling. “You have such a way with words.”

“Okay, what’s with him? I never thought I’d see the day when Radleigh McCoy would let a woman tell him what to do!”

“I honestly don’t know. I’m the one who’s supposed to get the pregnancy hormones that make me act strange but Radleigh’s having a few of his own.”

I glanced down at her tiny baby bump, still in shock. So. Fast.

Jude and I never discussed having babies. Well. Not in-depth. The conversation over dinner the other night didn’t count. We sort of agreed we’d like to start a family one day but we hadn’t mentioned it in any detail since before the wedding. Leah and Radleigh probably hadn’t talked about starting a family either until it happened, hitting them in the face like a wet diaper.

Did I still want children? Yeah. Not in a desperate impregnate-me-right-now way, but it would be nice to breed one day. I’d make damn sure my kids had better teenage years than I did.

“Bree!” Leah snapped her fingers in front of my face.

“Sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked if you’re okay. You’ve been quiet today.”

It’s pretty easy to tell when something is up with me; I don’t ramble. But I didn’t want to burden Leah with my… whatever. That was the main issue. I couldn’t talk if I didn’t know what bothered me, and hard as I’d tried, I hadn’t found the answer.

“I’m good,” I told her, smiling. “Focusing on getting Will packed up so he can be with Freya.”

Leah furrowed her brow as if she didn’t believe me, but she didn’t press me. “So, are you gonna help keep Radleigh off my back today?”

“Hmm, maybe. I see his point, though. You should be careful.”

“I know, but I don’t want to be treated like a porcelain doll for the next few months. He’s going to drive me insane if he won’t let me do anything. He already nixed Miguel’s idea of us going clubbing.”

“Aw, you deserve at least one night out on the town before you get too big to fit into any of your cute outfits!”

Nights out were high on my list of things I’d looked forward to, and without Leah they wouldn’t be the same. Radleigh shooting the idea down probably had more to

do with it being Miguel who asked than anything. He hated Leah and Miguel’s friendship. I guessed Radleigh found the whole friends-with-an-ex thing pretty weird since he was always more a pump ‘em and dump ‘em kind of guy.

“Thanks, Bree. Way to boost my confidence.”

“Oh, come on! You’re not gonna get fat, you’re gonna have one of those perfect round tummies that goes straight back to flat once the baby’s popped out.”

“God, I hope so!”

“Tea’s ready, ladies.”