The Millionaire Affair (Love in the Balance 3)

Steepling his hands, he debated calling Evan. But Landon wasn’t sure if Kimber had told Gloria about the pregnancy yet. If he told his brother and Evan told Gloria… well, Landon didn’t need another reason for Kimber to be pissed at him. Breaking the news to her best friend would do just that. There was always his sister, Angel, but again, her connection with Kimber was reason enough not to call her. His cousin Shane was an automatic out. August sucked at this relationship stuff—or used to, anyway, before he’d gotten married. And there was the probability August would want to talk business and Landon didn’t want to get sidetracked.

That left Aiden.

Landon’s blissfully happy, walking-on-sunshine, recently married younger brother picked up on the third ring. “Yeah.”

“It’s Landon.”

“I know.”

“You have a minute?”

“I have many minutes. Sadie’s shoe shopping and I’m holding up a pillar in the center of Osborn Mall.”

“You’re not at work?”

“You do know it’s rounding eight o’clock, right?”

Was it? No wonder his stomach was rumbling. “Forgot.”

“You are a machine.”

The Tin Man, to be precise, he thought wryly.

“Evan said you hit it off with Angel’s friend, Kimber,” Aiden said. “That you guys were dating or something.”

Or something. “Did he?” Landon said flatly. So much for being incognito.

“Yes,” Aiden said, dragging the word out and sounding bemused. “Is that why you called me?”

“What are you talking about?”

“To get relationship advice. Not like you can call Evan or Angel since they’re only one degree removed from your new girlfriend. And Shane isn’t much of a talker when it comes to feelings.”

Mind reader. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere.” Landon could hear the smile in Aiden’s voice. “What is she?”

Just tell him. “She’s… going to be. It’s probably too soon to make plans but, ah… Kimber is…”

“Is…?” Aiden prompted. “Come on, man. What is she?”

“She’s pregnant.” He blew the words out on a dizzying breath. “And I am not sure what to do next,” he admitted with a wince.

A string of swear words floated through the phone… followed by a predictable whoop of laughter. “Congratulations, man! That’s… that’s effing awesome is what it is! I get another niece or nephew? Sweet! Man, I hate that you beat Sadie and me out of the gate, but I am so happy for you guys!”

Landon found himself smiling at his keyboard, trying on Aiden’s reaction for size. It was pretty exciting. He had a lot of reasons to be happy when he thought about it. A baby was something to celebrate. A baby with a woman he liked a whole heck of a lot. A woman his family knew and approved of.

“Thanks, man,” Landon said, adding, “We’re really excited.”

He didn’t know if “excited” was the right word to describe Kimber, but they’d both been in a state of shock since they found out. They’d still been trying to figure out how to deal with the whole thing this morning. How to deal with one another.

It took him a moment to digest that last thought. He and Kimber were in a relationship. A real one. One where they wouldn’t see eye to eye on everything. A period of adjustment and some arguing could be expected. What they had was disturbingly… normal.

After fervently avoiding this kind of connection with another person for over a decade and a half, Landon had stumbled into a girlfriend… a family… by mistake.

“So, what do you need to know?” Aiden asked. “If we’ll babysit? Because we totally will. I don’t know how the commute will work, but if you two ever need a weekend alone, we’re all over the kid. Man! A baby! Do you want a daughter or a son?”

Landon nearly blacked out at the question, then realized it was because he hadn’t taken a breath in several long seconds. “Either,” he managed, his throat tight, tears barely barricaded behind his eyelids. He’d underestimated how much the news of a child would mean to his family. He thought of the stroller, all the bags of baby things. To Kimber’s mother. To everyone. This wasn’t a project he could craft a to-do list around; this was a baby, a life that would make his father a grandfather for the second time, would make his brothers uncles again, and his sister Angel… God. Angel. What would he tell her? After her issues with fertility, how could he call and tell her he and Kimber had made an Oops Baby?