After I’ve filled our wine glasses, I sit down again, then ask, “Like? Adoption?” I shake my head. “I want to experience being pregnant.”
“I wasn’t referring to adopting,” he says.
When our eyes meet, and I see the serious look, I ask, “What other options are left?”
“Using the sperm of someone you know.”
My eyebrows pop up, then I begin to chuckle. “Yeah, I don’t think so. There’s no way I’m asking one of our friends. I don’t want any of our family and friends knowing about this until I’m pregnant. They’ll probably try to talk me out of it.”
Christopher shakes his head, then he asks, “You do realize I’m a man, right?”
My spine instantly straightens, and I stare at Christopher as what he says sinks in. “You’re willing to be the sperm donor? Really?”
Holy shit. That would be perfect. There’s no one I trust more.
Christopher shrugs. “I’d rather be the father than some stranger we know absolutely nothing about. You having a child affects me as well. Instead of being the uncle, who has to be the father anyway, seeing as a donor won’t be a part of the kid's life, it might as well be my sperm.”
I keep staring at Christopher. “Are you sure? It’s a big responsibility.”
Christopher takes a deep breath. “I’ve thought about it since you told me what your plans were last month.”
“What if you meet someone a year from now? I don’t think there’s a woman on this planet who will be okay with the fact that we have a child together. It’s already hard dating because we’re friends,” I remind him of our biggest problem.
Christopher stares at me again until I tilt my head, then he says, “We said we’d get married when you turned thirty. We could just expedite it to next year.”
My mouth drops open, and all I can do is gape at him. I totally forgot about it, and honestly, I thought he was joking back then.
“Don’t give me that look,” he grumbles. “We’re best friends. We have similar interests. Most importantly, we love each other. We won’t get divorced. I don’t see any reason why we can’t make it work.”
All true… but…
I’m not sure I can do that. I’m not blind when it comes to my best friend. He’s panty-melting hot. God, he’s the most sought after bachelor.
Being married to him and only being friends? That would be torture. I know myself. I’ll want more, and if Christopher can’t be intimate with me, it will destroy everything we have. It’s been a constant battle to remain platonic with him as is.
“So it will be more along the lines of a marriage of convenience?” I ask, hesitance and worry lacing my words.
Christopher gives me a have-you-lost-your-mind look. “No. It will be a normal marriage, Dash.”
What?
I can only blink at him for a moment before I manage to ask, “Will this include us being intimate?”
Christopher lets out a chuckle as if it’s a stupid question. “Of course. You want kids, and I seriously don’t plan on jerking off for the rest of my life.”
Holy shit.
A weird sense of anticipation and hope begins to creep into my heart, and feeling awkward about it, I let out a burst of laughter.
CHRISTOPHER
Definitely not the reaction I was hoping for.
When her laughter dies away, and the sadness creeps back into her eyes, I murmur, “You deserve the whole fairytale, Dash. Not just a baby.”
She shrugs, her gaze settling on the coffee table. “Fairytales don’t exist. We both know that.”
“They do,” I argue. “Look at Tristan and Hana. Noah and Carla. My parents, your parents.”
A hopeless look tightens her features. “That kind of relationship is not in the cards for me.”
A dark frown begins to form on my face. “Why would you say that?”
She shakes her head and sighs. “Because it’s the truth. Most people marry their soul mates. Why do you think we’ve been struggling with relationships? Your girlfriends and my boyfriends all shit themselves because of our friendship. And I can’t blame them. No guy will be okay with you being more important than them.”
My heart begins to beat a little faster, and narrowing my eyes, I ask, “Did you give up on dating because of me?”
Dash hesitates before she nods. “I’m tired of hearing how I always put you before them. They were right, though. I’ll always put you first.”
I reach for her hand and link our fingers. Dash glances at me, and then I say, “We should just get married, then there won’t be any problems.”
She lets out a burst of laughter as she gets up from the chair, pulling her hand free from mine. “Yeah, right.” Walking to the sliding door, she stares at the view of the city. “Can you imagine how awkward the sex will be?” She laughs again, shaking her head.