I open my mouth to say something, but Tucker beats me to it. He leans forward, resting his hand on her leg.
“We can definitely talk about this, but this is one hundred percent your call, Sunshine.” He gestures between himself, me, and Grayson. “We’re all involved, but we aren’t the ones pregnant right now.”
He swallows before continuing. “I would never force you into doing anything one way or the other.”
I tilt her chin up, so she’s looking at me. “He’s right. We’re here if you want to talk things out, but we aren’t going to influence you one way or the other.”
Grayson hasn’t said anything, but the steadfast look he’s wearing shows that he’s very much on the same page.
She buries her face back into my shoulder as she mumbles, “I want to keep the baby.” She turns her head, so her voice isn’t as garbled anymore. “I know it’s complicated and messy, but I want to be a mom. I want this baby.”
Grayson wipes a tear from her cheek. “Then you’re going to have a baby,” he says with a gentle sureness that seems to settle her.
“Are you guys okay with that?”
“Yes,” we all say at the same time.
Grayson continues, “Like Tucker said, this is your decision. We’ll support you no matter what.”
“I guess we’re having a baby,” she breathes on an almost laugh, like she can’t quite wrap her head around it fully just yet.
I want to kiss her so badly, with every fiber of my being, and tell her how much I love her, but I don’t think that’s what she needs right now.
She moves so she’s sitting on my lap, but no longer leaning against me. “I know it’s probably a silly fear, but I’m kind of scared of getting a paternity test until the baby is born. I read some things online, and it freaked me out.”
It hadn’t fully registered that the baby could be any of ours. It isn’t that I assumed I was the father; I guess it just really doesn’t matter to me.
I love this woman in my arms, so whoever the father is isn’t important to me.
“You’re the one calling the shots here,” Tucker says. “We can wait until after the little one is born to figure all of that out.”
She nods, sitting up a little straighter. “I don’t need or expect anything from you guys. I’ll be fine handling all of this on my own.”
The wheels in my head start grinding to a halt.
She looks down to where her hand is still clasped in Grayson’s and Tucker’s palms. “I don’t think we should do this anymore.”
Everything stops.
Grayson’s swallow is audible in the silent moment following her words.
“Doing what?” Tucker finally asks.
“Having sex. The whole friends-with-benefits thing,” she says. “I want us all to be friends, but that’s all. This is so messy already. It’s probably for the best.”
I can’t breathe.Fuck.
“If that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do,” Grayson says, even though his face looks like he hates the idea.
He’s doing a pretty good job of hiding how he really feels, but his feelings mirror my own, so I know exactly what he’s thinking right now.
She must realize that we’re all touching her in some way, and she starts to move off my lap. My arms instinctively wrap around her, pulling her back into me.
My smartest move?Probably not.Do I care right now?Not really.
“Just because we’re not going to have sex anymore doesn’t change the friends part of what we’ve built,” Grayson says as I ease her back against my chest.
“Youaremy friend, Sienna,” I tell her. My brain screams with how much I want her to be more than that, but I can’t think about that right now. “This has been a heavy few days. Just let me be here for you because no matter if it’s as a friend or…”
