The Best Man's Baby
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For a second, everyone shut up. Then came a single question. “Is it serious?”
He had to act. And he had to say yes. What kind of man says he isn’t serious about the woman he got pregnant? Once the baby news got out, that would be the media’s logical assumption. “Yes. It’s serious. Now leave us alone, please. Her sister is getting married and the family would like some peace.”
“Give us a kiss for the cameras first,” one of the reporters said. “So we know it’s real.”
“Don’t push it,” left Logan’s lips before he realized what he was saying. He couldn’t help it. Telling the press no was his gut instinct. And a kiss? As if his feelings weren’t confused enough. Not that he didn’t want to kiss her. He’d spent a good deal of time in her parents’ living room yesterday wishing he could do exactly that. Before things got complicated. Again.
The reporters complained and grumbled. Just a kiss and we’re out of here.
He was about to tell them to forget it when delicate fingers slipped into his hand. Julia. He turned. A sweet smile crossed her face. The color had returned to her cheeks. Although by the way she was now gripping his hand, he was fairly certain the flush was anger, not acquiescence.
“If you guys promise to let my sister get married in peace, you can have your kiss. But you have to promise.” The words were for the reporters, but she directed them at Logan. Her lips—the lips he’d fixated on so many times, were waiting right there for him. Pouty and plump.
We promise.
He didn’t risk waiting another second, threading his arm around her waist. He witnessed the graceful closing of her eyes and took that as his cue to do the same, to shut out the press and tune out everything around them. When it was Julia and him, all alone, things could be right. It was the rest of the world that made things complicated. Her lips sweetly brushed his—a hint of warmth and sugar, enough to make the edges of his resolve melt and trickle away.
Pressing against her, he felt the newness between them. There was no visible baby bump yet, but there was undoubtedly something new there—a slight, firm protrusion of her belly. That hadn’t been there at the beginning of the summer. New life. Was the baby his? Could it bring Julia back to him? Could it bring him back to Julia? Could he really get past that feeling that things would never be right between them?
Just like that, Julia ended the kiss and stepped away, turning toward the house. There was no sentiment, no moment of recognition for what had happened between them.
Logan cleared his throat, trying to conceal how disoriented he was. He was as thrown for a loop by her choice of tactics with the media as he was by his own. Julia, and that kiss, had turned his thinking upside down. “There you go, guys. I expect you to hold up your end of the deal.” He turned to Julia and grasped her elbow to usher her ahead, but she stood frozen on the sidewalk. He caught the surprise on her face as she stared ahead at her parents’ front porch. He followed her line of sight. The whole family was standing there—Mr. and Mrs. Keys, Tracy and Carter. Judging by their expressions, they’d heard—and seen—it all.
There were car doors closing and engines starting behind him. Probably the vultures on their way to the closest Wi-Fi hotspot to break the news. Or in reality, his little white lie.
“Tell me you didn’t just start what I think you did,” Julia muttered under her breath, smiling and waving at her parents.
Logan adopted the same phony grin and began walking up the sidewalk, squeezing Julia’s hand.
“Tell me you didn’t just do what I think you did. A kiss?”
“What about you? It’s serious?”
His pulse was thumping, but he was sure he’d done the right thing. Mostly sure, at least. “I didn’t have a choice,” he mumbled. “Somebody was going to get hurt. You were going to get hurt. I had to make them go away. And you’re worried about ruining your sister’s wedding. That was going to ruin your sister’s wedding.”
Tracy wasted no time letting her opinion be known. “Nice job making my big weekend all about you.” She whipped around and stormed into the house.
Logan grimaced and shrugged, apparently at a loss for words. Julia wasn’t doing much better. She was too busy trying to get her bearings after the kiss.
We’re together?
This was a bad idea.
Fake romance or real, there would be no opening of those old wounds.
And yet here she was, holding Logan’s hand, scaling the stairs to the wraparound porch and filing inside her parents’ house. Logan closed the door after her, while her father clapped him on the shoulder.
The grin on her dad’s face was as wide as the beach at low tide. “Sounds like I’ll be marrying off a second daughter soon. Julia’s mother and I had always hoped this day would come.”
Married? Good God, what was it with the men in Julia’s life assuming marriage was the next logical step? “Dad, isn’t that a little presumptuous?”
“The man said serious. What else am I to presume?”
“We’re so happy, Jules. We’ve always thought Logan was the only one for you.” Her mother’s ability to radiate warmth and happiness made everything worse. How would her parents feel when she told them her secret on Sunday? Would they only be happy for her if Logan was indeed the dad? Precisely the reason she didn’t want a paternity test. She didn’t want her baby to be judged because of who his or her father might be. It was such an old-fashioned fixation, anyway. She could be a mom on her own, with no need for a man. The baby was Julia’s, and that was all anyone needed to know.
Julia sucked in a deep breath, not knowing what to say. Logan had put them in a horrible position. And admittedly, Julia had probably made it worse with the kiss, but the press had said they’d go away. She wanted that insurance. Still, playing fast and loose with the truth... Julia might be an actress, but she sucked at lying. “Logan and I aren’t together. He just said that to make the press go away.”
“I knew it!” Tracy exclaimed, breaking her momentary silence. “At least Logan cared enough about me to do something about the problem.” She shot Julia a pointed stare. “Unlike my sister.”
“What about the kiss? That’s what really made them go away.”
Logan nodded in agreement. “True. The kiss was definitely Julia’s idea.”
Don’t remind me.
“The kiss was fake?” Her mother’s voice was rife with distress, just as it had been the day before when this all started. “No. It couldn’t have been. It was so sweet. It looked real.”
I bet. Julia still felt that kiss all over every inch of her body. Damn Logan and his resolve-destroying lips. “It was just what they asked for. A kiss for the cameras. Nothing else. I am a halfway decent actress, you know.”