Mister Baby Daddy (Bad Boys in Love Book 3)

by Cassie-Ann L. Miller

  The weather is already growing chilly now. Today, I opted for comfy flats for my swollen feet with a white blouse and a flared navy skirt under a tan trench coat. But I catch a glimpse of my reflection in my car window when I’m walking up and I won’t lie—I’m looking kind of rough right now. Bags under my eyes, frizzy hair, my shirt could use a good steam-press.

  As I’m pulling into the parking lot, I get a text message from my former boss, letting me know he’s running ten minutes late.

  Seriously, Cliff?

  I huff with annoyance. I went to a lot of trouble to get here on schedule. To kill time, I swing by the pharmacy down the block to re-stock on pre-natal vitamins and other personal items.

  As I’m wandering through the store, flinging a pack of razors into my basket, I get a message from Cliff asking for another ten minutes. I grunt a curse under my breath.

  I double back when I catch a glimpse of a familiar blonde, browsing the shampoo shelf.

  “Diana?” I make my way toward her.

  Walker’s mother pivots around to face me and the happiest smile takes over her features. She makes a big deal of taking me in. “Oh, Penny. Look at you, dear. You look absolutely lovely.” We share a quick peck on the cheek.

  A few people meander through the aisle as she and I make a bit of small talk. I tell her I’m going to the bar to pitch my ideas to Cliff and she jokes around about applying for a bartending job now that I’m no longer in the game.

  I snicker, doing my best not to let my sadness spill through. Walker’s mom really is the best and I’d rather not bleed my pain all over her pretty pink cardigan. From her laidback demeanor, I’m assuming Walker hasn’t told her that I left last night and I’m not sure I should be the one to break the news.

  She checks her wristwatch and gasps. “Oh, no. I have to go pick up Callie and Jessa from kiddie yoga class. Then, I have to get back to the guesthouse. We have a wedding party checking in this afternoon and the bride is very ‘particular’.” Amusement twinkles in her eyes as she makes air-quotes around the word. “I need to make sure I’m there to welcome them.”

  “All right, then,” I say feeling wistful as I take a small step back.

  “We’ve got fajitas on the menu today. I’ll make sure to send a plate over to the cabin.” She winks.

  Fuck. I can’t continue to keep this kind woman in the dark.

  I balance my shopping basket on my forearm. “I moved out of the cabin.” My whisper is barely audible and the words wrench my heart.

  She blinks. “You moved?”

  I nod as emotion scales the inside walls of my chest.

  Diana’s brow crinkles with concern and her hand falls to my arm. “Dear, what happened?”

  “It was time for me to go.” I shrug a shoulder. “Things were starting to get complicated with Walker and me.”

  “Complicated how?”

  I suck in a breath and glance around to ensure our privacy. We’re at the freaking pharmacy, for heaven’s sake. Not the ideal location for personal conversations.

  “Walker said he wants us to be a family.”

  The woman looks halfway between elated and confused. “He said he wants a family? And you still want to be a single mom?”

  Do I? Do I still want to do this on my own? Would that really be my preferred choice in an ideal world?

  “It’s not so much that I want to be a single mom?” I explain. “It’s more that I don’t want him to feel obligated to offer me a family because deep down, that’s not what he really wants.” He wants to expand his greenhouses, he wants to upgrade to eco-friendly farm equipment. He’s been working toward these dreams for so long. And now, I’m getting in the way.

  Her expression shifts more to the ‘confused’ side of the spectrum. “And you know he doesn’t want a family because…?”

  “He told me. A few months ago when he offered me his…y’know…” I nod suggestively toward my crotch.

  “Sperm, darling. Sperm.” Diana sounds impatient. Her volume is a bit on the elevated side and it draws curious eyes our way. I wonder if I look as mortified as I feel. The woman chuckles at my expression and nods at my baby bump. “It’s a little late to start playing coy now. Continue.”

  “When he offered me his…sperm, he told me he didn’t want children.” My cheeks are on fire.

  She laughs some more, the sound rising up from her belly. “Penny, my son would say anything, do anything to make you happy. Don’t you know that by now? If he said he didn’t want kids, it’s because, on some level, he thought that’s what you’d want to hear.”

  “Exactly!” I say. “He’d tell me exactly what I want to hear because I’m his best friend and he—”

  “Because he loves you, Penny.”

  I pause and blink.

  Diana speaks with assurance. “I’m not talking about ‘friendship’ love. I’m not talking about warm, fuzzy feelings. I’m talking about hardcore, full-blown, panting-for-air, incurable love. I can tell you with certainty that you are the only woman my son has ever loved and he’s loved you for a long damn time.”

  “Really?” I squeak out.

  Her head bobs vigorously. “Really.”

  “That’s not possible,” I whisper, my lips trembling. I’m deep in denial. “You know how loyal Walker is.” I rub a hand over my belly. “He sees me pregnant with twins and he knows that I’m overwhelmed and he wants to save me. That’s all it is.”

  Her laughter flutters through the aisle, rising above the store’s music. “Clearly, you overestimate how altruistic my son is. The man wants you. All to himself. But it’s like he has this notion in his brain that you’d never love him back.” She squeezes my hand. “If he said he didn’t want to have children, he meant he didn’t want to have children if he couldn’t have them with you.” She sighs. “He loves you, Penny. Deep down, you’ve always known that, haven’t you?”

  Walker loves me? How did I not see it? Hell—how come no one ever told me? Well, no one except for Jessa, that is.

  “Is it that you don’t love him back?” the mother asks cautiously.

  “I’ve loved that man since before I even knew how to classify the feeling.” I laugh wryly. The idea of actually getting this thing I’ve spent my whole life wanting is so damn scary. “Oh my god. This is terrifying.”

  “No, dear. This is good. It’s good.” Her fingers are still wrapped around my wrist. “The man you love is in love with you. What’s so terrifying about that?” she asks warmly.

  I’ve been deprived of the love I needed all my life. I’ve been lonely and stagnant and unfulfilled for so long. And now, I could possibly have it all? The man I love, his babies, the career of my dreams, all at once. It almost feels too much.

  I pour my heart out all over the floor. “Have you ever wanted something so bad, you begged the universe for this one thing…and then you find yourself staring at it right in the face and you realize that you are completely and utterly afraid. Afraid that it’s too good to be true. Afraid that it’s all a dream. Afraid that if you touch it, it’ll crumble in your hands? That’s how I feel, Diana. If I try to make it work with Walker and it doesn’t, I will crumble.”

  She studies me as if she can see the freak-out fest taking place inside my mind. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe you’re just scared to finally get what you want?” She nods knowingly. “It’s called self-sabotage, honey—that’s the issue here—and I won’t stand by and watch you do it. Both you and my son deserve better.”

  This all feels surreal. I’m still grasping for a plausible excuse not to take the leap.

  “This is not how people do it,” I mumble staring down at the floor. “Get pregnant and then get into a relationship. It won’t work.”

  “How do people do it?” Walker’s mother challenges.

  “They date. They get to know each other, really know each other. They fall in love. Then they decide if they want to spend the rest of their lives together. The marriage and babies come next.”


  She shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Okay, so you got the steps out of order. Doesn’t mean you can’t still take the rest of the steps. I’m living proof of that.” She smiles. “You can date. You can spend time together. You can explore your feelings for each other. Give it a shot, dear. You don’t have to rush into anything but at least give yourself the chance. Or you’ll spend your whole life regretting it.”

  Those words resonate like a bell. Living the rest of my life in regret sounds like hell on earth.

  I think back to the fact that Diana was already pregnant by another man when she met Lucas Kingston. And that didn’t stop them from getting their happy ending anyway. Maybe fate might still play out in favor of Walker and me.

  “I know that you have all the power, dear. You have a legal document where my son signed all his parental rights over to you. So, ultimately, the decision is yours.” Diana’s hand rests lightly on my stomach. “But I just want you to know, in my heart, these children will always be my grandbabies and you will always be a part of the Kingston family. No matter what any legal document says.”

  I purse my lips to keep from sobbing and I throw my arms around this kind woman. Walker’s mom hugs me back. I’m not sure she understands the impact of what she’s saying to me. I’ve always wanted to fit in somewhere, to belong. And now, she’s carved out a space in her family for me and my children. It’s a priceless gift.

  Oh, god. We’re both crying in the pharmacy’s damn shampoo aisle.

  My phone starts chirping and I pull out of the embrace. Wiping my eyes, I glance down at my device and see Cliff’s phone number. “It’s my client.” I wave my phone in the air.

  “Go ahead, dear. Take the call.” Diana blots her eyes with a napkin. “But think about what I said.”

  “I will.” As I walk off toward the cash register, I know I won’t be able to get her words out of my head.

  Cliff’s newest text message asks for another five minutes. I text him back and postpone the whole damn meeting. Suddenly, there’s some very pressing shit I need to attend to. Namely, upgrading my baby daddy to boyfriend status. Maybe more. We’ll see how it goes.

  I hustle-waddle out of the pharmacy. Once settled behind the steering wheel of my car, I take in my haggard reflection in the rearview mirror. Eesh!

  I’m going to need a bit of female intervention here. By the time I start the engine, I’ve got Iris, Lexi and Aunt Lucille on a conference call.

  Heart pounding, I swing out of the parking lot. It’s time to finally make Walker mine.

  52

  Walker

  I leave the barber shop and maneuver my truck along the highway, speeding back toward Crescent Harbor.

  My mind is made up, I’m headed straight over to Lucille’s house. I’m going to tell Penny the truth that’s on my chest, I’m going to pledge my love to her and I’m not leaving that house until she gives me her heart in return. She’s wrong for thinking I view her as a responsibility. She’s my whole damn world and it’s about time that she knows it.

  I pull up alongside the perfectly trimmed hedgerow, squeezing into a parking space right behind Iris’s electric car. Lexi’s shiny luxury ride is parked across the street and Penny’s crumbling little hatchback is squeezed into the driveway behind Miss Lucille’s gas-guzzling SUV.

  I glance between the vehicles. Something doesn’t feel right.

  When I peer toward the side of the house, I notice the kitchen door is open a crack. In a flash, my pulse is skittering like crazy. Maybe I’m being irrational but my mind immediately flips to the worse case scenario.

  Is something wrong with Penny? Or the babies?

  Heart jackhammering, I prowl up the back steps of the small one-story bungalow and burst into the kitchen.

  …And a thick cloud of hairspray punches me in the face.

  Holy shit.

  I throw my forearm over my mouth and cough.

  Four very perplexed, very in-one-piece women blink up at me.

  Miss Lucille has got a fistful of Penny's red hair wrapped around the barrel of some hair-curling contraption. Iris is painting a glittery red varnish onto Penny’s fingernails. There’s a mobile clothing rack in the corner of the room and Lexi is busy steam-ironing a fancy, floor-length dress. There are high-heeled shoes and shimmery handbags and fashion magazines everywhere.

  Is Penn entering a beauty pageant or something nobody told me about?

  “Walker?” Penny shrugs off her aunt’s hands and ambles off the high-stool she’s sitting in.

  I glance around the room and nod in greeting at the group of baffled women. “Hey, ladies.”

  My girl takes a step closer and gently places a hand on my bicep. Her forehead crinkles with concern. “Is everything okay?”

  My focus settles on her beautiful face and my heart is racing all over again. And it’s not the coats of slick, red lipgloss on her mouth or the ten-inch lashes sitting on her eyelids or the layers and layers of sparkly stuff on her cheeks. It’s her. The woman I see beneath all the other stuff. She is beautiful to me.

  “We need to talk,” I tell her. My focus stays on her face but I feel three pairs of curious eyes boring into the side of my head.

  She gives her shamelessly nosy friends the stink-eye. “Sure. We’ll have more privacy in here.” She leads me down the hallway to the bedroom she occupied as a teenager.

  Gosh, it’s been a decade since I’ve been in this room and the crush I had on my best friend back then has now morphed into full-blown love for the mother of my children. I’m ready to make her mine.

  She softly closes the door and turns to face me. She brushes her fingertips along my jaw, eyes narrowed with concern. “Why do you have a bandage on your chin?”

  I give an impish chuckle. “Run-in with my barber’s razor,” I explain, feeling kind of silly.

  My gaze sweeps her again from top to bottom. She’s obviously getting all dressed up for a special event. A hot dagger of possessiveness strikes my chest.

  “You’d better not have plans tonight,” I growl, sounding like a damn neanderthal.

  It is what it is.

  She’d better not have plans because I have zero intention of letting her leave this room until I’m sure that she’s mine.

  I’m done tiptoeing around the issue. I’ve tried to be patient. I’ve tried to earn her heart the noble, polite, civilized way.

  But I’m done being polite.

  Now, I’m doing things caveman-style. I am ready to swoop her off her fucking feet and tell her that she’s mine, and every inch of me is hers.

  She swallows, blushes, knots her fingers in front of her. “I…I was coming to see you, actually. To talk. I wanted to…to look nice.”

  My heart beats hopefully when she says that. Her words give me the courage to step even closer. “You’re always beautiful, Princess. Doesn’t matter what you’re wearing.”

  I know I should probably ease us into this conversation but I’m damn tired of beating around the bushes and playing games.

  I look her in the eyes and utter words I’ve ached for years to say. “I’m in love with you, Penny. I’ve loved you my whole life.”

  There’s a momentary silence. She stands there, staring at me, an array of emotions flashing over her face. Her eyes fill with tears. Then her bottom lip starts to quiver. I have no clue what she’s thinking and it’s driving me insane.

  I trail a palm down her arm. I’m anxious to coax a response out of her. “Penn, you can just—”

  “Do you know how many times I wore booty-shorts for you?!” she blurts out.

  My eyebrows furrow. I blink.

  Well, this is not the response I was anticipating.

  “You what…?”

  Penny’s watery emerald orbs glare up at me from beneath those thick-ass, ten-inch eyelashes. “I wore booty-shorts for you. And dangerously high heels in the snow. And tiny, little shirts to show off my belly piercing. Even when it was freezing outside. I’d be shivering my ass off. In booty-shorts.
For you. So you’d notice me. So you’d think I was pretty.”

  “Penny, I…I…” I don’t even know what to say to that.

  “My point is, I tried so hard and for so long to get you to notice me. You made me feel invisible, Walker. It hurt so much. So now, you’re here, telling me you love me all of a sudden and I don’t know what to think.” Frustration bleeds through her voice. She’s not trying to hurt me with her words. She’s just trying to make me understand.

  Fuck, I’ve been such a fool.

  Scorching regret burns the hollow of my belly. “Invisible? All I see is you, Penny. You’re all I’ve ever seen.” Tears pour from her eyes. I cup her face. “God, you're so special to me, P. I look at you and I see all the best things in the whole universe rolled up into one pretty, smart, funny, perfect package.”

  She softens beneath my touch. “I’m sorry for being so skeptical. But you’ve got to understand why this is hard for me to process. I’m trying to wrap my head around it.” Trembling, she reaches out and lays her hand on my chest. Her fingers gently grip the front of my shirt. “We’ve known each other our whole lives and I’ve always wished you’d make a move and now you’re suddenly in love with me and—”

  “Suddenly?” I scoff. “Baby, there’s nothing sudden about this. I have always been in love with you. I just didn’t have the balls to say it.”

  She peers up at me. “Why didn’t you tell me, Walker?”

  “I used to tell myself it was because we were friends. I told myself that you were off-limits. I figured that my fear of ruining our friendship was a good enough reason to keep my distance but really, I was probably just a coward, just afraid you’d think I wasn’t good enough for you.”

  “What the hell?!” She sniffles. “Why the hell would you think that?”

  “I…I knew that if we got together, I wouldn’t be able to keep any secrets. I’d have to be honest with you. About my family. About Bert. I wasn’t prepared to do that because I wasn’t sure how you’d react.”