With him. Just with him.
“These women contacted me because they want to have babies too.”
Murphy frowned. “So, what, you’re like their spokesperson now?”
It made me laugh. “No. Well, not exactly. More like they want to get up the nerve to have a baby by themselves too. Or they want help finding someone to have a baby with. Or someone to talk to who understands.”
“Hmm. Like a matchmaking service for women and men willing to share their sperm.”
“No, not that—” I pursed my lips and shifted the now snoozing puppy to my other side. “Huh, maybe. That’s an idea. I mean, there’s sperm donors of course, but that’s even more impersonal and expensive to boot.”
“You wouldn’t charge that much.”
“No.” Wait, what was I charging for, exactly? I couldn’t keep up with this conversation along with the hormonal pingpong match going on below my waist. “But it would’ve helped me a lot if I could’ve used something like that, rather than embarrassing myself in front of my whole town. If it was a private site, that would’ve been a lot more convenient.” My mind was starting to buzz.
“Let’s go talk to them, see what they’re really looking for. Some may be just attention seekers. Or nosy.”
I tried not to gawk at him. This was officially the longest conversation we’d ever had. “You’d be willing to do that with me?”
“Sure.” He shifted from foot to foot. “Plus, you’ve stolen my dog.”
I smiled and buried my face in Latte’s downy soft fur. “Are you sure he didn’t already have a name?”
“Yeah, he did.”
I couldn’t help feeling a little dismayed. Silly. The puppy wasn’t even mine. “Oh, yeah? What is it?”
Murphy nudged me back toward the reading nook. “Latte.”
I slid him a sidelong glance and grinned like a besotted idiot as we rejoined the group. Oh, yeah, I was totally in a spot to be calm and cool and help these women. It wasn’t as if I wanted to lay down in front of the fire and point my toes to the ceiling and tell him to take me.
Nah. Definitely not.
I knew someone else who’d offered to make my dreams come true in front of a fireplace. Actually, that was wrong. Cabin Fortress might be the real deal and Murphy was just a nice guy I had a hopeless crush on. He didn’t want to give me a baby. Until tonight, he hadn’t even wanted to be in a conversation with me.
So, what had changed?
I stopped dead beside my chair—which was now taken.
“Vee?” He patted the arm of the chair he’d snagged. Some of the women must’ve moved aside to make room for him. Maybe they figured he was here to do a public service?
I let out a giggle and Latte licked my cheek.
“Thanks.” I’d no sooner perched on the arm—nice and close to him—that he rose and gently pushed me onto the seat. “Cheater.”
“Sorry about before. We got the wrong idea.” The brunette with the redheaded friend grimaced and sipped from her mug. At least they’d been served while Murphy and I were chatting. “I guess we were so excited for you that we got ahead of ourselves.”
“That’s okay.” I smiled at everyone and stroked the contentedly sleeping puppy.
He wasn’t the only one who wanted to snuggle up and snooze, though I would do that after intimate acts with Murphy, not before. I imagined he was a nice supportive surface to curl up against.
Ugh, supportive surfaces made me think of Fortress again. I had to send him a note. I didn’t even know what I’d say. I liked him a lot. But I liked Murphy too.
Maybe I should try to find out how much Fortress liked me before I made any firm decisions. That seemed proper.
Properly cowardly, but whatever.
“We should discuss why we all met up tonight and what we each hope to get out of this,” I began, somehow bolstered by the presence of the puppy—and the puppy’s owner. “But first, I think we should do introductions and share a little about ourselves. I’ll start. I’m Vee Dixon and I’m an Aquarius.”