“We are having another bambino.” Dario’s voice, filled with contentment and no small amount of masculine pride, broke into Jared’s musings.
The shaft of envy was so swift and so sharp it took a moment for Jared to muster up the required smile.
“No kidding, man?” he said. He slapped Dario on the back, trying to sound pleased, when all he could think about was Katherine heavy with his kid. That slim, coltish body ripe in pregnancy...
The longing hit him hard. Katherine would make a terrific mom. But how could he ask her to bear his child when all the fates were stacked against him making an even halfway decent dad?
“That’s great,” he added, because Dario was looking at him with a curious smile on his face that he didn’t like.
“You don’t sound sure,” his friend said.
“You and Megan make great parents—what’s not to be sure about??
? he asked, but comprehensively failed to keep the sting out of his voice.
“Right,” Dario muttered, concentrating on lifting the steaks off the grill and laying down some strips of eggplant that his housekeeper had marinated before leaving the island with the rest of the staff for a day off.
Jared’s temper and frustration spiked. He didn’t want any bad blood between them. But suddenly he was through tiptoeing around this situation. “Listen, if you’ve got a problem with me and Katherine being a thing, why the heck don’t you just come out with it?” he demanded, his temper warring with his frustration—and a choking sense of vulnerability.
Dario tensed, and stopped distributing the eggplant to spear him with a look that could only be described as disgusted. “Yes, I have a problem with your thing,” he snapped back.
The elephant plummeted to Jared’s toes.
Dario was the only man he had ever respected. The only man whose opinion mattered to him. And he was Katherine’s only male relative. If Dario told him all bets were off in this relationship, it would hurt. And it would end their friendship. Because he wasn’t giving her up. Not now. Not ever.
“When are you going to stop fooling about and claim her properly?” Dario added.
“What do you mean properly?” Jared demanded.
“You must marry her, of course, give her your name. She deserves that much, don’t you think?”
“You want me to ask Katherine to marry me?” Jared asked. Was that approval he could see in Dario’s eyes alongside the flash-fire spark of temper?
“Why would I not?” asked Dario, and it was his turn to look confused.
The tension in Jared’s stomach dissolved, along with the crushing fear that had dogged him through most of his life. That he would never be good enough, strong enough, finally to escape from that room forever. And he laughed.
“I don’t suppose you’ve got any suggestions for how to make it happen, have you?” If Dario was cool with him and Katherine making their thing permanent, why not get the guy’s help?
Dario flipped one of the eggplant slices and smiled. “My only suggestion is to get her pregnant.”
“That’s kind of drastic, isn’t it?” Jared wondered, knowing he couldn’t expect to have all his wishes come true at once.
“It is.” Dario’s lips quirked. “But it worked for me.”
* * *
“I have some news too.” Katie grinned as she let her sister go, not sure that anything could be more perfect than Megan’s announcement.
“Oh, my God.” Megan gripped Katie’s hands and squeezed. “Don’t tell me Jared’s finally popped the question?” she asked.
Katie’s smile faltered, but only slightly. And she shook her head.
It had been an ongoing topic of conversation for months now between her and Megan. Sort of a running joke, really. That after badgering her endlessly to move in with him officially and let her apartment go in Queens—even though she had already been spending most of her time at his place—Jared had stalled on the obvious next step. For six months.
But Katie wasn’t really bothered about the prospect of a proposal. It would be romantic and wonderful to plan a wedding but she couldn’t feel any more secure in his love than she did already. And she was more than prepared to propose to him if the need arose. The only reason she hadn’t was because she thought they both needed more time to adjust to the newness, the wonder, of this relationship. Jared still had the occasional nightmare. He was still battling those demons that had been embedded in his psyche after the traumas of his childhood. She didn’t want to ask something of him he wasn’t yet ready to give. She was more than happy to wait.
Or she had been, until two days ago, when everything had changed.