“Ew.” Plugging his ears, Angelo turns away and leaves the office on a huff. He grew up with Jess and her sister, so there’s a kind of big brother-little sister relationship going on. Hearing about her condom use isno bueno.
“It was… uh… the night ofJericho,” she whispers. “The night of Karaoke. We kinda got carried away, but I didn’t think the timing was right, so I told you not to worry about it.”
Kane’s dark eyes blaze. “That was nearly four months ago.”
“Right…” She lets the word drag out a minute too long. “Then two months ago, remember I got the stomach flu, and you made me eat soup? We were in the deep end of your daddy issues and Soph’s stuff, so still, I didn’t think anything was up. Stress makes a woman forget, okay? Don’t judge me!”
“Blondie…”
“Remember how last week I got mad because my jeans didn’t fit?”
“I remember that,” Jay volunteers. “We heard you screeching from across the street.”
“We heard you blame us,” Soph adds. Lifting her hand, she makes the beak movements with her fingers. “‘It’s because of Jay and Soph! They’re always eating in front of us, so I grab an extra fry here and there, and now I’m fat.’ You shouldn’t blame others for your lack of willpower, Jess. It’s petty and weak and neither of us held you down while you ate half a cake last night.”
“Don’t judge me!” Jess storms forward and tugs the half-eaten bar from Soph’s hand, shoves it in her mouth, and turns back to us with a whole lot of crazy in her eyes. “You did this to me, Kane Bishop! You made it so I can barely breathe and my jeans don’t fit anymore.”
“You’re having my baby?” He steps forward with awe in his eyes and maybe a little shake to his hands. “Are you bullshitting? This can’t be a joke, baby. You’ll kill me if you say this shit and then take it back.”
“I was gonna tell you soon,” she whimpers. “I was gonna surprise you.”
“You’re having my baby?” he whispers. “You’re having my fuckin’ baby?” He picks her up and jumps like a little girl.
Jess’ shaky smile quickly turns to a sickly green tinge. “Nope. Nope. Nope. Put me down, Kane Bishop. You don’t get to toss me around anymore.”
“You’re having my baby?” Kane is considered our leader, our protector, our alpha, despite the fact there are others here who are older, bigger, badder. We defer to him because size and rank doesn’t make a leader. Heart does. And now our thug leader with a massive heart drops to his knees in front of the woman he loves and presses his face to her stomach. “Oh my God, Jessie. You’re having my baby.”
“Dammit,” Dolly’s quietly grieving voice comes from behind me. I turn to find our crazy receptionist watching the happy couple with a mixture of sadness and motherly tenderness shining in her eyes. “He was supposed to love me, Cap. Kane was supposed to choose me for his forever girl. Not the bimbo.”
Laughing, I bring her under my arm and pull her in until her face smooshes against my chest. “I understand this is a hard time for you, Dolly, but you need to let him go. Jess is the nicest bimbo I ever met, and I feel like maybe she’s sticking, so…”
“He was my sugar.” She wraps her arms around my hips and snuggles in for a hug, because though I know she’s playing, I also know there’s a part of her heart that may genuinely love Kane Bishop. “He was supposed to be mine, Cap. I called dibs way back on the first day we met.”
“That may be so,” I chuckle, “but Jess shot at him first. She locked him down from the very first time he saw her pretty eyes and fancy shoes. It sucks, hon, but she had first dibs. Come now.” I turn us back toward reception, past the ice cream statue, and don’t stop until we’re behind her V-shaped desk. “It’s time for you to let him go. He was never yours.”
“What about Jay?” she asks with a secretive grin. “Can I have him?”
“No!” Sophia snaps. “Jay’s mine, so keep your filthy mitts off, or I’ll take you out.”
“Ah, no,” I hedge. “I don’t think he’s available.” I pluck a long-stemmed flower from the vase on the edge of her desk and present it with a charming smile. “You need to move on from the Bishop brothers. They’re off the market, and their women will kill them before they let them go.”
“It ain’t fair, Cap.”
“I know.”
“And I know their daddy was a vile sonofabitch, but he was kinda hot too, no?”
“You wanted Colum, too?” I laugh. “Dolly!”
“Well, no, ‘cause he’s dead and everything now anyway. But there’s something in those Bishop genes that makes Dolly’s blood sizzle.”
“Maybe Jess will have a boy,” I play along. “Maybe twenty years from now, you can rub yourself on little Kane’s leg?”
“Maybe.” Quietly, she turns away from me with a pout. “Maybe you’re right. Twenty years ain’t so bad, right?”
“Right.” I pat her shoulder and back away. “You have first dibs on baby Kane, okay? Everybody heard it.”
“Okay.”