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Jensen stops, coming to a complete halt.

I turn around and look at him. “I mean it. You really will.”

I’m three steps higher than him, and even though he has several inches on me at six-three, I look down at his constricted pupils.

He counters the difference and steps up so we’re face to face and only inches apart. “Kate. Have you not been listening to a thing I’ve been saying these past few weeks?” His breath heats my entire body.

“I could say the same thing. You know what this is, Jensen. A friendship.”

Shaking his head, he looks off to the side and then back at me. “I could make you so damn happy every single day. And when you finally drop your walls and let me in, you’ll wonder what your life looked like before you had me holding you, kissing you, and warming your body each night.” He reaches out and runs a hand through my hair, his palm coming to rest at the back of my head. “There are two hearts on the line here.”

“I don’t think that’s true. People co-parent all the time and provide loving surroundings for their children.”

“No. That’s not what I mean.” He closes his eyes, almost like he’s in pain. “I’m not talking about our babies; I’m talking aboutus. You won’t be only denying your heart a chance at happiness. You’ll crush mine, too. There’s only one place it wants to be, and that’s in your hands. You’re holding it in your hands. Just be careful with it, okay, Princess?”

My knees go weak.Holy fuck.

“That’s what I’m trying to do, Jensen. I’m trying to keep the lines between us clear. I don’t want to hurt anyone in all this. I think you’re going to be the best daddy ever, and I don’t want to fuck anything up between us. We’re building a great friendship.”

“Stop using the F word.”

“Fuck? I use it all the time.”

He smirks. “I know you do, potty mouth. The other F word. Friendship. It offends me when it leaves your lips.”

“But that’s what this is. A friendship, and we’re a team.”

“You know when you fall in love with me, I’m never going to let you live this down. Every time I slide inside you, I’m going to remind you that friends don’t do this.” He looks down at my pinched, traitorous thighs and then back up at me, his brown eyes more of an amber from the flames. “Just like your body is reminding you of that night. The night I put not one, but two babies inside you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

KATE

“Don’t tell me you’re pregnant now, too?”

Felicity and Luna walk towards me down the hallway outside the room where my and Luna’s prenatal class is about to begin.

“No, thank the Lord. Jon and I barely have enough time to see each other, let alone throw a baby into the mix!”

“Aww, but just imagine a cute baby Morgan toddling around the place,” Luna croons.

Felicity props a hand on her hip. “Hmm, I have enough on with the thirty-five-year-old baby I have at home. Since he’s been working full-time with Jack’s college team, I swear he’s regressing in maturity.”

I snort a laugh. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Dropping Luna off.”

“Zach’s meeting with his agent clashed with this,” Luna clarifies.

“And I was heading this way, so I forced her to take a ride with me. Plus, I need to give you this.” Felicity hands me apink envelope and plants a kiss on my cheek. “Happy birthday, sweetie.”

“Thank you.” I pull open the envelope and look at the card. A group of three girls walking down the street, arm in arm, with “Happy Birthday Boss Bitch” stamped across the top.

“You got the bouquet, right?” Luna asks.

“I did. Thank you so much. They’re beautiful.”

“We thought you had enough houseplants, so we decided to go in on a ridiculous number of flowers,” Felicity laughs. “You can never have too many blooms.”