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I took a long, deep breath, searching for my usual confidence. Somehow, I found it.

“I need your sperm.”

The man in the doorway raised a fist to his mouth and let out a sharp cough. “Come again?”

“I need your sperm,” I repeated plainly. “Your seed.”

His arms dropped to his sides now, his hands opening and closing mechanically. He cocked his head.

“My… sperm.”

“Yes,” I smiled sweetly. For a brief, hysterical moment I had the absurd vision of pulling out an actual collection cup. “Please.”

Our eyes locked for the first time, and I felt myself melting right there on his porch. By the time his face cracked into a smile, I was almost a puddle.

“Well that’sdefinitelya new one,” he admitted. Stepping aside, he gestured me into the foyer with an open hand. “I’m guessing for this, you’d better come inside.”

Eight

DEVYN

Its not every day that a beautiful stranger shows up on your doorstep, asking to have your baby. Especially when you live out in the middle of the desert, and aren’t even sure how she found you in the first place.

But hey, the least I could do was serve her coffee.

It was adorably cute how nervous she was, as I guided her along the tiled floors and into our kitchen. Gage was still there, pouring himself another bowl of cereal. He began strategically eyeing her over, as I pulled out a chair and tried to make her comfortable.

“Gage, this is Juliana Emerson. From New York.”

They shook hands awkwardly, the two of them. But Juliana’s eyes were still locked on me.

“How’d you know I was from New York?” she demanded.

I laughed. “Your accent for one. It’s almost the same as mine.” I dropped a fresh paper filter into the coffee maker. “Sounds like you grew up somewhere else though, and you’ve only recently adapted it.”

“Maine,” she acknowledged. “Ten years ago.”

“Ah.”

She folded one delicate hand beneath her chin and stared up at me. “Anything else?”

“Yes, actually. But first…”

I shot Gage the universal look for ‘why don’t you go take a walk?’ At first he scoffed at me, but I persisted. Slowly, begrudgingly, he rose to his feet.

“You know we have that thing in a few minutes,” he reminded me.

“I know.”

“Maverick’s got the connection set up by now. All we’re really waiting for is—”

“Iknow.”

He rolled his eyes dramatically before giving up.

“Nice to meet you Juliana Emerson from New York.”

He ogled her a little more, not that I blamed him. The brunette sitting at our kitchen table was fiercely beautiful. Eventually Gage took her hand again, kissed the back of it, then bowed out of the room trailing droplets of milk behind him.