Page 31 of My Three Hometown Firefighters (Aspen Springs #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Warren

Sienna jerks to a stand, stepping around Tucker’s legs. She’s going to bolt like she did a few months ago when she told us she wanted to do all of this with us.

Leaning forward, I gently clasp her hand in mine. She glances down at me. Her eyes are glossy with emotion.

“Come here, sweetheart,” I say, pulling her down into my lap. She sits there rigidly for a moment until I wrap my arms around her, and she melts into me. Her head rests on my shoulder.

“How are you feeling?” I ask quietly.

She lets out a small burst of laughter. “I’m kind of a mess.”

“That’s kind of to be expected,” I say, kissing her forehead.

Her hormones are going crazy right now, and our “relationship” status is anything but stable. I can only imagine how hard this has been for her to process.

“Have you been sick?” Grayson asks, grabbing one of her hands.

I feel her shrug against me. “Nauseous a lot of the time.”

“Have you been to the doctor yet?”

“No, I was going to call tomorrow,” she says. “I’m not lying, though. I swear.”

He squeezes her hand. “I didn’t think you were, love.”

She relaxes a bit more against my chest. I glance over at Tucker, who has barely moved a muscle since the words “I’m pregnant” fell from Sienna’s mouth.

He shakes his head, realizing Sienna’s looking at him, too. He gives her a crooked smile. “Sorry. I was just processing all of this.”

“It’s okay. That’s what I’ve been doing since I found out.” She snuggles a little more into me. “I just needed some time.”

Understandable.

I’m just glad she’s okay. I was really fucking worried there for a while.

“How are you guys so chill about this right now?” she asks.

I look over at the guys. My eyes lock on Grayson first.

He and I haven’t talked about it yet, but I’m pretty sure he’s in the same place emotionally with her as I am. Having a baby with a woman you’re in love with isn’t a hardship. It kind of seems like the dream, even if everything is a bit messy.

My head turns to Tucker. He hasn’t changed his stance that everything with Sienna is carefree and fun.

While I’m not denying that what we’ve done has been fun, more fun than I’ve had in a long time, he’s clearly developing feelings for her, too. I just don’t think he’s ready to come to terms with it yet.

Grayson speaks up. “We’re grown men. We aren’t going to lose our shit because all the sex we were having led to a pregnancy.”

His thumb traces over her hand he’s still holding.

“Have you thought about what you want to do?” I ask her.

She tilts her head back, looking up at me. “I have, but I thought we should talk about it together.”

I open my mouth to say something, but Tucker beats me to it. He leans forward, resting his hand on her leg.

“We can definitely talk about this, but this is one hundred percent your call, Sunshine.” He gestures between himself, me, and Grayson. “We’re all involved, but we aren’t the ones pregnant right now.”

He swallows before continuing. “I would never force you into doing anything one way or the other.”

I tilt her chin up, so she’s looking at me. “He’s right. We’re here if you want to talk things out, but we aren’t going to influence you one way or the other.”

Grayson hasn’t said anything, but the steadfast look he’s wearing shows that he’s very much on the same page.

She buries her face back into my shoulder as she mumbles, “I want to keep the baby.” She turns her head, so her voice isn’t as garbled anymore. “I know it’s complicated and messy, but I want to be a mom. I want this baby.”

Grayson wipes a tear from her cheek. “Then you’re going to have a baby,” he says with a gentle sureness that seems to settle her.

“Are you guys okay with that?”

“Yes,” we all say at the same time.

Grayson continues, “Like Tucker said, this is your decision. We’ll support you no matter what.”

“I guess we’re having a baby,” she breathes on an almost laugh, like she can’t quite wrap her head around it fully just yet.

I want to kiss her so badly, with every fiber of my being, and tell her how much I love her, but I don’t think that’s what she needs right now.

She moves so she’s sitting on my lap, but no longer leaning against me. “I know it’s probably a silly fear, but I’m kind of scared of getting a paternity test until the baby is born. I read some things online, and it freaked me out.”

It hadn’t fully registered that the baby could be any of ours. It isn’t that I assumed I was the father; I guess it just really doesn’t matter to me.

I love this woman in my arms, so whoever the father is isn’t important to me.

“You’re the one calling the shots here,” Tucker says. “We can wait until after the little one is born to figure all of that out.”

She nods, sitting up a little straighter. “I don’t need or expect anything from you guys. I’ll be fine handling all of this on my own.”

The wheels in my head start grinding to a halt.

She looks down to where her hand is still clasped in Grayson’s and Tucker’s palms. “I don’t think we should do this anymore.”

Everything stops.

Grayson’s swallow is audible in the silent moment following her words.

“Doing what?” Tucker finally asks.

“Having sex. The whole friends-with-benefits thing,” she says. “I want us all to be friends, but that’s all. This is so messy already. It’s probably for the best.”

I can’t breathe. Fuck.

“If that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do,” Grayson says, even though his face looks like he hates the idea.

He’s doing a pretty good job of hiding how he really feels, but his feelings mirror my own, so I know exactly what he’s thinking right now.

She must realize that we’re all touching her in some way, and she starts to move off my lap. My arms instinctively wrap around her, pulling her back into me.

My smartest move? Probably not. Do I care right now? Not really.

“Just because we’re not going to have sex anymore doesn’t change the friends part of what we’ve built,” Grayson says as I ease her back against my chest.

“You are my friend, Sienna,” I tell her. My brain screams with how much I want her to be more than that, but I can’t think about that right now. “This has been a heavy few days. Just let me be here for you because no matter if it’s as a friend or…”

I trail off because I can’t finish the sentence without letting her see more of my heart than she needs to see right now. She looks up at me through her lashes.

“I’m always going to be here,” I say.

She nods, resting her head against me. The minutes tick by, and we all sit there in silence. I hold onto her like it might be the last time I ever get to have her in my arms like this.

Eventually, her breaths even out as she falls asleep. The tension from the conversation ebbs away.

Careful not to wake her, I carry her up to my room. Tucker takes her shoes off when I lay her down on the bed. With the blankets tucked around her, we all make our retreat.

I pause before I fully close the door, unable to keep myself from staring at her for another minute. Her red hair is sprawled all around her. My hoodie is bunched up close to her face, almost like she’s smelling it.

Seeing her in my clothes makes me ache for things I have no idea if I’ll ever have now.

I can’t dwell on that. I need to be whatever she needs, and right now that’s being her friend. Her supporter. I can do that for them.

Yes, them. Because there are two people in that bed right now, that I already care about deeply.