Page 53 of Playing for Keeps

It appeared Char was thinking along those lines too.

“Mum and Dad are going to kill me,” she said.

“I’ll come with you to tell them if you want.” Even saying the words caused a tremble of fear to go through me. I couldn’t imagine looking Anthony and Alison in the eye and telling them their eighteen-year-old daughter was pregnant with my child.

“Yeah, maybe.” Char tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ll think about it.”

My throat tightened, but I pushed the next words out. “I need to be the one to tell Luke.”

“Okay,” she said.

In the end, I hadn’t been with her when she’d told her parents.

But I’d been the one to tell Luke. Which had turned into a cluster fuck of epic proportions.

It was weird thinking about that time now, when Theo had been just an abstract concept that everyone was stressed about, instead of the boy now racing across the lawn to greet Char’s parents.

“Nan! Grandad!”

When he reached us, Alison wrapped him up in an enormous hug. I’d always wondered whether she found it difficult that someone she loved so much looked so similar to someone she disliked.

I’d tried to make up for everything by being overly nice and polite to her, but so far I hadn’t made much of an inroad. Hey, I’d only known her for about twenty years. There was still a chance she could change her mind about me.

Anthony gave an impressed whistle as he looked around my backyard.

“Wow. This looks great.”

“It’s mainly Char’s doing,” I said, nodding to where she was tying some balloons to the back of a chair. “This is what happens when you give an artist free rein over your backyard.”

I’d told Char she could decorate however she wanted and I’d pay for it, so there was Easter rabbit bunting hung between my trees, and baskets full of multi-colored eggs on the outdoor tables.

The weather gods had decided to smile on us and it was a stunning autumn day. Which was good, as the plan for a rainy day had been having the hunt inside my house, and I could only imagine the sticky chocolate fingerprints that would have ended up everywhere.

“Hey.” Char came over to greet her parents.

“We were just admiring all your hard work with the decorations,” I said.

A smile creased Char’s face. But Anthony’s attention was distracted by some new arrivals in my backyard.

“Here they are.” He moved off to greet Luke and Jonathan.

My heart started to thud faster when I saw Luke.

Ever since that night in the hotel room, when my libido had reminded me I quite liked Luke, I’d been struggling to keep my reactions to him in the friend zone.

The thing was, I’d been here before. I had all the alarm systems set up in my mind to squeal whenever I was having inappropriate thoughts about my best friend.

But it was difficult now as he came over with a wide smile, wearing a T-shirt that showed off his incredible body, and jeans that hugged his ass perfectly.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hey.” I made sure my smile included Jonathan as well. He greeted me before moving toward Char and Alison, but Luke stayed, looking me over. “I like your outfit,” he said.

Yeah, Luke looking me up and down like that didn’t help my heart rate. Time for a distraction.

“Ask me how I keep my fur looking so nice,” I said.

“How?”