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“I have to say it. Then I get to sleep tonight rather than worry,” I say, shrugging. It’s something we’ve always had since college. Watertight friendship when told. “You know Gabriel and I are trying for a baby,” I state, and they both nod. “Well, things have kind of changed.” I bury my head in my hands until I feel them being pried away from my face.
“Changed?” Stella asks although I can hear the excitement in her voice.
I cover my cheeks with my hands and explain how the artificial insemination kits failed and how we had clinical sex, only it wasn’t all that clinical. How he took me to Monaco.
Stella’s jaw drops. “I knew it. He’s just too hot to keep your hands off. I’m surprised you lasted as long as you did. I bet I’m right. He’s a tiger in the bedroom. The quiet ones always are.”
I know my wide eyes and puce complexion have just given the game away.
“Oh... Oh... I need to live voraciously through you. Spill, girlie, or I might have to torture you.”
Nat looks between Stella and me, her brow furrowed until it smooths out as the realisation dawns. “You’re in a relationship with Gabriel?” she says, her eyes as wide as saucers.
“Er, no. We’re fake dating. His family thinks we’re together. It will be easier for them when the baby arrives to think we were in a relationship.”
“Leah, hon, if you’re having sex. I hate to point it out, but that isn’t a fake relationship. That’s a sexual relationship.”
I huff. This is why I didn’t want to say anything. I knew they wouldn’t understand.
“Fine,” I say. “If you want to name it. We’re in a sexual relationship.”
A frown mars both my friends’ brows.
“Leah?” Stella says.
I sigh. Stella knows me, perhaps better than anyone. We’ve been friends for sixteen years.
“I know it wasn’t supposed to be like this. When the kits failed, it would have meant waiting another month, and we tried the natural method.” I don’t go into any more details.
“Okay. So clinical. I can go with that,” Stella says.
I drop my chin to my chest. “It started out clinical, only?—”
“He turned out to be hung like a horse and knew how to play your lady parts like a finely tuned violin,” Nat says, making both Stella and I stare at her open-mouthed.
“What?” she says. “The man is sex on legs. I know I’m with Rory, and I love the man. But I’m not blind. There’s no way you could have clinical sex with a man like Gabriel Frazer—” Nat smacks her hand over her mouth.
I bite my lip, trying hard not to laugh. I don’t think I’ve ever heard my friend so forward.
Stella nods, her eyes full of mischief “If you think you can get away with keeping this to yourself, no way, bestie. We need deets.”
“Stella!” Nat squeals, laughing. “But she’s right... spill.”
I roll my eyes. “For me to know,” I say.
Something about my relationship with Gabriel doesn’t want to have us giggling about it like school kids. Also, this is going to be the father of my child.
“I have no complaints, though,” I say, throwing them a bone, knowing I must be glowing like a lightbulb.
Stella looks at me, her eyes surveying me. “If that’s all you’re going to say about it, and the fact you’re glowing, you must like him,” Stella states, taking a sip of her wine while pushing me a juice.
“It’s complicated,” I say, knowing I’m in trouble. However much I try to tell myself we’re only friends with a common goal, the more I know I’m lying to myself. Gabriel has become so much more.
“Please be careful,” Stella says.
Too late for that, but if we have a child, at least I’ll be able to focus on that when we finally walk away.
Three hours later, I jump in a taxi and make my way to Gabriel’s apartment. The doorman greets me with a welcoming smile, and I make my way upstairs. The apartment is dark when I enter, and I wonder whether Gabriel has gone to bed.
