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I huff. “What do you want? I can’t cook. I suck at cleaning. I don’t have anything to offer you, I promise.”
He stares at the sky. “Beautiful day, right?”
“Emmett,” I say with a growl, losing my patience.
His million-dollar smile lands on me, and it feels… unsettling. “Move in with me.”
I throw my hands up at my sides and walk again. Why the hell would he want that? How would it benefit him? Then the reason flickers through my pregnancy brain, and I circle back to him. “I am not going to sleep with you whenever you want just so you don’t tell anyone I’m pregnant.”
I’ve never seen Emmett short of a response, but his mouth slowly falls open, and there’s hurt in his eyes. “Is that what you think of me?”
Oh, for hell’s sake. I cannot handle this right now. “Just… why then?”
“Because I’m not the type of guy to let a pregnant woman sleep on a couch, share a bathroom, and have no privacy of her own.”
“So, no sex then?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t need to swindle deals to make a beautiful woman sleep with me.”
I hate the way the word beautiful repeats in my head. “For real, though, how does this benefit you?”
He shrugs. “Told you. Peace of mind.”
My tense exterior slips, and I sigh, allowing the weight of all my problems to crumble around me for just a moment because who is this version of Emmett Noughton? Maybe he’s not the guy I thought he was. Either that or there’s some angle I can’t figure out. “But why do you need peace of mind where I’m concerned?”
“I’m not sure I have an answer. Or at least not a logical one. You clearly don’t like me, and allowing you to live in my house might feel like a torture chamber for me, thanks to your hormones. I get that I can be annoying, but it’s obvious you don’t want to tell Gillian or anyone else. I understand feeling judged or whatever. And I just… I don’t know, just say yes, though.”
Something in me softens a bit. “I should do something for you. For letting me live there.”
He shakes his head. “Not necessary.”
“Can we really do this?” I’m unsure if I can coexist with him, but what he’s offering with no strings attached sounds nice. I want a spot of my own to reflect on the choices I’ve made and what my future will look like. The couch at the girls’ house is a great offer, but Emmett’s does sound nicer.
“I guess we’ll see. You’ll probably be in the bathroom throwing up most of the time.”
I roll my eyes.
“You really have to start getting my humor. Otherwise, we’re going to be in a lot of fights, roomie.”
I walk back in the direction of my car. “Emmett?”
“Yeah,” he says in a quiet voice like mine.
“Thanks.”
“Ah.” He puts his arm around my shoulders and tugs me into his side. “Just call me Prince Charming.”
What did I sign myself up for?
Chapter Eleven
Emmett
Briar pulls up in her car in front of my house, and Gillian is in the front seat. Ben also drove over—probably to run interference. I’m not sure.
“I don’t get it. You make a bet with me, and you move her in here after Gillian arranged a spot for her at the girls’ house?” Ben crosses his arms, watching Briar park her car next to my truck.
“I think it’s extreme that Gilly Bean wanted her to sleep on a couch when I have three empty bedrooms here.”
