Chapter Eight
The next morning, Garrett paused on the threshold of his new house and took a calming breath. Today was the day he moved in with Kiersten. The day he could start trying to win her over. But if he wanted to do that? He needed to keep his hands to himself, or he would lose the battle before he’d even begun. He couldn’t kiss her. Couldn’t forget his role in this new family of his. If he won her heart, he wanted to do it the right way. Through his actions…not through the bedroom.
He wouldn’t fight dirty.
No matter how hard it was to keep his hands to himself around her. And man, it was hard. He pulled his key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. Chris was sitting on the couch playing PlayStation, and Kiersten was nowhere to be found. She was probably at her desk, which was now in her bedroom. He was getting her former office, and the other room would be for their baby.
Their baby. Even thinking it made him tremble. He still couldn’t quite wrap his head around the fact that he’d gotten Kiersten pregnant. That they’d made a life with their one night together.
He walked into the living room. He hesitated at the threshold, uncertain how the boy would react to him after last night. “So, this is how you spend Saturday mornings?”
“Yeah. Pretty much.” Chris paused the game but didn’t put the controller down. “You gonna keep talking to me, or are we done?”
Garrett sighed. “Yeah. I’d like to talk for a minute. I’m waiting for your uncle.”
“Gotcha.” Chris set the controller down on the table. “So, this is the day, huh?”
Garrett nodded. “Whatcha playing?”
“Call of Duty. Zach’s online with me.” Chris looked at him. “You play?”
“I do. I have a bunch of other games, too.” He shrugged, trying to look as if Chris’s answer didn’t matter. “You can play them if you want.”
Chris hesitated, torn between his desire to look mad and his interest in the games. “Got the new NBA one?”
Garrett snorted. “Of course I do. I preordered it months ago.”
Chris’s eyes lit up. “Sweet.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his head. “Maybe we can play together. You know, once I’m moved in.”
Chris looked away from him. “Yeah. Maybe.”
He picked the controller back up and resumed playing. Garrett walked away, feeling a little bit more confident of his welcome here. Well, with Chris, anyway.
“You’re here,” Kiersten said, coming down the stairs. She looked gorgeous and fresh faced, even though she just wore yoga pants and a pink T-shirt that said, Warning: I’m an editor. “I thought I heard the door open.”
“Yeah.” He tossed his keys back and forth in his hands, feeling like an idiot for standing there looking up at her with nothing to say. Things were so damn awkward between them now. Apparently getting your friend pregnant messed things up. Go figure. “You can keep working. I brought reinforcements to help.”
He pointed over his shoulder just as Mike pulled up into the driveway. She looked outside, then nodded. “Right. I’ll, uh, get out of the way.”
She stared at him for another second, then headed back up the stairs. He watched her go, then called out, “Kiersten?”
She stopped, her hand gripping the banister. “Yeah?”
“This’ll get less weird, right?”
She gave a soft laugh, turning back to him. “My God, I hope so. Because we’re about to be around each other every day.”
“Yeah, we are. Morning and night.” Sounded like heaven to him. “So we might as well stop being so weird around each other. You’re pregnant. It happens all the time to people all over the world. Right?”
She cocked her head and blinked at him. He loved when she did that. It made her look adorably elfin. “I think most of them are couples. Or if they’re not, then they don’t move in together.”
“Do you want to be in a relationship?” He climbed the stairs, holding his breath.
Her gaze skated away from his. “I think we should stick to the plan.” She hesitated, looking back his way. When her eyes met his, his stomach twisted. For once, she looked uncertain. “Don’t you?”
He covered her hand with his, squeezing gently. “I think I’d love to be everything to you—if you wanted all of me. And could give me all of you. Otherwise, I can’t be anything except our baby’s father, and your friend.”
She bit down hard on her lip, nodded, and fled away from him. The sound of her door shutting upstairs made him flinch.
“So, guess that was a no?” he asked quietly, to no one in particular.
“Give it time. She’s starting to cave,” Mike said, his voice soft. “I can see it.”
Garrett jumped. He hadn’t heard Mike come in. “I highly doubt that.”
“Did you see the look in her eyes?”
“The panic and fear, mixed with the desire to flee?” he drawled. “Yeah, I saw it.”
Mike snorted. “Behind that. There was…uncertainty. That hadn’t been there before.”
“Since when are you the Oprah Winfrey of Vegas?”
“She retired.” Mike smirked. “Someone had to take her place, and I look damned good in heels.”
“TMI, dude. TMI.”
Mike laughed. “At least I’m not having a baby with your sister. I didn’t need to know everything worked down…there.”
Garrett ignored him and looked up the stairs, contemplating what Mike had said. Was it true? Was she starting to cave? If so, he hoped she would hurry up. Because if she didn’t give in soon…he just might break.
“All right, let’s get this stuff going.” He hopped down the stairs, his heart a little bit lighter than it had been moments before. “My room is her old office.”
“Got it.” Mike followed him outside. “And the baby will be…in the closet?”
Garrett grinned. “In the spare room, douche. Now let’s go get this place filled up with my junk.”
“Yeah, most of it is definitely junk,” Mike said, clapping him on the shoulder. “But, hey. Welcome home.”
Home. He’d finally, finally found a home. Their situation might be a little awkward…
But it felt pretty damn amazing, even so.
…
When Garrett flopped down on the couch beside her, Kiersten scooted over as far away from him as she could get. As if that would keep her safe or something. Chris was in bed, and it was just the two of them. All afternoon long, she’d watched him carry box after box up the stairs to his new room, and tried not to get all excited at the sheer determination he showed in being a part of her life…even before the baby came.