Growing Love (Brookfield) by Lacey Wolfe Page B

willing to watch Patrick for an hour. Thankfully, they were just downstairs in the boutique, so if he needed her, she could get to him. It killed her when her sister walked out of the apartment with him, but she had a few choice words to say to Matt.
    The doorknob turned and her breath caught. Her palms grew moist.
    “Hey,” Matt said as he closed the door. “Where’s the baby?”
    “With my sister.”
    He walked past her, his face in a grim expression. “Thank you for doing my laundry yesterday.”
    “Matt.” He looked at her. “I want Tom at the baby shower.”
    He balled his hands into fists but didn’t speak.
    “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hid the fact that we weren’t together from you. But I also didn’t w ant you to think you could just have me. We’ve got things to work out.”
    “Yeah, yeah , we do.”
    She just had to say it. “I want to be with you.”
    He chewed his bottom lip. “I don’t want Tom around right now.”
    “Why?” She didn’t understand. Why didn’t Matt get that he was just her friend? Nothing more.
    “Why?” He snickered and shook his head. “Why do I not want a man around whom you used to fuck?”
    Ouch! “Don’t be so crude.”
    “Oh, well , excuse me. The man who used to insert his penis into your butthole.”
    She rolled her eyes. This was going to take a turn in a direction she hadn’t expected.
    “Every time I see him, I’m jealous. Okay? I’m freaking jealous. I want to wrap my hands around his neck and make sure he understands that you’re mine. Mine . Men don’t like to share. And you made me do that. I’m not doing it again. If you’re mine, then you’re mine. Not his.”
    “So what, now I can’t be his friend? You don’t get to—”
    “You can be his friend later. But I can’t handle it right now.”
    “You’re being a dick.”
    He groaned. “No, I’m not. I love you. I’ve never stopped. I want to be the only man in your life.”
    She crossed her arms. On the plus side, he wanted her. “I don’t want to be in a threesome again. I’m fine only being with you.”
    “I hear a but in there.”
    She sighed. She had to keep her temper down. They couldn’t do what they always did. “No but. I just don’t see why I have to give up a friendship to be with you.”
    Matt rubbed his temple. “This is going no where but circles. Round and around we go.”
    “Stop,” she snapped. “ I don’t want to fight with you. I simply asked Alyssa to take our son so I could apologize to you. Tell you that I was wrong. I want to be with you, Matt. I love you too.”
    “But you’re not willing to give up Tom for the time being.”
    “How long?” If she was going to do it, she needed to know the timeframe. Tom had been her world the last few months.
    “Until you and I are solid. Until we have our life put together, you, me, and Patrick. I want us to be a real family. Put down our roots and make this work. No more games.”
    “I’m not playing games anymore. I stopped the day I found out I was pregnant.”
    He smirked. “Oh, yeah. I find this Tom thing is a game. You sure as hell were not honest about that. And you admit you kept it from me.”
    She shook her head, annoyed. “I’ve apologized. There’s nothing else I can do. I’m going to get our son.”
    As she grabbed the doorknob, he said, “You could show me.”
    “Show you?” She spun around. “I’ve kissed you twice now. I’ve practically begged you to have sex with me. You rejected me.”
    “I did not. It took ever y ounce of my control to not take you. I want you so bad, you have no idea.”
    What did he want? She was having a hell of a time trying to figure it out. She stepped closer to him, putting only inches between them. “Want me to show you how sorry I am?”
    “Sex doesn’t solve everything.”
    She licked her lips. “I can’t have sex anyway. ”
    “I want you to show me with how you treat me .” His voice was soft as he reached out and caressed her