Marco (The Men of Indecent Exposure #1) by Raven St. Pierre Page A

perspective, change how we came at this thing.
    If something so simple could actually work for us, I didn’t mind being the one to get us started.
    We had never made physical contact. Well, scratch that… we hadn’t made physical contact either of us could remember . Because of that, Brynn stiffened when I touched her hand. We didn’t quite know one another well enough for me to go into detail about my childhood, but the way I came up definitely affected the way I intended to parent. I had my reasons for wanting to make it clear that this kid had me for life. It didn’t matter that Brynn and I weren’t together. I had just as much stake in this as she did.
    “Listen, I know we got off on the wrong foot and all, but… I’m in this. All the way,” I assured her. “If you have an appointment; I’m there. If you start feeling sick and need someone to take you to the hospital; I’m there. When the crazy food cravings start hitting you and you don’t feel like getting out of bed to make your own peanut butter and ketchup sandwich,” I paused when she burst out laughing, “I’ll be there for that, too. Just… call ,” I added. “For real. I got you.”
    And I meant every word of that.
    When I removed my hand, Brynn’s fingers curled into a loose fist on the counter, but she didn’t pull it away. She was thinking hard, a fact made clear by the tension in her brow. We were in this together whether we liked it or not. As unsure and scared as I was, I was positive she felt all of that ten times worse.
    “Thank you,” she breathed. “I really appreciate you saying all of that.”
    “I’m not just saying it, Brynn,” I corrected. “I mean it. If you need something, I’m here for you. You should never have to call anyone but me.”
    A slow nod accompanied her thoughtful expression, an expression that preceded a question. “What changed your mind?” she asked, meeting my gaze again. “Was it just finding out for sure that he or she is yours?”
    I gave her question some thought and nodded, still feeling like a dick for putting her on hold for those two weeks after she first told me. “Yeah… I just needed to know. I’ve seen dudes get emotionally invested in kids that ended up being some other man’s,” I explained. “I apologize if I hurt your feelings, though.”
    She did that sexy thing with her lip again—clamped it between her teeth for a second before speaking. “You really don’t need to apologize again,” she said. “This baby has me all in my feelings all the time, so I’m sure that was some of it. Plus, like I said before, I had some other stuff going on that day, so that wasn’t all supposed to be directed at you,” she explained. “So, I’m sorry, too.”
    I waved her off. “Don’t be. We’re cool.”
    When the conversation between us went silent, I stared at her and a strange feeling hit me. I started thinking this, us getting along, us getting through this, might actually be much easier than I once thought possible.
    Needing something to say to make the way I watched her seem relatively natural, I went back to my original question.
    “So when do we go find out if I’mma be using my Louisville Slugger to teach my son to play ball or using it to scare fools away from my daughter?”
    Brynn laughed, soft, easy. I liked the sound of it. “The next ultrasound appointment is in three weeks—as soon as I turn four months.”
    I made a mental note of the info. “And you’re cool with me being in there with you, right? I mean… ‘cause I’d like to be.”
    That pretty smile came back when she answered my question. “I’m definitely cool with that.”

Chapter Eight

    Marco
    Helping with dinner was never as simple as just showing up and getting started. There always seemed to be a mandatory, last minute grocery run involved, too. This time, we were short on green bananas for the alcapurrias , so I ended up back at the same grocery store I stopped at to get Brynn’s flowers