Page 76 of Secret Baby for My Brother's Best Friends

"You feeling okay?"

I nod, holding up my thumb so Sam knows that I'm done drinking. He pulls back the glass, wiping the corners of my mouth to get rid of the excess droplets, his eyes so tender it rouses an emotion deep within me.

I won't lie, being taken care of like this reaches deep into my soul and eases an ache I didn't even know I had. I'm not used to it, having had to learn to be self-sufficient in the early parts of mychildhood. None of my boyfriends were big on intimate touches and pampering, at least without it leading to sex afterward. So this is the first time that I've ever felt cared for by an intimate partner, and it nearly brings tears to my eyes, but I manage to control myself.

Adam gets up and decides to go to the kitchen half-naked, showing a complete lack of inhibition or shame about his body.

Not that he should be. His body is beautiful, sculpted in all the right places, yet with a layer of fleshiness that tells you he gets his large muscles from the hard work, not from the gym.

He opens the pantry and then the fridge, “You don’t have the ingredients to make anything.”

"Yeah," I admit. "I'm not really a big cook."

"I am."

"Yeah, Adam loves cooking," Jake says. "That's an understatement. He adores cooking, and he was probably going to make you a bomb ass breakfast if you had anything in your pantry."

"Is that so?" I tease. Maybe I should get some ingredients then. I'm a sucker for a nice, home-cooked meal.

Though I shouldn't, because I don't even know if this is going to happen again, and how long this is going to last.

It occurs to me that this is probably how it would have gone had I decided not to escape in the middle of the night the first time we hooked up.

They don't seem like the type of guys who would throw me out once they were done getting theirs. I thought they might be, and I thought that I was doing us all a favor by leaving that early.

But most of it was due to my cowardice, my shame, and my need to escape what we did.

But had I stayed, it would have been like this.

They were all acting very normal about everything except for the fact that they seemed preoccupied with providing aftercare. They're not being assholes or accusing me of anything, not questioning me, or acting like I'm some kind of slut.

Instead, every touch is tender, every look lingering.

It warms my heart, and though I know it’s going to end, I decide that I can try to enjoy it in the meantime.

After Adam’s done ordering the pizza as well as the groceries, he comes to sit by me again, smiling gently as he looks down at me. “I'll make you something in the morning."

They plan on staying till morning?

“Yeah,” I clear my throat. Reality is coming back to me in increments, as well as the knowledge that I really shouldn’t be here doing this. They shouldn’t be here. “You guys don’t have to stick around till then, you know. I’m fine, and I know you probably feel worried because of how sick I was yesterday, but I don’t feel sick at all now.”

They share a look, and Jake squeezes my feet. Sam doesn't move, acting like I didn't speak at all.

Then I blink at them.

“Hello? Did I not just say something?”

“We heard you,” Jake says. “We just don’t agree with it.”

“What?”

“There’s really no reason why we can’t continue as is,” he says. “We want to take care of you. In every way.” The drop of his voice makes no mystery as to what ways he’s thinking about. “We know that pregnancy can be a very delicate time, and we don’t want you to have to go through it alone.”

“I already told you I’m not alone.”

“I get that. But also…”

“We want you,” Sam says. “All of us. It's not just about the baby. We want you so badly that we're constantly drawn to you, coming back no matter how often you push us away." He trailed his finger down my cheek, his eyes dropping to my lips. "It’s clear that you want us to, at least sexually.”