Page 92 of Secret Baby for My Brother's Best Friends

“Yeah," she says. "I do."

James runs his hand over his entire face, heaving a sigh. "You'd better get married for all the years off my life you just took." He cracks his neck and adds begrudgingly. “I guess it could be worse. She could have been here with Jake.”

Chelsea and I exchange a look as she shakes her head subtly, as though dissuading me from sharing anything. Not that I was going to in the first place. She never planned on sharing any of this with her brother, for good reason. I can only imagine how many heads he would tear off if he discovered the true extent of our relationship.

“Fine,” he says. “I guess you two can date.”

“Hold on, I wasn’t asking your permission, James." She cuts in with an arched eyebrow. “I mean, just to clarify, I don't want you to be mad, but I don’t want you to think you have a say in who I can and cannot date.

"Chelsea–"

"Don't Chelsea me. You can make suggestions, and I will take them seriously. But I'm not a little girl anymore."

He visibly struggles to accept that. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't." She gentles her tone. "I promise."

James looks between us again and shakes his head. "I have to head back in there. I guess we can talk about this more later."

"Alright," I say as he leaves us, reentering the restaurant.

"He's going to have to do some apologizing to his girlfriend," she says. "She was pissed that he just left her like that."

"Yeah. Well, it could have been worse."

"Yeah. That story you told...was it true?"

So she had heard it. "Yup."

"What happened?" she asks. "To your sister's loser boyfriend."

"Oh," I grin. "They're married, and now they have three adorable kids. He works as a contractor, too, and we've done a few projects together." I shrug. "Turns out he wasn't as much of a loser as I thought."

29

CHELSEA

Itoss and turn on the bed as a gentle breeze rattles the window panes. I ultimately lie on my back, then twist around and lie on the other side too, blowing a breath out from between my lips. I can’t sleep.

I should be asleep. It's midnight, and I have a long day tomorrow. We'll be doing a lot of press and also announcing a major new government-funded project that James secured.

We're going to be developing a part of Brooklyn, building affordable housing, and he bid on this project for the entire year, at times losing hope that it would ever come to fruition.

Just a few days ago, they called and told me that he had it, leading him to run into my office screaming his head off and swinging me off my feet into a protracted hug.

Then we immediately had to quickly secure the press for such a monumental event that would truly put his company on the map. He warned me that I might appear in a few photos or videos too, which means I have to get enough sleep to prevent my eyes from looking puffy in the morning.

Yet I can't sleep.

My date with Adam went well.

Too well.

So well that I'm lying here thinking about it again.

Before that, I thought I had an obvious choice. My connection with Sam always seemed stronger and more natural than the rest. I thought it was just lust with Adam and Jake, but with Sam, we could truly build something that could continue beyond that.

But yesterday, with Adam showed me that I could connect with him too, in a way I didn’t expect. Learning about his family, about his time in the military, about all the expectations that had been placed on him from a young age, it was all so revealing and so moving.