Resting my head on hers we both shut our eyes.

“So I guess this means I won’t kick your ass?” Larkin asked. I could still here the anger and hurt in his voice. Cracking my eyes open I saw the forced half smile on his face.

She and I broke apart. Both of us taking a few steps away from each other. Jenna was slowly walking down the hall keeping her eyes on Larkin who was still standing in the doorway.

Cobie cleared her throat and fixed her brother with a pointed stare. “You can stop with the big brother shit. I told you I could handle this. I’m not your six year old little sister anymore. I’m having a baby, I’m growing up. You have to let me handle my life now.”

Holy shit. Was that tears in Larkin Nayler’s eyes?

Larkin furrowed his brows and said, “Cobie, I will always see you as my baby sister. I will always want to protect you.” Letting out a sigh he shut his eyes before continuing, “Cobie, you should know by now that I would kill to protect you. I wanted you to have every option in the world open to you. I didn’t want you to have to let go of your dreams because of some sillyass mistake.”

Jenna was standing at Larkin’s side, her left hand resting on her swollen stomach, the light from my room reflecting off her diamond ring. The ring Larkin had given her to replace the one that I had at given her when I promised her my forever. And damn if it didn’t still hurt.

Cobie took a deep, shaky breath. “I know you want to protect me and I’m glad. And when I was fourteen I needed your protection. But I’ve grown up.” She took a step closer to me, brushing my hand. “What Gage and I did, I could never call that a mistake because out of that we created our baby. I’m not giving up my dreams. Simply creating new ones. When you found out about Evie a few years ago, weren’t you the one that told me you would do anything, even give up football to be her father. But look, you didn’t have to give up your dream to be a daddy. You created a new dream that included your family. That’s what I will do.”

“Do you think I would let her give up her dream just because I got her pregnant? That’s not who I am. I know she wants to be a doctor and I will make sure that happens. Even if that means I get up at three in the morning to feed our baby. I would do it. This situation isn’t ideal but its reality. It happened and now we deal with it and move on. We have our baby and raise her together, even if we aren’t together. This is Cobie and I and we got this shit under control.” Looking from face to face I stopped when my eyes landed on Cobie. “I won’t let you give up your dream. I can get a house in Ohio and we will raise our baby there so you can finish school. When I can’t be there I will make sure someone is always there to help.”

“I swear man if you fuck up and hurt her or this baby not even Jenna can keep you safe. Hear me?” Larkin fixed his eyes on me.

Giving him a hard nod I said, “Heard.”

Now he is getting a little taste of what I went through three years ago.

Walking up to house number four of the day, Cobie and I were both getting tired and irritated. Hopefully this one had the ‘IT’ factor.

Outside it was nice. There was a long, gated drive surrounded by mature oak trees and wild flowers. The house itself was a traditional brick Tudor. Just off the side of the house was a large tree with a tire swing. I could picture myself pushing my little girl on the swing when she was older.

…”And this one is only five hundred and twenty thousand.” My relator’s, Colleen’s voice broke through my day dream. “So very much under what you wanted to spend.”

Smiling at her I asked, “How many bedrooms?”

“Five bedrooms with four and a half baths. There is also a pool slash guest house and a barn with six stalls.

Cobie’s eyes lit up when she heard stalls. She loved horses. I had learned that over the last two weeks. We had learned a lot about each other. She wasn’t just that girl I fucked in my office. She was the mother of my child. She had hopes and dreams. She was scared and insecure. She was funny and when she was nervous she would nibble her bottom lip. Sarcasm was her second language. She’s an amazing person and if things were different I could see myself falling in love with her.

But, things weren’t different and this was life. We would be friends and we would raise our baby. In a way I found myself loving her but something different from the way I love Jenna.

Cobie nudged my arm. “We could get the baby a horse, Gage!” She sounded so hopeful and excited.

Shaking my head I said, “Yep, we could. But first, let’s find a house for our baby to live in. Don’t really feel like pullin’ some Mary and Joseph, having a baby in the barn shit.”

“Good point,” Cobie laughed as she followed Colleen into the house.

It was large and open. I’m no girl and houses don’t excite me but this place was beautiful.

Marble floors welcomed us in the foyer along with cascading stairs leading to the second floor. The marble continued down the hall and into the kitchen. The large living room was a dark hardwood with wall to wall windows over- looking the backyard and the barn. There was a stone fireplace in one corner and a built-in bookcase in the other. The kitchen had dark wood cabinets with black granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. There was a half bath on the first floor just off the kitchen along with the formal dining room. A small alcove was adjacent to the kitchen, perfect for a playroom.

“The master suite is also on this floor with his and her closets and a large spa style bathroom. It is just down this hall. The other four bedrooms are upstairs along with two full bathrooms. The basement is finished, it would perfect for your weight room and maybe a man cave? I think you two will really love this house.” Colleen said as she started walking down the hall toward the master bedroom.