Reese Ryan - The Billionaire's Legacy

“What are you talking about?”

“Let me get the condo ready for sale.”

“Even if I got top dollar for it, I’d barely break even with the second mortgage.” Her grandfather had implored her not to do it, but she’d been determined to prove to him that she’d made something of herself, despite his predictions that she’d flop in “the big city.” Not one of her better decisions. “Besides, if I sell my condo, where will I live?”

“You’ll move to Magnolia Lake with me.” His brown eyes were earnest, but his expression was neutral.

“I have no intention of moving in with my mother and grandfather.” A shiver ran down her spine just thinking of it. “I’d rather live in a tent in the woods.”

“Perfect. Then you’ll move into the cabin with me.”

A tiny ray of hope flared deep in her chest.

Benji was asking her to move into the cabin with him. Did that mean he felt something for her, too?

After their weekend together, she hadn’t been able to get him out of her head. She couldn’t stop wondering if a future for them was possible. But Benji was the first man she’d been with since her divorce. She cared about him too much to make him her rebound guy. Once she learned she was pregnant, she’d attributed her feelings for him to her wildly fluctuating hormones.

The same hormones that filled her body with heat as her gaze traced the sensual lines of Benji’s strong physique. The same hormones that made her long for his hands to glide along her skin, the way they had when he’d made love to her.

Sloane pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to shake loose the fine image of how Benji’s muscles had bunched beneath his brown skin. She needed to focus on the larger implications of what he was saying.

“You’re asking me to move in with you?”

“We should get married first, naturally. For the sake of the twins.” He released her hand and pulled out his cell phone, tapping out a message. “But it would only be temporary.”

“The marriage?” Her heart had inflated and deflated in six seconds flat.

Not that she wanted to get married again. Ever. And she still had a modicum of pride. He wanted to marry her, but only because he felt obligated to, and now he was saying it would be some kind of temporary arrangement?

He looked puzzled, then frowned with realization. “No, not the marriage. Living at the cabin would be temporary,” he clarified. “I’m shooting my cousin Cole a message now. We’d live at the cabin until Cole’s company can build us a permanent home.”

“Hold up there, Andy Griffith.” She extended her palm toward him. “I’m not agreeing to a shotgun wedding. Do people really still have those?”

“You don’t want to get married?” The poor thing looked bewildered, as if he couldn’t possibly imagine why a knocked-up poor girl would reject the offer to get hitched to an incredibly handsome, impossibly sexy billionaire and commence having his babies.

“Because getting married strictly because of an unexpected pregnancy worked out so well for my parents and for your sister.” Baby boy bounced his generous-sized head on her bladder as if in objection.

Of course, you’d side with him. Traitor.

Sloane rubbed her belly, hoping to calm the little one.

Benji’s jaw tensed. “We’re not either of them.”

If he said that a few more times, she’d suggest he put it on a T-shirt. But as things stood, she didn’t want to aggravate him any more than she already had.

“No, we’re not. They were in long-term relationships, but still couldn’t make their shotgun weddings work. We had a one-night stand, Benj. A really incredible one, but still—”

“Then why not just keep doing it?” He winced and swiped a hand across his forehead. “I wasn’t talking about sex...necessarily. I just meant being together. The night we spent together, it wasn’t just about sex, not for me, at least.”

“Not for me, either.” She smiled sweetly. Or at least as sweetly as she could manage while baby boy played trampoline with her bladder and kicked underneath her ribs. “But one night of great sex and reminiscing over the past does not a marriage make. And I really do like you, Benji. Too much to watch our friendship turn into a strained, bitter relationship that’ll make us and the twins miserable.”

Sloane sighed, her heart twisting at the pained look on Benji’s face.

He slipped his phone back in his pocket without sending the message to Cole and scrubbed a hand down his face. “You’re sure about this?”

“I’m positive. Thanks for the offer, Benj, but if I ever get married again, it’ll be for one reason and one reason only—that we’re both head over heels in love.”

Three

Benji drove Sloane’s car, the silence stretching between them. She’d pretended to be upbeat, like everything would be okay, until they’d sent her to the cashier’s desk once she’d been released by the doctor.

The stress and embarrassment she felt were obvious when they’d asked how she’d pay her insurance co-pay. She’d almost whispered the words, “Bill me.”

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