Marco (The Men of Indecent Exposure #1) Read Online Free

rushed from my lungs when I breathed deep. “I’m gonna need some time to think. Just… about everything,” was the only thing I could bring myself to say at the moment.
    “Take all the time you need,” Brynn replied, sealing the response with another half-hearted smile, one that faded when she turned to gaze out the window beside us.
    The overall vibe I sensed coming from her was that, with or without me, she was determined to do this. However, I was almost certain that, given the choice, no woman ever really wanted to endure something like this alone. Who would?
    There was still the likely possibility of this kid not even being mine, but I could no longer deny that Brynn and I had been together. Because of that, I didn’t really know how to feel at this point or what to think. Just yesterday, my world was all black and white, no gray anywhere in sight. But if this kid turned out to be mine, if I ended up being the father...
    …that would change everything.

Chapter Three

    Brynn
    “Mona, you can-NOT say anything to Cedric,” I insisted. My brother would hear my news when I was good and ready for him to know.
    An exasperated, “ Wheww , girl,” was my best friend’s, and sister-in-law’s, only response after I divulged the details of my predicament. With her on the other end of the phone, instead of being here in person, I had to imagine the expression that went along with the sound she made. If I had to guess, her light-brown face was now tinted with a hint of red as she frowned like she always does when she disapproved of something.
    She knew all my dirt, but this was different. This was bigger than all my other petty secrets combined and soon there’d be no hiding it. Now that Marco and I had talked, I figured I may as well tell those closest to me what was going on, too. There wasn’t much of a point in keeping this to myself.
    I started my confessions on the easy end of the spectrum with Mona, all the way in Atlanta where she and my brother recently relocated. Then, I would end the evening with one of the hardest conversations of them all—the one I’d have to have with Naseem.
    I plopped down on the couch in my robe and gripped the warm mug of tea in my fingers. I made it to calm my nerves when he called to say he was on his way, but it wasn’t helping a whole lot. Naseem was one of the most even-tempered, mellow people I knew; however, what I had to say tonight would, beyond the shadow of a doubt, hurt him.
    Deeply.
    From the outside looking in, sharing this with him would probably seem easy to most people because, technically, we’d only gone on the one date. There wasn’t a firm commitment between us. However, the situation was further complicated by the fact that we’d been friends for so long—since college. While friendship mostly defined what we were to one another, there was another side to us. Acknowledging this fact about a month ago was what led to us finally deciding to give dating a try. So, the next weekend, squeezing our plans in before his trip home to visit his parents in Jordan, we went for it; we had dinner and went to see a movie. It was our first outing with the mutual awareness that we might just be more than friends.
    And then this happened.
    If only I’d known then what I know now; I never would’ve dragged him into this.
    If I’d found out I was expecting just a few weeks sooner…
    Mona took a breath on the other end of the line and I was all ears, knowing she was about to either scold me or ask a ton of questions.
    “So, you don’t remember anything ? Like… nothing ? None of the juicy details?” she prodded.
    I sipped my tea before answering. “Nope. Not a thing. Only a little of our conversation before more drinks were brought to us… and before we… you know… headed to the men’s room,” I added, mumbling the last part.
    Ugh… I would forever be the woman whose child was conceived in the bathroom of a seedy bar. I cringed at the thought of it.
    “Damn,