Page 15 of Royal Baby Maker

I laughed sharply. “That's putting it mildly.”

She sat across from me, one eye on Connor as he ran in circles around the room. “I thought you were done with men. I think that's what you said to me the first night you moved in.” She threw her arms up, voice rising, “'Gigi! Guys suck!'”

“That's not how I sound! Plus, can you saysuckin front ofhim?”I jerked my thumb at Connor.

Gigi made a face. “He's fine. Tell me more about your dating problems.”

“It's not dating. I... don't know what it is.”

“Now I'm extra curious.”

Sighing, I ran my hands over my eyes. “Bishop, the guy I'm dog walking for, is being very forward.”

“Mnhm. Go on.”

Eyeballing Connor, I dropped my voice to a hush. “He sort of wants me to be his baby mama.”

Gigi startled so fast that she dropped her phone to the floor. Connor squeaked, jumping in place. “Fall down!” he giggled.

“He wants you towhat?”

Burning with shame from my toes to my scalp, I imagined my shower encounter. “Let me back up. Bishop is kind of a prince—”

“Are you for fudging real?”

“—And I guess he's in a competition with his half-brother to produce an heir first. He made me an offer to be the one to do this with him, and I'm not seriously considering it... I'd have to be nuts to do that. I don't know why he even picked me.” Briefly, I wondered if he'd made the offer to other people. Was I really the first? Impossible.

Gigi looked at the ceiling. “This is way too weird.”

“I know,” I agreed, drawing a circle on the table with my finger. “I'm nothing special, why would a rich guy go for me?”

She slammed her hands onto the table. “Shut up! You're a great catch. I'm saying it's crazy foranyoneto want a baby so quickly with a stranger. He must really be desperate to make his dad happy. That, or he's super into you. You could be soulmates.”

I was laughing, but her serious face took me down a peg. “That's not a real thing.”

“Sure it is.” She leaned towards me. “Hm. How do you feel about him? Any sparks, any sense he's your one true love?”

I wanted to chuck something at her, but the only things nearby were her phone—expensive—and Connor—illegal child abuse. Helplessly, I thought about how good it had felt when Bishop held my tummy possessively. How natural it felt to kiss him.

But soul mates? Wanting a baby with a stranger...?

She’d called it earlier; I'd have to be crazy.

I kept that in mind when Connor changed the subject for us by dumping an entire bottle of mayonnaise I didn't know we even had onto the floor. Gigi sobbed, hurrying to clean after him as I watched with reserved amusement.

Each time that little kid flashed me a smile, it opened up a place in my heart for more love to fill. I told myself, again, that soul mates weren't real. That one true loves were make believe. And that even if those thingsdidexist...

Bishop Callehurst wasn't any of them.

Not for me.

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