Page 127 of When You Blush
She grins, nodding slowly. “Yeah, I got this. I alsokind of love that our circle has widened since you moved here. The Blackwell girls are pretty fucking awesome.”
“Right?”
“I guess it’s good that we like them, considering they’re all related to your boyfriend.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “What are you saying?”
“Just that if his family was full of assholes, I might not be so excited for you to be with him.”
“He has a single older brother,” I remind her, but Ava shakes her head.
“Nah. I mean, Brooks is great, and let’s face it, hot as shit, but there’s no spark. I don’t want or need a man right now. I’ll be busy with this resort project for a while, and it’s too good of a boost to my career to get distracted by a man.”
“I can see that.”
“The only romance I’ll be getting is in the form of smutty books.” Ava smiles at me. “But add a vibrator, and that combo works just fine.”
“It’s no substitute for the real thing.”
She shakes her head. “Depends on what kind ofreal thinga girl’s getting. If it’s vanilla Joe? No thanks. You have the sexy doctor.”
A slow smile spreads over my face.
Fuck yeah. I have the sexy doctor.
I think it’s fair to say that aside from sexy time with Blake, Spicy Girls Book Club has become my favorite way to spend an evening.
I’ve always loved being in a bookstore, but Billie takes it to another level. She always has the most delicious snacks and drinks, and Jackie spoils us all with sweets from her shop. The girls actuallyreadthe book, so the conversation is lively and fun, and I would do this all the time if I could.
My favorite, though, is after the meeting, when most of the girls have gone home, and it’s just a few of us left. Tonight, that’s Billie, Ava, Dani, Skyla, and Dani’s twin sister, Alex. The six of us sit in a circle, drinking wine and giggling our asses off while we finish the lemon bars Jackie brought with her.
“I didn’t say this with the others here,” Ava says, “and maybe I should have, but I don’t love a surprise baby book.”
“Oh my God, I’m glad I’m not the only one,” Dani says, shaking her head. “Because that would just bestressful. Not sexy.”
“I mean, the author made it sexy in this case,” Billie reminds us. “I like it in fiction because we know we’re getting an HEA and all is well. But in real life? Fuck that. Hard pass.”
“So I have an idea.” Ava bites her lip and opens the tote bag she brought in from my car earlier. “Just hear me out. I know, I’m a little crazy, but this could be fun. I saw this on an Instagram reel a while ago and thought it was funny.”
“Oh God.” I press my fingers to my eyes. “This could be literallyanything.”
“What if we all take a pregnancy test, toss the tests in a basket so we don’t know whose is whose, and then we see if any of them are positive?”
We all stare at Ava in horror, but then Billie covers her mouth and laughs. “I’m down.”
“Wait,” Alex says, holding up a hand. “Is anyone hereknowinglyalready pregnant?”
We all look at each other and shake our heads.
“I’d betternotbe pregnant again so soon,” Dani says, sounding pissed off at just the thought of it. “Bridger and his superhero sperm can just calm the heck down.”
“What if one of themispositive,” Skyla asks. “And then we don’t know who it is?”
“Then we all have to take it again and hang on to our tests,” Ava says. “But for all we know, they’ll be negative.”
Mine had better be negative.There’s no way I’m pregnant. My birth control method is almost flawless. I don’t have any symptoms.
There’s no way.
