Page 53 of A Really Bad Idea

“Because you assume it will be a boy.”

He laughs as he raises his other arm up in surrender. “A man can dream.”

A thought crosses my mind, causing me to bite the corner of my lip.

When Christian made his grand proposal to have a baby together, he mentioned throwing a ball in the backyard with his son. He never mentioned the possibility of having a daughter.

That makes me wonder, Will it disappoint him if we have a girl?

I must walk away, not realizing he has stopped until he’s tugging on my arm, pulling me back toward him and wrapping his arm around my waist. The other hand rises to my mouth. His thumb glides over my lower lip, pulling it out from between my teeth.

“Whether we have a boy or girl, I will love him or her, no matter what,” he says, easing my concerns.

I nod in his hand as it caresses my cheek, gently holding me as he leans forward and places the softest kiss on my mouth. My eyes close as his mouth stays there for a moment before moving away.

That kiss, that simple tease of a kiss, has just rendered me speechless.

When I lift my lids, I see his vibrant eyes looking back at me. His face is serious despite the tiniest quirk of his lips. I can’t help but kiss that spot, making his smile take over his whole face.

“Let’s go see the grizzlies,” he says, tugging on my arm and pulling me toward the big animals.

“So, when you say Ed Sheeran is sexy, do you mean physically or just the way he sings?” Christian asks for the third time since I told him I thought the English singer was the hottest thing on two legs.

I croon. “It’s everything. His personality, the way he sings, the way he talks about the love of his life …”

“What happened to your love of Justin Timberlake?” He knows too well I have a thing for the Man of the Woods.

“I still love him, too. I mean, he brought sexy back. Trust me when I say, I wouldn’t kick that man out of my bed.”

He lets out a groan, and I skip away toward the snow monkeys. We try to make them emulate our actions, which doesn’t work at all, and then walk over to the leopards when we see a familiar face walking toward us.

Garret Kent—aka Bachelor Number Two—is headed our way. He looks as handsome as he did at my mother’s house as he wears a yellow polo and jeans. His eyes flicker between me and Christian with a knowing grin on his face. Behind Garret, a little boy with dusty-blond hair and freckled cheeks trails, standing about six feet away, like an afterthought.

“Looking stunning as always,” Garret says, coming right up to my personal space and placing a kiss on my cheek, close to my mouth.

“Garret.” Christian’s greeting is clipped.

Garret doesn’t seem to notice or care as his eyes settle on the V-neck of my top. “This is a pleasant surprise. If I had known you liked the zoo, I would have brought you myself.”

I step away from him and into Christian’s side. “I’m in good company.” I don’t miss the way Christian’s dimple appears as he puts his hand on my waist, liking how I’m not behaving as poorly as I did when we ran into Frank Romano at dinner.

Garret’s eyes jump up to my face and over to Christian’s with a furrowed brow. “I see.”

“Besides, it looks like you have your own little date today. You must be Jordan,” I say to his son. “Pleasure to meet you. I’ve seen your pictures on Facebook.”

The little boy swings around his father’s side and comes up to his hip. “Hi.”

Garret places a hand on his son’s shoulder. “It’s our boys’ weekend.”

“You must enjoy them tremendously,” Christian states with a closed-mouth smile.

As cordial as he is, I get the feeling he doesn’t like Garret at all, which is interesting because Christian likes everyone.

Garret ruffles Jordan’s hair, making the boy laugh with the action. “We were on our way to grab a hot dog.”

“Ew, I don’t eat hot dogs,” Jordan says like they’re the most disgusting things in the world.

Garret looks taken aback by his son’s aversion to hot dogs. “All kids eat dirty-water dogs.”