Complete We (A Her Billionaires Novella #4) (17 page)

“We just need to buy him off.”

“And then what?” Laura protested. “He’ll create another mess like this and come back for more?”

“Tell her,” Mike demanded. “We need to tell her what we learned about him.”

“You learned something about Frank and didn’t tell me?” Laura descended on Dylan and came at him so fast he had to work hard not to flinch.

“Yes.” Admitting the truth was better than lying.

“Why?” Anger was easier to deal with than hurt, too—and he did flinch at the tone in Laura’s voice.

“Because,” Mike said, enveloping her in a half-hug, pulling her soft, sweet body into his side and making Dylan’s throat tighten with need, “we didn’t know what to do with the information and we needed to let it percolate a bit.”

She let a puff of air out through her nose, lips too tight to open. “You mean,” she said in a voice pulled tighter than a violin string, “you are both pulling this overprotective husband bullshit.”

“You’re my overprotective husband?” Dylan cracked as he looked at Mike with exaggerated glee. “There’s finally a pro to this whole marriage thing!”

And that was when Laura crumpled, leaving Dylan feeling like the complete and utter ass Josie always said he was.

Hurting Laura’s feelings was bad enough.

Making Josie be
right
was intolerable.

“I want to marry
you
!” Laura said fiercely, sitting on the ground now, head between her knees, hands buried in her curly golden locks. She wouldn’t look at him or Mike, and Dylan knew that if she did, her eyes would be red and would make his heart feel like someone had put it through a document shredder.

“
Both
of you,” she added with a sob so distinct it made Dylan glad Cyndi had taken Jillian out for a long day of errands and baby gymnastics.

“You’re supposed to be my husbands. Not each other’s husband! If anyone has a right to an overbearing, overprotective, stupid thug of an inconsiderate, pompous husband, it’s
me
!”

“Are you the pompous one, or am I?” Dylan asked Mike out of the corner of his mouth.

And that was when Laura threw a stuffed teddy bear at him. The kind with a big, heavy music box in it. It clipped him in the head and made him see stars.

“I think that means
you’re
the pompous one,” Mike said too casually, dodging a foot to the left as a softer stuffed snake flailed uselessly in the air as it missed its intended target.

“She’s never thrown things at us before like this!” Dylan said, rubbing his temple. Damn bear had a wallop to it. He never liked that animal anyway.

“Quit talking about me like I’m not even here!” she screamed. “You two don’t need me! You just act like I don’t have a say in anything and then you go off and get married and I’m alone and will only ever have Jillie and my cats and oh my God…”

Mike studied Laura with extreme concern. “What the hell?” he whispered to Dylan.

“I don’t know. The last time I saw her like this was when she was—”

“PREGNANT!”

Laura’s single, shouted word echoed through the house like an alarm.

She’d guessed, based only on being a week late, but her cycles had come back a few months ago, right as rain. A week’s delay might not mean anything, but the swollen breasts, the moodiness, the feeling of full-body flushing and a sense of inner sweetness, like she had a secret, made her realize what was going on.

It wasn’t official, but it was pretty damn close.

“You’re pregnant?” Mike asked softly, his face turning gentle and loving.

“You’re pregnant?” Dylan asked with disbelief, jaw hanging open like a ventriloquist’s dummy. His hair was messy and eyes wide and open, not shut off and angry like she’d feared.

“I don’t, I… Well, I’m late.”

Dylan frowned, letting a great burst of air out in what could have been a sigh but sounded like an indictment. “Just because you’re late doesn’t mean you’re pregnant.” But he didn’t even seem to be able to convince himself.

“Have you tested yet?” Mike asked, crossing the room to place a warm, reassuring palm on her forearm.

“No.”

And with that, he sprinted out the door.

“What the—?” She looked at Dylan, who just shrugged.

“Drugstore!” Mike called back, leaving her alone with the one man who wanted her to be pregnant about as much as—

Her phone rang. The number was one she didn’t recognize. Without thinking, she answered and said, “This is Laura.”

“Laura.” The voice was unmistakable.

“Hi Frank,” she said flatly. Dylan’s nostrils flared, his head tilting, jaw working like an auger.

“I wanted to say my goodbyes.”

“Goodbye?” She frowned, giving Dylan a look that asked,
Did you do this?

He just shrugged, a
who, me?
gesture that made her want to throttle him. Why didn’t anyone tell her anything anymore?

“Ah, yes. I have business that will take me out of the area for a very long time, and I simply wanted to visit in person, but regret that I cannot.”

Wow. What a mouthful of manure. She wondered how he could stand himself.

“You’re leaving? For good?” She didn’t even try to keep the hope out of her voice.

“Yes, my dear. Kiss that baby for me and know that you are a very good mother. Just like your own mother was.”
Click.

That was it?

That was
IT
?

“What,” she snapped at Dylan as she set her phone down on the couch, “did you do to Frank?”

“We didn’t hurt him,” Dylan protested. “We just met with the lawyer and decided that maybe Frank needed some incentive to get out of our lives.”

Her eyes narrowed. Dylan wasn’t telling her the whole truth.

“Incentive? You mean money?”

“Something like that.”

“AND THIS IS WHY YOU TWO DRIVE ME NUTS!” Laura shouted, feeling like her flesh was going to rip off her bones and strangle Dylan all by its fluffy self.

“I thought you just said you wished you could have an overprotective husband!”

“Don’t throw my words back at me!”

Bzzzz
.

Laura’s phone.

“Hey, chickie,” Josie said as Laura picked up. Her heart was pounding so hard she could feel it behind her eyeballs. “What’s up?”

“I’m pregnant and I can’t marry my husbands and now they’re making fun at me and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Josie said swiftly. “That’s a lot to handle! You need me to come over?”

“No!” Laura wailed, completely disgusted with herself. She knew she was out of control, knew she was behaving like a completely raving idiot, and yet she couldn’t stop. “No! I want you to meet me at Jeddy’s.”

“Of course you do,” Josie said sourly. “Can’t we meet somewhere else, for once?”

“Can I just have one thing I want”—s
ob—
“for once?” Laura gasped.

“Yep. You’re
definitely
pregnant,” Josie declared. “Congratulations!”

“Jeddy’s. In an hour. No men. Do not bring Alex. Do you hear me?”

Click
.

Laura shot Dylan a look designed to set his hair on fire, grabbed her purse and keys, and stormed out of the house.

Men.

Can’t live with them, can’t marry both of them.

The phone was slick against his ear, nerves making him sweat.

“Thank you, Alex. The jeweler is right there next to the hospital, and if you wouldn’t mind getting the ring…”
Ring
. The word felt funny playing on his lips, like it was tickling him. “I can’t make it there before they close.” Mike checked the time. No way.

“No problem, Mike. Happy to do it. I can zip over there now and once I finish this paperwork, I’ll get it to you.”

“Great.”

“Congrats.”

Mike could hear the wistful tone in Alex’s voice, and his smile turned from elation to something a bit more introspective. Poor guy. He and Josie would have their time someday. Mike didn’t say a word about Laura’s suspicions of pregnancy. He knew that Alex wanted a family with Josie, and maybe engagement and a new baby would rub it in a little too much.

“Thanks. So, the ring? Where should we meet to get it? I want to do this sooner rather than later.” Mike and Dylan had talked about this—how they wanted one ring to use when they proposed to Laura. one ring with a beautiful pearl in the center, representing her.

And two big, billionaire-sized diamonds flanking it.

They planned to propose at the sex cabin, under the summer’s moon, with champagne and rose petals, the whole romantic scene. Ask her to marry them—in their hearts. Offer a big ceremony for close friends, perhaps in an exotic Caribbean location. Or Hawaii. Or Thailand.

Who cared?

Just being married—in spirit—as a triad was what Mike wanted.

The fact that Laura was probably pregnant made the timeline move up. If he and Dylan proposed now, it had more meaning. More grace.

More…just
more
.

“Want to meet at Jeddy’s?” Mike asked.

Alex groaned. “If Madge sees me walk in with a jeweler’s bag she’ll have another heart attack from sheer glee.”

“I don’t want to be responsible for killing Madge,” Mike said dryly. “That old bat would haunt me through five more lifetimes if I did that.”

“Eh, I’m kidding. I’ll just hide the box in my pocket. Sure. Let’s meet at Jeddy’s. Josie’s at the office working on some late project with her developer, yammering on about regression analysis and correlation for matching people up.”

“Sexy,” Mike said with a laugh.

Alex joined him. “Nothing sexier than a woman who can talk math.”

Mike could think of a few sexier things, but wisely kept his mouth shut. “See you in a few.” Alex hung up. Good man. Nice to turn to someone other than Dylan when he needed a bit of assistance.

Mike put his phone down and stared at the glowing lights of the drugstore. He’d already rushed in and bought four tests—one of each kind they sold—and now he pulled out of the parking lot to race to Route 2 and get into Cambridge. He figured Laura was weepy and Dylan could handle her for the extra time.

This was worth it.

Bzzz.
His phone rang as he got on the entrance ramp. Dylan.

“What’s up?” Mike asked.

“Laura and I had a…I don’t even know what the fuck it was. A fight, I guess.” The poor guy sounded like he’d been hit with a bulldozer. “Anyhow, Laura left. She’s on her way to Jeddy’s.”

“Jeddy’s? SHIT!”

“Why shit?” Dylan sounded alarmed. Mike
felt
alarmed.

“Because I called Alex and he’s getting the ring from the jeweler’s and we’re meeting at—”

“Jeddy’s. Jesus. Can’t we get a little more original?”

“I doubt Laura’s going to beg Josie to meet her in the free-weight room at the gym,” Mike said with a snort.

“Only if they start serving coconut shrimp at the juice bar. Damn. You need me to race there right now, don’t you? Get the ring, propose to Laura—at
Jeddy’s
?” Dylan’s howl of protest mixed with the kind of breathless, gasping laughter that Mike felt inside, too, but couldn’t quite express.

“I guess so.”

“Let me give Cyndi a quick call and make sure she can keep Jillian longer.”

Mike thought about that for a second. “Why not bring her?”

“Cyndi?”

“No, doofus. Jillian. Have her be there. Make it about us. All of us.”

Dylan inhaled slowly, then said, “Done. I’ll be late, but let’s do it.” Mike expected him to hang up, but he stayed on the line, his breath coming in even patterns, his silence saying so much. “You ready to do this?”

“I married
you
, didn’t I? How could proposing to Laura be any harder? Hopefully there won’t be any camera crews around.”

“I’m not worried about that. Frank tipped them off, and he’s long gone, so—”

“Frank tipped them off? You sure about that?” This was news to Mike.

“Yeah. Nick got back to me damn fast. Turns out he knows the one of the cameraman—”

“You sure
he
didn’t tip them off?”

“Turns out Nick’s gay. Went on and on about his own husband and how great it was that we—you know. So…no. Nick didn’t tip them off.”

“Gotcha.”

Awkward silence filled the air, and then:

“He dug around, and it was Frank who tipped off the press.”

“Nice. He must have done it before we talked to him. Asshole. Good thing he’s gone.”

“Oh, he’s long gone after the way we handled him.”

Mike grinned. This was what Dylan and Mike had started to tell Laura before she freaked. Going to Frank with a very comfortable figure in the form of a cashier’s check, plus a printout of the outstanding warrant for his arrest in Connecticut, had been blindingly simple. The man had taken the check and the papers, scanned both, and reached out to shake each of their hands.