A Tricky Proposition (2 page)

“Perfect,” he echoed, reasoning no matter what she claimed, a child they created together would connect them in a way that went way beyond friendship.

“You’re right. I don’t want marriage or kids. But fathering your child…” Something rumbled in his subconscious, warning him to stop asking questions. She’d decided against asking him to help her get pregnant. He should leave it at that.

“Don’t say it that way. You’re making it too complicated. We’ve been friends forever. I don’t want anything to change our relationship.”

Too late for that. “Things between us changed the minute you started dating Evan.”

Jason hadn’t welcomed the news. In fact, he’d been quite displeased, which was something he’d had no right to feel. If she was nothing more than his friend, he should have been happy that she and Evan had found each other.

“I know. In the beginning it was awkward, but I never would have gone out with him if you hadn’t given me your blessing.”

What other choice did he have? It wasn’t as if he intended to claim her as anything other than a friend. But such rational thinking hadn’t stood him in good stead the first time he’d seen his brother kiss her.

“You didn’t need my blessing. If you wanted to date Evan, that was your business.” And he’d backed off. Unfortunately, distance had lent him perspective. He’d begun to see her not only as his longtime friend, but also as a desirable woman. “But let’s get back to why you changed your mind about wanting me.”

“I didn’t want
you,
” she corrected, one side of her mouth twitching. “Just a few of your strongest swimmers.”

She wanted to make light of it, but Jason wasn’t ready to oblige her. “Okay, how come you changed your mind about wanting my swimmers?”

She stared straight ahead and played with the Yorkie’s ears, sending the dog into a state of bliss. “Because we’d have to keep it a secret. If anyone found out what we’d done, it would cause all sorts of hard feelings.”

Not anyone. Evan. She’d been hurt by his brother, yet she’d taken Evan’s feelings into consideration when making such an important decision. She’d deserved better than his brother.

“What if we didn’t keep it a secret? My dad would be thrilled that one of his sons made him a grandfather,” Jason prompted.

“But he’d also expect you to be a father.” Her eyes soft with understanding, she said, “I wouldn’t ask that of you.”

He resented her assumption that he wouldn’t want to be involved. Granted, until ten minutes earlier he’d never considered being a parent, but suddenly Jason didn’t like the idea that his child would never know him as his father. “I don’t suppose I can talk you out of this.”

“My mind is set. I’m going to have babies.”

“Babies?” He ejected the word and followed it up with a muttered curse. “I thought it was a baby. Now you’re fielding a baseball team?”

A goofy snort of laughter escaped her. Unattractive on ninety-nine percent of women, the sound was adorable erupting from her long, thin nose. It probably helped that her jet-black eyes glittered with mischief, inviting him to join in her amusement.

“What’s so funny?” he demanded.

She shook her head, the action causing the ebony curtains of hair framing her exotic Asian features to sway like a group of Latin dancers doing a rumba. “You should see the look on your face.”

He suppressed a growl. There was not one damn thing about this that was funny. “I thought this was a one-time deal.”

“It is, but you never know what you’re going to get when you go in vitro. I might have triplets.”

Jason’s thoughts whirled. “Triplets?” Damn. He hadn’t adjusted to the idea of one child. Suddenly there were three?

“It’s possible.” Her gaze turned inward. A tranquil half smile curved her lips.

For a couple, triplets would be hard. How was she going to handle three babies as a single mom?

Images paraded through his head. Ming’s mysterious smile as she placed his hand on her round belly. Her eyes sparkling as she settled the baby in his arms for the first time. The way the pictures appealed to him triggered alarm bells. After his father’s suicide attempt, he’d closed himself off to being a husband and a father. Not once in the years since had he questioned his decision.

Ming glanced at the silver watch on her delicate wrist. “I’ve got seven minutes to get upstairs or I’ll be late for my next appointment.”

“We need to talk about this more.”

“It’ll have to be later.” She gathered Muffin and exited the car.

“When later?”

But she’d shut the door and was heading away, sleek and sexy in form-fitting black pants and a sleeveless knit top that showed off her toned arms.

Appreciation slammed into his gut.

Uninvited.

Unnerving.

Cursing beneath his breath, Jason shut off the engine, got out of the car and headed for the front door, but he wasn’t fast enough to catch her before she crossed the building’s threshold.

Four-inch heels clicking on the tile lobby floor, she headed toward the elevator. With his longer legs, Jason had little trouble keeping pace. He reached the elevator ahead of her and put his hand over the up button to keep her from hitting it.

“The Camaro will get towed if you leave it there.”

He barely registered her words. “Let’s have dinner.”

A ding sounded and the doors before them opened. She barely waited for the elevator to empty before stepping forward.

“I already have plans.”

“With whom?”

She shook her head. “Since when are you so curious about my social life?”

Since her engagement had broken off.

On the third floor, they passed a door marked Dr. Terrance Kincaid, DDS, and Dr. Ming Campbell, DDS. Another ten feet and they came to an unmarked door that she unlocked and breezed through.

One of the dental assistants hovered outside Ming’s office. “Oh, good, you’re here. I’ll get your next patient.”

Ming set down Muffin, and the Yorkie bounded through the hallway toward the waiting room. She headed into her office and returned wearing a white lab coat. When she started past him, Jason caught her arm.

“You can’t do this alone.” Whether he meant get pregnant or raise a child, he wasn’t sure.

Her gentle smile was meant to relieve him of all obligations. “I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t doubt that.” But he couldn’t shake the sense that she needed him.

A thirteen-year-old boy appeared in the hallway and waved to her.

“Hello, Billy,” she called. “How did your baseball tournament go last month?”

“Great. Our team won every game.”

“I’d expect nothing else with a fabulous pitcher like you on the mound. I’ll see you in a couple minutes.”

As often as Jason had seen her at work, he never stopped being amazed that she could summon a detail for any of her two hundred clients that made the child feel less like a patient and more like a friend.

“I’ll call you tomorrow.” Without waiting for him to respond, she followed Billy to the treatment area.

Reluctant to leave, Jason stared after her until she disappeared. Impatience and concern urged him to hound her until he was satisfied he knew all her plans, but he knew how he’d feel if she’d cornered him at work.

Instead, he returned to the parking lot. The Camaro remained at the curb where he’d left it. Donning his shades, he slid behind the wheel and started the powerful engine.

Two

W
hen Ming returned to her office after her last appointment, she found her sister sitting cross-legged on the floor, a laptop balanced on her thighs.

“There are three chairs in the room. You should use one.”

“I like sitting on the ground.” With her short, spiky hair and fondness for natural fibers and loose-fitting clothes, Lily looked more than an environmental activist than a top software engineer. “It lets me feel connected to the earth.”

“We’re three stories up in a concrete building.”

Lily gave her a “whatever” shoulder shrug and closed the laptop. “I stopped by to tell you I’m heading out really early tomorrow morning.”

“Where to this time?”

For the past five years, her sister had been leading a team of consultants involved with transitioning their company’s various divisions to a single software system. Since the branches were all over the country, she traveled forty weeks out of the year. The rest of the time, she stayed rent-free in Ming’s spare bedroom.

“Portland.”

“How long?”

“They offered me a permanent position.”

Her sister’s announcement came as an unwelcome surprise. “Did you say yes?”

“Not yet. I want to see if I like Portland first. But I gotta tell you, I’m sick of all the traveling. It would be nice to buy a place and get some appliances. I want a juicer.”

Lily had this whole “a healthy body equals a healthy mind” mentality. She made all sorts of disgusting green concoctions that smelled awful and tasted like a decomposing marsh. Ming’s eyes watered just thinking about them. She preferred to jump-start her day with massive doses of caffeine.

“You won’t get bored being stuck in one city?”

“I’m ready to settle down.”

“And you can’t settle down in Houston?”

“I want to meet a guy I can get serious about.”

“And you have to go all the way to Portland to find one?” Ming wondered what was really going on with her sister.

Lily slipped her laptop into its protective sleeve. “I need a change.”

“You’re not going to stick around and be an auntie?” She’d hoped once Lily held the baby and saw how happy Ming was as a mom, her sister could finally get why Ming was willing to risk their mother’s wrath about her decision.

“I think it’s better if I don’t.”

As close as the sisters were, they’d done nothing but argue since Ming had divulged her intention of becoming a single mom. Her sister’s negative reaction had come as a complete surprise. And on the heels of her broken engagement, Ming was feeling alone and blue.

“I wish I could make you understand how much this means to me.”

“Look, I get it. You’ve always wanted children. I just think that a kid needs both a mother and a father.”

Ming’s confidence waned beneath her sister’s criticism. Despite her free-spirited style and reluctance to be tied down, Lily was a lot more traditional than Ming when it came to family. Last night, when Ming had told her sister she was going to talk to Jason today, Lily had accused Ming of being selfish.

But was she? Raising a child without a father didn’t necessarily mean that the child would have problems. Children needed love and boundaries. She could provide both.

It wasn’t fair for Lily to push her opinions on Ming. She hadn’t made her decision overnight. She’d spent months and months talking to single moms, weighing the pros and cons, and using her head, not her emotions, to make up her mind about raising a child on her own. Of course, when it came right down to it, her longing to be a mother was a strong, biological urge that was hard to ignore.

Ming slipped out of her lab coat and hung it on the back of her office door. “Have you told Mom about the job offer?”

“No.” Lily countered. “Have you told her what you’re going to do?”

“I was planning to on Friday. We’re having dinner, just the two of us.” Ming arched an eyebrow. “Unless you’d like to head over there now so we can both share our news. Maybe with two of us to yell at, we’ll each get half a tongue lashing.”

“As much as I would love to be there to see the look on Mom’s face when she finds out you’re going to have a baby without a husband, I’m not ready to talk about my plans. Not until I’m completely sure.”

It sounded as if Lily wasn’t one hundred percent sold on moving away. Ming kept relief off her face and clung to the hope that her sister would find that Portland wasn’t to her liking.

“Will I see you at home later?”

Lily shook her head. “Got plans.”

“A date?”

“Not exactly.”

“Same guy?” For the past few months, whenever she was in town, her sister had been spending a lot of time with a mystery man. “Have you told him your plans to move?”

“It’s not like that.”

“It’s not like what?”

“We’re not dating.”

“Then it’s just sex?”

Her sister made an impatient noise. “Geez, Ming. You of all people should know that men and women can be just friends.”

“Most men and women can’t. Besides, Jason and I are more like brother and sister than friends.”

For about the hundredth time, Ming toyed with telling Lily about her mixed feelings for Jason. How she loved him as a friend but couldn’t stop wondering if they could have made it as a couple. Of course, she’d blown any chance to find out when she’d agreed to have dinner with Evan three years ago.

But long before that she knew Jason wouldn’t let anything get in the way of their friendship.

“Have you told him about your plans to have a baby yet?”

“I mentioned it to him this afternoon.”

She was equally disappointed and relieved that she’d decided against asking Jason to help her get pregnant. Raising his child would muddle her already complicated emotions where he was concerned. It would be easier to get over her romantic yearnings if she had no expectations.

“How did he take it?”

“Once he gets used to the idea, I think he’ll be happy for me.” Her throat locked up. She’d really been counting on his support.

“Maybe this is the universe’s way of telling you that you’re on the wrong path.”

“I don’t need the universe to tell me anything. I have you.” Although Ming kept her voice light, her heart was heavy. She was torn between living her dream and disrupting her relationships with those she loved. What if this became a wedge between her and Lily? Or her and Jason? Ming hated the idea of being pulled in opposite directions by her longing to be a mom and her fear of losing the closeness she shared with either of them.

To comfort herself, she stared at her photo wall, the proof of what she’d achieved these past seven years. Hundreds of smiles lightened her mood and gave her courage.

“I guess you and I will just have to accept that neither one of us is making a decision the other is happy with,” Ming said.

*

Jason paced from one end of his large office to the other. Beyond his closed door, the offices of Sterling Bridge Company emptied. It was a little past six, but Jason had given up working hours ago. As the chief financial officer of the family’s bridge construction business, he was supposed to be looking over some last-minute changes in the numbers for a multimillion-dollar project they were bidding on next week, but he couldn’t focus. Not surprising after Ming’s big announcement today.

She’d be a great mom. Patient. Loving. Stern when she had to be. If he’d voiced doubts it wasn’t because of her ability to parent, but how hard it would be for her to do it on her own. Naturally Ming wouldn’t view any difficulty as too much trouble. She’d embrace the challenges and surpass everyone’s expectations.

But knowing this didn’t stop his uneasiness. His sense that he should be there for her. Help her.

Help her what?

Get pregnant.

Raise his child?

His gut told him it was the right thing to do even if his brain warned him that he was embarking on a fool’s journey. They were best friends. This was when best friends stepped up and helped each other out. If the situation was reversed and he wanted a child, she’d be the woman he’d choose to make that happen.

But if they did this, things could get complicated. If his brother found out that Jason had helped Ming become a mother, the hurt they caused might lead to permanent estrangement between him and Evan.

On the other hand, Ming deserved to get the family she wanted.

Another thirty minutes disappeared with Jason lost in thought. Since he couldn’t be productive at the office, he decided to head home. A recently purchased ’73 Dodge Charger sat in his garage awaiting some TLC. In addition to his passion for racing, he loved buying, fixing up and selling classic muscle cars. It’s why he’d chosen his house in the western suburbs. The three-acre estate had afforded him the opportunity to build a six-car garage to house his rare collection.

On the way out, Jason passed his brother’s office. Helping Ming get pregnant would also involve keeping another big secret from his brother. Jason resented that she still worried about Evan’s feelings after the way he’d broken off their engagement. Would it be as awkward for Evan to be an uncle to his ex-fiancée’s child as it had been for Jason to watch his best friend fall in love with his brother?

From the moment Ming and Evan had begun dating, tension had developed between Jason and his brother. An unspoken rift that was territorial in nature. Ming and Jason were best friends. They were bonded by difficult experiences. Inside jokes. Shared memories. In the beginning, it was Evan who was the third wheel whenever the three of them got together. But this wasn’t like other times when Ming had dated. Thanks to her long friendship with Jason, she was practically family. Within months, it was obvious she and Evan were perfectly matched in temperament and outlook, and the closer Ming and Evan became, the more Jason became the outsider. Which was something he resented. Ming was his best friend and he didn’t like sharing her.

Entering his brother’s office, Jason found Evan occupying the couch in the seating area. Evan was three years older and carried more weight on his six-foot frame than Jason, but otherwise, the brothers had the same blue eyes, dark blond hair and features. Both resembled their mother, who’d died in a car accident with their nine-year-old sister when the boys were in high school.

The death of his wife and daughter had devastated their father. Tony Sterling had fallen into a deep depression that lasted six months and almost resulted in the loss of his business. And if Jason hadn’t snuck into the garage one night to “borrow” the car for a joyride and found his father sitting behind the wheel with the garage filling with exhaust fumes, Tony might have lost his life.

This pivotal event had happened when Jason was only fifteen years old and had marked him. He swore he would never succumb to a love so strong that he would be driven to take his own life when the love was snatched away. It had been an easy promise to keep.

Jason scrutinized his brother as he crossed the room, his footfalls soundless on the plush carpet. Evan was so focused on the object in his hand he didn’t notice Jason’s arrival until he spoke.

“Want to catch dinner?”

Evan’s gaze shot toward his brother, and in a furtive move, he pocketed the earrings he’d been brooding over. Jason recognized them as the pearl-and-diamond ones his brother had given to Ming as an engagement present. What was his brother doing with them?

“Can’t. I’ve already got plans.”

“A date?”

Evan got to his feet and paced toward his desk. With his back to Jason, he spoke. “I guess.”

“You don’t know?”

That was very unlike his brother. When it came to living a meticulously planned existence, the only one more exacting than Evan was Ming.

Evan’s hand plunged into the pocket he’d dropped the earrings into. “It’s complicated.”

“Is she married?”

“No.”

“Engaged?”

“No.”

“Kids?”

“Let it go.” Evan’s exasperation only increased Jason’s tension.

“Does it have something to do with Ming’s earrings in your pocket?” When Evan didn’t answer, Jason’s gut clenched, his suspicions confirmed. “Haven’t you done enough damage there? She’s moving on with her life. She doesn’t need you stirring things up again.”

“I didn’t plan what happened. It just did.”

Impulsive behavior from his plan-everything-to-death brother? Jason didn’t like the sound of that. It could only lead to Ming getting hurt again.

“What exactly happened?”

“Lily and I met for a drink a couple months ago.”

“You and Lily?” He almost laughed at the odd pairing. While Evan and Ming had been perfectly compatible, Evan and Lily were total opposites. Then he sobered. “Just the once?”

“A few times.” Evan rubbed his face, bringing Jason’s attention to the dark shadows beneath his eyes. His brother looked exhausted. And low. “A lot.”

“Have you thought about what you’re doing?” When it came to picking sides, Jason would choose Ming every time. In some ways, she was more like family to him than Evan. Jason had certainly shared more of himself with her. “Don’t you think Ming will be upset if she finds out you and her sister are dating?”

Before Evan could answer, Jason’s cell began to ring. With Ming’s heart in danger and his brother in his crosshairs, Jason wouldn’t have allowed himself to be distracted if anyone else on the planet was calling. But this was Ming’s ringtone.

“We’ll talk more about this later,” he told his brother, and answered the call as he exited. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Lily.” There was no mistaking the cry for help in Ming’s voice.

Jason’s annoyance with his brother flared anew. Had Ming found out what was going on? “What about her?”

“She’s moving to Portland. What am I going to do without her?”

What a relief. Ming didn’t yet know that her sister was dating Evan, and if Lily moved to Portland then her relationship with her sister’s ex-fiancé would have to end.

“You still have me.” He’d intended to make his tone light, but on the heels of his conversation with his brother moments before, his declaration came out like a pledge. “Do you want to catch a drink and talk about it? We could continue our earlier conversation.”