The Billionaire's Legacy. Reese Ryan

course, you’d side with him. Traitor.

      Sloane rubbed her belly, hoping to calm the little one.

      Benji’s jaw tensed. “We’re not either of them.”

      If he said that a few more times, she’d suggest he put it on a T-shirt. But as things stood, she didn’t want to aggravate him any more than she already had.

      “No, we’re not. They were in long-term relationships, but still couldn’t make their shotgun weddings work. We had a one-night stand, Benj. A really incredible one, but still—”

      “Then why not just keep doing it?” He winced and swiped a hand across his forehead. “I wasn’t talking about sex...necessarily. I just meant being together. The night we spent together, it wasn’t just about sex, not for me, at least.”

      “Not for me, either.” She smiled sweetly. Or at least as sweetly as she could manage while baby boy played trampoline with her bladder and kicked underneath her ribs. “But one night of great sex and reminiscing over the past does not a marriage make. And I really do like you, Benji. Too much to watch our friendship turn into a strained, bitter relationship that’ll make us and the twins miserable.”

      Sloane sighed, her heart twisting at the pained look on Benji’s face.

      He slipped his phone back in his pocket without sending the message to Cole and scrubbed a hand down his face. “You’re sure about this?”

      “I’m positive. Thanks for the offer, Benj, but if I ever get married again, it’ll be for one reason and one reason only—that we’re both head over heels in love.”

       Three

      Benji drove Sloane’s car, the silence stretching between them. She’d pretended to be upbeat, like everything would be okay, until they’d sent her to the cashier’s desk once she’d been released by the doctor.

      The stress and embarrassment she felt were obvious when they’d asked how she’d pay her insurance co-pay. She’d almost whispered the words, “Bill me.”