My Best Friend's Baby

MY BEST FRIEND'S BABY

by

Lisa Plumley

Smashwords Edition

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previously published by Kensington Publishing

Rock-A-Bye, My Baby

No way! Chloe Carmichael vowed long ago to marry only for love. The fact that she's unexpectedly expecting doesn't change a thing. Especially since the Daddy-to-be is her best pal, Nick Steadman—and he can't actually remember their fabulous-but-fleeting night of passion. Only when her delicate condition becomes obvious does Chloe tell Nick the truth. Well, sort of...

How could a sensible female like Chloe have gotten mixed up with a love 'em and leave 'em Marine named Bruno? Nick is determined to track down the guy and make him marry Chloe. After all, the least a friend can do is see that a great gal like Chloe lives happily ever after. Heck, if she wasn't so crazy about the oddly elusive Bruno, Nick might even be tempted to turn his best friend into his bride!

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Copyright © 2012 by Lisa Plumley

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, then please respect the hard work of this author by purchasing your own copy. Thank you!

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USA TODAY best-selling author Lisa Plumley has delighted readers worldwide with more than three dozen popular novels. Her work has been translated into multiple languages and editions, and includes contemporary romances, western historical romances, paranormal romances, and a variety of stories in romance anthologies. Her fresh, funny style has been likened to such reader favorites as Rachel Gibson, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, LaVyrle Spencer, and Jennifer Crusie, but her unique characterization is all her own.

To sign up for new-book reminder e-mails, read first-chapter excerpts, catch sneak previews of upcoming books, and more, visit www.lisaplumley.com today.

Lisa also writes cozy mysteries as Colette London. Her Chocolate Whisperer series (featuring chocolate expert—and amateur sleuth!—Hayden Mundy Moore) includes Criminal Confections, Dangerously Dark, The Semi-Sweet Hereafter, Dead and Ganache, and The Peppermint Mocha Murder and is available now from Kensington Books. Visit www.colettelondon.com today to find fantastic chocolate recipes, sign up for new-book reminder e-mails, and catch sneak previews of upcoming books in the Chocolate Whisperer series.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One

Note from the Author

Email Reminders

What People Are Saying...

Series Books by Lisa Plumley

Complete Book List: Lisa Plumley

Cozy Mysteries by Lisa Plumley (writing as Colette London)

Complete Book List: Colette London

MY BEST FRIEND'S BABY

by

Lisa Plumley

Chapter One

Saturday morning, Chloe Carmichal woke up with a naked man in her bed.

Of course, she was naked too, but that wasn't the point. The important thing was, this wasn't just any old sunstruck, Arizona spring morning, and the man asleep beside her wasn't just any old golden-haired, buffed-up guy. This was the morning after the night she'd never forget, and the fella snoring with his legs tangled around hers and his arm slung around her waist was Nick.

Her best friend in the whole world.

Maybe now he'd realize how perfect they were for each other. Three years she'd spent living next door to him, three companionable, let's-be-pals, excruciatingly platonic years. Last night everything had changed.

Oh, boy, how it had changed. Feeling giddy, Chloe snuggled closer to Nick's warmth and fought the urge to wake him up just to tell him how happy she was. That wouldn't be fair, not after the late night they'd spent together. He deserved at least another ten minutes' sleep.

Maybe five.

Nick snuffled and turned over. His arm whipped from her waist and sailed toward her head like a sleepy stealth missile. Chloe ducked just as it smacked into her pillow. Whew. She never knew sleeping with a guy could be so dangerous.

Too excited to sleep anymore, she used his movement for cover and slipped out of bed to go freshen up. Maybe she'd even put together a little breakfast à deux. After last night, they could both do with a recharge.

Her feet hit the floor. Behind her the covers rustled and Nick gave a soft muffled moan before going back to sleep, and Chloe's heart skipped a little higher. Nick was in her bed!

Nick was with her.

Oh, sure, she and Nick had never shared more than a hug before last night. And yeah, he did happen to be just slightly on the rebound from what'shername, the mean, commitment-hungry brunette he'd been dating until yesterday. But, Chloe told herself as she emerged from the bathroom and pattered down the hall, that was all in the past. From now on things would be different. Way different. Last night he'd seen another side to her, and things could never go back to the way they were before.

Never go back. In the kitchen, the thought of losing all the closeness she and Nick had shared over the years made her pause. Could their friendship survive becoming lovers? What if they'd ruined everything? What if they broke up?

What if she was jumping to conclusions? We can do this, she told herself. We'll be a match made in heaven. So what if they were sort of an unlikely combination? So were her clothes most of the time, and they still managed to work okay.

Chloe glanced down at herself, taking in the purple polka-dotted boxer shorts she usually slept in, the bright orange bra she'd substituted for her T-shirt in the name of maximum sexiness, and the way her fingers were shaking, and tried to gather her courage. It was just Nick, for Pete's sake. Her Nick. There was nothing to worry about.

Right. Before she could angst any further, she got busy putting together breakfast—a pot of coffee, a box of chocolate donuts, and a bowl of dried banana chips. Okay, so it wasn't exactly health food, but it would have to do for now. Juggling the wicker basket she'd put everything into, Chloe stopped at the threshold of her bedroom and warily looked in.

Sunlight rushed in between the slats of her bedroom's white window shutters and brightened the midnight blue walls, streaking glimmers of gold across plants and pictures and the man sprawled across her bed. Discarded clothes—his and hers—trailed across the snowy carpet, making a path to the arched foot of her big wooden sleigh bed. Chloe tiptoed to it and set the breakfast basket on the bureau beside it, unable to wait any longer. It was time for Nick to wake up ... and she was just the woman to make sure he did it in the nicest possible way.

A plaintive meow came from beside the bed. Moe, her fat orange tabby, arched against the footboard and meowed louder, the sound filled with feline reproach at not being first as usual on Chloe's morning agenda. Shhh, she told the cat, giving him a fond rub between the ears. Just give me this one morning, and it's Fancy Feast for a week. I swear.

Praying for cooperation, Chloe lifted the bed covers and slid beneath them. Warmth surrounded her. Geez, Nick's body heat could power a whole city if they could find a way to harness it. She ought to ask him about that for his next invention. Smiling in the dark, Chloe took her own turn at inventiveness, sliding her palm over his hairy shin, his knee, his hard, muscular thigh ... a game of blind man's bluff for grownups. He stirred and moaned, encouraging her without words to roam higher. She did.

Nick's fingers wandered to the nape of her neck, stroking and teasing, and the feel of his hand against her skin called forth a million memories from last night. With a sigh, Chloe crawled higher. Morning breath be damned. She wanted to kiss the man she loved.

She raised the covers and poked her head out. Nick's linebacker-sized shoulders, tousled honey-streaked hair, and adorably rumpled face filled her vision. Slowly, groggily, he opened his eyes and blinked his baby-blues in her direction.

Her heart softened. Some part of her was obviously a sucker for the little-boy-lost look. If possible, she felt even more in love with him than before. Nick blinked again, and Chloe realized it wasn't tenderness that made him look like that—it was poor eyesight. His natty wire rims were still lying on the bedside table where he'd left them last night.

Nick? she whispered, smoothing her hand across his chest. Good morning.

His mouth opened. He blinked harder. Chloe?

The raspy, intimate sound of his voice thrilled her. Mmmm hmmm, it's Chloe. She twirled her fingertips in a heated whorl of his chest hair and smiled in a way she hoped looked worldly and sophisticated. Good morning ... darling.

Aaack! Nick shot upward, his eyes widening. His head cracked into her sleigh bed.

Oh! She reached for him, crooning whatever comforting things came to mind as she tried to examine him for headboard-induced injuries. Yanking his head out of reach, grimacing at the movement, he scrambled higher onto the pillows. Obviously, Nick wasn't an early riser.

Or at least his whole body wasn't. She wouldn't have guessed that about him.

Are you all right? How could she have known he'd wake up so grumpy? She'd never slept with him before.

Frowning, he pushed himself up on his elbows, and her gaze drifted to his bare chest and stomach. Grumpy or not, Nick did keep a surprisingly attention-getting body hidden beneath that stupid white lab coat he was always wearing. Who'd have guessed?

He saw her ogling and jerked the sheets higher. What was the matter with him? Why, a person would think he hadn't ... that they hadn't ...

Oh, God.

His expression matched her thoughts.

What the hell are you doing here? Nick blinked harder. His mouth straightened, then gaped open again as Chloe crawled all the way out of the covers and sat up. His gaze went straight to her sheer orange bra. You—you—you're not even dressed!

He glanced around him, looking increasingly incredulous. Is this your bedroom?

Chloe handed him his eyeglasses.

"It is your bedroom!"

She wouldn't have thought things could get worse—until they did. Shock made her nipples perk tight against her wispy bra, drawing his attention in the only way she had absolutely no control over. Feeling her face heat, Chloe drew up her knees and wrapped her arms around them.

Nick's gaze dropped to her snug purple-dotted silk boxers, and something akin to pain flashed across his face. Aww, hell.

This time she recognized that gruffness in his tone for what it was—the remnants of a massive hangover from the Kahlúa, coffee, and sympathy she'd served him last night.

Tell me this isn't what it looks like, Chloe.

Hurt stole her breath. His pleading glance finished her off. He didn't remember.

Tell me I didn't take advantage of you last night, Nick went on. His hand fisted in the sheets, but she imagined it caressing her cheek instead, pretended he'd smile and tell her he'd been kidding. Just a little morning-after humor, ha ha.

I— Her voice cracked and faltered. She frowned briefly and tried again. Well, I, uhh—

He must've sensed something was wrong, because he stopped her with a touch and curled his fingers beneath her chin. He tilted her face upward, looking at her carefully with that analytical scientist's expression of his. It wasn't a cheek caress, but it was near enough to tenderness that Chloe closed her eyes to savor it.

I couldn't stand it if I thought I'd hurt you, Nick said. I know how it feels to be used, remember?

She remembered, all right. He meant what'shername. The one who'd decided her ticking biological clock couldn't handle Nick Steadman standard time any longer. The one who'd broken his heart and sent him straight to Chloe's door for solace.

Chloe?

There was nothing else to do. She loved him too much to tell him a truth he so obviously didn't want to hear. So she opened her eyes and gave him a choked little laugh.

Who, me? And you? She rolled her eyes at the notion. Nah, don't flatter yourself, genius. Nothing happened here last night except too much Kahlúa, too much talking, and way too much sympathy. She put her hand to his forehead and tried out a wobbly-feeling smile. I think it's gone to your head.

But—

Your virtue's safe with me. Chloe levered herself off the mattress and inadvertently treated him to a full-on cleavage shot. Geez. Maybe he'd think she always dressed this way to sleep.

Your virtue's safe, but your body, she added to distract him, ... well, that's another story.

She bounced off the bed and shrugged into the lab coat he'd left on her bedroom doorknob last night, giving herself double bonus points for hiding the tears in her eyes and getting herself covered up all at the same time.

My body?

Yeah—your hangover. Sorry about that.

The bed creaked. Chloe, busy swabbing surreptitiously at her burning eyelids, didn't dare look to see what Nick was doing.

It's not your fault. His voice was muted, hoarse with hangover mouth and leftover sleepiness. I brought it all on myself. I knew me and—

What'shername?

—weren't headed in the same direction. I wanted hot sex—

I'm not listening, she sang out, putting her hands over her ears.

Yes, you are. I see your pinkies lifting. And anyway, you must've heard worse last night.

You don't remember? Her