Snake (a Stepbrother Romance)(12)

Mila’s eyes widened and I saw her swallow. “Okay,” she said, with slightly less enthusiasm than before.

“And then there’s the matter of any risky behaviours to the baby.”

“What do you mean? I’m no adrenaline junkie,” Mila scoffed, her eyes meeting mine for a second.

Monique frowned and continued. “You’ll need to stay here in town, no traveling. You can go into the city or whatever, but no plane travel. If something happens, you have to be close. Also, no caffeine, no alcohol, and no sugar. And, finally, no sex.”

“What?” Mila and I said at the same time. Mila looked dazed.

I’d been writing furiously, trying to keep up with all of Monique’s requirements, but that last one shocked me and I put the pen down. It seemed a little over the top.

“It would be different if you were married,” Monique said, “but, given that you’re not, and that you don’t have a steady boyfriend, I think it would be best if you refrained from intercourse or other similar things, like oral sex, until after the baby is born.”

I clenched my jaw and shut my eyes as Monique’s words about Mila’s sex life - oral sex - took hold of me.

Did she enjoy oral?

I didn’t need to think of Mila’s antics in the bedroom, especially while my wife was sitting right there, and tried desperately not to think of Mila naked, legs spread wide as an unknown partner lapped at her pussy.

Colour rose on Mila’s cheeks and then she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Anything else?” she asked.

Monique thought. “That’s basically it for the pregnancy. We’ll have to talk about a separate contract for after the baby is born, about breastfeeding, what you’ll call the child, what she or he will call you, et cetera. The lawyers will probably have some opinions about how to structure that—”

“Lawyers?” Mila and I both said again at the same time. We looked at each other.

“Well, of course we’re going to get this professionally written up,” Monique said as if we were both dumb as stones. “You can’t expect that we would just take each other on our word. I called a lawyer friend of mine this morning, and she’s agreed to draft our contracts pro bono if we were to go ahead. She owes me a favour.”

I was torn. I thought Monique was asking an awful lot from a woman who had just agreed to carry our child in her body for nine months, but on the other hand, Monique was right; this was a big deal, and lots of things could go wrong along the way. The last thing I wanted to happen was for Mila to eat a cheeseburger and go into early labour and have Monique blame it on her diet. Even though I thought her rules were excessive, I also knew that it was better for both Mila and me if we let Monique drive this bus.

Mila seemed to agree. She thought for a moment, picking at the crust of her sandwich with her fingernail. Then she looked up at Monique’s desperate eyes. “I agree to everything,” she said. “I’ll do it.”

“You don’t have to pay rent,” I blurted out. Both women looked at me.

“While you’re pregnant and as long as you stay after. Surrogates get paid, a ton of money, I think, and we can’t afford to do that. But we can give you a free place to live, which is kind of like getting paid, and of course we’ll cover all of your medical expenses.” How we were going to do that, I didn’t know, but I was sure there was some way. I’d take on more contracts… work in the evenings. Anything. It was only fair.

Monique took the paper from me and added a few more things that I had forgotten. I saw her write the words “absolutely no sex” and underline them twice. I would need to remind Monique that Mila was making a big sacrifice here, but for now, everyone seemed happy.

We had turned a corner and we were on our way, the three of us.





7





Mila





It took a few weeks to get my new apartment above Devan and Monique’s garage ready, but when it was all cleaned up, it was a dream. I was a little bummed to not have a kitchen or a bathroom handy, but the house was just a few steps from the garage, so it wasn’t so bad.

When I had left their place weeks ago, the day we’d written up the tentative agreement, I wasn’t so sure about the arrangement. I was trying to be understanding of Monique’s position, but seriously. No good food, no sex, no traveling – it felt a little like I was being sequestered for a murder trial. But I didn’t really have much of a choice – I couldn’t let them down now, especially when Devan had said I didn’t need to pay rent, and I’d given them both so much hope.

Plus, I’d be able to clear my debts much faster this way. Honestly, the arrangement was a win-win for everyone, and if I needed to miss hamburgers and well, mediocre sex from Mark, for the next nine months, then I could do that.