Jeff ran a finger through the condensation on his bottle, wondering how it was possible to feel half numb and wholly horrible all at once. “The first time, because she didn’t care about ‘the whole legitimacy thing.’”
“Umm, out of curiosity, how many times did she turn you down?”
He shoved his hands through his hair. “A couple. Few maybe. Once because I asked like I was joking around. I know. Big surprise. And okay, then because I asked when she was throwing up.”
“Dude,” Connor gasped, pulling away in his chair even as he said it.
“Yeah, yeah.” Jeff waved at the air. He’d been trying to cheer her up but, yeah. He knew. “And most recently, because she thinks she can do better.”
The coffee clanked on the table as Connor threw up his hands, all what’s-this-world-coming-to? “She thinks she can do better than you? What the hell is she looking for? You’re generous, kind, almost as intelligent as I am, not quite as good-looking, but what you lack in pretty you make up in portfolio.”
Jeff let out a short laugh, but the real thing seemed harder and harder to come by these days. “Connor, no matter how you sweet-talk me, I’m not getting in bed with you again. So don’t even try.”
“Someone’s still smarting over me thinking he was Megan,” Connor responded in a deep singsong voice that really should have made Jeff’s day. “And nice dodge, but aside from the nose and hair, you’re like every woman’s idea of Mr. Right. I’m serious, man. What does she want?”
Jeff took his own drink, only the sugary concoction had turned sour on his tongue. “She wants to be in love with the guy she marries.”
Connor rocked back in his seat. And who could blame him. There wasn’t much room for outrage with a defense like that.
“She said she doesn’t love you?”
Jeff pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking about all the times Darcy had pushed him away. Walked out on him. Told him she didn’t want what he was offering. He thought of that last conversation, the way she’d looked at him with such regret in her eyes as she told him she couldn’t marry him because... “She didn’t have to.”
He cleared his throat and met Connor’s concerned stare. “Which was fine. It wasn’t like that with us.”
Connor’s brows pinched together, concern turning to calculation in a blink, as he drawled, “Oh, really?”
Jeff shifted uncomfortably. Whatever that look was, he didn’t like being on the receiving end of it. “Knock it off, Connor.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I got her pregnant. I didn’t fall in love with her. It was never about love. It was about making a family. I’m upset because it didn’t work out like I’d hoped.”
More of that look. “Sure.”
“Damn it, Connor. This isn’t like you and Megan.”
“Didn’t say it was.”
“You’re looking at me...with this infuriatingly...smug look. And it’s making me want to mess up your perfect nose.”
Totally unconcerned, Connor reached across the table, his crooked smile smug and secure as he rubbed his hand over the top of Jeff’s head.