With: Mariah Ankenmen

***Excerpt***
What did this all mean? Her heart
raced, panic gripping her. She didn’t regret last night. Not one single second
of it, but she had no idea what to do now.
She’d never had a one-night stand.
Which was kind of what they’d agreed this was, right? Sating a curiosity.
Scratching an itch. It wasn’t like either of them planned to turn their
friendship into a relationship. So where did that leave them this morning?
Did one-time sex only count at
night or was it like a twenty-four-hour kind of deal? Did she stay and have
breakfast? Run out claiming an important work meeting?
You
can’t say that, dummy; he knows you.
That was the problem. They knew
each other so well. She usually knew what to do when she crashed over at Finn’s
place after a night of trivia or a movie marathon. They’d hit up Dozens for
Novo coffee and a plate of Here’s Your Aspen scrambled eggs, then walk down 16th
Street Mall and people watch. But she’d always kept her clothes on those nights
and slept on the couch, not in bed with him.
Could she sit across a busy
breakfast diner chatting away with him now that she knew when he blew on his
hot coffee, it was with the exact same gentle breath that rose goose bumps on
her naked flesh just last night?
“Morning.” His voice rumbled in her
ear as he nudged the tip of his nose along her temple, leaving a soft kiss on
her cheek. “Sleep okay?”
She turned to face him. Oh crap, it
hadn’t just been the booze. He was even sexier this morning than he’d been last
night. Couldn’t he have horrifying bed head or something? A small flaw for her
to make fun of to get this strange panic out of her chest?
“Yup. You?”
The left side of his lips curled up
in a grin. “Best sleep I’ve had in a long time.”
Her too, oddly enough. She supposed
good sex did that to a person. No. Not good sex—phenomenal sex.
“Sooooo, this is good. Fine.
Totally cool,” she said.
His smile faltered.
“I mean it’s, you know, not weird.”
“Okay.”
She pushed her hair away from her
face, fingers tugging on the strands. “’Cause we were wondering if it was going
to be weird and, you know. It’s not.”
He raised one eyebrow. “Sure.”
“Totally not weird.” Tug.
The second eyebrow joined the
first. “Right.”
“Not weird at all.” Tug, tug, tug.
He snorted. “Yeah, I’d be more
convinced if you weren’t commenting on how not
weird it is. That’s weird, Pru.
And you’re tugging on your hair.”
Crap. The problem with sleeping
with someone who knew you so well was you couldn’t hide anything from them.
Like an encroaching panic attack from the fact that she slept with her best friend.
“How’s that freak-out going in
there?” He reached out to poke at her forehead.
She swatted his finger away,
scowling. “It’s going just fine, thank you.”
“Gonna run out on me or wanna grab
breakfast?”
And there it was. He was offering
her their agreement. One night of exploration and then everything back to
normal. A wave of relief crashed over her.
They hadn’t ruined anything. She
didn’t need to figure out what this meant or what she should do next. They were
just Finn and Pru. Best buds, grabbing breakfast after a sleepover. Different
from their usual sleepovers—naughtier, oh so naughtier. But he wasn’t kicking
her out or asking for more.
They were good.
They were them.
“If you think I’m running anywhere
before I get some coffee and food in me, you’re a bonehead.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
She laughed, starting to rise, but
then the sheets slid against her skin, the sensual action reminding her of her
lack of clothing. “Um, could you…?”
His eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“Yes, you perv! Close your eyes.”
“Pru, I’ve seen it all. Seen it,
touched it, tasted it—”
She smashed a hand over his mouth
to stop the outrageous words from escaping. Her cheeks burned, knowing
everything he said was true, but unable to tamp down the embarrassment of it
all in the light of day. Her best friend now had intimate knowledge of her. It
was… Okay fine, it was freakin’ weird.
THE BEST FRIEND PROBLEM

Prudence Carlson has been lucky in life. A fulfilling wedding-planning business run with her girlfriends in Colorado, plus the best guy friend ever in her firefighter bestie Finn. All that’s missing from it is a baby. Luckily, it’s the twenty-first century—Pru can take matters into her own hands. She doesn’t need to find true love to create the future love of her life.
Except all this talk of babies and insemination and...Pru and Finn cross a line they never expected to. Sure, one night of passion won’t change their close friendship. Until Pru goes in for a fertility check-up to find… she’s already pregnant.
As best friends, Pru and Finn have survived college, new jobs, and bad breakups, but can they survive crib shopping, birth classes, and late-night cravings? Especially when Finn has never considered himself even remotely Daddy material?
Thanks for having me on today!
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