Em lay with her head on David’s chest as it rose and fell in line with his breathing. Her fingers absentmindedly played with the light dusting of hair across his chest. She was so lucky to have him, her wonderful, supportive, loving husband. An amazing man who’d make such a great dad. Bad luck for him he’d fallen in love with the wrong woman.

Let’s hope he sticks around.

Her stomach churned and her throat constricted. She couldn’t lose him too. She pushed the thoughts away because they were too horrific to contemplate.

Em sighed. “I guess we’d better start getting dinner ready.”

“By we, you mean me, right?”

She chuckled. “I can at least help by peeling the veg.”

David pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Why don’t you have a long soak in the bath and I’ll prep the veg.”

She lifted her head. “Is that your subtle way of telling me I stink?”

He laughed. “Hon, if that were true, I wouldn’t have spent so long with my head between your legs.”

She grinned, his teasing momentarily chasing away her dark thoughts. “And you’re so good at it, baby.”

“Play your cards right and you might get a replay later.” He flung back the covers and climbed out of bed. Em’s eyes grazed him from top to toe.

“You’ve got such a great arse.”

David turned around and raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

She propped up her head with her hand. “Yeah. It’s biteable.”

He got back on the bed and crawled across to her on all fours. He pulled her bottom lip into his mouth, his teeth grazing the delicate flesh. “I’m not sure that’s a word, but it sounds intriguing.”

“Later, lover.”

David chuckled and got to his feet once more. He slipped on a pair of jeans—commando no less—and tugged a white T-shirt over his head. “I’ll start running your bath.” He left the bedroom, leaving her alone.

Em knitted her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling. She still had a lot to be thankful for, despite the crushing news from earlier today. She’d been perfectly content before they’d started trying for a baby. It would be nice to get back to having sex because they wanted to, rather than just because her temperature had gone up a notch.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and pinched her nose between her thumb and forefinger. Taking a deep breath, she got to her feet and trudged into the bathroom. God bless David – he’d had the foresight to add bath salts and bubble bath. He’d even dimmed the lights and turned on the towel heater. Over the years, she’d often wondered how she’d managed to snare such a thoughtful bloke. They were so different. Maybe that’s why their relationship worked so well.

After testing the water temperature, she lowered herself into the bubbles. Propping a towel behind her head, she closed her eyes and allowed the shittiness of the day to wash away. She’d give it some time and then look into adoption. There was more to being a mother than carrying a baby for nine months. It didn’t matter whose egg and sperm created the child, it was how they were brought up, in a loving and supportive home. If she knew one thing, it was that she and David would be great parents – not perfect parents by any stretch of the imagination, but they had so much love to give.

She stayed in the bath long enough to wrinkle her skin, then quickly dried off and dressed. She applied enough makeup to keep Tal from asking too many questions. If Em greeted her best friend au naturelle, Tally would definitely know something was up. Em needed to share the devastating news when she was ready, not when Tally guessed something was wrong and started pressing her for details.

When she got to the kitchen, she hard-stopped, and then burst out laughing. David was preparing dinner wearing nothing but an apron, his firmly muscled arse on display for all to see. Thankfully, he’d had the foresight to close the blinds in case any passers-by took a cheeky peek inside.

“You crazy man,” she said.

He glanced over his shoulder and grinned. “Just thought, you know, seeing as you like my peachy arse and all, I’d give you a free show.”

Em strolled around the kitchen table and pinched his left buttock. “Please tell me you’re getting dressed before Tal and Cash arrive.”

He gave her a crooked grin. “Really? Are you saying this isn’t suitable attire for the evening?”

She reached up for a kiss. “You’re so good for me, you know that?”

His face grew serious. “You and me, Em, we’re solid. Once we’ve had time to absorb today’s news, we’ll figure out our next steps. Okay?”

“I hear you.” She nudged him out of the way and picked up the potato peeler. “Now, go put your clothes back on and I’ll finish up here.”

David removed the apron and pulled on the jeans and T-shirt he’d chucked on the kitchen table.

The doorbell rang just as Em put the potatoes on to boil. She wiped her hands on a towel and went to answer it. After inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly, Em painted a wide smile on her face, then flung open the door.

“Hey, babes,” she said, giving Tally an enormous hug. When they broke apart, Tally rubbed her hands together.

“It’s freezing, and not even November yet.”

“Emmalee,” Cash said. He pecked her on the cheek and handed over a bottle of red wine. “Hope this goes with what you’re cooking.”

Em grinned, determined her friends wouldn’t see her inner turmoil, not tonight at least. “You know me, Cash. If it’s wine, it goes.”

He chuckled and closed the door behind him. “You locked David in the kitchen again?”

She gave him the middle finger as she walked away. Cash’s laughter followed her down the hallway. She’d had a difficult journey with her best friend’s husband, swaying between hating his guts and just about tolerating him, yet over the past eleven years they’d become close, almost sibling like, if their mutual teasing was anything to go by. Em had finally admitted Cash wasn’t all bad. After spending an inordinate amount of time around a couple so in love, it was impossible for her to loathe half of the whole.

Cash and David began talking football, which resulted in Tally and Em leaving them to it and escaping into the living room. She poured them both a glass of wine from the bottle Cash had given her.

“How are my beautiful godchildren?” Em asked, trying her best to suppress a painful wince. It wasn’t Tally’s fault Em would never be able to have children of her own.

Tally groaned. “Growing up too fast. Darcey asked me to buy her a mobile phone the other day. She’s nine for Christ’s sake. Nine.”

“It’s not like in our day, babes,” Em said. “The kids of today are different.”

“You can say that again,” Tally grumbled. “I had hoped to keep her as my baby for a little while longer though.”

“Are you going to get her a phone?” Em said with a frown.

“Good God, no,” Tally said. “I wasn’t exactly keen, but Cash was adamant that it was a big, fat no. If it was up to him, he’d keep her locked up until she was thirty. Suffice to say, we’ve had the silent treatment for two days now.” Her head fell against the back of the sofa. “I’ve ended up with a nine-year-old teenager.”

Em laughed. “Is that a grey hair I see?”

Tally tugged at her long, chestnut locks. “Hairs, more like. As in plural. By the time she’s a teenager, I’ll be completely white.”

Em stared out of the window. It had begun to rain, and she watched as huge drops splattered against the window pane. I’d take the white hair in exchange for a uterus that wasn’t fucking worthless.

“You look tired. Something else, too. Sad or sombre, maybe. Is everything okay?”

Em looked over at Tally and blinked. That girl could read Em as easily as a book in size sixteen font. She pasted on a bright smile and rolled her eyes. “Don’t be daft. I’m busy at work, that’s all. You know what this time of year is like. We barely get Halloween out of the way and then the Christmas party madness starts.”

“You work too hard.”

Em barked out a laugh. “Says the woman who juggles her time between being an award-winning author, writing a regular column for The Times, and a mother to two demanding kids. Not to mention having to deal with Cash, who’d drain anyone’s energy.”

“I heard that,” Cash said, sauntering into the living room carrying a plate of carrot and celery sticks and a hummus dip. He placed the snacks in the centre of the table and folded his tall frame in the seat next to Tally. Not yet forty, Cash could easily pass for thirty. He still had a potency about him, an “I own the room” vibe, not to mention the stunning good looks that had captivated Tally in the very beginning. In other words, the man had aged irritatingly well.

“You and I both know your wife deserves a fucking medal for putting up with you for all these years,” Em said.

Cash curved a hand around the back of Tally’s neck, the action loving and possessive at the same time. His thumb brushed just beneath her earlobe. “Aren’t you going to defend me, sweetness?”

“I think you can defend yourself just fine.” Tally’s body automatically curved towards Cash’s, like he was a magnet she was powerless to resist—and wouldn’t want to even if she could.

David walked in, swinging an empty wine glass. “I see you ran off with the alcohol,” he said, grinning in Em’s direction.

Em picked up the bottle and poured the remains into his glass. “I think we need another bottle.”

David perched on the arm of the chair. “Good thing I’ve already opened one then. Dinner in five, okay?”

Em looked across at Tally. “Thank fuck I married a man who could cook, hey, babes,” she said, jerking her head in David’s direction.

“If I left the cooking up to you, my sweet girl, we’d be ordering take out right about now.”

Em grinned. “Very true.”

David’s hand touched the back of her head, and he stroked her hair, the affectionate touch meant to soothe. A burning sensation pricked at the back of Em’s eyes. She scrambled to her feet. If a great fat tear accidentally appeared, Tally would definitely know something was up.

“Right, I’ll warm up the plates.”

David followed her into the kitchen, but when he opened his mouth, she shook her head. “Not now,” she murmured under her breath. “Tally’s already suspicious. Let’s just get through tonight, please.”

Saying nothing, David squeezed her arm. He always had known how to read her, and she loved him for it.