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Title: Baby Steps

Author: Gemma Johns

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: 03/07/2023

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Female/Female

Length: 63800

Genre: Contemporary, contemporary, lesbian, sexual discovery, surrogacy, children, Australia, fake romance

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Fiercely independent Belle Andrews can’t quite believe where her life has ended up. Belle and Tash always thought they’d have three children, but after nineteen years and two children together, Tash walked out on her and Belle doesn’t want her heart broken ever again.

Now, two years later, they’ve established a positive co-parenting relationship, and having moved on with their lives, both agree they have no need for the embryos they created together.

Georgia has been trying, unsuccessfully, to get pregnant for many years now. She’s about to give up trying and move on. Her doctor told her that her only hope now is a donor embryo.

Belle expects her embryos are the perfect solution, but she soon learns Australian legislation mandates she can only donate to someone she’s in a relationship with.

Belle might have given up on love, but can she pretend to be in love to give someone their dream? And can Georgia pretend to be in a relationship with a woman to get the end result she’s always dreamt of?

Baby Steps
Gemma Johns © 2023
All Rights Reserved

“I thought Tash had the girls tonight?” Nikki asked quietly so that Cora and Ada wouldn’t hear her.

Belle shook her head. “We did a swap. She had something on tonight, probably with her new girlfriend.” Belle knew she was reinforcing what her best friend Nikki already knew—Belle had well and truly moved on from her nineteen-year relationship.

“She’s really got a new girl?”

Belle rolled her eyes. “Emily, I think she said. I don’t know. It surprised me, because she was so full on with Amanda. I thought they were it. But five minutes after their split, there was a bunch of dates with random women, and now there’s Emily. I really don’t care; it’s none of my business, except for the girls.”

Nikki instinctively looked toward the other room, where Belle’s daughters were going crazy, running and jumping. “What do you mean, except for the girls?”

“You know.” Belle followed Nikki’s gaze. “As long as they’re okay, constantly meeting new women in their other mum’s life. Must be hard.”

“Well, it’s not really constant. Hopefully she’ll stay with this one. She was with Amanda for, what? Two years?”

Belle nodded. “Depends who you listen to, but about that. But that’s half of Ada’s life. It just feels like a lot of change. Anyway, it’s irrelevant to me, and leaves me to date whomever I want.”

Nikki sarcastically stated, “Which you really take advantage of.”

The truth was, Belle had no real desire to date, and although she and Tash had split up over two years ago now, Belle had spent her time focusing on the children. She couldn’t say that Tash didn’t focus on the girls, though. Belle and Tash were fortunate that they managed to co-parent so well together, with very little tension between the two of them. Belle would be lying to say it had always been easy. In the early days, her heart broke every time she dropped the children to Tash. Seeing Tash and Amanda playing happy families just months after her relationship with Tash had ended nearly destroyed her. But, with time and perspective, Belle felt more and more comfortable and sometimes found herself even confiding in Tash at the end of a hard day.

Nikki picked up her plate and empty coffee mug and walked to the sink. “I was going to suggest a movie tonight, because I thought you were footloose and fancy free.”

“Why don’t we watch a movie on Netflix?” Belle asked, and Nikki screwed up her face.

“I suppose. Chances are I’ve seen it.”

Belle knew it was true. Nikki practically lived at the cinema.

NineStar Press | Books2Read

Gemma Johns has always loved writing and wanted to write a novel since she first discovered how much she loved reading them. Her older sister told her she needed to ‘live a little’ before she wrote a novel. Years later, Gemma has now lived a lot, so finally decided to put pen to paper. Writing fiction is a part time gig for her, and she has a full time job in academia. Gemma lives in Australia with her wife and their five children. You can find Gemma on Facebook.