Lowly, she said, “I might have agreed to marriage, but I didnotagree to cleanin’ up puke. That’s all you.” She squeezed my hips before sidestepping me and striding straight toward June, careful to avoid the mess on the floor.
“Wow, that’s a lot of brown, little girl. This is an important life lesson I’ve been on the receivin’ end of many times—just because youcanhave that many cupcakes doesn’t mean you should.”
“Okay…” June said, her voice little more than a wobbly croak.
With a wrinkled nose, Nat pulled the soiled shirt off June and tossed it behind her toward me, and I caught it on reflex. “C’mon, greedy girl. Let’s get you cleaned up while Uncle Asher deals with all this.”
I laughed out a groan before snapping into action. First order of business—making sure Owen was doing okay outside on hisown. He was bouncing, babbling away as he sucked on his fingers and glanced around at the wonder that was outside.
Thank God for small miracles, because the last thing I needed was him—who was wilier than a fox and would no doubt paint the walls and himself in this vomit if I weren’t careful—near while I handled cleanup.
I didn’t know what I’d do if Nat weren’t here to help. If I had to do this by myself. How I could possibly manage cleaning up June, while at the same time watching Owen, while at the same time doing laundry and mopping the floor.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about it, because Natwasthere and she’d agreed to stay. For now, anyway.
CHAPTER TWELVE
NAT
After a low-key afternoon and evening—thanksto June’s impromptu barf-fest—both kids were tucked in early and already snoozing, so I settled in next to Asher on the couch, dropping my feet in his lap without hesitation. Or, at least initially without hesitation. It was something I’d done hundreds of times before, but it felt different now. For one thing, I was, apparently, going to be his wife.
Hiswife. A designation I honestly thought I’d never give myself regarding anyone.
For another thing, there’d been that moment in the kitchen when we’d been standing so close together. He’d looked at me like he’d never looked at me before, his breath a whisper across my lips and a hunger in his eyes I’d been on the receiving end of plenty of times from other men, but never from Asher. I was certain if June hadn’t walked in at that very moment and puked her guts out, Asher would have kissed me.
Worse, I would have let him.
He rested one of his hands on my ankle, his thumb brushing a mindless path along the arch of my foot, as he searched through Netflix for something to watch. “Thanks for tag-teamin’with me today.” He glanced over at me before returning his attention back to the screen and the list of trending shows.
I shrugged. “Kind of what I agreed to, right? But you can’t go back on your promise—I don’t have to deal with puke, ever.”
“Technically, I never actually agreed to that. You just bossed me around like you usually do and assumed I wouldn’t object.”
“Well, I’m gonna tell you one thing—if youdoobject, I don’t care how fake this marriage is, the rock I wear better be one-hundred-percent real.”
He laughed, a low, throaty sound that shot straight to my belly…and then lower still. What thehellwas going on?
“For one thing, you wouldn’t even want a huge rock,” he said. “I’m pretty sure you’d just as soon wear a rubber band tied around your finger as you would a two-carat diamond on a platinum band.”
“Oh, shut up. You don’t know my life.”
This time, his laugh was louder, and I kicked him lightly while shushing him. “If you wake them up with your obnoxious guffaws, you’re on your own with kid duty, regardless if both of them are up. Meanwhile, I’ll lounge out here, bingein’Supernaturaland droolin’ over the gorgeous and mysterious Winchester brothers while you drown in cries.”
“You’d do that to me?”
“In a heartbeat,” I said, without hesitation.
He dug his thumb into the arch of my foot, no doubt an attempt at retaliation, but the move only made me groan in pleasure-pain as I tipped my head back and closed my eyes.
“If you’re tryin’ to punish me, you’re goin’ about it all wrong,” I murmured, slipping my other foot over to get some attention, too.
Eventually, after long moments of silence, I lifted my head, only to find his gaze already locked on me, his eyes a darker shade than usual, now more like aged whiskey.
I bit my lip. “What was the other thing?”
“What?” he asked, his voice throaty and low, a sound that shot straight between my thighs.
GoodLord, had it really been that long since I’d had sex? Apparently.
