“Do I want a five-million-dollar home?” I ask them. “It’s so big.” They both look at me like I have two heads. “Okay, fine, it’s a third of the house I had in Phoenix but?—”
“You wanted a three-bedroom house on the ocean.” My mother cocks her hip to the side and puts her hands on her hips. “This is it.”
“I mean, it doesn’t have a pool,” I try to joke with them, “but this is high on the list.”
“Now, let’s go see the other two,” my mother urges and my father wraps his arms around my shoulders and kisses my head.
“Love you, Lexi,” he says softly, “more than life.”
“Who is the most handsome boy in the world?” I ask Jagger as he bounces down on my legs, going to blow kisses in his neck. “You.” I rub my nose against his. “You are the most handsome boy in the world.”
“You tell no lies,” Ariella says, walking into the living room, her hair fresh from the shower. “Was he good?”
“When isn’t he an angel?” I ask her as he squeals.
“Last night,” she retorts. “That was not an angel thing to do by being up every hour on the hour.” She sits with us and looks over at him. “I bet you are going to miss that when you finally move out.”
“Can I take him with me?” I ask her. “I don’t think I can live without him.”
“Did you choose which house you wanted?” she asks me. It’s been three days since we went to visit the houses and up to today the best one was the first one. “Are you still going over it in your head?”
“You know I am,” I reply as the front door opens and then a couple of seconds later slams shut.
“Oh, they’re here,” she states, getting up and walking over to the entrance, and I have a spilt second before it dawns on me she says they’re here.
“Hey.” I look up, seeing Jaxon come into the room. I smile at him and my eyes go behind him to two more blue eyes, my smile slowly fading at the same time my palms start to sweat. “Kirby,” he says his name, “you remember Lexi.”
eighteen
Kirby
I follow Jaxon into his house, my heart speeding up just a touch when I know I’m going to see her again. This afternoon, when I picked up Jaxon to go out to off-ice training, I looked for her SUV and saw she wasn’t there. My mind wondered where the fuck she was and what she was doing. But I didn’t dare ask. Then when I got here and Jaxon asked me if I wanted to come in to say hello to baby Jagger, I jumped at the chance.
“Hey,” Jaxon says, walking into the family room. He goes straight to Ariella and bends to kiss her lips, as I make it into the room and spot her in the middle of the couch. She smiles at Jaxon and then her head turns just a touch, as I watch Jagger standing on her thighs, bouncing up and down. Her smile fades as she sees me. “Kirby,” Jaxon calls my name and I look over to him, “you remember Lexi.”
I grin, then turn back to look at Lexi, who looks like she’s in the middle of the street with a car coming straight for her. “I do,” I confirm. “We met at the baby shower.” Not sure what she told them, so I play it safe, for her.
“We did.” She nods and then looks at Jagger before getting up and holding him on her hip. She’s wearing a pair of cream-colored linen baggy pants with three brown buttons down the front and a white cropped tank top that falls in the middle of her stomach, but shows off her defined abs. This is the first time I’ve seen her dressed in something that shows off her figure and I, for one, love it. “Do you want your daddy?” She smiles down at Jagger, who just gives her a gummy smile.
“Hey there, big guy,” Jaxon coos, taking him from her and kissing his cheek. “Did you have fun with Auntie Lexi?” He looks at Jagger as if he’s going to answer him. “Want to go see your uncle Kirby?” he asks him as I stand here, wanting to get closer to Lexi. “I wouldn’t want to either,” he tells him, making all of us laugh, “but he said he missed you.”
I chuckle and reach out my hands for him. He looks at me and then my hands before turning back to look at Jaxon and then back at me. “He’s not as scary as he seems.” Jaxon tries to encourage him. But he turns back and smacks Jaxon’s chest. “He seems to only like three people.” Jaxon tries to make me feel better. “Lexi is his favorite.”
She isn’t only his favorite, my mouth almost says, but I bite my tongue. “That’s only because she takes him in her bed and cuddles with him instead of letting him cry in his crib,” Ariella says.
“I’m moving out soon,” she states, shocking me but I try to not show it on my face, “and I’m not going to have any Jagger cuddles.” She rubs his back gently and he plunges toward her and she catches him laughing.
“Am I your favorite?” she asks him, blowing bubbles in his neck. This is a side of Lexi I’ve never seen before. I’ve never seen her this carefree. I’ve seen her let loose before, a little bit, but not like this. Not the way she is with Jagger, and as I stand here, I find myself jealous of a twenty-pound baby who has no teeth.
“You want something to drink?” Jaxon takes off his baseball hat and tosses it on the couch before heading into the kitchen.
“I’ll have a water,” I tell him and Ariella follows him into the kitchen.
“Fancy seeing you here,” I remark softly as I walk to Lexi, who looks up at me and tries to hide her smile.
“Well, considering I live here, it’s not that surprising,” she says, looking down at Jagger. “Be careful of this one.” She looks up at me as she whispers in his ear, “He’s very sneaky, and whatever you do, don’t fall for his dares.” I can’t help but throw my head back and laugh.
I hold up my index finger and Jagger reaches out to grip it in his fist as he moves it up and down. “I’m not as bad as she says I am.” I look at her. “She’s just mad she can’t say no to me.”
