“Missing the point, bro.” Cole chuckles. “Maybe don’t have kids.”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” I sigh as I try to figure out what I’m gonna do to entertain her.
“Shoot, me neither,” Hunter says from behind me. “I wouldn’t have a clue what to do with one.”
“Y’all are missing out,” Wade says as he flips burgers. “Best job I ever had.”
It might scare the shit out of me, but as I look at Billi, happy and content in my arms and smiling up at me, I decide this isn’tterrible.And, aside from my shitty language, Billi seems completely oblivious to my lack of baby knowledge. I can’t help but smile back at her little face.
“All right, Billi bug. Looks like it’s you and me then, yeah?” I toss the rainbow-covered bag over my shoulder and head to the grass at the side of the patio, holding on to this sweet-smelling little nugget for dear life. The last thing I need to do is drop her. I doubt I’d be welcomed back if I did.
“Ma ma ma,” she babbles just as we reach our destination, which gives us a good view of the girls playing their game.
I chuckle as I pull the blanket out of the bag with one arm and hoist her up on my hip.
“I’d want your mama too if I were you,” I mutter.
“You’re a natural!” Ivy calls from the yard as I pull something called a Montessori Wooden Farm out of the bag.
“Who knows, maybe you’re next?” Haden chuckles over the Kenny Rogers album that just started playing from Jo’s Bluetooth speaker. He’s pulling the cling wrap off a prepped salad Cassie brought.
“Fu …” I clear my throat and look at Billi as I set her down in front of me. “I mean, heck no.”
I sprawl out on my stomach in front of Billie to move her little cow and pig across the blanket, making animal noises, which she seems to find pretty funny.
“Ya ya ya,” she babbles, which I tell myself meansdo it again.She starts to giggle as I pretend the pig runs into the cow, falling over, and allow myself to laugh with her. So much so that I don’t hear the patio door moving until it closes. I look up at the sound to see Olivia holding a big plate of cupcakes covered with red, white, and blue icing, staring down at me and the baby. She looks from me to Billi, then back to me. My fucking pulse is hammering in my throat. This is the first time I’ve been this close to her since the wedding, and I didn’t expect to be affected in this way.
Olivia’s eyes are bright, and her smile looks almost genuine as Jo takes the plate of cupcakes from her. She wears a checkered baby-blue sundress that falls just off the shoulder, clings to her small waist, and falls to her mid-thigh. The look is completed with a red bandanna tied like a scarf in her copper waves that blow in the summer breeze. Olivia’s skin is glowing and her wispy bangs frame her heart-shaped face; she’s close enough that I can smell her sweet, sugary scent and see that soft dusting of freckles on the bridge of her nose. The urge to run my hands up under her dress just to feel those curvy, silky thighs is overwhelming. Fuck, she takes my breath away and she has no goddamn idea.
“Christ,” Hunter mutters under his breath with a chuckleand a look that makes me want to backhand him as Olivia takes her time saying hi to everyone and I continue to entertain Billi.
“We think he’s next,” Haden tells Liv, hiking a thumb at me when Billi starts laughing hysterically at my best piggy impression.
Olivia chokes on air, as if the idea is preposterous.
I look down at Billi staring up at me adoringly. She seems happy enough. I lean in and tickle her cheek as she giggles again.
“The fuck do they know, Billi bug?”
CHAPTER 19
Olivia
Anytime I’ve ever had to do something I dread in my life, it’s gone one of two ways. One: The opportunity to talk to said person or deal with said situation justwon’tpresent itself, and I find myself scrambling to make it happen. Or two: The opportunityoverpresents itself and I simply chicken out.
I realize I’m in the middle of option two when Asher walks into the Ashbys’ kitchen after dinner. I wait for someone,anyoneelse to follow him in, but they don’t. In fact, we’re completely and utterly alone—the air around us filled with tension—as I pour my sparkling water into a red Solo cup. Nausea washes over me briefly at the situation, and I beg myself not to gag. Pregnancy sickness mixed with nerves really is the fucking pits.
I had a whole plan before now—come straight out with it, rip the Band-Aid off. But when I walked onto the big house patio to see Asher lying in the grass—looking drop-dead gorgeous in navy cargo shorts, a gray Carhartt T-shirt that clings to him in all the right places, his worn-in New York Giants hatturned backward, and playing with Billi—the sight threw me off my game completely. The smile he was wearing was so genuine and so unlike the broody, mysterious man I’ve gotten used to. The sight hit me in ways I can’t explain.
Taking a deep breath, I turn to face him. His tan is deeper after a few weeks of summer heat and if my body wasn’t already a total slut for this man before, it is now.
“You doin’ your best to avoid me, Liv?” he asks as he cracks the top on a tall, skinny can of Corona Sunbrew and takes a sip.
“No …” I lie. My eyes drift over him as his throat works to swallow and I wonder if it’s possible that being pregnant with a man’s child makes him even more attractive. Because right now, I can barely find the strength to pull my eyes away and meet his all-consuming gray gaze. I hope our baby gets those eyes.
Holy shit.Ourbaby. I instantly start to sweat with the secret I’m harboring and blurt out the most generic question I can think of.
“Are you on call today?” I ask, noting the non-alcoholic beer choice as I take a sip of my bubbly water, trying to act cool when I’m in fact sweating like a pig.
