CHAPTER 7 Ainsley Riggs
Birdie
I can’t help when my eyes edge over to the speedometer in his car.
He’s going sixty-two. Sixty-two! The speed limit here is forty-five.
There is literally no reason he needs to be weaving in and out of traffic and changing lanes every two seconds to get one car ahead.
We’re just out on a leisurely drive to take the baby to a park, and he’s driving like his wife’s going into labor and he’s going to miss the birth or something.
But I refuse to be a backseat driver, especially when he seems to be easily angered by my words.
I can’t imagine why he’s angry, but it seems like he keeps storming out of the room like a child whenever I’m around.
Either that or he uses sarcasm as a shield.
I’m getting the sense he doesn’t really know how to ask for help, but I’m also trying to get him to see that he’s perfectly capable of all the things he thinks he can’t do.
It’s a weird line to straddle, and we’re all just doing our best. Me included.
The tires screech as he comes to a stop on the side of the road by the park, and I walk around to the driver’s side to get the baby out of the back of the car, where he’s happily cooing in his car carrier.
I won’t get into all the swearing that occurred as Dex installed the base for the car carrier, but there was definitely some colorful language before the task was complete.
I unbuckle the baby and grab him into my arms, and I remember hearing once that you’re supposed to narrate to babies so they can hear your voice and start associating sounds with words, so I chat with him as I carry him toward the playground.
“Do you see the blue slides? There are three of them. Two are straight, and one is twirly. Do you want to go down the twirly one on my lap? I’ve always loved twirly slides, and there’s nobody else here, so we can do whatever we want.”
Dex is a few feet behind us. “Are you talking to me? Because if you want me to ride your lap, I won’t say no.”
My cheeks heat in total mortification that he thought I was issuing an invitation to him. I wasn’t. In fact, I haven’t issued that particular invitation to anybody yet, let alone a very experienced bad boy who’s eleven years older than me. “I was talking to the baby.”
“Why? He can’t understand you.” He shrugs, and if he’s embarrassed by his sexual innuendo from a moment ago, he doesn’t show it.
“The more he hears words, the more he’ll start to understand them,” I mutter as I try to pull myself together. Honestly, not looking directly at him helps.
“I guess that makes sense.”
“But to address your other question, I don’t want you to ride my lap,” I say, and as soon as the words are out, I have literally no idea why I said them.
My cheeks turn pink.
“Really?” he asks, genuine surprise in his voice. “Usually when I offer, I don’t get such a quick rejection.”
I press my lips together. “You drive too fast, drink too much, and throw temper tantrums. I’m good.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “And you’re my little sister’s best friend who’s way too young for me anyway.”
“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page.” A hummingbird chooses that moment to flap his wings at a million miles per hour and hover beside me, and I duck down and pull the baby in closer to me to protect him.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Dex asks me.
“Protecting the baby!” I practically scream.
“From…a hummingbird?” He’s laughing at me, and I don’t care. “It’s gone now. You can stop freaking out.”
“Look, I was attacked by one once, okay?” I say as I straighten, and my cheeks are burning again.
“Hummingbirds don’t attack humans.”
“I had on a bright floral shirt when I was a kid, and I was standing near a feeder. It landed on me and scared me. Now you know my most embarrassing secret. I’m terrified of hummingbirds. And butterflies.” I purse my lips and try once again to pull it together, this time as I look at him.
Dammit. It’s a huge mistake, especially when he grins at me.
That smile is really something else. It’s like it’s lighting up this entire playground.
“Okay, Birdie.”
I roll my eyes. “I liked Warrior Queen much better.”
“But this one just fits you so much more.” He shrugs.
“I hate you,” I mutter.
“No, you don’t,” he retorts, and honestly…he’s probably right about that.
I hand the baby to Dex, and he holds him awkwardly as I climb up the play structure since the only way to the top is via a rock wall or a ladder. “Hand him up to me,” I say.
“How?”
“What do you mean, how? Just hand him over.” I bend down over the side of the structure since I’m up high, and he sort of lifts him up as ungraciously as he can. I grab hold of the baby and pull him up toward me, and then I sit on the twirly slide, put Jack on my lap, and slide down.
Dex is waiting at the bottom for us, and even he smiles when he sees the look of glee on his son’s face at his first ride down the slide on Auntie Ainsley’s lap.
Jack giggles and kicks his feet, so I hand him off to Dex once more and climb back up. I motion for him to pass him over again, and again, I end up reaching over and grabbing him before we slide down.
Dex is waiting at the bottom for us again.
“Do you want to slide down with him?” I ask.
“That’s okay,” he says, and I don’t push it.
Instead, I go down the slide probably thirty times with Jack on my lap, and then we move over toward the baby swings, where we buckle him in and take turns pushing him. “Did his mom ever take him to the park?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I have literally no idea what she did with him.”
“I’m sorry, Dex. I can imagine how hard all this has been on you, but he’s in good hands now.”
He presses his lips together as if he doesn’t really believe that to be true. “Yeah. I got lucky when I ran into you.”
I elbow him. “I meant you.”
We’re both wearing sunglasses, and he glances away from me. I take the moment to study him. He’s a broody, grumpy, really, really freaking hot bad boy pro football star.
And I’m his little sister’s best friend and new live-in nanny.
And after his little sexual innuendo earlier…the idea of sex is front and center in my brain.
I’m a virgin, not that I’d ever admit that to Dex in a million years or for a million dollars.
I’ve had boyfriends, but none that seemed worthy of something so important. But I’ve held onto it so long now that I sort of just want to get it over with.
You know…with a broody, grumpy, hot bad boy who knows exactly what he’s doing.
Like Dex Bradley.