CHAPTER 22 Dex Bradley
Surprise, Surprise
I’m in a haze after the kiss and the whole virgin comment that came from left fucking field, but somewhere in the midst of the haze, I seem to recall a text message from my sister.
She asked about her birthday and whether she could stay with me since her best friend is here. After all, my little sister only turns twenty-one once, as she reminded me.
It was a couple weeks ago, and the memory slipped by considering everything that’s been going on lately.
But here she is, surprise, surprise, and my plans to take her best friend’s virginity tonight are put decidedly onto the back burner.
I’m not going to fuck Ainsley with my sister right down the hall—no matter how tempted I am right now. No matter how horny I am for her. No matter how much I want her.
Maybe Ivy showing up out of the blue and us being here on this elevator to greet her at her arrival was the bucket of ice-fucking-cold water we needed to put a halt on this very bad idea.
We step off the elevator and greet her with hugs, my eyes meeting Ainsley’s over my sister’s shoulder.
“Did you two know I was here?” she asks. “Is that why you came down?”
“Yes! Totally!” Ainsley says, and her voice is a little higher than normal. She looks like she’s about to panic, and I realize I never told her my sister was coming to Vegas.
“I didn’t tell Ains you were coming,” I say to Ivy.
“Figured it would be a surprise. We just got back from a charity event when the doorman let me know I had a guest coming up, so we figured we’d just come back down.
” Okay, fine. Maybe my voice isn’t higher than usual, but I’m definitely babbling, which is not something I tend to do.
I get back onto the elevator and press my floor, and the elevator carries us back up.
This time, we step off. I remember that while Jack is at Lincoln’s house for the night since I had planned to get Ainsley drunk without having to worry about being hungover first thing in the morning, there is likely still baby supplies all over, including the highchair at the kitchen table.
“Uh, there’s something you should know,” I say to Ivy before I slide my key into my door.
She tilts her head and looks at me with curiosity. “What?”
“I, uh…” I glance at Ainsley. “Well, we…”
She shakes her head furiously, and I realize she thinks I’m going to tell Ivy we were just making out on the elevator.
“I have a kid,” I blurt.
Ainsley looks relieved, Ivy looks shocked, and I feel like I got hit by a truck.
My sister gasps. “What?”
“I found out the same day Ainsley left her reality show, and it all just sort of crashed together at the right time. I needed help with this six-month-old I’d just found out about, and she needed a local place to lay low, and she said she could help me.
” I shrug as if it all makes perfect sense.
While it might to us, I realize it won’t to my sister.
“You have a kid?” Ivy asks me. She turns to Ainsley. “And you—you—you are helping my brother with this kid?”
Ainsley nods. “I’m the nanny.”
“And the wife,” I say, and somehow that strikes us both as fucking hilarious because we both burst into laughter.
“The baby’s nanny,” she clarifies through her laughter, and she sets a hand on the wall as she doubles over with laughter. She jerks her thumb at me. “His wife.”
“I’m her husband,” I say between my own laughter, and Ivy just looks at us like we’ve both lost our minds.
“I knew that part. The kid part, though…why’d you leave it out?”
I draw in a breath as I try to pull it together.
Once the laughter has calmed, I slip the key into my door and explain the situation as we walk in.
“I just got the DNA test results back the other morning. I didn’t want to tell anyone until I had definitive proof he was mine.
We’d already arranged to have him stay with my coach tonight while we attended a charity ball.
” I leave out the part about getting Ainsley drunk.
It seems dangerous to add that in at this point.
Ivy doesn’t need to know that I was just kissing her friend on the elevator, either.
“So this six-month-old kid…” Ivy says, trailing off. “Boy? Girl? Does it have a name?”
“A boy named Jack,” I say.
“And does he have a mother?” she asks.
“Are you serious with that question?” I ask.
She purses her lips and rolls her eyes at me. “It was my nice way of asking where the mother is.”
“No longer around,” I say, dodging her real question. “She dropped him with me and signed over full custody.”
“Jeez, Dex. And you’ve kept all this a secret?”
“Not intentionally. I was working on figuring things out. But now Ains and I have a system down, and she’s been a real lifesaver.”
Ivy looks between her best friend and me, and I get the feeling if I don’t get the fuck out of here quickly, she’ll be on to both of us.
And that’s why I decide to call it a night.
I show Ivy to her guest room first, and Ainsley follows her in so they can catch up.
It’s definitely not the sort of night I was planning on having, but I head to my bed alone.
I wake up alone, too. Jerking off in the shower doesn’t help. I’m hot for my little sister’s best friend, and a good fuck is about the only thing that’s going to give me any relief at all. But as I think through the women I could call on to give me just that, I realize something important.
I don’t want any of them. I just want her.
And that’s a problem.
I blow out a breath as I fight it off. Five days now. Five more days until the start of my next season, and my little sister is here cockblocking me for four of those days.
On Sunday night, though…all bets are off.