CHAPTER 24 Dex Bradley
I Missed You
I set Ainsley in the back of the car and motion for Ivy to get in next, and then I take off my shoes and toss them into the nearest garbage can before I get into the car. No need to carry the reminder of what just happened.
Or the smell.
We get back to my place, and I thank Milton for helping me out in a pinch while the ladies head to their rooms.
He lets me know that Jack slept through it all, for which I’m grateful. I get Jack upstairs into his own bed again, and I make myself a drink and head over to my favorite thinking spot in front of the windows.
I figure the girls are both passed out by the time I’m a third of the way through my whiskey, and that’s why I’m surprised when Ainsley sidles up beside me. Her hair is wet, and she’s wearing a bathrobe, so I assume she took a shower.
“Thanks for coming tonight,” she says softly once she’s standing beside me. She doesn’t turn to look at me, and I study her in the reflection of the glass.
“I thought something was wrong,” I admit.
Her eyes meet mine in the glass. “I’m sorry.” She clears her throat. “I should go lay down. I still feel drunk.”
I nod, and before she turns to go, I ask, “Why’d you text me?”
“I missed you,” she whispers.
She leaves, and once I hear her door click shut, I whisper, “I missed you, too.”
I decide I’ll handle Jack when he wakes up for his feeding at three in the morning, but he sleeps through it.
I’m up at six just in case he wakes up. He must’ve known it was my night because he didn’t wake at all. In fact, when six rolls around, he’s been asleep for eleven hours.
It’s one of the first nights he didn’t wake for a middle of the night bottle, and I’m wondering if some of that had to do with him adjusting to his new environment and these people who were strangers to him while the mother he knew walked away.
I hear him starting to rustle over the baby monitor about a half hour later, and I’ve already finished a cup of coffee and my protein shake.
I set his bottle on a warmer and head into his room before he starts to cry, and I change his diaper first. I’ve changed a handful of diapers now, and they’re not perfect, but I’m starting to get the hang of it.
I take him out to the couch, and I feed him.
And since I missed my morning run on the treadmill, I leave a note for the girls letting them know I took Jack for a run, strap him into his jogger, and head down to run outside with my kid.
We run to the nearest park, and I take him out of the stroller to put him into the swing while I catch my breath.
By the time we get back to my place, I’m a sweaty mess, and it’s a little after ten. Both my sister and Ainsley are awake, and they’re sprawled on the couch in a way that looks like they don’t plan to leave anytime soon.
“Oh my God, is this my nephew?” Ivy asks, getting up gingerly from the couch as Ainsley sits up.
I park the stroller by the door and get Jack out, and I hand him to Ivy.
“Ivy, meet Jack. Jack, this is your Aunt Ivy.”
“He has your eyes,” Ivy says, staring down at my son.
My son.
It still sounds so weird.
She coos over him for a bit while I head toward the kitchen to refill my water.
“I’m gonna go shower,” Ivy announces, and Ainsley helps set the baby into his bouncer as Ivy takes off toward her room.
Ainsley follows me into the kitchen, already showered and not looking any worse for the wear considering the shape she was in last night when I found her at the club.
“How are you feeling?” I ask.
“Like I got plowed over by a truck.”
I laugh. “Sounds accurate.”
“Why do people think this is fun?”
I lift a shoulder. “The hangover is never fun. The loss of inhibitions, the recklessness, the feeling like it’s okay to do whatever the fuck you want to do…that’s the addicting part.”
She wrinkles her nose. “I must’ve had too much too fast because I don’t remember any of that. I remember feeling loopy, not being able to focus on my phone, and some dude dancing against my butt.”
I’m the only dude allowed to dance against your butt.
I don’t say the words that rush through my mind, though I’m tempted.
“Thank you again for coming to get us. I didn’t realize we needed to be saved, but you did, even though it was sort of a miscommunication on my part.”
I set my water bottle on the counter and turn toward her. “I’ll always come running the second you call, Ains.” I surprise even myself with those words, but the bigger surprise is how much I mean them. My voice is low, and she blinks as her eyes meet mine before they flick down to my lips.
I take a step toward her, and I realize I’m sweaty from my run this morning, but I don’t care. I slip my arm around her waist and pull her in closer to me, and she doesn’t move to stop me.
“God, I want to kiss you,” I murmur, my voice strained.
“Even after last night?” she asks, surprise in her voice.
My lips lift in a bit of a smile, and instead of answering with words, my mouth moves to hers. She moans a little as she sinks into me in that way she does, and I’m about to open my mouth to deepen this kiss when I hear a voice just around the corner.
“Dex, do you have any extra towels?”
Ainsley jumps away from me, and I casually grab my water bottle and pretend to screw on the cap like that’s what we were doing this whole time.
“Should be some in the hallway linen closet,” I say just as my sister rounds the corner.
“Thanks. Mine from yesterday is still wet since I took a shower before bed last night. Anyone want to do brunch once I get out?”
Ainsley raises her hand, and I nod.
“Jack and I are in. But I need to shower first.”
“I can handle the baby if you want to go,” Ainsley says, and Ivy looks between us as if she can’t believe what she’s seeing.
I’m not sure I can believe it, either. If someone would’ve told me a month ago that I’d be teaming up with my little sister’s best friend, that I’m starting to fall for her and I want to keep kissing her in between taking turns caring for my baby, I would’ve laughed in their face.
But somehow, that’s my reality.
Especially the fall for part. I’m falling for Ainsley Riggs, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
We head out to brunch, and it’s more near misses and almost-kisses over the next few days as my sister wears out her welcome.
Look, I love my family as much as the next dude, but I love that they live in Chicago and I’m out here by myself in Vegas.
Except Archer. He’s here, but we don’t really talk. He’s a baseball player, and we just have different schedules. That and I’m a dick who isn’t great at returning calls, and he has more or less disassociated with all of us.
Sometimes I wonder if we could be closer, more like the way Madden and I are, especially since we live in the same town, but I get the feeling he feels kind of the same way about family as I do.
I want them to be there when I want to be with them, but otherwise, I kind of just want to be left alone.
Though I wonder if all that is going to change now that I have a son of my own. I’m nurturing a family of my own, and I’m starting to change my outlook on the whole idea of family.
Though the moment I have that thought, it’s like my father has some sort of ESP to change my mind right back.
He calls me as I’m driving away from dropping Ivy at the airport. Ainsley stayed home with Jack, and since I’m alone in the car, I pick up the call.
“Hi,” I answer.
“The standard greeting is hello,” he says.
“Did you call to tell me that?”
“No, I called because we’re starting work on the VIP lounge. It’s pretty far north on the Strip, and it’s already perfect for our needs. It has a basement beneath it that we can use for our literal underground casino.”
“Are you sure we should be talking about this over the phone?” I ask.
“I’m not bugged. Are you?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Great. We have a few minor tweaks to the inside, but the underground will take a bit longer. The lounge will be ready to open in a few weeks, and we should have the underground ready to go within a month or two after if I can get the crews working day and night.”
“I’ll be in season,” I remind him.
“You managed to find time to socialize in season before when it wasn’t your old man asking for help,” he reminds me.
I realize he still doesn’t know about my kid, but with my big-mouthed sister on her way back home, I’m sure he’ll know soon enough.
“Right,” I say. “I need to go.” I end the call even though I didn’t really need to go.
But I start training camp tomorrow. I have bigger things to focus on right now than my father guilting me into finding clients for his new VIP lounge.
I’ll find a few and do what he says, of course. I stand to make a lot from this deal.
But right now, my focus is on getting back home to Ainsley and picking up where we left off before my sister showed up with her little surprise visit.