Chapter 5 Jamie #2
“I’m sorry to be bothering you with this.” She shakes her head in disbelief, and I can’t help but think this woman has no idea what she’s in for. “They just . . . gave her to me, and I didn’t have anywhere else to go. Finn offered this—”
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you need to, Ace.”
Her cheeks flush the prettiest shade of pink, and I remember exactly what we were doing the last time that happened. Fuck.
“Any idea how long you’re going to have custody of Kyrie?” Ryker asks, not bothering to sign, before grabbing the baby carrier and turning for the family room.
Ashton waits to answer until we’re in the family room, facing Ryker.
“According to her lawyer, she’s looking at anywhere from five to ten years, depending on the degree of the charges when she goes to trial and what he can get knocked down.
” She sounds broken, even more so than before.
And I want to kill her mother for doing this to her and the perfect baby I’m holding while her big sister freaks the fuck out.
Finn walks back in with a plastic baby bag in hand and stops when Ashton looks like she’s about to cry. “How am I going to do this?”
My brother drops the bag and wraps an arm around Ashton as she tucks her face against his chest and shakes.
“I’m a professional ballerina. I barely make enough to keep myself alive.
I forget to feed myself half the time. I share a two-bedroom apartment with three other ballerinas, and we almost always have one or two people crashing on our couches.
I don’t know the first thing about babies. I’ve never even held one before today.”
“It’s okay,” he says gently, running a hand up and down her spine, and the urge to physically remove him from her body is strong.
Not good.
I shut that shit right the fuck down and grab the diaper bag instead of standing here, staring at the woman I’d just been inside last night. Time to get this little lady changed before I drop-kick Uncle Finn out of my house.
“Have you talked to your dad?” Ryker asks, and man, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of the look this woman throws his way. “Got it. Coach Carmichael is off-limits.”
“Stay here,” Finn tells her as he guides her to the couch and pretty much forces her to sit. “We can help.”
“But my job—”
“Ash . . . How are you going to work right now? Who’s going to take care of Kyrie? You can’t even leave the state.”
Shit. Does my brother have a thing for Ashton?
“I can’t invade your bachelor pad,” she tells him, and I laugh as I finish changing Kyrie.
“It’s not his. It’s mine, and there’s plenty of room for you both.” Words I never thought I’d say to Ashton. “It’s the offseason, so Ryker and I are around a lot more now than we will be in a few months.”
“Yeah. We can help,” Ryker agrees.
She sits silently, thinking about the offer for a minute. Her eyes going to Finn, and yup, that bothers me too. Fuck. I have no business being possessive over this woman. Not when she’s not mine. Christ, we can’t stand each other on a good day. But the feeling is there anyway.
“What about my job?” Ashton closes her eyes, and Gus picks that moment to acknowledge her existence. He jumps up onto the couch and drops his big, fat head in her lap. “Umm . . . Who’s this?”
“Ashton, meet Gus,” I grin. “He’s our guard dog.”
“Like Gus, Gus?” She digs her finger in the fur behind his ears, and he purrs like a damn cat before closing his eyes. “From Cinderella?”
I close my eyes, and Ryker and Finn laugh their asses off.
“Whatever, assholes,” I grumble.
“Wait.” She smiles. “I’m right? You named your dog after Cinderella?”
“No,” I groan. “I let Maverick’s daughter, Rosie, name him.”
“Sucker,” Finn laughs, and for a minute, so does Ashton before she catches herself and stops.
“For a pretty lady.” I look at Ashton, and we lock eyes for a half a second before she looks away. Fuck, this is going to be hard. “Always.”
“We’ll figure out your job, Ash. You need help.
You can’t do this alone.” Finn’s trying to help, but if he was sitting there, telling me what to do, I’d probably knock his ass out.
I love him, but I can see how his need to fix everything for everyone can be suffocating. He’d never try that with me. Smart man.
“You guys really want me and a baby here, throwing your entire house into chaos?” She’s asking all of us, but she’s looking at me. “We’ll probably kill each other by the end of the first week.”
I adjust a sleeping Kyrie in my arm and hold her like a football. “I can behave if you can, Ace.”
And just like I thought, with a challenge thrown, Ashton straightens her spine and crosses her legs as she holds my stare. “I’ll believe it when I see it, Murphy.”
“So you’re staying?” Finn asks, relief flooding his voice.
“I guess I am . . . for now. I’ve got to figure a ton of things out though. Like what exactly a three-month-old needs.”
Ryker holds up his phone. “I’ve got that covered.”
Five hours, three deliveries, and one visit from Maverick, his wife, Emmie, and Rosie later, Kyrie has a room, complete with a crib, a rocking chair, and a changing table.
Who knew how fast you could everything a baby needs from Target.
She’s stocked on diapers, clothes, and all the baby essentials, and she’s got my favorite eight-year-old already wrapped around her tiny little finger.
Rosie’s in love. She’s already decided she needs to come back tomorrow to spend more time with her and is asking Mav and Emmie when she can have a baby sister.
Not gonna lie. The way those two fuck like bunnies, I’m surprised they haven’t fulfilled that request yet.
My kitchen is stocked with formula, every kind of baby bottle Target could deliver, and more sterilizing equipment than I think was even in existence when Rosie was Kyrie’s age. But Ashton and Kyrie are here and settled and safe, so for now, I guess it’s a start.
It’s close to eleven that night when I walk into the kitchen to find Ashton hand-washing a bottle.
Her dark hair is piled high on her head, and a cropped, threadbare Baltimore Sentinels T-shirt hangs off one shoulder, showing a tiny sliver of skin above the waistband of her flannel pajama pants, reminding me of the days when our dads played for the team before they both retired and Carmichael moved here to coach the Kings.
“Hey,” I murmur as I slip by her and open the fridge. “Kyrie sleeping?”
She drops the bottle on the drying rack, something Maverick insisted she needed, and looks over her shoulder at me, every line in her beautiful body tense and tight. “Yeah. For now.”
“Good.” I grab a bottle of water and hold it out for her, but she shakes her head. “Suit yourself.”
“Jamie,” she stops me, exhaustion and frustration battling for dominance in her voice. “Thank you.” Ashton turns to face me, her hands braced on the counter behind her back, curving her spine and doing nothing to hide her silhouette under her clothes. “For everything.”
I stand on the other side of the kitchen, knowing she can’t handle serious. Not now. Not after the day she’s had. “Don’t thank me yet, Ace.”
Her head tilts, and a dark curl falls free from her bun as a smile tugs at her lips. “Oh . . . Why not?”
I cross the room and bend my knees, bringing our faces close, and love the way her breath catches from the invasion of her space.
“Because I’m still me, and you’re still you, and we might hate each other, but even after your day from hell, I’d bet every last penny in my bank account that you can still feel every inch of me inside you. ”
Her cheeks flame, and her lips part before she presses her palms to my chest and pushes me away. “Please,” she barely manages to force past her lips just above a whisper. “You’d have to have left an impression last night for me to even be thinking about you today, charmer.”
I take a step back, granting her the space she thinks she needs.
“Oh, you felt me all right, Ace.” I lean in for a split-second, my lips ghosting over the shell of her ear. “And you’re going to beg to feel me again.”
Ashton lifts her chin, ready to do battle, which is so much better than the broken woman I’ve watched all day. “Last night was a mistake, and it’s not one we’re making again.”
“Didn’t feel like a mistake to me,” I push, ready to argue for as long as she needs, as long as it means she gets some of her fight back. “Felt pretty damn good and pretty damn right,” I add, and fuck if I know why.
It’s been years since something about this woman has felt anything but fucking frustrating.
She’s so close, I can smell the scent of cherries lingering on her skin, as I lean in. “It felt like something we should do again.”
“It felt like something I wish had never happened,” she snaps. “Something I don’t want your brother, my best friend, to even know about.”
I slide my arms along either side of her, careful not to touch as I grip the counter behind her back, caging Ashton in. “Not what you were saying when you were riding my cock last night, Ace.”
She sucks in a breath, and I swear to God, I go from a semi to rock fucking hard in the span of one heartbeat.
“That won’t be happening again either,” she whispers low and slow as she slips out from under my arms. “I mean it, Jamie. I don’t want Finn to know about this.”
After a stare-off, where this woman musters all the fire she’s got left to stare me down, I grin. “Whatever you say, Ashton.”
“That’s what I say, Murphy.” She takes the unopened water bottle out of my hand. “Thanks.”
“What’s mine is yours,” I laugh as I watch her turn and walk right by Ryker, who no doubt just got a show from the doorway.
Ashton nods at Ryker as she walks out of the kitchen, and the son of a bitch crosses the room, laughing. “Finn might not be the one tapping that, but it sure as hell looked like you are.”
“Worry about yourself, Beneventi,” I growl and leave the shit head behind me, trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing and why I’m enjoying it so much.
Mom
Would someone like to tell us why we were just informed there’s a woman with a baby living in your house, boys?
Jamie
My house.
Finn
Never were good at sharing, were you?
Jamie
Better than you know, shithead.
Mom
Boys!
Dad
What your mother is so diplomatically trying to ask you two boneheads is do we have a grandchild we were unaware of?
Finn
What? No.
Dad
Jameson . . . ?
Jamie
Christ, Dad. No. Finn took in a stray.
Finn
Don’t be an asshole. Ashton’s mother was arrested, and she took custody of her little sister.
Dad
What?
Mom
Oh, sweetheart, keep up. That poor girl. Is she okay?
Finn
The baby or Ashton?
Mom
Both.
Finn
Physically, they’re fine. Emotionally, Ashton’s pretty messed up. They’re staying with us while she figures things out.
Dad
And the baby’s not either of yours, right?
Mom
You think one of our sons impregnated Ashton Carmichael’s mother? Aiden . . .
Dad
I wouldn’t put anything past these two, my love.
Finn
Oh, don’t start.
Jamie
I’m out.
Mom
Stop acting like children. We’ll be back from DC later this week. Love you, boys.