Chapter 18 Ashton #2
Jamie’s arms slide around my waist as his chest presses against my back, and his chin rests on the top of my head. “Earth to Ashton.”
“Sorry.” I add the bowl to the drying rack and turn in his arms to look at him, then laugh as he scoops me up and plants my ass on the counter next to the sink. “I guess I was daydreaming.”
The way this man rocks gray sweatpants is nearly pornographic, and I’m here for it.
“Oh yeah?” He grips my hips, invading my space the way he’s invading my thoughts. “Good daydreams, I hope.”
I shrug, going for no big deal, but the way my cheeks flame with heat definitely doesn’t work in my favor, and I shove him back. “Finn should be home soon.”
“And?” he asks.
I look from him to the happy baby and the lazy bulldog at her side, not ready for this fantasy to end. “And I’m pretty sure he’d flip out if he walked in here and found you between my legs, looking . . .”
“Looking like what?” the arrogant ass pushes with a wicked grin.
I mean . . . he looks like what my roommates and I would have called sex on a stick.
An incredibly tall, muscley, delicious stick.
A freshly fucked one.
A super-hot, extra-large stick.
But I refuse to tell him that. His ego barely fits through the damn door already.
Although I can safely say he’s earned that sucker.
Instead, I go with the less colorful version of the truth.
“Looking like you spent the afternoon fucking his best friend.”
I kind of expected him to drop his hold on me and maybe step back, but I should have known better. Jamie never does what I expect. Instead, his grip tightens, and he slides me to the edge of the counter. “I plan on fucking her all night too, so she’s going to need to be quiet.”
Kyrie shrieks like a baby pterodactyl from one of those Jurassic World movies, and we both stop and smile at her. “Yeah well, we’ll see if the prehistoric shrieking baby over there lets that happen.”
“Seriously, Ace. He’s going to have to find out at some point. Why not get it over with?”
“Oh, charmer.” I drag my thumb over his lower lip. “Just what every girl wants to hear.”
“You’re pregnant, Ashton. It’s going to be pretty hard to hide from my brother, the doctor, soon enough, considering we live with him and all.
“Yeah . . . You think?” I push him back and hop off the counter.
“I know that. But I want to see a doctor before we tell anyone. Can you give me that, please? I’m not trying to be sneaky or lie to anybody, especially Finn.
But I want to get it confirmed. I want to know I have the due date right and that everything is fine .
. . I don’t know, I just want to know something—anything—before we announce it to the world. ”
My stomach sinks at the thought of everything crashing down over my head, but not Jamie. His lips tug up into the sexiest silly smile I’ve ever seen, and I kind of want to smack it right off his handsome face. “What are you smiling at?”
He drops to his knees and gently places his hands on either side of my still-flat stomach and presses a kiss right there with his eyes locked on mine. “We’re having a baby, Ace. You’re having my baby.”
I run my fingers through his hair as fear skates alongside . . . something different. It’s still fear, but a different kind. The kind that warns if it’s too good to be true, it’s too good to be believed. “Aren’t you scared, Jamie?”
He climbs to his feet and pulls me against him. His strong arms hold me, and I almost hate how safe I feel. Almost. For now, I’m going to soak it in. “No. Why would I be?”
“Are you serious?” I push back, wanting to see his face.
See his thoughts that are usually completely transparent.
He never had a good poker face, not like me.
“Jamie . . . I just finally started to feel like I was getting a hold on all of this with Kyrie. I don’t even know yet if I’m going to be able to keep her or if my mom is going to get out and fight me for her.
I have a part-time job making part-time money and the world’s smallest savings account.
I live here. With you. I don’t even have health insurance.
I’m a mess. I can’t possibly be what you pictured when you imagined the mother of your child.
” I motion between us. “We can’t possibly be what you imagined. We’re not even . . .”
“Not even what, Ashton?” His eyes take on a hard glint, and I want to swallow my words.
Take them back. But they’re not wrong. They’re not a lie or exaggeration.
Him not being willing to accept that doesn’t change anything.
“I thought we got the not even thinking out of the way. Because we most definitely are, beautiful. We are even. And the rest can be figured out on our time. But we’re going to figure it out.
And we’re going to do it together. I promise. ”
He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a scrap of paper, that he places carefully in the palm of my hand.
“What’s this?” Jamie’s chicken scratch is scrawled all over it, and I think I can make out a phone number, but if that’s a name next to it, I have absolutely no idea what it says.
“It’s Hendrix’s sister-in-law’s office number.
She’s an ob-gyn. I thought you might want a recommendation for a doctor and wasn’t sure if you were ready to ask Finn for one or not.
But Kenzie is great.” His dimple comes out to play in his cheek as he stumbles over his words, and I have to fight back my laugh.
This man is sweeter than he lets on. “Oh yeah, charmer . . . Have you been to see many ob-gyns?”
“She’s family, Ace.” He twirls a lock of my hair around his finger, and I might as well melt into a puddle of goo at his feet. “She’ll take care of you.”
“Family . . .” I breathe back at him. “I don’t remember what it’s like to have family I can rely on.”
He tugs me against his chest, and I might hate and love how much I love being held like this.
“You better get used to it, Ashton. You know my family is loud and obnoxious and entirely too involved in each other’s lives. My extended family is even worse. And you’re stuck with us now.”
“I’m having your baby, Jameson, not marrying you,” I try to snap back forcefully, but my voice breaks, ruining any forcefulness I’d hoped to have.
“We’ll see about that . . .” the arrogant ass growls, and I try to act like I didn’t hear him.
Kyrie throws her stuffed dinosaur to the floor, giving me my out, and her laughter turns to an angry cry I recognize as frustration.
Yeah, kiddo. I know the feeling.
I step out of Jamie’s hold and pick up the stuffed animal I’ve started calling King and grab a washcloth to clean up my drooly girl, feeling Jamie’s heavy gaze on me as I do it.
And once I have Kyrie sitting on my hip and have worked up the nerve to look back at him, I find that cocky smile still plastered on his face.