Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
DEAN
The noise of the elevator sounds exactly at six.
Of course it does. Lincoln has never been late for anything a day in his life.
I glance down at Liana sleeping peacefully against my chest before walking over to the foyer to meet them.
As the doors slide open, Lincoln stands there with his wife, Kylie, next to him.
“You know,” Lincoln says as his eyes drift to the tiny baby in my arms, “I spent this entire drive convinced Sawyer was screwing with us.”
Kylie elbows him.
“Hi to you too,” I answer.
He grins. “Hi.”
Kylie’s smile immediately softens as she steps closer.
“Oh my gosh …” She presses a hand to her chest. “She’s beautiful.”
Liana opens one sleepy blue eye before deciding she’d rather keep napping.
“I know,” I reply, unable to stop smiling.
Lincoln notices. “You’ve gone soft.”
“I have not.”
“You absolutely have.”
Before I can defend myself, the elevator dings again.
Roman and his wife, Eva, step into the foyer, followed closely by Walker and Jessie, who are engaged.
“What the hell?” Roman says the second he spots Liana. “Sawyer wasn’t lying.”
“Told you,” Sawyer calls from behind them as he and Kayla step off the elevator. “None of you believed me.”
Jessie walks straight toward me, already reaching for Liana. “Can I?”
I nod without hesitation. The second Liana settles into Jessie’s arms, every woman in the room crowds around her.
“Oh, look at her little nose.”
“She’s so tiny.”
“Look at those cheeks.”
“I can’t get over her eyes.”
The men instinctively hang back.
Roman folds his arms. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to be looking at.”
Eva rolls her eyes. “The baby.”
“I see the baby.”
“No, you’re supposed to appreciate the baby.”
“I appreciate that it’s a baby.”
Walker laughs. “You’re hopeless. Hey, Dean. What are the odds that both of us had kids we didn’t know about? Does that say something about us?”
Roman smiles. “That you were both man-whores.”
Another chime sounds from the elevator before I can react. Colton and Melissa hurry inside.
“Sorry we’re late,” Melissa says breathlessly. “Traffic.”
Then she notices everyone gathered in the living room.
Her mouth falls open. “Is that …”
Sawyer grins. “Yep.”
Melissa immediately joins the growing circle around Jessie.
Within seconds, my daughter has become the center of attention.
Lincoln wanders over beside me, bumping my shoulder.
“I’ve never seen this many women ignore us at the same time,” Sawyer quips.
“They’re not ignoring us.” Colton gestures toward the living room. “They’ve forgotten we exist.”
I laugh. “Probably.”
Sawyer claps his hands together. “Okay.”
Everyone looks at him.
“I’ve heard the story.” He points toward me. “They haven’t.”
Every conversation stops.
Ten pairs of eyes turn toward me.
I suddenly wish I had another week before this conversation.
Roman notices my hesitation. “Dean?”
I let out a slow breath. “It’s … a long story.”
Walker settles onto the couch. “We’ve got nowhere else to be.”
Jessie gently rocks Liana as she smiles at me. “Start wherever you’re comfortable.”
I look around the room.
At the people who’ve become my family over the last decade. People who’ve celebrated promotions and milestones with me. Now they are meeting the most important person in my life.
I glance at Liana. She yawns dramatically before nestling deeper into Jessie’s shoulder.
A smile tugs at my lips. “I found out I was a father exactly four weeks ago.”
The room falls completely silent.
Then, for the next twenty minutes, I tell them everything.
By the time the story has been told and the last question answered, it’s nearly ten. The apartment looks like a family actually lives here.
Empty glasses sit scattered across the coffee table. Half-eaten desserts occupy every available inch of the kitchen island. Someone—I’m fairly certain Colton—left a bottle cap on my floor.
I don’t even care.
An hour ago, Kylie quietly whisked Liana away for her bedtime bottle after I showed her where everything was. Twenty minutes after taking her, Kylie returns alone with the baby monitor in her hand.
“She’s out,” she announces proudly.
Jessie laughs. “I knew you couldn’t resist getting those bedtime snuggles.”
Kylie shrugs unapologetically. “I miss this stage.”
Now everyone is spread throughout the living room, talking over one another, as if this has always been my life.
Walker and Lincoln are arguing about football.
Melissa and Eva are laughing at something Kayla said.
Sawyer is unsuccessfully trying to convince Roman that changing one diaper officially qualifies him as an experienced uncle.
For the first time since Liana entered my life, I don’t feel like everything has changed.
It still feels normal.
Maybe becoming a father doesn’t mean losing everything that came before. It simply means adding someone new to it.
A bedroom door clicks open down the hallway. My eyes lift instinctively.
Aubrey walks into the kitchen, wearing loose gray pajama pants, patterned with tiny white stars, and an oversize Ohio State sweatshirt, her dark hair pulled into a messy bun.
She rummages through the pantry for a minute before turning around.
“Oh.” Her eyes widen ever so slightly when she realizes everyone is staring at her. “Uh, hello.”
Sawyer grins from the couch. “Hey, Aubrey.”
“Hi.” She offers him a polite smile before looking at the rest of the room.
I set my drink down and stand. “Guys, this is Aubrey. She’s Liana’s nanny. Aubrey, these are my friends. This is Lincoln and Kylie. Roman and Eva. Walker and Jessie. Colton and Melissa. You’ve met Sawyer, and this is his girlfriend, Kayla.”
A chorus of hellos fills the room.
“It’s nice to meet all of you,” Aubrey says with a shy smile.
“I’ll let you all get back to your night.” With a granola bar in her hand, she starts heading back toward the hallway.
“You don’t have to.” The words are already out before I can think better of it.
She pauses. “What?”
“You can stay.”
The room goes strangely quiet.
I clear my throat. “I mean … if you want. You’ve spent all day taking care of Liana.” I shrug awkwardly. “It might be nice for you to relax for a while.”
Aubrey’s expression softens. For a second, I actually think she’s going to say yes.
Instead, she walks over until she’s standing in front of me. “That’s really sweet.”
She places her hand lightly against the center of my chest. The warmth of her palm seeps straight through my sweater. Every muscle in my body goes completely still, and the room disappears. The only thing I can feel is the gentle pressure of her hand resting over my heartbeat.
I struggle for a response as my chin dips to look at her hand, still resting on me.
Her eyes flick down. “Oh.” Color floods her cheeks. “I’m …” She pulls her hand back so quickly that it’s as if she touched a hot stove. “I’m sorry. You enjoy your friends. I’ll be perfectly happy, curled up with my book.”
Before I can respond, she offers the room one last embarrassed smile and disappears down the hallway.
Her bedroom door clicks shut.
I slowly let out the breath I apparently forgot to take.
What just happened?
My body’s reaction to the warmth of her touch is foreign to me. It was like someone instantly turned the temperature up 400 degrees.
I turn back toward my seat and notice everyone watching me with eyebrows raised in curiosity.
Roman breaks the silence. “So”—he drags the word out— “you’ve got the hots for your nanny.”
Lincoln snorts into his drink while I notice that Sawyer is watching me far too carefully.
“I was wondering when someone else was going to say it,” Sawyer says.
I stare at all three of them. “You’re out of your minds.”
“Really?” Roman asks. “You stopped breathing when she touched you.”
“I did not.”
“You absolutely did,” Walker says, grinning.
Jessie elbows him.
“I’m just making an observation,” he defends.
Sawyer leans forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “Dean.”
I look at him.
“When she touched your chest”—he raises an eyebrow— “you looked like someone had unplugged your brain.”
A laugh ripples through the room … but mine never comes.
I replay the last thirty seconds in my head.
The warmth of her hand and how it felt like my pulse had slammed against my ribs. How much I wanted her to stay. Not because she is Liana’s nanny, but because I wanted her here—with me.
My stomach drops.
Oh hell. They’re right.