Epilogue
“Fuck, baby, just like that,” Cole groaned, shoving his face into the pillow under him.
I reminded my vagina, again, that we’d just had sex, and Cole had won the bet. He’d held out longer, and I owed him a massage.
Straddling his pert ass in my undies while I rubbed his back muscles wasn’t really convincing any part of my body we were done though. He looked over his shoulder at me, and I considered giving him a raincheck in favor of flipping him over for round two.
He met my gaze with a wicked grin. “If you’re going to ride me, you might as well grab my cowboy hat and make it official.”
“You have a cowboy hat?” My husky question didn’t sound at all as nonchalant as I’d hoped.
“I have boots too.”
I stopped massaging as the image of Cole in a hat and boots—and nothing else—assaulted me. “Wow, I think I just unlocked a new kink.”
Cole chuckled. “Anytime you want to play dress up, city girl.”
I was about to suggest a fun new game, but a string of shouted curses reached us through the closed door to his bedroom. Cole frowned, and we both threw on some clothes. I followed him into the hallway.
“That sounded like Mase,” Cole offered.
We hurried down the stairs to the empty main floor only to confirm the noise must have come from the basement. At the bottom of the second set, everyone was gathered around a storage closet no one used. Mase crouched in the small space over a pile of laundry, Reece and Gavin peered into the dim enclosure, and Eva held an angry-looking Henry.
“What’s going on?” Cole asked.
Mase moved his leg so we could have a better view of the clothes, and I gasped as I spotted the reason for his unhappiness. A little ball of yellow fluff stuck its head up and peeped at us.
“Is that a baby duck?” I whispered, worried I’d scare it. “How?”
Gavin ran a hand through his hair. “Remember how Henry keeps disappearing? She must have found a way to get to the duck pond. Or she lured her suitor to our backyard. Either way, she managed to hide an egg long enough for it to hatch.”
“Don’t birds have to lay on their eggs to get them to hatch?” Reece pointed out.
Eva cuddled Henry, who let out an indignant quack. “She’s been gone for long periods of time. I assumed she found a fun new place to sleep, but she must have been down here on her little nest.”
“That nest is last year’s jersey and a bunch of my socks,” Mase grumbled.
Eva shared an apprehensive look with Gavin. “We can’t take the baby with us when we move out. The apartment we found is already uncomfortable with one duck.”
Reece stood there with his hands on his hips, surveying the mess. “I knew I should have had a talk with her about responsible sex. We should check to make sure there aren’t any more eggs hidden somewhere else.”
“What do you normally do with her eggs?” I wondered out loud.
“Eva collects them and gives them to a local food bank. It’s another reason for Henry’s diapers. She has enough room to lay in there and then we’re not searching the house for the one rotten egg we missed. Once was enough, thank you.”
Reece shuddered at the memory. “Nope. We’re not talking about that.”
Mase glared at us from his position on the floor. “Can you idiots focus please? Henry couldn’t lay on two nests and there’s only one egg here, hatched or otherwise. What are we going to do with the little one?”
“Not it,” Reece immediately shouted.
The baby made a squeaky, whistling noise and scuttled under Mase’s leg.
Eva joined Mase in glaring at him. “No one volunteered you to take care of my grand-duckling.”
“Please don’t refer to it that way,” Gavin muttered.
Cole sent me a questioning look, but I shook my head. I wasn’t ready to be a duck mom. Henry was enough of a handful.
Mase sighed and gently pulled the fluffy little creature out from under him. The baby squished down to a little ball and closed its eyes with a tiny peep. Mase rubbed its head with one finger then let out a deep sigh.
“I’ll take care of it.”
Henry quacked again, and Eva put her down next to the makeshift nest. “I can show you what to do. I imagine it’s easier when you have a mama duck around. We need to name it though. Something neutral. Trust me.”
“I’ve always liked Georgiana,” Reece offered.
Eva tilted her head at him. “What part of neutral did you miss?”
“We could call it George if it’s a boy.”
“Henry and George? What are we, British royalty?”
Reece shrugged. “You’re the one who named your girl duck Henry.”
Cole glanced at Gavin as if to ask if he was going to intervene, and Gavin shook his head no.
Eva narrowed her eyes at Reece. “I was not the one who named Henry, but she loves her name.”
“Then what’s wrong with?—”
“Sunshine.”
All of us turned to stare at Mase and the spot of yellow almost lost in his hands. Henry stared at him too, seemingly content to have a giant human holding her baby.
“Its name is Sunshine,” Mase repeated.
None of us argued. Eva stepped forward to put her hand on Mase’s shoulder, then stopped at the last second and let it fall back to her side. “Are you sure you’ll have time? Babies are a lot of work.”
“The season is over. I have nothing else to do.”
Cole and the others had led the team to the final game in the Frozen Four, but they’d lost in overtime after a hard battle. I’d expected Gavin to be more upset, but he was graduating and heading off to start his pro career in Dallas.
“Better you than me,” Reece muttered. “Coach wants me to do extra drills over the summer, which is going to seriously cut into my time with the ladies.”
Gavin clapped him on the back. “Coach is right. You spend too much time partying. I fully expect you guys to bring TU back to the Frozen Four next year and win the whole fucking thing.”
“Done. Now, can all of you please get the hell out of my space?” Mase squeezed the question out through gritted teeth, and I felt bad for wanting to stay and pet the baby duck.
Cole ushered me upstairs, followed by Gavin and Eva, and finally Reece. As usual, Gavin and Eva headed directly back to their room. Reece watched with ill-disguised envy, then grabbed his keys and left out the front door without saying anything.
“So…” I teased. “Cowboy hat and reverse cowgirl?”
He pulled me against him and brushed his lips over mine. “I thought you’d never ask.”
I raised on my tiptoes—since I’d left my boots by the door—and stole a real kiss. “I’m not asking.”