AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My chest feels tight. I hold out the Cuban cigar I liftedfrom my humidor back home. “Little token of congratulations. Maybe a bit of a peace offering too.”
Tuck looks at the cigar. Looks up at me. His nostrils flare.
I swallow. “If you don’t want it?—”
“I want it.” He grabs it out of my hand and tucks it into his pocket.
“Can I have a word?”
Maren nudges Tuck forward. “You sure can. Why don’t y’all bring the food inside? I’ll hang out here with Jen and Katie.”
Tilting his head to the side, Tuck lets out an annoyed sigh. “All right.”
I follow him inside and up the stairs. The quiet seems to throb in time to my pulse.
I set down the food on the countertop beside the fridge. Tuck begins to unbuckle the baby carrier, keeping a hand on the baby’s back.
“Need help?” I ask.
He shakes his head, but I still cross the kitchen and hold out my hands. Tuck attempts to lift the baby out of the carrier, but her little foot gets stuck. I untangle it, marveling at how freakingtinyshe is. Her foot is smaller than my thumb.
She makes a cooing sound, eyes blinking open.
“Hi, Reese,” I say softly.
She looks at me, her little brow scrunched like she’s trying to figure me out.
I laugh. “Wow, she looks exactly like you when she makes that face. Just needs a neck tattoo to complete the picture.”
Tuck scoffs. Not a laugh, not even a chuckle. But I’ll take it.
“You wanna hold her?” he asks.
“I’d love to. I think the last baby I held was Katie.”
“Goes fast.” Tuck places Reese in the crook of my arm. “Just support her head.”
Looking down at her, my heart does that palpitating thingagain. I’m gripped by the fierce urge to cover her face in kisses.
But that would be weird, so I tuck her into my chest instead and run my thumb over the bottom of her tiny foot.
“Hey, honey,” I say. “Hi. Hello. Oh, look at that yawn. Tuck, she is fucking precious.”
He unbuckles the carrier from around his waist and drops it on the kitchen table. “Of course she is. She’s mine.”
“She should get into boxing, then. You Monroes have a mean right hook.”
Tuck crosses his arms. “Youtook a cooking lesson.”
I clear my throat, a hot flush working its way up my neck. “Yep.”
“With Jen. And Lu.”
“They were there too, yes.”
“In your house. The one with the sex dungeon.”
Reese is falling asleep in my arm, her little lips pursed.
