“Were you able to get any sleep?” Sunny sat up and held her breath until Sadie latched on. It hurt like hell, but the nurse told her that it would change. Aaron yawned and rolled towards her, rubbing Sadie’s little bald head.
“Yep, our daughter and I took a little nap on the sofa while you slept. I didn’t want her to wake you,” Aaron said, and dammit if her heart didn’t do a little pitter-patter in her chest.
“Thanks, although I could use about four more years of sleep,” she said around a yawn.
“Well, you feed our very hungry daughter, and I’ll change her diaper. I think she’ll be out for a couple of hours, and we can both get some sleep.” Aaron kissed Sadie’s head and then Sunny’s, melting another piece of her heart.
Travis stood outside of Aaron’s condo, looking up to where his old friend barricaded his new little family in. He was so close to having everything go according to his plan, but then Aaron’s bitch came back into the room from the bathroom. All he had to do was reach down and take the baby, but she screamed, and he panicked and ran. He knew that Aaron wouldn’t take his time to get to his woman, and he needed to get out of there or risk being caught. He knew something was up earlier when he saw the ambulance speed by his apartment. He found a little place just down the road from Aaron’s to keep an eye on his old friend. He jumped into his car and found out what all the commotion was about. Aaron’s girlfriend went into labor and had the baby in his condo. When they wheeled her out on the gurney with the baby in her arms, he saw his opportunity.
He followed the ambulance to the hospital and found the room where Aaron stupidly left his family unguarded. He waited until the new mother went to the bathroom and couldn’t believe his good fortune that they both left the baby unattended. After his plan went sideways, he left the hospital, knowing that they probably got him on the security feed and would be looking for him. He didn’t count on Aaron bringing his girl and baby home early or that his friends would install security so quickly at his condo. Now he was no closer to making Aaron pay for what he did all those years ago, and that pissed him off. Every time he got close to hurting Aaron, he had to back away and regroup with another plan. He was fucking tired of waiting for his chance. But, sooner or later, his old friend would slip up, and he would have his opportunity to make him pay. He would show Aaron just how bad it felt to lose his family and everything that he loved.
Aaron was exhausted. He didn’t get much sleep in the past week, taking care of Sadie and letting Sunny recover. He knew that Sunny needed more rest than he did. Sadie was starting to adjust to a schedule, but he was warned that it wouldn’t last. Doc came by a few times and liked to tease that things would go back to “normal” in about twenty-one years. Aaron didn’t laugh at Doc’s joke, but then again, he wasn’t in a joking mood lately.
Sawyer came home from his honeymoon with Lorna, and he called Aaron to let him know that he was working on the surveillance videos from the parking garage and the hospital, but that was all he had. Aaron was hoping that they would be a little further along in finding out who was doing these things to his family, but as Sawyer said, it wasn’t a high-priority threat. The person who slashed his tire and the man who was standing over Sadie in Sunny’s hospital room might not even be the same. The administrator he spoke to at the hospital told him that the guy was most likely someone who’d wandered off from his room and gotten lost. She tried to make it sound as if some of their elderly patients often left their rooms and took too many turns to find their way back. The guy was just distracted by the baby and wanted to take a peek, not trying to cause any real harm. The administrator was even reluctant to release the security camera footage to Sawyer until he threatened to get the mayor involved. It took an extra day, but she handed it over, and Sawyer was combing through the footage. Aaron wasn’t buying the hospital’s story; something just felt a little off to him. He wished that he could take Sunny and the baby far away from Harvest Ridge until they could figure this mess out, but that wasn’t an option.Sadie was too little to travel, and Sunny was still recovering. Aaron gave Sadie a quick bath and changed her diaper. Piper and Tag were coming over with Lorna and Sawyer. He was hoping that the women would distract Sunny long enough for the men to formulate some sort of plan. Sawyer was also going to check out the security that Tag and Torren set up, to make sure that it was up to his standards.
It felt damn good to be back home around friends who were there for him when he needed them. And Sunny—well, she and the baby became his entire life. He couldn’t imagine going back to the loneliness that he felt in California. In just two short weeks since arriving back in town, his life was completely flipped upside down, and he couldn’t imagine it any other way. Sadie howled as he tried to bathe her—she hated the water. He tried to talk softly to her like Sunny always did to soothe her, but his daughter wasn’t having it. She decided that he wasn’t a sweet talker like her mama, and she didn’t like baths.
“Hey, what’s all the ruckus in here?” Sunny made her way into the bathroom and wrapped her arms around Aaron. “It sounds like an MMA match with all the noise, and I think you may be losing.” She giggled and started to run a bath for herself.
“Yeah, well, I think Sadie could probably take me, especially if we are judging by the loudest scream. Our kid has quite the pair of lungs on her.” He handed their wet, squirming daughter to Sunny, who held out a towel for her. Watching Sunny with Sadie was pure magic; she seemed to know everything their daughter would need or want, even before Sadie did. Sunny sat on the edge of the tub and fed Sadie while Aaron cleaned up the mess of water that he had made.
“I think you had more of a bath than she did.” Sunny smiled up at him as he looked himself over in the mirror.
“I think I need to change before everyone gets here. I’ll take her and get her dressed while you take your bath,” Aaronoffered. Sunny stood and handed him the baby, going up on her tiptoes to kiss his mouth.
“Thank you, you are the best daddy in the world. I know that Sadie already loves you.” Aaron knew that they hadn’t spoken of him telling Sunny that he loved her on the ride to the hospital after Sadie was born. It was starting to bug him that she didn’t say the words back to him. Sure, they were a little busy with an unexpected home birth and all the other crazy things that happened that day, but he was starting to think that she didn’t feel the same way about him. He was dying to just ask her. He was always a straight shooter, but dammit, he didn’t want to have to fish around for Sunny to tell him that she loved him. He sure as hell wouldn’t beg her to say those three words to him, so he would wait. Sooner or later, she would have to admit that she didn’t feel the same way about him, or she would tell him the words that he longed to hear from her.
He cleared his throat, pulling her attention back to him. “Well, I love her—very much.” He dipped his head to kiss Sunny, taking his time with the soft, passionate kiss. “Enjoy your bath, Sunny.” He turned to walk away, noticing her smirk in the mirror’s reflection. Well, two could play that game. He was determined not to spill his guts again and say those words until she said them first. He knew that it was childish, but he also knew that Sunny could be the most stubborn person on the planet. He needed to hear her say the words, and she needed a little persuasion. He could wait her out.
Piper and Lorna hogged the baby, allowing Sunny to just sit and enjoy their company. Judging from the look of her, Lorna had a fantastic honeymoon, and Sunny felt a pang ofjealousy. She knew that Aaron and she were nowhere near ready to start discussing a future together. Heck, he told her that he loved her and that should have been enough, but she worried that he said those words because he was swept up in all the emotions of Sadie’s arrival. The last two weeks since Aaron had been back in town, Sunny ran through a whole gamut of feelings—from angry as hell, to complete and utter love, all for him. She wanted to say those words back to him so many times in the past week, but she was afraid that he might be having second thoughts. Aaron took such good care of her and Sadie, making her rest and even giving the baby her baths. Her heart melted every time she caught him singing to Sadie or telling her a bedtime story. He was already such a fantastic dad, and she was worried that she would never measure up as a mom.
“Sunny?” Lorna and Piper both looked at her, and she was afraid that she had missed a part of the conversation.
“Sorry, I spaced out for a minute. I’m still pretty tired.” Sunny took a sip of her hot cocoa and tried to keep up with their conversation, but her mind wanted to go back to psychoanalyzing her relationship with Aaron.
“That’s all right, Sunny. You’ve been through a lot in the past week. We were just wondering how things were going—you know, with Aaron.” Lorna giggled as Piper bobbed her eyebrows. Sunny could feel her blush, and a part of her wanted to laugh at her best friend, but instead, she started crying. That was another joy of the postpartum crap that never seemed to stop—her emotions were all over the place. Her doctor said that it was quite normal, but nothing about being able to cry at the drop of a hat seemed normal.
“Oh no, honey. Don’t cry.” Lorna handed Sadie to Piper, slid over to sit next to Sunny, and pulled her into her arms.
“I’m so sorry, guys. I can’t seem to control it. I cry at everything.” Sunny wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
“Dammit, I was hoping that these hormones were going to get better after the baby came out,” Lorna swore. Hearing Lorna swear was always funny, and Piper and Sunny couldn’t help their laughter. Lorna joined in, and all the noise they were making woke Sadie. Sunny hiccupped, taking the baby from Piper.
“Do either of you mind if I feed her here?” Lorna and Piper both shook their heads. Sadie latched on and started eating like it had been three days since she was last fed and not just three hours. “She eats all the time; she must be growing. If she takes after Aaron, she’ll suck me dry.” They all laughed, and Sunny could tell that they were waiting for an answer to Piper’s question. She sighed, knowing that she wasn’t going to get out of spilling her guts about Aaron. “What do you want to know about Aaron and me?” She looked at Piper’s triumphant, evil smile and knew that she was going to have to go into details—a lot of details.
“Are you two together, like a couple?” Piper questioned. Sunny shrugged, not knowing how to answer.
“I think we are. I mean, before the baby got here, it seemed like we were working towards being a couple. But then Sadie came and he told me that he loves me.” Sunny started crying again. She burped the baby and switched her to the other side to let her finish eating.
“Well, that’s wonderful, right?” Lorna asked.
“I thought so, at first. But he hasn’t said it since, and well, I think he changed his mind. I’m not sure what to think.” Piper stood and paced around the room. Sunny knew that her best friend was about to be pissed off on her behalf. Pipe stopped in front of Sunny and pulled her hand into her own.
“Sunny, tell me that you said it back.” Sunny froze, and Piper groaned. “You didn’t? You let that poor man spill his guts and you didn’t say anything, did you?”
Sunny shrugged again and shook her head. She didn’t want to admit that she was a complete fuckup at the whole relationship thing, but she was. She dated around, even had a few steady boyfriends, but Aaron was the first man that she ever gave her heart to. He was the only one that she fell in love with.
“Sunny,” Piper all but shouted. “Why the hell would you not tell him that you’re in love with him? You are in love with him, aren’t you?” Sunny thought for a minute. She knew that she couldn’t lie to her best friend. But she also felt that Aaron should be the first person to hear how she felt about him. Piper growled—actually growled—and Sunny couldn’t help but smile. She always seemed to be able to push her friend’s buttons without even trying. If she let her stew long enough, Sunny would never hear the end of it.
