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He must've put on the perfect innocent face, because after he answered, "I have no idea," Reese dropped the subject. I envisioned her popping off his lap with a refreshed smile and carrying her bags of groceries toward the back door. "Where's Eva?" she asked, and yep, her voice sounded a lot closer to where the door was.
"Haven't seen her yet this morning," Mason answered. "She must still be in bed. I know I would be. I swear that baby was up every hour."
I rolled my eyes. It'd been every two hours, not one. That had been the recommended feeding schedule the nurses had given me.
"Why don't you go see if she's up yet?" Pick said. "And drag her out here. I haven't had my Tinker Bell fix for the day yet."
I instantly smiled. He wanted to see me. That was so—
I bit my lip to kill the grin. Bad Eva. I had to stop thinking about him this way, even though his wife was like a sister to him and he'd only married her for insurance purposes. This was the worst time for me to develop honest feelings for a guy. I had baggage, issues, and trouble stamped all over me. And despite how obvious it was that Pick didn't mind wading through that kind of crap for a woman since he'd married an ex-crack whore just to help her out, I still didn't want to pile any of my crap on him.
He was too amazing to deal with the likes of me.
"Sure. I'll check on her," Reese was telling him. "Hey, are you guys staying for lunch? I could make Mason fire up the grill."
"Say what?" Mason started while Ten hooted. "Free food? Hell, yes. Count me in."
"Thanks, but my family's going to pick me up soon," Gamble said, to which Reese answered, "They can stay too. We'll make a party of it. The more, the merrier."
"Well, okay then. Count me in, too."
"I could eat," Quinn added.
"And I'm not letting you say no, Mr. Ryan. After the way you saved my E., I'd feed you every day for the rest of my life."
"I actually can't stay long. Saturday is always my morning with my kid. I'm already missing out on some daddy time."
"Okay, no problem," Reese said, but she didn't sound convinced.
"I still want to see Eva and Skylar before I go, though," he called just as I heard the back door to the garage open.
Since Skylar was done eating, I climbed off the bed and carried her toward the kitchen, burping her as I went.
"There you are!" Reese cheered as I strolled into the room. She set two overflowing bags on the table before turning to me and snatching Skylar from my arms. "I was just coming to check on you."
"I know. I heard. My window was open, and oh my God . . . " I leaned in, lowering my voice. "The things men will talk about when they don't think a woman's listening. They make us think it's all cars, and sports, and sex with them. Well, I mean, there was plenty of sex talk but—"
Reese gasped and stopped patting Skylar's back to grab my arm. "I knew it! Mason spilled about the jelly, didn't he?"
I bit my lip, but my expression gave me away.
Her mouth fell open. "I am so going to kill him."
I stole Skylar back before she really did turn homicidal. "I don't think he meant to let it slip, if that's any consolation. They were giving tips to Quinn because he'd just slept with his first girl and—"
"What? Wow. Quinn was a virgin? But he's so hot."
"I know! Apparently he was raised by his grandma and didn't even know about going down on a girl. Plus, he's like super shy."
"Holy shit, E." Reese pulled back and shook her head. "How the hell long did you listen to those guys?"
"Oh, they were a fountain of juicy gossip."
I settled Skylar into the bouncer on the table and helped Reese prepare our impromptu picnic. I was telling her how Gamble and his teacher girlfriend were back together when the back door opened and Mason popped into the kitchen.
"Hey, babe," he told Reese as he swooped in behind her to draw his arms around her waist and kissed the side of her neck. "The grill's fired up and ready to go, and Noel's family just showed up." A strange expression crossed his face before he added, "They agreed to stay for lunch, which brings the head count up to eleven and one beautiful little baby." He released Reese to turn to Skylar, pull her out of her chair, and rub his nose into her belly. "Hello, little girl."
It still shocked me how affectionate he was with her, and how willing he was to hold her. As he cradled her and cooed to her, I glanced Reese's way. She'd pressed her lips together tight and was holding both hands to her heart as she watched him with this love-struck grin on her face. When she caught me watching her, she fanned her face with a hand and mouthed the words, "Isn't he amazing?"
