AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sixteen
Holy hell.Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
I am so in over my head; I am going todrownat any moment. And the culprit? My ridiculously attractive, baby daddy who insists on being the opposite of everything I thought he was. He’s kind, attentive, and so good with our daughter that my heart feels like it may jump out of my chest each time I glance at them together.
A week has passed since he showed up at my house with four other way too good-looking hockey players and an entire department store full of stuff for Olive in their arms.
Things have been…. interesting. Overwhelming, if I’m being honest. Being a new mother is challenging in itself, then adding in Briggs makes it’s a whole new world for me and my Olive girl.
She’s an angel on earth, my sweet girl, even if I don't get much sleep these days. Partially because of her schedule, and then add in my thoughts being plagued with Briggs, and sleep has not come easily.
“Let me take a shift tonight, you’re exhausted,” Briggs says, sitting next to me on the couch, watching as I burp Olive.
“It’s okay, you probably have a packed schedule.”
I set her down in the bouncer in front of me and watch as she tries to eat her little mitten-covered fists, cooing sweetly.
“Maddison, look at me.” Briggs’ voice is low and hoarse, commanding in a way that I haven’t heard since that night at the Brickside. It sends a shiver down my spine. I turn to face him, our gazes locking as he speaks, “You’re exhausted, and you need time to rest. I can handle one night, and if something happens that I can’t, I’ll wake you. We’ll be a door apart. You have enough milk pumped for a night, right?”
I nod, chewing my lip nervously at the thought of an entire night away from Olive, even if it’s just through the door of my bedroom. Not that I don’t think Briggs is capable, he is. It’s just hard trusting anyone that isn’t you with something as precious as your little girl.
"I’ll try. No promises.”
He nods. “I just need her bassinet and a blanket and pillow, and we’ll be fine.”
He’s been trying so hard to learn anything he possibly can about how to be a dad, and I appreciate every second that he tries. Watching him wrestle with a diaper, with his daughter so tiny and small while he hunches over her, is possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. We haven’t reached poop territory yet, but the last time he tried changing a diaper, he at least turned the diaper the right way this time. Imagine him trying to secure the tabs with it on backwards…
Yeah.
I giggle to myself at the thought, and he looks at me with a confused look, his brow furrowed.
“Just thinking about you trying to put a diaper on her… backwards.”
He grins. “Look, those things are entirely too complicated to put on a baby, but I watched some YouTube videos, and I'm fully prepared to take on the next one.”
“That so?” I giggle.
Briggs' eyes seem to darken in front of me, changing into something entirely different as he watches me. “I missed your laugh.” He says so quietly I almost miss it.
I swallow thickly, tamping down the emotion that has clogged my throat. I’m entirely too emotional to go anywhere near this topic with him. Lately, he’s been growing out the thick stubble on his cheeks, and if anything, the dark hair seems to make his eyes pop even more. I shouldn’t be noticing things like this, but I can’t help it.
My baby daddy is ridiculously handsome, and time has done nothing but make him even more so.
“So, how about dinner? I make delicious spaghetti, and I think I have all of the ingredients.”
He nods and says nothing else, even though I can tell that he wants to.
Olive begins to fuss when I’m in the kitchen preparing a quick dinner, but Briggs lifts her from her bouncer, talking to her in a soft, calming voice that has my insides turning into a pile of mush.
God, men with their babies have got to be the sexiest thing on the entire planet.
Mission abort, Maddison.There are rules in place for a reason. A multitude of them. You can’t, and will not, complicate things between the two of you even more than they already are.
Complicated doesn’t even begin to cover it, and when he realizes what I’m hiding, he may walk out that door and never come back. My stomach churns at the thought.
It’s the main reason I haven’t sat him down and come clean, explaining my job and the past Puck Bunny to him. I don’t know how to say it without hurting him. Without bringing up a past that he’s so desperately trying to move on from. I’m worried that the second I tell him, he’ll leave and he’ll hate me in the process. I don't want to cause strife between us and his relationship with Olive will undoubtedly suffer.
I don’t want that. The thought makes me sick to my stomach.
