AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rapid pounding on the door interrupts whatever either of us would have said next. Casper jumps against me, but I hold on to her so that she doesn’t fall. I press one more kiss to her head.
“Sit down and get comfortable. It’s probably my cousin doing something annoying like always.”
I leave her sitting on the couch after handing her a blanket so she can get comfortable.
“What do you want?” I practically snarl when I see it is Emmett at the door.
“I have a problem.” He glances over my shoulder at Casper, who is watching us with wide eyes. “Sori cut her hand after dropping a plate, and I’m going to take her in for stitches. Can you watch Laurence until we get back? He’s asleep.”
I open my mouth to tell him to shove it, but Casper is there, pushing me out of the way.
“Of course. I love babies.”
“He’s not a baby,” I tell her. “He’s a terrible toddler who thinks the world is made for his pleasure.”
Casper snorts. “He’s a baby. You probably don’t know how to handle them.”
Watching the transformation in her over the course of the last thirty seconds is worth the epic cock block that Emmett has thrust in our laps. Emmett moves aside and I see Sori in the front seat of his car, looking like she is about to pass out.
“I’ll grab him.” I push past my cousin and retrieve his son from the back seat, where he is buckled into his car seat.
Seeing her pale face, I feel like a jackass for even thinking about telling him no.
“You guys knew I’d take him, huh?” I lift Laurence out, and he grunts before laying his head on my chest and promptly falling back to sleep.
“I didn’t want to assume,” Sori says from the front seat. “But I am really thankful for you doing it. I don’t like hospitals or needles, and keeping an eye on him while we’re there would make it so much worse.” When she sees that I have her son, she lays her head against the glass of the window and closes her eyes.
“She’s not feeling great.” Emmett walks around the front of the car. “Thank you. I’ll come get him when we’re done. It shouldn’t be too long.”
“No,” Casper says from my side, where she’s just materialized again. “You guys get some sleep when you get back. He can sleep over.” She shoots me a glance, daring me to contradict her. I just smile down at her, while Laurence snores in my arms.
As we watch Emmett drive off, Casper leans into my side and I feel her relax in a way she hasn’t all night.
“Do you want to cuddle with me?”
Right then, in that moment, I don’t think I’ve ever thought aboutjustcuddling with a woman. Only, for Casper? I’ll do anything for her. Even cuddle, which has never been a possibility for me with anyone else.
“Sure.” I carry Laurence back into my place, not giving Casper the chance to head to hers.
She follows with a pep in her step. I can’t stop the smile that spreads across my face again at the sudden change.
“It’s really late,” she says quietly. “Do you think there’s anyone who’ll deliver?”
“You really are from Maine.” I kiss the top of her head as I reach for my phone. “There are so many places that will deliver. No one cares that it’s after midnight, at least not in the city.”
She sits on the couch, and I put Laurence next to her. Although, Casper isn’t having that. I’m dialing the pizza place when she grabs him gently and pulls the little boy into her arms. By the time I’m ordering, she is nuzzling his hair and I’m pretty sure I’m done for.
When I finish giving them the order for my pizza, she whisper-yells at me to wait. “I want pepperoni and pineapple,” she hisses.
Completely oblivious to the grimace that overtakes my face at her mention of fruit on pizza, she goes right back to snuggling the child in her arms. I have to shake my head to get rid of the image of domestic bliss that takes over. I am too young to settle down. There is still time left on my contract in the Marine Corps. I can’t even think about my future, not until that is over, and I don’t know when or if I’ll even get out of the military at this point in my life.
“I’m deploying,” I say suddenly, needing to get it off my chest and make sure she understands. “At the end of the month I have to report to my duty station and get ready to deploy. The rest of my unit is already overseas.” I don’t say anything else because I don’t really know what to say. Most people hear Marine or deployment, and they run in the other direction. But this is the second time I’ve mentioned it to her, and I’m making sure she understands, and she doesn’t even look fazed.
Casper looks at me over Laurence’s head, her eyes shining. “I know.” She rubs her cheek against his hair again. “Sori told me that first day. Then you told me when you asked me out. I’m not looking for anything right now, especially something… fleeting. That’s one of the reasons I told you I can’t go on a date with you.”
She keeps going like the rug hasn’t been pulled out from under me at her admission.
“My brother is in the military. His best friends all serve or served, too.” Casper sniffles, hiding it by running a hand over Laurence’s short black hair. “We lost Danny, one of his best friends, a few years ago. He left behind a pregnant wife.”
