Happily Ever All-Star: A Secret Baby Romance (65 page)

A tiny little girl wanted a hug from
The Beast
.

And Christ…what kind of monster would deny her?

I gently tucked my arm over her as carefully as I could. Her little fists gripped my shirt, and she sniffled against me.

But Rose stopped crying.

And she took her bunny.

Then she pulled away just as suddenly as she came to me. She collapsed back in her momma’s arms, thumb in her mouth, and clutched the bunny.

Piper sighed. “God, Cole, I can’t thank you enough.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t know how to get Rumpleass back to you, but I knew she’d be missing it—”

She didn’t listen to a word I said. She stared at me with such an intensity—such need—that my blood surged and cock hardened against my better judgement.

She grabbed my shirt, pulling me close. Her lips met mine with such
passion
I was too shocked to grab her back. She flicked her tongue with a promise that ended all too soon.

She pulled away. “I would do such
terrible
things to you right now…but I am so goddamned
tired
. I don’t even know how I’ll make it to my bed.”

I could help her. I could carry both of them. I’d set the kid in her crib and tuck Piper into my bed.

But she stood, too far from my reach.

“You’re my hero, Cole,” she said. “Really.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You’ve done more than you can ever know.”

This wasn’t just about the bunny. I looked away. “We gotta talk about the other night, beautiful.”

She shook her head. “There’s nothing to talk about. That night…it was the best night of my life. And I thank you for that.”

“But—”

“Let’s not regret it, Cole. I never will.”

I stayed silent as she slipped away from me, taking the baby upstairs. I sunk onto the couch.

I already regretted
everything
.

Piper had wanted a night of passion, but I gave her a
mounting
instead. I proved just how monstrous I truly was, how primal and brutal my desires could be. I’d regret it forever because nothing had ever felt as right as when I held her in my arms.

After all the shit I did in my life, all the isolation and violence, aggression and rage, the last thing I deserved was the princess, her baby, and the fairy tale.

I wasn’t her happily ever after.

Even if she was the only one who might have tamed this beast.

I
could handle
my baby’s one-hundred-degree fever
and
negotiate an endorsement deal at the same time.

It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t pretty. And it sure as hell wasn’t
quiet
, but at the end of the day, sometimes being an agent meant more than forcing a player into a trade he didn’t want.
Sometimes
it meant flirting with a popular video game’s marketing board. I scored him one of the four available spots on the cover of their 2017 PlayStation and X-Box title,
and
I did it in the pediatrician’s office.

Not a bad day’s work.

But I didn’t have a chance to talk to my client. Mondays were usually quiet for Cole. The team met in the afternoon to watch the film from Sunday’s game, but this evening he’d stayed late at the facility.

I rocked Rose on my lap, waiting for that blessed moment she’d fall asleep. Nothing yet, and I was running out of hope. I pulled out my phone.

“I should text him,” I said to her. “Right?”

“
Circle why-angle six
.” She always gave good advice. “
Ayayaya.”

“It’s good news. He’d like to hear it.”

“
Bunny
!” Rose pitched the bunny across the room, watched him fall, and burst into tears. “
Mamamamama
.”

This was probably my least favorite game. I stood, groaned, picked up the bunny, and settled us all back into the chair. Rose grabbed my phone before I could take it away from her. She threw it too.

“
Uh-oh
!” She giggled.

Not an uh-oh. My little girl did me a favor. I might have been a coward, but I wasn’t texting Cole about the endorsement. After all, I needed
something
to talk about with him once he got home.
Anything
but the toe-curling sex that changed my life.

I’d gone to Cole for something fun and wild, and I meant it to be a one-night indiscretion. But, when he came home yesterday after the game, he was…different. He cared about me, about the baby, about the stuffed animal stowaway in his bag.

Cole Hawthorne was supposed to be some selfish, angry, monstrous loner.

No one warned me that he might have been a good man.

Sure, he’d panicked when Rose snuggled against his chest, but their hug was the most heart-warming and heart-breaking moment of my life.

My baby liked Cole, but he didn’t know it yet. He didn’t realize how
comforting
a hug could be, and how much it meant to a little girl who never knew what it was like to have a kind man in her life, even for the briefest of moments.

Rose threw Bumpybottom again and instantly pouted. It was definitely time for bed.

Unfortunately, we had been
going to bed
for the past two hours. It was almost nine o’clock, I was still in my dress and panty-hose, and Rose staged a bed-time coup.

She still wasn’t feeling well. This meant her brand-new crib transformed into a jail and the mattress became a prisoner to curb-stomp in the yard. She yelled, flailed, and yawned. She was too damn tired to sleep, but I had no idea what she wanted to do instead.

“How about one night-night story?”

It was a bribe, and it worked.

We returned to the rocking chair, the only remaining piece of beat-up furniture left. I didn’t ask Cole to order the new crib, dresser, and changing table, and he kept the order a secret until the moment I signed for the delivery.

I’d nearly burst into tears as the company unloaded furniture fit for a princess into Rose’s nursery. He wouldn’t even let me say
thank you
, just said that she deserved it.

“
Mamamama
.” Rose simultaneously cuddled and tried to escape. “
Book
!”

She was definitely my child—in love with any book she could chew on. Unfortunately, she loved them a little too much. One fairy tale became two. Two unsuccessful bedtimes in the crib became three.

And like that, my sixteen-month-old daughter held me hostage against my own hunger, exhaustion, and bladder.

A funny thing happened on the cusp of insanity—a person negotiated with a
toddler
for the chance to fulfill their basic emotional and physical needs.

“One more story and then momma
really
needs to go potty.”

Rose disagreed. “
No
!”

“Momma doesn’t get to wear a diaper like
some
lucky people.”

“
No
!” She slapped the book and kicked. Her heel dug into my side, striking dead-center on my bladder.

“
Not cool
,” I groaned.

Rose squirmed against me, nearly doing a somersault in my lap. We were both quickly approaching our limit. So I started the
last
story of the night, and I meant it. I opened the book.

“Rosie, once upon a time there was a princess…see the princess? And a lot of things happened to her…like she
really
had to go to the bathroom and it had been fourteen hours since her last meal. Yes! There’s a bunny! So a fairy godmother turned a pumpkin into a babysitter and brought the princess a sandwich. And it had ham and cheese and some potato chips on the side. Then the princess lived happily ever after because her thoracic cavity wasn’t filling with urine.” I kissed her forehead. “And look, there’s the picture of a frog. Wasn’t that a nice story?”

“I’ve heard better.”

Rose screeched in utter joy as Cole leaned against the doorway, binding his hair into a ponytail. A wise move when sharing a space with Rose.

“You think you could do better?” I asked.

“Hell no.”

“Ever try?”

“Try what? Telling a kid a bedtime story?” He laughed, hard. “Do you think I’ve
ever
uttered the words
true love’s first kiss
? Hell, when I was a kid I got a fist to the back of the head when my old man decided I should go to sleep, and it worked.”

I stopped rocking, and Cole’s smirk faded. He hadn’t meant to be quite so honest, and he changed the subject before I could ask any invasive questions.

“I, uh…” He picked up a present he had hidden outside the room. “I got something…for the baby.”

He didn’t open the box all the way, just flashed me the contents on the sly. I grinned.

“You bought another Mr. Bunny Bumpybottom?”

“Three of ‘em. A whole Rumpleass family in case she loses him again.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Really.”

Rose kicked again, grabbing for the book. I squirmed and hissed a harsh breath.

“You all right?” Cole asked. “You’re dancing.”

“If I ask you for a major favor—”

I came on too strong. He saw through it. “No.”

“Please?”

“
No
.”

“I’m about to burst, Cole.”

“Whatever it is…no. I know that look. You want me to do something—”

“Watch the baby for a minute?”

“You should have told me you were out of your damn mind before we slept together.”

I stood, a risky endeavor. I regretted the skirt as I crossed my legs. “It’s really easy. You come here...”

“Nope.”

“And sit in the chair.”

“This has to be a breach of our contract.”

I pushed him to the rocker. “Please. I only need
five
minutes.”

He might have said no to me, but Rose looked up at him with big eyes and a bigger smile. She reached for him with grabby hands.

“Beautiful…” He swallowed. Was he that scared of a little baby? “I’m not good with kids.”

“That’s because you haven’t been around them much.”

“I tend to avoid breakables, and I could accidentally crush a kid.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“That makes one of us.”

“Babies are simple,” I said. “All you gotta do is hold ‘em close before they grow up—and that happens too quick.”

He was ready to fight me, but he sighed instead. “Are you going downstairs?”

“I could.”

“Bring me a soda and we got a deal.”

“
You still can’t open the fridge
?”

“Damn it, woman. Do you want me to watch your baby or not?”

“Soda it is.”

Cole didn’t fit in the rocking chair, but he tried. The old wooden frame creaked, and he squeezed as best he could into the seat. It couldn’t have been comfortable, but nothing collapsed.

“Hold her on your lap.” I set Rose against his leg. Cole froze, as if just
breathing
would somehow hurt the kid. She crawled against him and babbled. “See? Easy.”

“Whatever you say.”

I handed him a book. “Don’t tell me
The Beast
is afraid of a little baby?”

“
You
should be afraid because I’m holding your little baby.”

“Nothing scares me about you.”

It was the truth. The only thing I feared was my own pounding heart. This gorgeous, brooding, unbelievably
powerful
man held my baby so
gently
. And together they looked…perfect.

Rose gripped his hands as he opened the first page of the book. She settled in against him, pointing to a drawing of a little bunny.

“
Bunny
!” She squealed and pointed to the pictures. “
One. Twoof
!”

Cole stared in amazement at her, like she did calculus to add up the number of rabbits on the page.

“Damn. Those
are
two bunnies. Smart kid!”

I left them with the story, but five minutes of peace went quick. I used the bathroom, brushed my hair and teeth, and felt like a normal human again. I returned with a soda, but I waited outside the room as Cole read to Rose.

“Yeah…I don’t know why his fish is being such a little bitc—
downer
. This cat just wants to throw the kids a party.”

I smiled. Great. He was teaching my baby it was okay to trash the house with wayward cats in various forms of apparel.

Rose cooed at him, babbling something cute and indecipherable. Cole went along with it.

“Yeah, I didn’t like that book either. Uh…you want another story?” He couldn’t reach the bookshelf, and I doubted he trusted himself to walk with her in his arms. He sighed. “Let’s make one up, okay?”

“
Kay
.”

“All right. Um, once upon a time there was a prince. Or a linebacker. Whatever.”

“
Back-per
!”

“Close enough. So this guy did good. He was all-pro. Used to chase all the evil dragons all over the field to protect his castle. He was the strongest and best linebacker prince guy ever. Just
ever
.”

Rose agreed, but her words were quieter now.

“But some of the peasants didn’t like him much. They said he was too good at defending his castle. They wanted to kick him out of the kingdom. So this prince—uh, linebacker, whatever—paid some gold to the kingdom every time he chased the dragons out. But they still wanted him gone.”

“
Bunny
.”

“Okay. He’s got a bunny too. But the linebacker prince said he didn’t want to leave the kingdom. Not if there was a little princess around who needed a better bedtime story than some prick cat making a mess in a stranger’s house. Bet your momma likes that story though, huh?”

I watched from the entry, my heart
melting
. Rose didn’t answer. She was
out
, cuddled against his arms, blissfully asleep.

“Good job,” I said.

Cole didn’t move. He stared at the baby, asleep in his arms. “I didn’t know my story was that boring.”

“She likes your voice.”

His eyes shifted from her to the crib. “How do I…?”

“Pick her up.”

“I don’t think—”

“You won’t wake her up.”

“I’m not worried about waking her. Worried about…” He shrugged. “She’s a tiny thing.”

“You really should trust yourself.”

“And maybe you shouldn’t.”

Cole hesitated, but he wrapped his arms over Rose, nearly losing her in the mountain of muscles that were his biceps and chest.

He moved slow, one shuffled, non-jarring step at a time until he reached the crib. He lowered Rose onto the mattress. He didn’t breathe, but he silently swore as his hands were trapped under her. He held his breath, rocked his palms, then freed himself.

He retreated as sweat beaded his brow.

“There. She’s sleeping.”

I tucked a blanket over her. “She likes you, Cole.”

“Yeah.”

“How’s the story end?”

“Does it matter?”

“I’m invested.”

He exhaled. “How else? The princess and her bunny live happily ever after.”

“And the linebacker prince guy? Does he get a happy ending?”

Cole didn’t answer. He avoided my question and left the room. I grabbed Rose’s baby monitor and followed.

He wasn’t in any mood to talk. Neither was I. But I grabbed his hand before he escaped and tugged him into my bedroom. I shut the door behind us.

“What are you doing, beautiful?” His voice lowered into a warning. “Don’t tempt me.”

“I’m not tempting. I’m offering.”

He tensed, staring at me, my curves my lips. “We never talked about the other night.”

“What’s to talk about? You did everything I asked.”

“And now?”

“I’m asking again.”

“Why?”

Because he put my daughter to bed.

Because my child felt safe and comforted in his arms.

Because when she fell asleep against his chest she proved what I had denied since the first moment I met Cole.

He wasn’t all beast. Something better was hidden deep inside him. Something gentle, compassionate, and kind. And I just had to find it.

I damned the consequences. My body superheated in an instant, shivering under his stare.

“Fuck me,” I whispered. “Here. Now. I want you to take me.”

Cole hardened. His jeans tightened around a growing bulge, but he didn’t try to free it. His words rasped hard, and every sound sizzled through my core.

“Are you sure?” he whispered.

“Are you interested?”

His smile was the warning of a prowling wolf. “You want to get fucked?”

“Yes.”

“How do you want me?”

“You don’t want me to make that choice.”

“Yes, I do.” His expression twisted. “No. I don’t. Fuck, beautiful, I want to destroy you as much as I want to worship you. You have no idea what you do to me.”