“Is everything all right?”
I shook my head. We always talked on Sunday nights, so I was certain a midday call set off all sorts of internal alarms.
“I’m fine. How are things there?”
“Good. Trying to get your brother’s schedule together so he’ll come home for Thanksgiving. Maybe you can talk to him.”
“I bet if I sweeten the pot with first-class tickets, you’ll have all the information you need in an hour.”
“You shouldn’t spoil him like that. But if you two could get a flight together, that would be great.”
“About that.”
“You’re not coming?” she asked, picking up on my subtle cue.
“I’m not sure if my girlfriend can travel for the holiday, so I may stay here with her.”
“Girlfriend? Thane Alexander Carthwright, are you holding out of me? When did this happen?”
My face was starting to hurt from the ear-to-ear grin at her reaction. Roe was special. The meet-the-parents kind of special. But I knew with Kinsey that a long weekend in North Carolina was probably not in the cards, but maybe Christmas.
“Her name is Roe. She works for the same company I do, and she’s a spitfire. You’ll love her.”
“Sounds like it. Why don’t you bring her down with you?”
Ah, the complicated part.
“That’s mostly why I’m calling you. I need some help setting up a baby’s room.”
“You got her pregnant?” she asked in a high-pitched shrill.
Of course, she would jump to that.
“No, she has a baby, and I want to set up one of my extra bedrooms for her so they can stay the night with me. Her apartment is tiny.”
There was silence for a moment before a calmer version came back on the line. “You’re dating a woman who has a child? That’s… Thane, are you sure about her?”
“More sure than anything.”
“But a baby? What if she’s using you for your money?” she asked. Having known my last girlfriend, I had a feeling she was thinking I might be with another Liv.
“That’s not what’s going on. Trust me, it was hard enough just getting a date out of her, and that involved rescuing her from an assault on her home by some drug dealers.”
“Drug dealers? Thane, what in the world have you gotten yourself mixed up in?”
“A great relationship with a selfless woman who took in a baby that wasn’t even hers and lost a lot to save her from her drug-addict mother.”
There was silence. “Oh, Thane.”
She knew all about my birth mother, and knew how fucked-up that made me in some regards. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t free me of my issues.
“She’s beautiful and sexy and smart. Has the constitution of a warrior, and a wicked determination if you piss her off.”
“Which you have firsthand knowledge of, I’m sure,” she said with a knowing laugh.
“She poured a cup of coffee all over me after I was an ass.”
There was a chuckle on the other line. “I like her already. So, maybe if the baby can travel. If not, you have to bring them down at Christmas, and definitely in the summer.”
“I will. Now, what do I need to outfit a one-year-old’s room?”
An hour later and a list three pages long, I had a plan in place and a full online shopping cart.
As I hovered over the Buy Now button, I looked at the price tag and reality settled in.
I was about to spend a couple grand on baby stuff for a woman I’d been officially dating for a month. It was a big gamble for a new relationship, but I wanted it.
The vision of picking Kinsey up from a crib in her own room in our home hit me square in the chest.
It was a future I never would have envisioned, but it had become the one I dreamed about.
The problem was convincing Roe that I was a good bet.
I had the day all planned out. It started with family fun pool time at my building’s indoor pool. Roe still had failed to even hint that it was her birthday, so I planned a fun day with her and then an evening out, just the two of us. Linda was going to stay at Roe’s with Kinsey.
Until then, I was getting hard looking at Roe in her bathing suit.
If you could call it that.
“What the fuck are you wearing?” I had barely been able to control myself before, but Roe standing in front of me in quite possibly the sexiest scrap of clothing I had ever seen had me throwing my hands up in defeat.
It didn’t fit the norm for Roe’s wardrobe. Red, low-cut top that accentuated her breasts, with red strips that crisscrossed her body twice before ending at very low bottoms.
She bit down on her lip as she gave me that minx-like smile that drove me wild. “You like? I bought it just for you.”
An audible groan left me, and I palmed my cock. “You’re not playing fair.”
“How so?”
“Cut the coy act. You know how so.”
She shimmied where she was standing, shaking those sinful hips.
I shook my head. “You are such a tease.”
She leaned over to pick up Kinsey, and I about lost it. If I’d seen it while we were still upstairs, Kinsey would have gotten a show.
She held out the round baby pool float while my gaze was locked on Kinsey slapping her little hands on Roe’s squished breasts.
“Get in before you scare someone with that thing,” she said with a wink.
We were alone, the pool area was completely empty, but it didn’t stop me from taking another glance around. “You’re lucky there are cameras in here,” I hissed.
She giggled in response before stepping up and grabbing my hard shaft through my swim trunks. “False threat.” She leaned in closer and nipped at my pec, the highest her tiny frame could reach. “You’d love to give whomever is watching a show.”
Fuck, I love her. If I could just get the words out.
“Is that a challenge? You know how I feel about challenges.”
“Oh, I know, baby. Can you do something for me first?” she asked in a sweet whisper, batting her eyelashes at me.
I was completely hypnotized by her and by her hand that was working up to the tip. She gave it a squeeze before slipping her fingers into my waistband.
My breath was labored, and all blood had rushed to my dick.
“Anything.”
She grazed the tip, making me groan before trailing her hand up to my chest, right at my heart.
“Get in the pool,” she said with a push, and I fell off balance.
My eyes went wide as I stared at her before I hit the water with a splash. When I broke the surface and drew in a sharp breath, she was standing there laughing.
And so was Kinsey.
“You’re in trouble,” I said with a glare. She had distracted me, backing me up without me noticing.
“Ah-ah, I’ve got a baby in my arms,” she said as she moved over to the steps.
I took hold of Kinsey’s float and walked over to where they were entering. Kinsey was instantly kicking her little legs as soon as they hit the water. I held the float steady while she deposited Kinsey into it. Once she was settled, I wrapped my arms around Roe and held her close. She kept one hand on the float while her other hand wrapped around my neck.
“Hey, handsome.”