all.” I batted Rose’s hands away as she decided she was more adept at removing her leggings than me. “The league? Your reputation? The tra—”
“—Don’t say it.”
“Trade.”
“Jesus fuck, Piper.”
I glared at him. “Watch your language. Do you not see the baby lying right here in front of you?”
“Of course I see her!” He braved a glance at the blanket. His expression twisted as I pulled off her diaper. He spun away, running a frustrated hand through his hair. “This isn’t happening.”
He skittered backwards like I brandished a lit torch at him instead of a dirty diaper. Good God. Even Dad tolerated the diaper changes, and it wasn’t like he had ever picked up a wipe or some powder when I was a baby. At least Mom had died after I was potty-trained or Dad would have let the nearest wolf pack raise me.
Cole gagged as I tended to Rose. “I can’t believe you’re doing that here.”
I pulled out the wipes. “It’s only a diaper change.”
“No. No, no, no. It’s not only a diaper change. That is a used diaper in my living room!”
“I’m sure you’ve done worse here.”
“Nothing like this.” His head tilted as I folded the diaper into a disposable bag. “Now what are you doing? Keeping it for later?”
I held out the bag for him. “Do you want to throw it away for me?”
Never thought I’d see a man that tough nearly pass out. Cole retreated as far as he could without ceding the house to me.
“I’ll find you a Tupperware to stash it in,” he said. “Just keep it away from me.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve never been around a baby before.”
He gestured over his house. “Oh yeah. I’m loaded with babies. I got a swarm of infants crawling over my attic. Gotta spray under the deck too. A couple toddlers are teething on my posts.”
“I’m almost done.”
“Take your time. I’ll have to burn the room anyway.”
I kissed Rose as she kicked her perfect chubby legs. “I guess there’s two babies in this house, isn’t there? That’s right.”
“Sure, I’m just a big baby.” Cole crossed his arms. I pretended not to notice how the ink tightened over his ripping biceps. “Let’s recount all the shit you’ve caused here, not including what you have in that bag.”
“Language.”
“Like she cares! She’s covered in shit!”
“She’s cleaned up now.”
He didn’t listen, just counted off the inconveniences I caused on his fingers. “Destruction of property. Trespassing. Harassment.”
“I apologized for those things,” I said. “And I am sorry for what happened in the hot tub.”
“Don’t you dare apologize for that,” Cole said.
I pretended my heart didn’t beat a little harder. “It wasn’t appropriate.”
“It was fun.”
I shook my head. “It was a mistake.”
He nodded, his jaw tightening. “You never said anything about having a kid.”
The fresh diaper fit snug around her bottom. “We have a professional relationship, Cole. Or we’re supposed to. I shouldn’t have revealed nearly as much as I did.”
“Are you embarrassed about having a baby?”
My hackles rose. “Excuse me?”
“You almost slept with me.”
“I most certainly did not.”
“I had you yesterday,” Cole said. “A couple more minutes with me, and you’d have burned hotter than the water.”
“Not true.”
“You were definitely wetter.”
“Cole—”
“But you didn’t tell me you had a kid. Did you think I would have cared?”
Was he serious? “Obviously you do care or you wouldn’t freak out about a little diaper.”
“That doesn’t explain why you kept her a secret.”
“She wasn’t a secret. She didn’t come up in conversation.”
Cole devious smirk meant to twist a dagger in my side. “Do you think I wouldn’t have fucked you if I knew you had a baby?”
“I’m not having this conversation with you.”
“You break my doorbell, trespass in my house, nearly snap off my fingers, and then you leave me with the worst case of blue balls in my life.”
I launched to my feet, gesturing with Rose’s leggings. “My baby is right here. Watch your language.”
“What? Not like she has any.”
“You’re impossible. You think every woman in the world is dying to tame the beast, don’t you?”
He shrugged. “Like you aren’t wetting at the thought of it.”
“No.”
“Right. You gotta be all respectable. Can’t admit you wanted me just like you can’t admit that you hid your baby.”
My hand connected with his cheek.
Holy shit.
I slapped a man who had just hospitalized a wide receiver with a broken back. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t afraid of him, and I wouldn’t let him talk about my baby that way.
“I wasn’t hiding her.”
Cole raised his eyebrows, but he didn’t speak. Good