way I can get to you if you need me.” How fucking corny could I possibly sound?
“Thank you for having me.” She smiled, and it suddenly didn’t feel so corny.
“I’m glad you’re here.” The admission slipped out before I could shut my ridiculous mouth.
“Me, too.” She scrunched her nose. “No fish.”
I laughed, then wondered just how often I would do that with Liberty in my life…for however long I got to have her around…that was.
I rolled my shoulders as I walked into the kitchen three days later.
“Good workout?” Liberty asked from the disaster area previously known as my island. Monday morning meant she didn’t have class until the afternoon, and the entire counter was covered in chocolate, baking pans, bags of flour and sugar, a carton of eggs, and a giant mixer. The cakes were already cooling on the rack.
Hey, if she’d found something she could keep down, then I didn’t care if she turned my whole house into an episode of Hoarders. She could mess up my kitchen any day.
“Yeah,” I answered, averting my eyes from the mess and grabbing a recovery drink and an apple from the refrigerator. “I like lifting. It clears my head.”
I caught her staring at my bicep. “Looks good, too.” She cringed, and swiped her hand across her forehead, leaving a chocolate smear. “I mean, I bet it feels good.”
We’d only lived together for four days, and I’d been gone two of them, and already the electricity in the house was at a singe-worthy level. There was a reason we’d jumped into bed so quickly when we met—we had that X factor, that chemistry you simply couldn’t question…which meant lifting didn’t just keep my head clear, it kept my hands off her.
But fuck me with those tiny ass shorts she had on right now. The fact that she had on a baseball tee on top with the sleeves pushed up her arms just made it even sexier because she wasn’t trying. God help me if the woman ever tried.
“So, the dress code for the party on Sunday—” I twisted the top on my drink.
“Whoa.” She interrupted, flinging her arms out as she leaned against the counter. “You were serious about me going to that team party with you?”
“Yeah.” I chugged the drink, and by the time I finished, she was still staring at me. “Why wouldn’t I be serious?”
“Because…” She fumbled for a reason. “I don’t know. What are you going to say? Hi, this is Liberty, the woman I accidentally knocked up while we were drunk in Vegas?” She raised her eyebrows, which just crinkled the chocolate she’d smeared on her forehead.
“I thought we agreed on the term baby buddy?” I tossed the bottle into the recycling bin.
“This isn’t a joke, Nixon!” she shouted.
“I never said it was!” I fired back, then groaned when her eyes narrowed. Shit, I couldn’t lose my temper with this woman. Not now, not ever, but I’d gotten so used to nearly everyone in my life being disposable, that I’d lost the ability to reign it in for the greater good. I wasn’t just a pro athlete, I’d become a professional asshole. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t know what role I play here,” she said softly, bracing her hands against the counter.
“Whatever role you want to.” I put my apple down next to a bowl of what looked to be frosting, then crossed to the sink and dampened a clean towel. By the time I turned back to her, she was licking frosting off her finger.
My lips curved into a smile. The woman seriously didn’t give a shit that it was nine-thirty on a Monday morning. She was licking the chocolate frosting from the bowl. I crossed the distance between us, then slowly raised the cloth to her forehead, cleaning the chocolate from her skin. “I’m not going to hide you away in my house all season, Liberty. I have no intention of hiding you or our baby.”
“You really want me to go?” she asked as I set the towel on the counter. Then she swept her finger through the bowl again.
“I really want you to be a part of my life. I’m not going to force you to do anything you wouldn’t want, but yeah, I want you.” I gripped the counter on either side of her and blinked. “There. I want you there.” Fuck, I wanted her everywhere.
“Even though I turn your kitchen into a mess and may have done my own laundry today instead of waiting for