Touch by Touch (Riggins Brothers #4) - Kaylee Ryan Page 0,73
this right here, this is my end game.
“Hey, Roan.” I reach over and run my index finger down his cheek. He’s currently wrapped up like a burrito, and he’s snoozing away. I remember when Carter was born, he slept a lot.
“You need one,” Royce says out of the blue.
Turning my head, I see him sitting on the side of the bed with his arm around his wife, and both of their eyes are on us. He thinks he’s calling me out. Little does he know I’ve already come to that conclusion. “Whenever she’s ready,” I answer, pulling my gaze back to my nephew.
Aspen’s eyes snap to mine, and I shrug. Royce lets out a belly laugh. I’m sure at her reaction. “If you were going for the shock factor, it worked.” He chuckles.
“When can we do it again?” Sawyer asks, turning the heat from us to them.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Royce tells her—spinning my words to answer his wife.
“Aspen, who would have thought a tiny human could bring these Riggins men to their knees?” She laughs.
“Not just the tiny humans, their mommas too, or future mommas,” I tell my sister-in-law before Aspen can reply. My hand rests on her knee, and I give it a gentle squeeze, hoping she gets the meaning. I’m talking about her. She’s the future momma I’m referring to. I’ve shocked her by the look on her face, but that’s okay. I’m just now realizing this is what I want too. The only difference is, to me, we’re a done deal. She has to catch up to where I am.
My phone rings, and it’s Grant. “Hey,” I greet him. “You’re on speaker.”
“Are you done yet? You’ve been in there forever,” he whines, making us all snigger.
“Yeah, we’re about done. Let me steal him from Aspen to get my fix, and we’ll be right out.”
“Baby hog,” he mutters as we end the call.
“Here.” Aspen transfers Roan into my arms. “I could hold him all day.”
“So, what you’re saying is if we need a sitter, you’re the one to call?” Sawyer asks.
“Definitely. No way am I passing up baby snuggles,” Aspen tells her.
Staring down at my nephew, I decide I need to start my campaign. “All right, little man, we need to have a serious talk. I’m the favorite uncle. Remember that when those others come in here and try to take my title,” I tell the sleeping baby.
Aspen giggles, and I can’t not look at her. “You’re crazy.”
“Hey, we take the favorite uncle title very seriously in this family.”
“I think we need more babies to even it out. Five babies, five uncles, everyone wins.” Sawyer laughs.
“You might be onto something, sis,” I tell her. “All right, buddy. Uncle Grant is eager to meet you, so we need to go.” Standing, I hand him back to Royce. “Here you go, Daddy.”
Royce’s eyes mist with tears as he takes his son into his arms. He looks down at Roan, then to Sawyer. “Thank you for him. For loving me when I fought against it, for this life that we share. I love you.” He leans down and kisses her, and that’s our cue to go. We don’t bother saying goodbye, instead choosing to sneak out of the room.
“Finally,” Grant says when he sees us in the waiting room.
“Hey, blame Mom and Dad. They were in there longer than us,” I defend.
“Ready, babe?” he asks Aurora.
“For baby snuggles? Yes, please.”
“He’s so cute and tiny,” Aspen tells her.
“We’re heading out,” I tell my brother. “We’re going to grab some sleep. We’ll be back later.”
“Check in with Mom. She was talking about bringing food by.”
“Sounds good.” Taking Aspen’s hand in mine, I lead her out of the hospital and to my car. As soon as we’re on the road, my cell rings through the car speakers. “Hey, O, you’re on speaker with Aspen.”
“How’s the baby?”
“Good. Cute and tiny.” I laugh.
“You on your way home?”
“Yeah, Grant and Aurora are in with them now.”
“You need me to watch Carter so you can go?”
“Maybe in a few hours. You need to get some sleep, and we don’t want to wake him up to bring him out.”
“I can come to you,” I offer. I love my nephew and don’t mind helping, but what I really want to do is go home and curl up with Aspen in my arms and catch a few hours of sleep.
“Why are you up in the middle of the night?” I ask him.