He drew a calming breath as he dumped everything into his cart, asking when he needed help, which was often.
He glanced at his phone to see what was next. Baby washcloths and towels. They couldn’t use regular ones? Then he saw the little teddy bear towels with hoodies attached, chuckled, and bought four because why not? It meant less laundry. It was bad enough he was going to have to explain things to his housekeeper.
And Dreft.
What was Dreft? After asking a sales associate, he discovered it was hypoallergenic baby laundry detergent. How the hell did Quinn know all this stuff?
Finally he came to the last item, a car seat. He realized she’d left a stroller off the list, noticing because there was an entire aisle of the things, and he assumed it was because she wasn’t sure he’d take Jenny out. But maybe the baby would like being pushed in one, so he asked the sales associate for the best stroller on the market.
Thirty minutes at checkout and a small fortune later, a young guy helped Austin bring his second cart out to the car and load everything into the back.
He headed home, breathing a sigh of relief that the shopping ordeal was over. Except when he arrived, the driveway was full of familiar cars, and that’s when he remembered.
Family meeting, he thought and braced himself for the fallout.
* * *
Quinn had held her breath until Austin left to go shopping. She’d spent the last two hours in the guest bedroom tossing and turning, wondering how she’d ended up in his arms and coming apart beneath that hard, hot body.
Kiss me. She couldn’t claim she hadn’t been fully aware of what she was doing despite the cloud of sleepiness that had still consumed her when she’d woken up breathing in his masculine scent.
Okay, she’d made a mistake. One she wouldn’t repeat. And considering he’d said not to overthink things, clearly he didn’t take it all that seriously, either. Why would he? Women flocked to him, and she just wished she hadn’t fallen in line as easily as the others.
She blew out a long breath just as a familiar scream sounded from the carrier. She had to admit, hearing Jenny cry didn’t instill the fear in her she usually felt when she heard babies’ hysteria. The tiny girl was quickly endearing herself to Quinn. She was good, only crying for things she needed, which told Quinn she’d been well cared for before being dropped off here.
On the one hand, of course that made her happy. On the other hand, she wanted reasons for Austin to be able to keep this infant if she turned out to be his. Quinn supposed abandoning the baby in the middle of the night in the heat of the summer qualified as a good reason to give the father custody.
Quinn checked the diaper, which wasn’t ready for a change, and picked the baby up, lifting her out of the carrier.
“Hello, little miss.” She walked around with Jenny in her arms, talking to her while she bounced her gently. Eventually Quinn put her into the carrier and continued chatting to her while she prepared a bottle.
“You do know if Austin’s your daddy, you’re a very lucky girl. Once he gets the hang of things,” she said as she put the powder into the bottle.
The baby gurgled, and a few minutes later, bottle made, Quinn settled into the couch in the big family room and popped the nipple into the baby’s adorable puckering lips.
While Quinn fed Jenny, memories of her days doing the same thing for her family members came back to her, her younger cousins especially, and she remembered that there were times she really had enjoyed taking care of them. Like now when this sweet girl chugged her bottle as fast as she could, looking up at Quinn with wide eyes. Eyes that reminded her very much of her good-looking daddy’s.
She shook her head and let the baby finish, burped and changed her, and waited for Austin’s family to descend en masse.
A little while later, the doorbell rang, and still holding the baby because she’d been crying earlier, Quinn answered, catching sight of Bri on the other side.
Drawing a deep breath, she let the other woman in.
“What’s the emerg … en … cy?” Bri’s voice trailed off as she zeroed in on the infant in Quinn’s arms. “What the fuck is that?” She shook her head, her gaze never leaving Jenny. “Never mind. I know it’s a baby but what’s it doing here?”
Bri stepped inside and Quinn closed the door. “I think that’s your brother’s story to tell, but isn’t she cute?” She turned the baby to face Bri, who looked at the infant, eyes huge.
“Is she—?”
“Nope,” Quinn cut off Bri’s question. “Not answering.” Explaining the situation was definitely Austin’s job.
Bri frowned, obviously not liking being in the dark. “Okay, then what are you doing here with the baby?”
Quinn sighed and readjusted Jenny against her. “Austin called me and that’s all I’m going to say. Come in. Is the rest of the family on their way?”
Bri nodded. “Mom should be here any minute. Damon’s in town so he’s coming,” she said of their youngest sibling, who played football for Ian’s team, the Miami Thunder. “Jaxon is between games so he’s coming, too.”
The baseball player brother, Quinn thought.
“And of course, Braden is halfway around the world with Doctors Without Borders,” Bri said of her twin. She sighed at that.
“You miss him, don’t you?” Quinn had heard the twins were close.
She nodded. “It’s hard when he’s not always available to talk.”
“I get it. I’m close with my siblings, too. Not that I have a twin. I’m sure that bond is different.”
Bri smiled. “It is.”
“Well, come on in. Coffee’s available. Your brother only has a single-cup brewer, but I’ll make you some.” Quinn turned and started for the kitchen, Bri right behind her.
“Thanks but I can make my own. You’re his business assistant not his housekeeper,” Bri said, shooting her a knowing look. One that said she was very at home in Austin’s house.
Quinn refused to think too hard about that and settled the now quiet baby into the carrier as the doorbell rang again. “I’ll go let them in. Can you keep an eye on the baby?” she asked Bri.
Austin’s sister nodded but she narrowed her gaze. “I don’t like not being in the loop.”
Quinn chuckled. “All will be revealed in due time,” she said and headed to let the other family members in.
* * *
Pulling in a calming breath, Austin let himself into his house, braced for whatever reaction his family had to his supposed baby. He felt bad that he hadn’t gotten back in time to do the explaining, but Quinn was more than capable of handling his family. He left the truck in the garage, planning to get his brothers’ help unloading the packages.
“Hello!” he called out.
“In the family room,” Damon yelled back.
“And you have some explaining to do.” That was Bri.
He groaned and walked into the room. As expected, his family began shouting questions at him the second they saw him.
His mother walked up to him. Not surprisingly, Jenny was in her arms. His mother loved babies. She constantly hounded her kids to get married and give her grandchildren, and Austin wondered if she’d gotten her wish.
Her concerned gaze rested on his. Always put together, her blondish-brown hair hanging to her shoulders, her makeup fresh, Christine Prescott was special. And she was an amazing mother. She’d done her best to protect her kids from their father, Jesse, when he was in one of his moods. Over the top with his expectations. If she had one flaw, it had been that she hadn’t left her husband, but she’d loved him and kept hoping her influence would fix things.
“Is she yours?” his mother asked, rubbing Jenny’s back as she spoke.
His siblings grew silent as they waited for his answer.
Austin swallowed hard, surprised Quinn hadn’t revealed what little they knew about the baby, and he met Quinn’s gaze, the unspoken question obvious.
She looked at him with sympathy in her eyes. “
Not my story to tell.”
He blew out a breath and began to explain. “I found her on my doorstep last night with a note saying she’s mine.”
“Jesus, Austin, ever hear of wrapping it up?” Damon asked from his seat on the couch.
He shot his brother a dirty look. “I did. But you know as well as I do, shit happens.” He met his mother’s gaze. “That’s all I know right now. I called Ray Benson, my lawyer. He’s going to arrange for a paternity test. I’ll also turn the tapes from my house cameras over to a PI Ray uses, after I take a look and see if I recognize whoever left her.”
“Jenny,” his mother said. “Whoever left Jenny on your doorstep. She’s a baby with a name.” She continued to run her hand over the infant’s back, and Jenny had her head resting on his mother’s chest.
Even he wasn’t immune to the sight of the sweet little thing in his mom’s arms. But she was quiet for his mother. For Quinn. For him she shrieked like he was hurting her somehow.
“I know, Mom.”
“But you haven’t looked at her or asked to hold her since you walked in.”
He hated the disappointment in her voice and expression. For his whole life, he’d strived to make his parents proud, but especially his mother. He cringed at the way she was looking at him now.
But it wasn’t like he wasn’t doing things for the baby. “I just spent the last two hours loading up my credit card with things for her. For Jenny. I don’t know if she’s mine and I’m trying to adjust.”
“I don’t care if she’s yours or not. She needs love and affection. Attention, and it’s not Quinn’s responsibility.”
“I didn’t mind helping out, Mrs. Prescott,” Quinn said quietly.
With the sound of her voice came the reminder that she was witnessing what felt like his shame. That he’d probably been responsible for creating a baby he hadn’t known about. That his mother thought he was dropping the ball now.
“Call me Christine and I know you don’t mind. I just want my son to understand this baby is his responsibility … at least until we know whose baby she is. Although looking at these familiar blue eyes, I have a pretty good idea.”
Austin reeled at the fact that his mother was confirming what his gut already knew. He leaned against the nearest wall, totally floored. It was one thing to suspect Jenny was his child, another to have the closest person to him validate it.
“Mom, I need help,” Austin said in a low voice. “I need you.”
His mother patted his face. “Honey, this is where a man shows his true colors. I get that you need help, but I have a cruise for my high school reunion that I organized and I’m leaving in the morning. I can’t not show up. I’m the one in charge. I’m sorry. I’ll be here for you when I get back on Friday. I promise.”
Shit. He’d totally forgotten her trip. “It’s okay. I’ll figure something out.”
Bri rose to her feet. “I’ll stop by when I can but I have that trip to LA with Manuel Rodriguez. It’s his first major sponsor photo shoot and I promised I’d be there. What about a nanny?” she asked.
“I’ll look into hiring someone, but it’s going to take time to vet people. I can’t just trust anyone.” He knew he couldn’t ask his brothers. They both had team responsibilities, and if the idea of taking care of an infant scared him, he doubted his bachelor brothers with full-time careers were any more capable of handling the baby.
No more than Austin himself. He had a business to run, and though he could take time off if he needed to, the fact was, he didn’t know how to deal with Jenny on his own. He was at a total loss and didn’t know who to turn to or what to do.
“I’ll do it. I’ll move in and help,” Quinn said, striding over to his mother and sliding a protective hand over little Jenny’s head.
Everyone’s eyes whipped toward her in shock but none more than Austin’s.
Chapter Four
Quinn didn’t know what had possessed her to volunteer to move in with Austin and the baby. What in the ever-loving hell had she been thinking? One minute his family was giving valid reasons why they couldn’t be there for him on such short notice, and the next her own voice rang out loud and clear.
Everyone in the room turned to face her and she felt a flush rush to her cheeks. “I can do it. Between Austin and me, we’ll handle work and the baby.”
She didn’t mention she had enough experience with infants and children to juggle like the most capable nanny. She was the only person they had available, and they’d accept her help without her explaining her life story.
“Oh my God, Quinn, thank you.” Austin stepped toward her and pulled her into an unexpected hug.
The scent of his cologne wrapped around her, sexy and sensual, and despite the fact that his family surrounded them and the gesture was due to gratitude, her body reacted immediately, memories of early this morning coming back to her in vivid detail. His demanding kiss, those forceful lips, the feel of his body grinding against her until she came.
A full-on rush of arousal hit her hard. Her nipples puckered under the borrowed tee shirt she still wore, and her panties grew damp. All because he held her against his rock-hard body. She wanted to rest her face in the crook of his neck and smell his skin.
Instead she stepped out of his embrace, sure her feelings were stamped all over her face, so she reached for Jenny and took the baby, hoping to hide her emotions behind the infant.
Then she made the mistake of peeking over Jenny’s head and caught Austin’s mother’s knowing gaze. A pleased smile pulled at the other woman’s lips, and Quinn knew she wasn’t fooling anyone.
Including herself.
* * *
I’ll do it. I’ll move in and help.
As Austin and his brothers unloaded the truck, Quinn’s words reverberated in Austin’s head. Given how reticent she’d been about helping him in the first place, and the distance she’d placed between them since all but running from his bed this morning, he couldn’t believe she’d offered to save his sorry ass.
He owed her a hell of a lot more than a raise. And that hug? He’d been so damned grateful, but the minute he’d pulled her into his arms, he’d felt much more. Dressed in his clothes, a turn-on in and of itself, she’d been so warm and soft, and when he’d breathed in, she’d smelled so good. His cock grew hard and his body craved hers.
But he knew how much he needed her help, so he needed to keep his hands—and his cock—to himself from now on. He didn’t know how his life had gotten so fucked up in such a short amount of time, but he believed in coping with the hand he was dealt. So along with his brothers, they brought the baby items into the house from the truck.
While Bri, Quinn, and his mom unpacked, Austin headed downstairs to the basement. His brothers tagged along behind him to the walk-in closet where the camera recorder and screens were located.
“Do you have any idea who the mother of the baby is?” Damon asked as they entered the room. “Assuming she’s yours, I mean.”
Austin glanced at his youngest sibling, who still lived in the deluded world young athletes inhabited that nothing bad could touch them. “I have my suspicions, but I hope you take this as a lesson in being careful.”
“Apparently condoms didn’t work for you. Are you suggesting I become celibate?” Damon asked, chuckling at what he thought was his brilliant joke.
Jaxon smacked his brother in the head. “He’s looking out for you, asshole.”
In the middle of his career and still in his young, carefree bachelor days, when everything looked bright and new, Damon believed his own hype. He probably needed his ego checked, but that ego was what made him such a solid player. He’d learn over time that life wasn’t all fun and games.
Austin began to fiddle with the equipment and rewound the tape to the time he’d been busy at the bar. He hoped like hell Jenny hadn’t been left outside and alone for too long. The screen gave him multiple views of various angles of the house and driveway where he had cameras located or pitched, and he st
udied each.
Fast-forwarding, they watched as time passed, his brothers silent as they stared at the screen from behind him.
“There!” Jaxon pointed over Austin’s shoulder. “Stop it now.”
“I see.” Austin pushed the pause button followed by rewind and then play.
At nine p.m., an hour before he’d gotten home, a gray-hooded figure held the carrier in one hand and the bag on her shoulder as she took the few steps up the porch. Austin assumed the person was a woman based on the slight build, but with her head and hair covered, there was no way to see a face.
After placing the baby on the ground along with the bag, she took the steps down and turned, staring at the infant for a minute before rushing away and out of camera range.
“Shit. We got nothing,” Jaxon muttered.
“I honestly didn’t think we would.” But Austin pulled out a thumb drive he’d purchased at Target and duped the tape for his attorney and the PI on his payroll. “But I’ll let the professionals go over it in case I missed something.” He turned to his brothers. “Want to go upstairs and help set up my house for a baby?”
“This is surreal,” Damon said. “But yeah, of course I’ll help.”
Austin laughed but he was still an anxious mess, and once back in the kitchen, he took in the bottles on the counter, the packages of formula beside them, and the reality of his situation sank in even more.
“We set up the pack and play in your room,” his mother said. “And Jenny fell asleep immediately once we put her in there in a snuggly.”
“The what and what?” Jaxon asked, sounding as confused as Austin had been in the store when he’d been looking for all the baby paraphernalia.
“The pack and play is a portable crib. Until we know for sure that she’s mine, I’ll make do with that,” Austin explained.
“And the snuggly is a zipper-like thing that bundles the baby and makes her feel cocooned and safe,” his mom said. “But if she is yours, you’re going to need to turn one of the bedrooms into her room. You’ll have to buy a real crib and furniture, and … I’ll go shopping with you for all the baby things you didn’t buy this trip.”
Dare to Resist Page 6