by Max Monroe
“More like nightmares,” I corrected with faux glumness. Winnie laughed and knocked my body off-balance with the slight weight of her own.
“I personally think it’s hilarious that they just showed up here without an invitation. I’ll be reliving the breastfeeding encounter for years to come.”
I smirked sardonically and shook my head. “You just haven’t spent enough time with them yet.”
A bark of laughter startled the silence and encouraged a smile to form on my face as she took my hand and pulled me in their direction.
“Where are you going?” I asked suspiciously—I had a feeling I already knew the traumatizing answer.
“Over to talk to them.”
I tugged at her hand to slow her down, but she redoubled her efforts and pulled harder. I followed helplessly.
I’d like to tell you that I stopped trying for fear of hurting her, but she’s actually just really fucking strong.
Still unwilling to subject myself to unnecessary torture, I tried reasoning with her verbally. “See. This is further evidence that you’re still learning. They haven’t seen us yet, which means we go in the opposite direction.” I hooked a thumb over my shoulder toward the elevators.
“Come on, grumpy Gus,” Winnie teased. “I want to go talk to them, which means—”
I sighed as my shoulders sank dramatically in defeat. “We’re going to talk to them.”
“Ah,” she breathed with a smile and a wink. “I guess you’ve already learned.”
That I’d do anything to see her smile?
Yeah, I’d learned that quite a while ago.
“All right,” I agreed, fake aggravation roughening my voice. “But you’re going to owe me for this.”
“Oh, I am, huh?”
I nodded with a knowing smirk.
“And what, exactly, is the expected payment?”
I feigned seriousness. “It’ll be tough.”
“Tough?” she questioned.
“And hard.”
“Hard, huh?” she asked, smiling now.
“Yep. Definitely hard. And dirty. You probably won’t even want to wear any clothes.”
She mocked a grimace. “I seem to have that problem a lot.”
“I know. But because I’m so gracious and all, I put up with it.”
“Look up magnanimous in the dictionary, and it’s your picture right next to it, huh?” she teased, wrapping her arms around my waist and plastering her body to mine.
“Let’s go upstairs,” I whispered, too turned on to give a flying fuck what we were talking about.
She bit her bottom lip and shook her head, just enough to tell me that I was completely at her mercy—and that we both very much knew it.
“It’s a no, then?” I questioned.
Her hair swayed as she shook her head, bemused. “It’s a no.”
“Just for now, though, right?” I asked as I advanced.
She put a warm hand to my chest to halt me. “Stop stalling, Wes.”
Smiling, I leaned in and just barely touched my mouth to the corner of her peachy-pink lips. “Okay,” I whispered there, inhaling the sweet smell of her skin. “All you have to do is ask, Fred, and it’s yours.”
“Ask and argue briefly,” she clarified.
“Of course.” I grinned. “That’s the fun part.”
“Oh, check it out!” Thatch boomed so loud Winnie jumped. I closed my eyes, knowing we’d been spotted.
I glanced toward the dining room where the two crazies were currently eating and then looked back at my wife. “Way to go, baby. It’s officially too late to get out now,” I whispered into Winnie’s ear. She rewarded me with an elbow to the ribs.
“Be nice.”
“I’m the epitome of nice,” I murmured as she turned from my arms and dragged me toward the table where a beaming Thatcher Kelly and his braless wife sat cozily beside one another.
What? It’s literally impossible not to notice.
“Holy hell, I think her nipple may have just pierced my eye,” Winnie said in an aside.
See?
As I sputtered and coughed on my own saliva, she slapped my back a couple of times once we stood at their table. It was anyone’s guess whether it was in an effort to save me or make it worse.
“Where’s your kid, Wesnnie?” Thatch asked immediately, but there was no room for anyone but him and Cassie in their apparently already ongoing conversation.
Cassie scoffed and shook her head.
“Winnes?” Thatch asked with a tilt of his head.
His wife’s face scrunched up in disgust. “No. They’re both garbage.”
“Yeah,” Thatch agreed. “Doesn’t have the necessary ring to it.”
“Um,” I butted in. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to give you a celebrity couple name,” he said condescendingly—as if I should have known.
“Bennifer, Brangelina, Kleorgie,” Cassie supplied helpfully as she smeared an entire tiny container of butter on a triangle of toast. She held it out for Thatch to take a bite, and he grinned like the fucking king of an Atlantis castle.
“Oh,” Winnie muttered at my side, and I had to look down to keep myself from laughing at her. She’d brought this on herself.
“So?” Thatch asked between chews of butter and bread.
I raised an eyebrow. “So…what?”
“Where’s your kid?” he questioned before gulping down an entire glass of orange juice in record-breaking time. It was no mystery why he’d been the champ of keg stands and beer-chugging contests in college. He was a fucking bottomless pit.
“We brought our nanny, Melinda,” Winnie interjected with a smile. “Where’s the baby?”
Cassie and Thatch’s resulting laughter couldn’t be described as anything other than snickering.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, admittedly curious.
“We brought our nannies, too,” Cassie sputtered, and Thatch actually reached up and high-fived her.
As if planted there by God himself, when I looked up and out the window, Georgia and Kline strolled by, baby Ace in tow. I nudged Winnie’s shoulder and then gave a jerk of my chin in their direction.
“Kline and Georgia have him?” she accused immediately. “Is that why you called me forty times this morning?”
Cassie scoffed, and Thatch shook his head—amused. By us. They were amused by us.
“I was hoping you had some extra Preparation H,” Cassie answered far too easily. “Hemorrhoids are a bitch after pregnancy. Am I right?”
“I had my baby nearly seven years ago,” Winnie said slowly, like she was talking to a child. I was too busy blinking at the same languid speed to say anything.
“Back away slowly,” I urged, pulling her at the elbow. “Retreat, retreat,” I added, knowing full well we had to get out of their web of crazy before there was no escape. If we didn’t get the fuck out now, we’d end up stumbling around like zombies from The Walking Dead—lost, brainless, and not a goddamn clue how the hell we’d gotten to that state.
It was literally a life-or-death situation.
Winnie followed without question, and when we broke the initial barrier of the first ten feet, both of us started to run.
I could hear Thatch laughing from behind us and another smack of their hands.
“Lightweights,” he commented.
“Totally,” Cassie agreed.
“High five, Lexi Lou!” Quinn Bailey held his hand above his head and far too high for my daughter even to attempt to reach. She giggled in response and looked up at his large palm in determination.
“Come on! High five, Lex!” he encouraged in his signature Southern twang.
She glanced over her shoulder at Wes, who stood right behind her, and then back at Quinn’s hand that was still raised toward the ceiling.
I could already see the little wheels of her calculating and methodical mind turning.
She grinned at Quinn and then turned on her little feet toward Wes. She crooke
d her index finger for him to move closer, and he did so willingly and without a second thought. Lexi stood on her tiptoes and whispered into Wes’s ear.
He chuckled softly and winked. “Good idea, sweetie,” he whispered back.
Seconds later, Wes lifted her up, and she had no issues smacking her palm against Quinn’s, her face etched with pride and victory the entire time.
“Hey! That feels like cheating, little lady.”
“Nuh-uh,” she answered and wrapped her arms around Wes’s neck and made herself cozy in his arms. “You cheated, Quinn. You made it a physical impossibility for me to achieve the high five. You’re seventy-eight inches tall, and I’m only forty-two inches tall. And with your hand raised, it gave you additional height.”
Bailey smirked at Wes. “I guess I can’t argue with that, huh?”
“Nope. I’d say she’s got a point.”
“That was deplorable, Quinn,” I teased. “Trying to win by cheating. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Deplorable!” Lexi giggled.
His Southern grin just grew wider. “Give me three adjectives for deplorable, Lex.”
She rolled her eyes as if he had just asked her something elementary like what was one plus one. “Awful, appalling, disgraceful.”
“All right, little lady, give me a hug and we’ll call it even.” He held out both arms, and she willingly jumped into them. Her tiny arms wrapped around his neck and squeezed him tight. He happily returned the hug and then set her back on her feet.
“What are you up to now, Bailey?” Wes asked.
He shrugged in response. “Well…I guess I should probably try to get ready for the pageant rehearsal.”
“So…you’re going to the bar to drink a few beers and eat some tacos?” I questioned knowingly.
He flashed a wide-toothed grin. “Something like that.”
“Mommy! Mommy!” Lexi bounced up and down on her tiptoes in front of me, demanding my attention. “Can I have my iPad? Pretty please? I’ll go sit there and just play a game,” she begged and pointed toward a line of benches on the other side of the hallway.
“Stay on the benches, okay?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “I promise I’ll stay right there.”
I pulled her iPad out of my purse and handed it to her, and she skipped across the tile hallway toward the benches.
Once Lex was safely seated at a bench and engrossed in her iPad, I moved my gaze back to the guys and patted Quinn on the shoulder. “Thanks again for hanging with Lex today.”
He waved me off. “Anytime you need a babysitter, let me know. Hanging out with that kid makes me smarter. Next time, I’ll probably try to get her to memorize plays with me.”
Wes and I both laughed at that.
“You know, the sad thing is, she probably knows more Mavericks plays than I do, and I’m the quarterback.”
Wes nodded. “Considering she knows more about the players, the team, and the organization than I do, it’s safe to say she probably knows your plays better than you. Hell, she congratulated me on the thirteen percent increase in third-quarter revenue last week. She knew about the Mavericks’ financial achievements before I did.”
Quinn laughed and slid his hands into the pockets of his khaki linen pants. “I’m not surprised. I just spent three hours looking at and feeding sea turtles with her, and she knew more about those little fuckers than the goddamn marine biologist giving the educational lecture to the crowd.”
His gaze moved across the room to where Lexi sat, and he smiled softly in my daughter’s direction before moving his gaze to mine. “She’s special, Dr. Double U. A true gem and a breath of fresh air. I just know, one day, she’ll surprise us all with the amazing things she’ll accomplish.”
His kind words filled my heart. “Thank you, Quinn.”
“All right, well, I’m off to ‘prepare’ for the pageant rehearsal now.”
“Order the nachos,” I suggested. “They’re really fucking good.”
He chuckled softly. “It’s a done deal, pretty lady.”
“And keep your eyes off the contestants,” Wes chimed in.
“Yeah, that won’t be a problem. I like women, not girls. Women. Adults. Legal, consenting age.”
Wes grinned. “I like where your head’s at. Pass that gem of wisdom along to the rest of the team, would you?”
“You got it,” Quinn agreed and then headed toward the Lagoon Bar & Grill, where sharks and fish swam in the shallow waters around the circular perimeter. It was also known to be a prime location for a visit by one of the many wandering kittens at the resort.
I did my research before we ever left the ground in New York. I haven’t been on a tropical vacation in nearly ten years. I plan to soak every fucking ounce of it dry.
Wes wrapped his arm around my shoulder and tucked me into his side. “What do you think?”
I looked up into his loving gaze. “I think Bailey is full of shit, but I like that he’s being so valiant in his efforts to avoid acknowledging the smoking hot and far too young beauty contestants.”
Wes grimaced. “You think it’s too late to order a shitload of shock collars before the pageant?”
I giggled. “Yeah. I think you’ve not only run out of time, but it might not be worth the legal ramifications you’d face for it. I appreciate the creativity, though.”
He pulled me tight to his chest, and both hands migrated down my back until his large palms gripped my ass. He stared down at me with a mischievous smirk as he discreetly squeezed each cheek a few times. “I can definitely appreciate your creativity, Fred.”
“Is that so?”
He nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“And what creativity are you talking about, exactly?”
“You want examples?”
I nodded.
“I really enjoyed that thing you did with your tongue in the shower.”
I rolled my eyes.
“And the way you woke me up this morning. That was real fucking creative.”
“I’m noticing a theme here…”
He waggled his brows, and his heated, carnal gaze started to turn me the fuck on.
I pressed a hand to his chest. “I think we need to end this conversation before it goes any further.”
He glanced down at the crotch of his pants that was definitely looking more prominent than it should. “I think you’re probably right.” He chuckled and adjusted himself before things become real apparent. “Rain check?”
“Definitely.”
Taking my hand in his, he led me across the hall to the benches where Lex sat. Her little eyes focused on her iPad as she tapped her fingers across the screen.
“All right, Lex!” Wes cheered loud enough to draw the attention of a few hotel guests in our direction, but it didn’t faze him. “Are you ready to have some fun?”
Her eyes grew big and excited.
“Are you ready to go look at some fishies?”
She nodded, enthusiastic and childlike. “Can we go to Predator Lagoon?”
“Yep.”
“Wooooohoooo!” She hopped up from the bench, and instantly, the iPad was long forgotten as she handed it off to me and ran straight into Wes’s opened arms. He lifted her up with ease and spun her around a few times as I turned her iPad off and slid it into my purse.
“Come on, Mommy!” she shouted toward me. “Let’s go look at one of the resort’s fourteen lagoons! Altogether, they hold over eight million gallons of salt water and more than fifty thousand aquatic animals representing over two hundred and fifty marine species!”
God, she was the cutest and easily could have been one of Atlantis’s employees with the vast knowledge she possessed about the resort. From the second Wes and I had told her about the trip, she’d ensconced herself in her normal routine of soaking up every little bit of knowledge about the Bahamian destination that her little genius brain could hold.
I followed their lead and watched from behind as Wes carried her in the direct
ion of the exhibit my daughter was so excited to see. Her little lips were moving a mile a minute and most likely filling his ears with random tidbits of information about the marine life and their habitats. Her hands were wrapped around his neck tightly, and the most genuine smile etched her pouty pink lips. His soft chuckles and the warmth that highlighted his voice with each of his answering responses were pure music to my ears.
He loved Lexi. He loved everything about her, and whenever I had the precious opportunity of witnessing them spending time together, I always felt overwhelmed with how thankful I was for him. He truly loved my daughter and saw her as his own. He loved her unconditionally, exactly how a father loves his little girl.
Lexi finally had a father. She finally had the male figure in her life who would always support her, always encourage her, always keep her safe, and most importantly, always love her.
I had no doubts about his presence in her life—our lives.
Wes, Lex, and I were a family. We were forever.
Eventually, I swallowed past my little moment of happy, thankful tears and caught up with them. Wes smiled down at me and took my hand in his, and with our daughter in his arms and our hands locked tight, we walked in the direction of the lagoon of Lex’s choice.
The instant her eyes met the see-through glass, they lit up bright enough to give the sun a run for its money. She hopped out of Wes’s arms and pressed her nose to the glass, her curious eyes taking in everything in meticulous detail. The blue sparkle of the water, the saw-like nose of a six-foot-long carpenter shark as it put on a show on the other side of the glass, and the school of fish that flitted away as he moved closer. Each little piece stood out to her, her visually pervasive brain far and away better than the basic function of my own.
Wes wrapped his arm around my shoulders and tucked me into his side, and both of our gazes were more focused on Lexi than the actual marine life swimming gracefully through the water.
Lex pointed to another shark swimming directly in front of her. “Great hammerhead shark, also known as the Sphyrna mokarran. The mallet-shaped head of the hammerhead enhances its ability to find prey. They have sensory systems on their heads, and their eyes are located far apart, which actually improves their field of vision. They also have jelly-filled pores called the ampullae of Lorenzini that detect the weak magnetic field produced by fish.”