Page 53 of Tempting

“Brynlee,” Deacon tries to calm her, but she’s just getting started.

“All of you shut up, or I will refuse to go to the hospital, and you’ll have to deliver the baby here. Now, someone tell me why Nixon is with you if you two are fake dating—because that doesn’t sound fake to me.”

Deacon coughs, and Nixon laughs as I slide on a pair of panties and grab a fresh pair of jeans. “Pretty sure you know what he was doing there, babe.”

I silently cringe.

He’s taking his life in his own hands, talking to a laboring woman like that.

“Fine. But if we spend hours waiting for this baby to come, I want every dirty detail, Hayes. And as for you, Sinclair. How fast can you get to our house? Kennedy loves you. She’ll be fine staying with you...” She pants and groans as another contraction hits her.

“Nope, Deacon. Wake Kennedy up. Bring her in her pajamas. Grab whatever she needs, and we’ll set her up in a room with Nixon until someone else can come and take her home. You are leaving now. It sounds like you’re in active labor. Do not pass go, and get your ass to the hospital. I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes.”

“What?” she cries, and I can hear the tears in her voice. “Kenz...”

“You’re going to be fine, Brynlee. Just get moving, and I’ll be right there. Love you,” I tell her as I throw on a long sleeve t-shirt and my brother’s Revolution hoodie with his name and number on the back.

“Love you too, Kenz.”

She hangs up, and I look at Nix, who’s still just sitting on the edge of my bed, deliciously naked. He’s impressive, and he’s not even erect.

Wait. I’m mad at him.

“Couldn’t help yourself, could you?” I ask as I walk into the bedroom, put on deodorant, and throw my hair up into a bun. “Had to offer to take Kennedy.”

I brush my teeth quickly and swish some mouthwash as he walks in behind me.

He’s in his jeans, shirtless.

Oh yeah. That’s probably because his shirt is still in the kitchen.

Nixon picks up my toothbrush and shakes his head when I make a sound of protest. “That’s my toothbrush,” I groan, and the way he looks at me has me thinking thoughts I don’t have time for.

Nix brushes his teeth, spits it out, then backs me up against the bathroom vanity. His lips ghost over mine. “My mouth was all over every inch of your body last night. It was inside your body. You really want to complain about me using your toothbrush?”

Why does his nearness take my breath away?

I definitely don’t have time to figure that out now.

I dig my fingers into the hair that needs a cut at the nape of his neck and kiss him hard and fast. “I guess when you put it that way, I’ll forgive you for that. But I swear to God, Nix. You just opened Pandora’s fucking box by letting Brynnie know you’re here. We’re going to have to talk about this later.”

He runs the tip of his finger across my hairline and tucks an uncooperative curl behind my ear. “Let them talk, Mac. You need to go be a rockstar, and I get to hang with the coolest kid I know that I’m not technically related to. You know Kennedy. She wouldn’t be comfortable with just anyone.”

I shake my head. “We have a bajillion family members who live in that neighborhood.” I duck under his arms and dart into my room to grab my shoes and purse. “She could have gone to any of their houses, Nixon.”

He shrugs, and a slow, sexy, mischievous smile spreads across his face. “Let’s go, Hayes. I’ll drive.”

“I need my car, Nixon. I’m going to be there all day,” I protest as we walk into the kitchen, and he throws on last night’s shirt. Surprisingly, it’s still clean. Not a drop of mint chocolate chip to be seen.

Fuck . . . he’s so sexy.

“Are you on call or just delivering Brynnie’s baby?” he asks as he holds open my condo door for me.

“I’m not on call again until Wednesday,” I tell him, remembering one of the main reasons he and I can’t possibly work. We’ll never see each other.

“Then I’m driving, and I’ll drive you home. Let me in your world a little, Mac.”

He drops a hand to my lower back as we step on the elevator, then backs me into the corner and runs his nose up my neck. “I might surprise you, beautiful.”

---