Page 39 of Second Chance Baby

There was no missing the twinkling in his denim-blue eyes.

Apparently, not even for Carrington. “So, you can have more sex,” she said matter-of-factly while I wished that I could disappear into the floor.

The second she ran off to scold the puppy now climbing all over the furniture, I laughed helplessly as I poked Travis’s arm. “Dirty pictures, really?”

“I said nothing about dirty pictures, thank you very much. Blame your sister.”

“Where is she, anyway?” A quick stab of guilt hit me that I’d missed everything this morning.

“She got called into work.”

“I’m sorry, Travis. I didn’t mean to?—”

“Stop. She’s family. I don’t mind, and she’s keeping Care Bear busy.”

I sighed. “Okay.”

“Besides, Lacey was worried as hell about you until she heard the rumor we’d stripped down to our birthday suits for somespecial pictures.Air quotes included.”

“Dear God.” I covered my face with my hands.

“She insisted on coming over here to see if you were okay for herself. Pretty sure she was more worried about offloading the dog. He was running wild, and Amerie apparently wasn’t reacting appropriately. More air quotes. So, hey, did we want a dog?”

“I’ll talk to her.”

He shook his head. “She’s going to have to bring him back to the shelter if we don’t take Biscuit.”

“Travis…” My overwhelm had a scoop of anxiety on top. I couldn’t believe my sister had sprung this on him with zero warning.

No, that wasn’t exactly true. Lacey had a very full plate, and she was the opposite from me. She had no problem telling people she needed help, so I was certain she’d spelled out the situation to Travis.

Amerie was a handful on her best days. A dog was a huge responsibility that my sister should have thought through a bit more.

“I guess her place is really small,” he added, “and her new boyfriend is allergic.”

I frowned. “Allergic to small places? Or dogs? And since when does she have a boyfriend?” I almost stomped my foot with the exasperation invading my sweet little family bubble. “And who mentioned sex to Carrington?”

“Also, your lusty sister.”

I shook my head and lifted my cell again. “Elaine, we will talk later, I promise. Just there’s too much going on right now for me to even have hope of focusing on anything related to the shoot. But we will talk very soon. Promise, mean it.”

I clicked off before she could respond.

“Dirty pictures?” I repeated once more, still in shock.

He snickered. “Lacey started explaining what she’d heard in town about the shoot in full view of our daughter.”

I pressed my hand against my suddenly aching temple. Stress headache, right on cue. “My agent said something about people wanting more of us.”

“Yeah, so did Daphne before I told her I had to go because the pancakes were burning. I said I’d get back to her.” He laughed and took my hands. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Carrington has been begging for a dog forever. This just worked out, that’s all.”

“How can you be so okay with everything?”

“Look how happy she is.” He turned me toward the living room where the girls were quietly playing with Biscuit.

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