Page 96 of Playboy

I chuckle as I run to catch up with him. “Mind if I ask why you stay?” His presence doesn’t bother me at all. I actually love it. Gives me somebody to hang out with while Hannah’s traveling, and Noah and I actually have a lot in common. We like the same shows and we’ve gotten into the habit of working out together. And since we have friends in common, it’s easy to hang out in a group setting. The relationship he and I have created is exactly what I used to wish I had with my older brother, Paul. But Noah doesn’tneedto stay here. Guy makes way more money than me, so I’m not sure why he hasn’t found himself a nice big apartment with a view.

“Hannah needed me.” He jabs a finger at me. “And don’t you ever tell her I said that.”

I hold up my hands. I’m not saying a thing.

“But now that you’re around…” He hums, side-eyeing me. “We’ll see. You stick around and prove you can take care of her, and I’ll think about getting my own place.”

“I’m not trying to get rid of you.” Shit, I hope he doesn’t think that. “But I intend to do all those things, so when the time comes, you don’t have to worry about her. I’ll be there for her and our baby.”

Hands in his pockets, Noah nods. “I’m beginning to believe that.”

As the bar comes into view, I smile. “Ready to go scare a few baseball players?”

THIRTY-TWO

HANNAH

I’m goingto blame the way I folded and let Daniel do my job for me last night on the pregnancy. I was too tired. Iamtoo tired. Constantly.

Before I got knocked up, I’d heard about morning sickness, swollen ankles, and strange cravings, but no one told me about the bone-deep, mind-numbing exhaustion. I walk around in a fog for nearly half the day. The other half, I’m horny as fuck.

Seriously. I’m sprinting through a sex scene that’s finally come to me after suffering from writer’s block for too damn long, and I have to clench my butt cheeks to keep from humping my office chair.

Yes, I’m doing work for one job while at another, but with as often as I field calls and put out fires after hours, Beckett owes me a few thousand personal minutes, so I’m cashing in a few now.

She pulses—no, delete that—she spasms—yes, much better word—around his huge, throbbing, pierced?—

“Knock-knock.”

With a growl, I shut my laptop and glare at the person interrupting my sexy scene. Now that the mood has been killed,the scene will have to be completely rewritten. One day I’ll finish this book.

“Jasper.” I nod to the chair across from me and grip my armrests to keep myself from lunging over the desk and strangling him.

“You’re motioning for me to sit, but your eyes are telling me you’re planning my death—and it looks painful—so I’m not sure I should.”

“Sit the fuck down.”

With a grimace, he practically throws himself into the chair. “I just want to say that it wasn’t me.”

“Save it. Beckett warned you that you had one more chance.” I hold up a finger. “One, Jasper. Give me one reason I shouldn’t call him right now and tell him you blew it. I have no idea how Daniel got the kid to agree not to press charges or how he got the bar to let you go without calling the cops?—”

He grins. The kid fucking grins at me. “Your boy is the man.”

I blink and shake my head. “My what?”

“Your boy.Daniel. Ya know, your baby daddy. He’s awesome.”

With a sharp inhale, I will my muscles not to lock up. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say those words—baby daddy—or boy—and we’re going to start over.”

“It wasn’t me.” He holds up both hands. “It was Leggs. But the kid freaked out and started crying, so I pushed him into a booth and tried to talk to the guy he punched. It was a big misunderstanding. But then the bartender got involved. I hooked up with her once, and it didn’t end well, and, you know, things just got a little”—he scrunches up one side of his face and scans the wall behind me—“confusing, if you will.”

“I won’t.”

“Listen, I just came in here to tell you that I’m sorry.”

“You’re what now?”

“I’m sorry. Daniel made a good point last night. It’s up to us to represent Boston, and I realize now that we’re doing a shit job of it.”

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