Page 94 of Wylder Ranch
I nudge him, trying to keep my laughter to a minimum. “No, this is from the practice house.”
“Shame.” He chuckles. “What do you think the odds are on us winning?”
The final gingerbread house was dropped off yesterday, and it wasn’t my best work. We also broke so many of the pieces after having sex in the kitchen that I was amazed we managed to salvage a whole house from the shards left.
“Probably close to zero.”
“Oh well,” he whispers. “There’s always next year.”
Next year.
Turning my body, I stretch out alongside him, staring at Everly asleep on his chest, their breaths rising and falling in sync. “I’m so glad you’re with me.”
He reaches his spare hand out and twines his fingers with mine. “I always want to be here. I don’t ever want you to feel like you’re on your own. I don’t want to miss out on moments like this.”
I huff softly. “Everly’s exorcist moments?”
“Any of it.” He brings my hand to his lips, grazing them along my knuckles. And when he turns to me, his face is serious. “Promise me.”
“I promise.”
Everly’s the only one of us who sleeps that night, and we spend the early hours in whispered conversations and shared secrets with the faint smell of stale milk hanging in the air while we laugh and monitor our daughter.
By the morning, I feel closer to Alex than I ever have.
Along with the question of not whether I’ll fall in love with him, but by how much, and what I’m going to do about it when we have to leave for Aspen.
CHAPTER 22
Alexander
“Do you know what today is?”
I wait for Haven to open an eye, but she’s groggy. We both are. Neither of us has caught up since the night Everly was sick because we’re both so paranoid it’s going to happen again.
We also have her sleeping back with us again, just in case, which makes it worse because I flinch at every sound.
On the flip side, lounging in bed and sleeping late isn’t something I’ve done in a while because I like to get up and out. But there’s something to be said for a cup of coffee on the bedside table while you scour the papers or read the book you’ve spent the best part of six months trying to finish.
Add a happy and exceptionally hot girlfriend and my baby daughter into the mix, and I’d be content to stay in bed all day.
As long as I have Everly and Haven, I don’t ever need to leave the house. We exist in a perfect bubble of three. Surprising for someone who used to love his own space and crave the solitude being alone gives you, but there you go. I’m not going to question it.
“Sunday?” she answers eventually.
I stifle a laugh. For someone who used to get up at the crack of dawn to work a million jobs, my girl’s definitely not a morning person. Watching her wake up has become one of my favorite things because no matter how much sleep she’s gotten, it’s akin to seeing a bear come out of hibernation.
All wobbly and adorably confused at what’s going on around them.
She can’t see my smile, but I know she can hear it when I try again. “Yes, what else?”
“I’m too tired to guess.” She groans, one eyelid easing open, and groans again. “Why are you looking so cheery?” Her nostrils flare slightly as she inhales. “And why can I smell cinnamon?”
Twisting around, I pick up the plate of cinnamon buns I ran out for this morning and waft it under her nose. “I went to the bakery.”
This time, her other eye opens, and she lifts her head to examine the plate. “Is that a cinnamon bun?”
Wiping sleep from her eye, I reply, “Might be.”
