Page 45 of Wylder Ranch
But when I learned Alex ate most of his meals at the main family house, I started making dinner for us. I cook, and he cleans.
It’s mundane but comforting, and now that the nights are almost fully drawn in, I can feel that familiar annual excitement building within me, as Christmas is aroundthe corner.
Over the past few days, the decorations have started going up on Valentine High Street, and if I were at home, I’d be in the attic packing up my fall decorations and switching them out for my light-up Santa, reindeer, and all the baubles.
I haven’t asked Alex whether he decorates his house for the holidays because I’m fairly sure I already know the answer. I haven’t seen one decoration in all the closets and cabinets I’ve opened, and with every box that gets delivered, I know without opening it that there are more things for Everly, rather than anything Christmas-related.
In fact, my task for this evening, while dinner’s cooking, is to open the boxes that arrived today. The first one I rip open contains a bunch of light-up shapes that stick to the side of the bath and has me grinning widely.
Everly’s squeals of delight are echoing off the bathroom tiles when I jog up the stairs to where Alex is bathing her. I’ve tried to give them as much alone time to bond, so bath time has become his thing.
Every night, an internal battle takes place between my head and my heart. I don’t want to intrude, and I don’t want Alex to feel like I’m hovering, but I frequently find myself a voyeur in these moments. Tonight is no different.
I lean against the doorframe, breathe in the warm lavender scent, and take in the sight.
Alex kneels on the floor in front of her, while she flashes a toothless smile at him from the bath seat she’s propped up in. She was smiling a little right before we left, but since we’ve been here, it’s like she’s discovered she can do it and now practices it every chance she gets.
And while my eyes should be drawn to my daughter enjoying her bath, they first find her father.
I obviously never meant to get pregnant, but of all the people I got pregnant by, I can freely admit I picked a straight-up hottie.
I gawk. Then gawk some more.
I don’t know if it’s because Everly is so tiny that Alex appears larger by comparison, but watching the muscles along his forearms flex and the veins on the back of his hands pop as he squeezes a sponge should not be as attractive as it is.
And while I’m all for my confidence starting to return, my sex drive has come back as a force to be reckoned with. And it likes to remind me that the last person I slept with wasthis guy. The one I agreed to befriendswith.
What kind of dumbass move was that?
Friends with the guy who literally makes my ovaries explode every time he smiles at Everly. Or like now, holding the washcloth over a rubber duck to play peek-a-boo even though she’s too little to have much of a clue.
But he soaks up every smile and bubble she blows his way.
“You guys sure sound like you’re having fun.”
Alex’s head snaps around, his gaze hitting the floor where I’m standing barefoot. In the second it takes for his eyes to travel up and find mine, my body heats. Then he adds a, “Hi, Mummy,” and I’m done for.
Disintegrated into a puddle on the floor.
When didMummybecome a sexy word? Or maybe it’s just the way Alex says it, all deep and rumbling andEnglish, that has a shiver zipping down my spine and pooling between my thighs. I will never get used to it.
“Hey.”
“We’re playing peek-a-boo. Our daughter’s a genius.”
“She is?”
“She is. I asked her what she wanted to play with, and she pointed at the duck.”
“That sounds like a genius to me.” I bite down my smile and scooch in next to them, holding my hands open. “These arrived.”
From the way Alex’s smile breaks wide, I wonder if the blocks were more for him. “Excellent.”
Wetting the suction pads on the back, he presses each one to the side of the tub. Immediately, Everly’s focus is taken with the way each color glows.
“Everly, which one is blue?” he asks her, only to receive a big smile in response and a kick of her leg, which splashes his face. “Okay, we can do colors another day.”
There’s a quick flash of his abs when he lifts the neck of his tee to dry his eyes, and I have to look away, only to find myself glued to his fingers back in the water, dragging up and down to keep her warm. It suddenly feels too hot in here.
