Page 69 of Wicked Little Secret

“Promise me you won’t leave in the middle of the night this time. Or, if you do, at least not with my kid.”

Ouch.

Olivia whispered her reassurance. “I’m not leaving.”

“Good. I think we make a good team.”

“Me, too.”

He might as well have thrown ice water on her instead of his next remark. “And I’m glad we’re workout buddies again.”

She didn’t even know how to respond to that. That’s what this was to him?

Fortunately, Sawyer’s cries came through the monitor, and she jumped out of bed. “I need to get cleaned up.”

“Take your time, I’ll get him.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Maverick

His son had impeccable timing.

He’d waited until Maverick had come deep inside Olivia before deciding to wake up and cry.

“Thanks for giving your mommy and me some uninterrupted grownup time, little man,” Maverick whispered as he pulled the hungry baby from the bassinet. Olivia had disappeared into the bathroom to clean up while he went to console the inconsolable infant.

“You know, you’re going to have to take a bottle pretty soon,” he told the sobbing boy. “If you’d just cooperate, you wouldn’t be so dependent on your mom, then she could go do things.”

Olivia reappeared in the middle of his conversation and snatched Sawyer from his arms, defensively sniffing, “There’s nothing wrong with depending on his mother.”

“Of course not. But if he started taking the bottle it would free you from being tethered to him all the time. You could actually have an afternoon to yourself to go shopping, or maybe a spa day and lunch with your girlfriends, whatever you wanted—without having to rush home to nurse him.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind being ‘tethered.’

She made an air quote with one hand as she offered her boob to their son with the other.

He groaned internally. They’d just finished consummating their marriage not more than five minutes ago, and he’d already pissed her off.

“I didn’t mean to offend you. I just thought you’d like a break.”

Her shoulders visibly relaxed and her expression softened.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m probably just being sensitive because I know my time with him is going to come to an end soon, and I’m not ready for that.”

“You’ve got, what, three months before you have to go back to work?”

“Two and a half,” she corrected. “That’s going to fly by in no time. He’s already a month old.”

“Have you thought about quitting?”

She jerked her head back like he’d slapped her. “I couldn’t do that to Rose or my patients.”

Maverick held his hands up in a surrender gesture. “I was just asking. What about working part-time?”

She chewed on the inside of her bottom lip, something she often did when something was troubling her.

“It’s never been an option, so I’ve never considered it.”

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