Page 150 of Sloane

Only after I was confident she was safe, did I grab a pillow and lay down on the floor next to the bed. I thought situating myself there offered another layer of protection in case Millie somehow maneuvered around my pillow fence.

It felt like no sooner had I fallen asleep, than my baby girl started crying again. Glancing at my watch, I realized it’d been almost three and a half hours to the minute since Ashley gave her to me to burp.

I raised myself to the edge of the bed to find Ashley already pulling her boob from her gown and Millie latching on.

“You do this every three-and-a-half hours, every night?”

She looked over at me with a smile. “Every night.”

“You’re a bigger fucking rockstar than I originally gave you credit for.”

“I’m flattered that you gave me rockstar cred to begin with.” She motioned with her head toward the edge of the bed. “Were you sleeping on the floor?”

“Yeah, I thought if she somehow fell off the bed, at least she’d land on me.”

Her expression softened, and she murmured, “I’m so sorry. I should have gone back upstairs with her.”

“Don’t be sorry. I liked being able to hold her.”

“Yeah, but you need your rest.”

“And you don’t?”

“I have to be up either way. You, on the other hand, don’t.”

“When can she start taking a bottle?”

“I actually should have started trying a few weeks ago. I read that after six weeks, she might reject a bottle. But I figured since I was going to be with her during the day, there wouldn’t be a need.”

“I think you should try. That way I can take a shift or two.”

Ashley scooted toward the edge of the bed. “Let’s talk about it when the sun’s up. I’m going to go upstairs before Stu or Crash wake up and find me in your bed.”

Would that be so bad?

“They already know Millie is mine.”

She stood and faced me. “That’s true. But I think if they knew about what we did, it would make it awkward.”

“Good thing it was only for one night then,” I said with a wry smile.

“I know I owe you, so maybe we can make an exception and add tomorrow night, too.”

“You don’t owe me, Ash.”

“We had an agreement to help each other, Sloane. I haven’t upheld my end of the bargain.”

“Baby, watching you get off was more than satisfying.”

“It wasn’t what we agreed to.”

“If you want to come back to my bed tomorrow night, I’m not going to tell you no.”

And every night after.

She came closer and leaned down to kiss my cheek, and I reflexively reached up to cup her ass with my right hand.

“I’ll see you later,” she softly whispered in my ear.

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