Page 40 of Hat Trick
“I’m sorry, babe. You both deserve so much better than him,” I whisper against the side of her head. We stand in the doorway like that for a few minutes until Charlie starts to squirm, wanting to get to his toys.
Doing her best to wipe away her tears, Gigi and I get Charlie settled in with his favorite noise-making toys, which are reserved for my apartment and mine only, when my front door opens. Gigi and I spin around to find Dominic and Emerson standing in the doorway, looking down at the three of us on the floor. They go wide-eyed when they spot Charlie,but Dom is quick to walk over and squat down to our level. “Hi there, little man.”
Almost immediately, Charlie’s arms reach toward him as he makes grabby hands up at Dom. “Can I pick him up?” Dom asks Gigi before even touching Charlie.
She smiles softly before nodding her head. I look at Gigi, because normally Charlie hates men, to the point of not even looking at them most of the time. But as I watch Dom pick him up, Charlie only has a look of pure awe on his face for my big man. My heart fucking melts.
Dom spins to face Emerson, and with all the excitement in the world he shouts, “Look, he likes me!”
Dom stands beside Em, and Charlie reaches over to touch Emerson’s face quizzically. Emerson blows his lips together on Charlie’s hand before giving Charlie the biggest smile. Charlie giggles uncontrollably as Dom hands him over to Emerson, the three of them lost in their own silly, little-boy bubble.
“He-he never does this,” Gigi whispers to me. “These two really are good guys, aren’t they?”
Looking at the two of them with Charlie makes me want to scoop my ovaries out and hand them over to them on a silver platter. “They happen to be two of the best men I know.” The happiness they fill me with is truly nauseating, and I’m definitely keeping that to myself. Because admitting it out loud would make this entire thing feel all too serious for something that is supposed to be “just for fun.”
So instead of sabotaging myself or forcing ovulation,I slap my hands on my lap before standing. Holding my hand out to Gigi, she grabs it and stands from the floor. I look her dead in her red-rimmed eyes and say, “We’re having ourselves a girls’ day, baby.”
1 Kerosene - Miranda Lambert
CHAPTER 25
MR. MOM
EMERSON
“Did you test it on your wrist?” Dom asks as I hand him Charlie’s bottle.
I look down at where he sits on Lil’s couch with Charlie in his arms. “Yes, Mr. Mom.”
He beams with pride as he puts the bottle in Charlie’s waiting mouth. Little man’s chubby hands do their best to wrap around the bottle as he guzzles it down. “Oooo, I like that. Say it again.”
I look at him deadpan. “Don’t make it weird.”
While Charlie drinks his bottle, I turn on ESPN just in time for the NHL Panthers game against the Bruins. Draping my arm along the back of the couch behind Dom, the three of us settle in for what should be a pretty good game.
I’m not going to lie, when Dom and I walked in and I realized exactly what it was Lil needed help with, Iwas slightly nervous. But within approximately two seconds, I could tell that me, Dom, and Charlie were going to be fast friends. Despite how comfortable the three of us were with one another, Gigi was reluctant to leave us with her son. Not that I blame her. She doesn’t know Dom nor I all that well, and it’s clear she and Charlie’s history, or lack thereof, with men isn’t all that great. But when Lil, so lovingly I might add, mentioned that if so much as a single hair on Charlie’s head was harmed while they were out she would, and I quote, “Chop our balls off and shove them down our throats,” we knew that messing this up in the slightest wasn’t an option.
And you know what, I don’t doubt it for a fucking second.
Threats or no threats, Dominic and I are fucking killing it. The girls told us to hang out in Lil’s apartment, since we were familiar with it anyway, and Charlie has more than enough here for us to keep an eye on him for a few hours. Honestly, I don’t know how neither of us have noticed all of this baby shit before. Probably because every time we’ve been over here the only thing we’re thinking about is being inside of our girl.
Lil and Gigi have been gone for about four hours. Charlie is on his second bottle and about ready for bed. We’ve done tummy time, readseveralriveting books about a blue truck, and played with anything we can find that lights up and makes noise. Everything is picked up, the sushi we had delivered is waiting for usin the kitchen, and now all we are waiting on is for Charlie to fall asleep.
He may only be six months old, but he’s a fucking trip. For his little body, he has such a big personality. I honestly couldn’t even imagine not wanting anything to do with this kid. There isn’t a mountain I wouldn’t move for him, and he’s not even mine. Christ, this is the first time I’ve met him.
I look over at Dom, expecting him to be watching the game, only to find him staring down at Charlie, likely thinking the same thing I am. “He’s really fucking cute, isn’t he?” I ask, rubbing my thumb along the back of his neck.
“Yeah,” he sighs, eyes still on the almost sleeping baby in his arms. “He’s really fucking cute.” Finally he looks over at me and points his finger in my direction. “Don’t get any funny ideas.”
I snort a laugh. “I don’t know if you noticed, but we don’t have all of the necessary equipment required to make one of those.”
His lips turn up. “I don’t know ifyounoticed, but we’re sleeping with someone who does.”
My hand gently wraps around the back of his neck. “Does Lil seem like the type of woman who would have a child before she was ready?”
He doesn’t even need to think about it. “True.”
“Would—would that be something you wanted? Kids?”
