When I arrived home after my day with Peyton, I was surprised that Mason and Julia weren’t home from the park yet. As I pulled out my phone, a text message from Mason came through.
“Princess and I made a Starbucks run. Be home in five.”
“You better have an iced latte in hand when you walk through the door,” I replied.
When I walked into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, I saw Denny on the phone, sitting at the table. He instantly hung up when he saw me.
“Hi, Denny. What’s up?” I asked casually.
“Not much, Ellery. How was your day with Peyton?”
“It was fine,” I replied as I took a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
He seemed to be nervous. Almost as if he had just gotten caught doing something or he was afraid that I had heard something while he was on the phone. When I heard the elevator doors open, I ran out of the kitchen and straight to Julia. I smiled as I unbuckled her and held her tight.
“One iced latte for you, my dear.” Mason smiled as he handed me the cup.
“Thank you, darling. How was Julia today?”
“Glamorous and perfect, like always. You should have seen the people at the park going crazy over her.”
“That’s because she’s her daddy’s girl.” I smiled as I held her and kissed her cheek.
I told Mason that Connor and I would be dropping her off at his place around seven o’clock. He smiled, kissed her goodbye, and stepped onto the elevator. As I was walking up the stairs with Julia, Denny emerged from the kitchen.
“Did you work things out with Connor?” he asked.
“I sure did.” I winked.
He rolled his eyes and smiled as he left the penthouse.
***
I laid Julia down in the center of our king-sized bed as I got ready for my date with Connor. While I was in my closet looking for something to wear, I heard Connor walk into the bedroom. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to Julia. The moment she saw him, her little legs started moving all around.
“Look at how excited she is to see her daddy.” He smiled.
“I don’t blame her. I get excited when I see her daddy too.”
“Elle, don’t say things like that,” he warned with a smile.
I walked over to him. Julia had her hand clasped around his finger.
“I’m still thinking about our little office romp,” I whispered as I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his cheek.
“God, baby, I am too.” He smiled as he turned his head and his lips brushed against mine.
“Where are we going tonight?”
“Anywhere you want to go,” he said. “I’ve been thinking a lot about something lately, and I want to talk to you about it.”
As I pulled my jeans from the drawer, a sick feeling overtook me because I was afraid to hear what he’d been thinking about.
“I want to get a tattoo, and I was thinking we could go to the place where you got yours.”
My eyes lit up as I turned around and looked at him. “Are you serious? What kind of tattoo do you want?”
“I can see that you’re pleasantly surprised by the idea.” He smiled. “I want something with yours and Julia’s names on it, but leave enough room in case we have another child.”
While pulling up my jeans, I stopped midway and looked at him. “Another child?”
“Yeah, why not? Let’s make us a four-person family.”
“We can talk about this again in about two years, Connor. I’m not ready to even think about having another baby yet, especially with the problems I had while I was in labor with Julia.”
As I finished pulling up my jeans, he got up from the bed, walked over to me, and put his hands on my hips. “Don’t worry; I don’t want a baby now. I was just thinking in the future,” he said as he kissed me on the head.
“How about if we go out to dinner first and then we’ll go see Jack about that tattoo you want to get.”
“Sounds good, sweetheart. I’m going to take a quick shower and then we’ll go.”
Julia started fussing, so I picked her up from the bed and took her downstairs. As I was warming up a bottle, I heard my phone chime. I picked it up from the counter and saw that I had a text message from Cassidy.
“I’m going on a date tonight with Ben! I’m so nervous, Elle.”
“That’s great, Cass. Don’t be nervous. You’ll have fun.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a date.”
“Just relax and be yourself. Call me tomorrow and let me know how it went.”
Just as I hit the send button, Connor came walking into the kitchen and took Julia from me.
“Let me finish feeding her. I missed her today.”
Connor sat down in the chair and couldn’t stop smiling at Julia as he held the bottle in her mouth.
“Cassidy just texted me, and she’s going on a date with Ben tonight.”
“What? Are you serious?” he growled.
“Yes, I’m serious, and what’s your problem? Your sister deserves to be happy.”
He sighed. “Don’t get me wrong. I want nothing more than for Cassidy to find the man of her dreams that will come in and sweep her off her feet and make her happy, but I’m afraid she’ll get hurt because of Camden.”
“Because of Camden? Why?” I asked.
“Because of his autism. It’s going to take a pretty special guy to get involved with my sister under those circumstances. Not a lot of guys want to jump into a relationship like that.”
“Maybe Ben is that special guy.” I smiled as I got up from the chair and grabbed the diaper bag.
“Doubt it.”
I sighed as I looked over at Connor. “Are you still being pissy because I said he was hot?”
He wouldn’t look at me and he had a smirk on his face. “You’re lucky you’re holding Julia, because if you weren’t—”
“If I weren’t, then what, Ellery?”
“Oh, nothing.” I smiled as I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room to get Julia’s blanket.
Before I knew it, Connor had followed me. He laid Julia down on her blanket, which was on the floor and looked at me.
“If I weren’t ... what?” He smiled as he began moving towards me.
I started to back up as I bit down on my bottom lip. Once again, his look, his walk, his whole demeanor—I knew all too well. I ran up the stairs, but before I could make it, Connor grabbed me from behind and carried me back down.
“Now, tell me again what you were going to do to me if I wasn’t holding Julia?” he whispered in a sexy voice that sent shivers down my spine.
His grip on me was tight, and he wouldn’t let me go. I didn’t want him to let me go. When he held me, I felt safe from the world and all my worries disappeared. He put me down, but continued to hold me from behind. I could tell he didn’t want to let go as he buried his face into my neck. Finally, I broke the silence.
“Everything’s going to be okay, baby,” I whispered as I freed my arm and brought my hand to the back of his head.