Fireball (Cheap Thrills #1)(29)

Not one word came from Jose. In fact, if it wasn’t for the body twitch that followed her hearing those words, I’d wonder if she’d died and gone into instant rigor mortis. After thirty seconds where she just stood staring at him in horror while he grinned back, she finally snapped out of it and moved to the side. “In. We have chairs.”

Chuckling, he walked past her, closing the door behind him and hooking her with an arm around her back. He didn’t move any further, instead looking at her in a way that told me he was reading her emotions. Whatever he saw was good though, because he nodded and gave her a small kiss on the forehead.

“Looking good, Jose. You sleeping?” When she just nodded and stared at him some more, he pressed further. “Olivia good?”

Jose had taken to motherhood perfectly, and talking about her daughter was her addiction, and mine, but it was aunt pride that fueled mine. So, him bringing up Olivia broke her out of her stupor and straight into Chatty Cathy mode.

“She’s great. She only woke up twice last night and then slept until seven this morning. She loves baths, which is weird because everyone says babies hate them, but I think she’s allergic to the baby bath stuff I’ve got for her, so I’m going to change to that oatmeal one. And her poops are perfect. They gave me a poop chart to check the color against every day, and hers is the exact color on it.”

Blinking at her, Ellis took in what she was saying at an unnatural speed, probably wondering about the poop chart like I had when I’d heard about it. Truth be told, I kind of wanted an adult version to check my own against. How would you do it though? I didn’t want to hang over the toilet and hold a piece of paper next to it.

“Hey, how do you check it? Do you open her diaper and put the paper next to it?” I asked, smiling when Ellis mouthed ‘thank you’ at me. Apparently he’d been wondering the same thing.

Wincing, Jose looked down at her feet and tucked a chunk of hair back behind her ear. “I tried, but I dropped it onto it the first time. It’s in a baggy now, so I take a photo on my phone and hold the screen next to it.”

Clearing his throat, Ellis directed the conversation away from poop and back to the little princess herself. “How about food? Is she having what she’s meant to?”

Jose’s head lifted up, and for a second she looked like she was going to snap at him, but when she saw that he wasn’t implying that she wasn’t a fit mother, she visibly softened. The big tattooed guy was truly interested in her daughter.

“Yeah, she’s doing great. I’m taking her to be weighed at the baby clinic tomorrow, and I think she’s definitely put some on since we left the hospital.”

Frowning, I scanned Olivia. I could see some weight gain, and she was a little less wrinkly, but apart from that she seemed fine. Why was she going to a baby clinic? Ellis was thinking the same thing because he asked her the question.

“Oh, it’s a voluntary thing. You can go and meet other parents and get your baby checked over. It’s going to be strange just being me when they’ll probably all be in pairs, but oh well.” The words didn’t mesh with the look on her face as she said them though.

The hoops I was planning to make Ellis jump through diminished slightly when he said what he said next.

“I’ll go with you so you’re not on your own. I’d love to find out more about her development and what to expect in the future. Maybe you’ll be able to set up one of those mommy meet things where y’all meet once a week for coffee while the babies sleep. I saw a poster at the hospital about them.”

She’d only just started shaking her head when I screamed, “Yes, she’ll go with you.” waking up my niece and getting a glare from my sister, flared nostrils and all.

Did I regret doing it? Hell no. Instead, I got up, picked up the booby milk, and walked through to the kitchen singing Red Light Special – in tune, unlike some people – feeling her eyes burning into my back.

One day she’d thank me for it.





That night…

I was just putting my hair up into a messy bun when the door went. Jose had taken Olivia home an hour ago after repeatedly telling me how she was going to kill me, and all the inventive ways she was going to do it in.

Could you even die from getting your tit slammed in a door repeatedly?

I’d decided to go to the diner in town for dinner, so at least I was wearing pants when I answered it. Not wearing them while I was at home wasn’t something I did often, at least not before I moved to this heat it hadn’t been. In this heat though, bras and pants were pure torture so if I could free-boob it, I did.

I was even more grateful for the pants when I saw Dave on the other side as I opened it, making the same mistake that Jose had hours earlier and not checking the camera feed. Freaking karma. Not saying a word, he leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the lips, his arm circling my back and pulling me into him as he did it. It might have been brief, but when a man can make you forget your legs without using any tongue or fingers…

Pulling back, he gave me a soft peck on the nose and set me back on my feet. “Hey, baby. Thought I’d come get you.”

Color me confused – well, whatever color confused was. “I thought I had three days to prepare? You kept telling me four last night, and then Jarrod passed me the directions to Scarlett Treasures to buy clothes from it.” It was like I was speaking in basic English or code, but my brain was still frazzled from the kiss.