Third Time's a Charm (Holland Springs #3)(24)

Sasha held Ivy securely in his strong arms, his large palm on the back of her head. “Seriously, Rose, why don’t we get something to go, and I’ll drive while you eat.”

She placed a hand on his arm. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. We’re a team.” He grinned at her, his perfect lips tilting up and making her stomach drop.

“Why, look what the cat drug in,” Gillian said, holding a mug in her hand. “I’d heard one of you had a baby.” Turning to Sasha, she said, “Is she trying to pass this one off as yours?”

Sasha’s green eyes hardened. “Who says this one’s not mine?”

Gillian blinked. She looked pointedly at Ivy, then back at him. “She doesn’t look a thing like you, if you know what I mean.”

This wasn’t the first time Rose had been subjected to cruel remarks concerning Ivy, but usually it was more about the Holland reputation than anything else. “Thank you for the water, Gillian.” Rose took the mug. “I’ll fill up Ivy’s bottle and we’ll be on our way.”

“Ivy takes after my mother,” Sasha said and pressed a kiss on top of the baby’s head before leaning back to look at her. “Don’t you, darling?” Ivy’s watery eyes crinkled at the corners as she smiled at him. “That’s my girl.”

Rose sucked in air. Not since high school had anyone outside of her family defended her. Her heart did several little flips as she searched through the diaper bag one-handed. After mixing the formula, she stood and passed the empty mug back to Gillian.

Sasha held out his hand. “Let me feed her this time, sweetheart.”

“Okay.”

Rose passed him the bottle. Ivy latched on eagerly, sucking like crazy on the nipple.

“Eat your fill, darling,” he said with a smile and the baby reached up with one hand to touch his jaw.

“Anything else?” Gillian crossed her arms over her ample chest.

He looked at Rose. “Let’s go, shall we?”

Torn, Rose glanced longingly at the door and then back at the woman scowling at her. Now that Ivy had been taken care of, there was no real need for them to get a to-go order. Lifting her chin, she said, “No, I’m starving and so are you. Let’s go ahead and eat here.”

“I’ll not have her insult you and profit from it,” he murmured into Ivy’s curls.

A little smile formed on her lips. “Then you’ll be extremely limited with where you shop and eat around Holland Springs.”

Leaning down, he gave the appearance of kissing her cheek, but did no more than rub his jaw against her as he whispered in her ear. “Make a list, love.”

Rose’s heart sprinted, stuttered, and then passed out.

***

That evening, after putting Ivy to bed, Rose made her way down to the family room and found Sasha watching re-runs of Paula Dean’s cooking show.

“Paula, you naughty minx, there can never be too much butter.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

She cleared her throat and sat down beside him on the sofa, drawing her knees up and her legs over to the side. “If you see something you’d like for me to fix for supper one night, let me know.”

“Hullo, sweetheart.” He gave her a friendly smile. “I might take you up on that very delicious offer.”

A warmth that had nothing to do with desire spilled into her. It was nice to have someone to talk to besides Blackbeard, after Ivy went to bed. Heck, it was nice to talk to anyone that could talk back in complete sentences. “Thank you for supper and…well, everything you did today. Yesterday, too. My nap. I was really sleepy.” Great. She sounded like a complete moron.

Clicking off the T.V., he turned to her and laid an arm across the back of the sofa. Although he wasn’t touching her, it was as if she could feel the tips of his fingers brush against her shoulder. He tilted his head to one side, studying her.

She looked away and picked at the fuzz on the arm of the sofa.

“It was my pleasure. If you’d like, I’ll help you clean next Saturday, too.” Just as she glanced up, a wry smile covered his face. “Since I have nothing better to do.”

The back of her neck heated. At the time, she had meant what she’d said, but now… “I’m sorry for saying that. I was angry—”

“Don’t.” He leaned into her. The clean, male scent of his body invaded her senses His golden hair was dark where it was still damp from his shower. She wanted to run her fingers through it and almost had to sit on her hands to stop herself.

“Still, it wasn’t nice,” she insisted.

He raised a brow. “I’m not a nice man.”

Rose lifted her own brow. “Really? So not-nice men get up at the crack of dawn to help clean? Not-nice men let sleep-deprived aunts get naps? Not-nice men bring cheesecake?” She placed her hand on his knee. “Not-nice—”

He shot to his feet, dislodging her hand, and she blinked.

“I’m tired,” he said, his voice gruff. “Massively so.”

Searching his face, she found shadows under his eyes and weariness in the lines around his mouth. Despite his meeting and late night, he had worked his tail off for her and hadn’t complained once. Well, if she didn’t count his constant need to point out the huge flaw in decorating a house at the beach with beachy items.