Always Loving You (Danvers #6)(59)
Looking helplessly at Mac, she asked, “Where did everyone go? We had a plan to cover this, but I thought we were safe with all these people here.”
Rubbing her arm lightly, Mac said, “You’re doing fine, Avie.” Pointing to where she held a hand under the baby’s bottom, he added, “If you feel any action down there, though, we need to hand off and run.”
Suddenly, she could see herself in this same setting with Mac, holding a baby that they had made together. What would it be like to carry Mac’s child—to have something that was a part of them both? She had never thought it would happen for her, but now she felt a small flutter of hope that she could have all that with him. From the sexy, sappy look that he was giving her, she knew she wasn’t the only one thinking of their future.
When Jason and Claire walked up, Jason gave her that signature grin of his that never failed to turn her into a fumbling idiot. It wasn’t that she wanted Jason; it was just that he had so much charisma and didn’t seem to know it. “That looks good on you,” he said, pointing at Sofia. Luckily, Mac struck up a conversation with Jason, leaving her and Claire to chat.
“Looks like things are going well between you and Mac,” Claire whispered. “So, G-lo . . . crap, I mean Gwen is officially out of the picture, I hear?”
Ava couldn’t suppress her giggle at Claire’s slip. They would probably always know Gwen as G-lo. Maybe the other woman would even be okay with it if she knew how they all envied her booty. “Yeah, it’s going well.” She’d never had many personal conversations with Claire, but she found herself admitting, “We’ve even exchanged ‘I love you.’”
Both Jason and Mac looked over at them when Claire let out a squeal before clamping a hand over her mouth. “Oops, but wow! Oh, Ava, that’s wonderful. I remember the first time Jason and I said that to each other. I’m so happy for you. So, no more stunts to get his attention now?”
Ava grinned. “Oh, I don’t know about that. I’ve found that I like experiencing new things after all this time. Mac will just have to learn to handle someone who likes to do crazy stuff sometimes.”
“Good for you,” Claire murmured. “I drive Jason nuts half the time. You know what a geek the man is. He likes for things to fit in neat little compartments, and he is constantly ruffled because I don’t.” Nudging her with her elbow, she added, “He likes to take all his frustrations out in the bedroom, though, so it works really well for both of us.”
Ogling Mac’s ass for a second longer than was acceptable in mixed company, Ava said, “I know exactly what you mean.” Both she and Claire had huge smirks on their faces when the men walked back to their sides. Mac and Jason shook their heads but didn’t bother to ask questions. Ava was sure that they didn’t want to know.
Unbelievably, she hogged baby Sofia for the rest of the evening, even braving a diaper change, which thankfully was strictly pee. When it was time to leave, she found herself volunteering them to babysit one evening soon so Declan and Ella could have a meal out. Mac looked at her as if she were crazy, but the baby bug had officially bitten her.
* * *
They had been back at Mac’s house for a few minutes when he got a call from Gage. There had been a break-in at one of the buildings where they handled security, and even though the police had the situation under control, Mac needed to go double-check that the building was secure for the night. “I shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours,” he said as he grabbed his keys.
She thought about going home, but if she were going to be alone, she would rather be at Mac’s house. Going back to her lonely apartment didn’t hold much appeal. “Be careful,” she said as she kissed Mac good-bye and said she’d see him when he returned.
An hour later, she had already showered and changed into one of Mac’s T-shirts. She didn’t want to go to sleep without him, so she wandered his house restlessly. When she came to his office, she decided to do what half the world did when they were bored, play Candy Crush. Mac had given her the password to his computer, so she curled up in his big leather chair and logged on. She smiled at how organized his desk was. Everything was neatly filed and labeled. You could take the boy out of the military but not the military out of the boy. Idly, she opened the desk drawers, laughing as she noted that his organizational skills extended there as well. She was just shutting the last drawer when a label on a folder caught her attention. AVA STONE. “What the hell . . . ?” she mumbled as she pulled the folder out.
As Ava thumbed through the list of reports, she wasn’t really surprised. She knew that Mac had kept an eye on her for years. Maybe she thought that it was more informal than these written reports proved, but she understood where his protective instinct for her had come from. The file didn’t contain a report on every man she had brought home over the years, but it was a good-sized list. The whole folder was a mirage. Now she thought of how Mac must have felt when he had these pages sitting in front of him in black-and-white. For the first time, she truthfully acknowledged to herself how much she had needed help to heal and how even though she was better, she still needed support to continue the process. She couldn’t go back to the pretend life she had been living.
She was almost to the end of the folder when she found an envelope. Her name was handwritten with her address listed as in care of Brant Stone. The return address showed a location in New York. She didn’t know anyone there, so she was truly puzzled as to who would be trying to contact her. Ava pulled a single sheet of paper from the envelope and felt the breath leave her body in a startled gasp as she read the first line.