Be My Hero (Forbidden Men #3)(78)

While Pick burst out laughing, I rolled my eyes. "Okay, enough. Cut that kind of talk out. Not in front of my children, please."

Reese arched an eyebrow. "Your children?"

I flushed hard, and met Pick's grinning gaze before frowning at my cousin. "The children. Grr. Just . . . quit correcting my grammar. Go home and spank your boyfriend with flavored jelly already."

Reese tossed back her head and laughed before turning to Pick and handing Julian over. "Yours, I believe."

"Thank you." He took the boy into his arms. "And thanks for keeping Tinker Bell company today."

"No, thank you for fixing up my engine," Reese shot back with a small curtsy. "It runs like a whole new car."

He sighed, disagreeing. "It's still a piece of shit, so let me know if anything ever sounds strange or acts funny, especially if you're going to keep driving my children all over kingdom come in it."

Reese glanced back at me and made a pleasantly shocked face before mouthing the words, "He's a keeper." Then, she turned back to Pick and patted his cheek indulgently. "Will do, boss. I assume E. will be playing sleepover again since I checked Mason's work schedule and already know you'll be working at the club tonight."

Pick glanced at me but turned back to answer Reese before waiting for my reply. "Sounds like a plan."

Reese winked. "Take care of my girls for me, then."

She skipped up on her tiptoes and slapped a quick kiss to his cheek, right where she'd just patted it. Then she waved goodbye to me. "Toodles, Tinker Bell. Love ya."

I rolled my eyes. "Bye, Sweet Pea. Love you too."

After Reese had floated out of the room and we heard the front door open and shut, Pick lifted his eyebrows. "Wow. Is she always so . . . "

I laughed. "Yes. Yes, she is. But I love her to death. She's the only person I know I can trust implicitly."

His smile faded as his eyes turned warm and caring. "You can trust me too, you know. I would never let anything bad happen to you."

Even though I knew his claim couldn't possibly be supported in the real world, it was nice to hear him say it so adamantly.

"Well, you are my hero," I said, making the claim sound flippant as I tossed my hair over my shoulder. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

I loved knowing I could make such bold, arrogant claims, and he knew I wasn't actually serious.

He grinned and motioned toward the table that was already set with his mismatched plates and silverware, pulling out a chair for me to sit. "My lady?"

"Why, thank you." Since Julian could sit up fairly well in the high chair Pick had bought off Mrs. Rojas, I placed him in that and buckled him up. After making sure Skylar was still sleeping in the bouncer, I sat in my chair and Pick tucked me in.

He moaned and closed his eyes after he took his first bite. "I'm going to get fat if you keep feeding me like this." His voice was muffled through a mouthful of noodles.

I snorted and waved a hand, waiting until I swallowed to say, "Oh, please. I heated up frozen pizza, poured a bowl of cereal, and stirred together a skillet dinner. That's definitely not gourmet cooking. If anything, such measly meals will slim you down."

"Trust me. These have been three more meals than anyone has cooked for me in years."

I didn't like knowing that no one had ever really taken care of him. He was the special type of man who should be pampered. And I was really getting into this pampering shit. My mother would be appalled if she saw me now, but I actually loved being a homemaker.

I think the mom life completed me.





Chapter 19


PICK


That night, I came home from work to find Eva curled up on the couch asleep.

"Oh, hell, no." This was not going to fly with me.

If she was going to stay the night in my apartment, I didn't want her anywhere but in my bed. So I scooped her up and carried her back to my room. She stirred along the way.

"Pick?" I loved her sleepy, blurry voice, especially when she was saying my name. "What're you doing?"

"You are not sleeping on that couch."

She curled more fully into me and rested her cheek on my shoulder. "Well, neither should you."

I shook my head. "My place, my rules. No sexy new mother is allowed to sleep in anything but a bed."

Neither of us mentioned the extra bed in Tristy's room, and she had to know it was there. She'd passed the opened doorway to get to my room I don't know how many times.

I guess we'd silently agreed it was off limits. But it felt wrong for her to sleep where Tris had slept. It felt as if Tristy had soiled the mattress and made it too dirty for the likes of my Tinker Bell.

As we entered my bedroom, I saw that both babies were asleep in the crib. I had to smile. They could've been brother and sister. It was as if this was how things were meant to be.

Eva didn't resist when I laid her on the mattress, but she did grab my shirt when I tried to straighten. "You stay too. This bed will hold us both, and I'm far and away from being a modest, maidenly virgin. Plus, I trust you."

The I-trust-you part won me over. Blood surged through my veins, hot and thick. My skin prickled, suddenly extra sensitive. I was going to sleep beside my Tinker Bell.