Page 14 of Luke

Luke grinned as he held her. “Meet your nephew again,” he said.

Cade picked up Garrett from his spot on his mat. “He’s a good baby. Was so happy at Catherine’s.”

“She seems pretty happy herself,” he said as Clara took his finger, holding on.

He’d gone from it being him against the world, being a protective son and brother, to having a son and a niece, a brother, and another sister. It was amazing and he couldn’t stop smiling.

Chapter Six

Paisley

She knew before she agreed to live in this house with Luke that she was going to feel out of place. Being here, surrounded by decor that cost more than she would ever make in her lifetime, was totally different level.

Paisley held Garrett tightly to her as movers came in and out of the house, asking her where to put things. Luke had hired them yesterday and they had already packed her whole apartment and were in the process of delivering it.

Luke had asked what to do with a lot of things since it wasn’t his home, but most of it was trash. It had hurt her feelings to do it, but she had gotten rid of a lot. It wasn’t that she was attached to the stuff; it was just that it would be so out of place here.

“Stop,” Luke whispered in her ear as he came up behind her. His hands rubbed her upper arms. “Everything will calm down after they leave and we can start putting things away.”

“Most of this is Catherine’s though. I think I still brought too much stuff.” She bit her bottom lip hard. “Should we have gotten a storage unit instead?” She didn’t want her stuff to get mixed up with Catherine’s.

He came around to face her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I don’t want our things to get mixed up.” Not that it wouldn’t be obvious from the difference in quality. “Or use her things when I have my own.”

“Paisley,” Luke started. “I bought this house and everything in it. It all belongs to the three of us.”

Her jaw dropped like a cartoon character’s. “What?”

“This is all ours. Catherine has been living next door for months and all this stuff was new before she moved in because of the things our father did. She has no attachment to this stuff.”

It made sense but wouldn’t compute in her brain. She didn’t get why he would do that. “Don’t you have your own place?”

Luke shrugged. “I had an apartment. I’m selling it. You’ve been there.”

She had. It was nice, a great view in a building downtown.

“That apartment was not a place for Garrett. I wouldn’t do that. There’s a yard here and while the building would give good security, it wasn’t kid friendly. That’s why I never asked you to move there with him when I found out. Too much partying in that building.”

That only served to remind her how much Luke was giving up to have her around. She wondered when he would regret it.

“Tomorrow, we can get things set up for a nursery for Garrett.” Luke grinned at her.

There were four bedrooms upstairs. One was mostly empty, aside from a big chair in the corner and a lamp. That was going to be Garrett’s room. There had been no discussion about where they would be sleeping.

“Okay.” She reminded herself that this was all for Garrett.

The reality was that as much as she’d enjoyed having Luke in her bed again the last few nights, she knew it wasn’t going to last. It was a nice break, but now it was settling back in and she needed to put distance back between them before she did something stupid, like fall for him again.

“Come on.” Luke took her hand and pulled her up the stairs. “I was busy while you were directing the movers. I know it’s not a crib, but I got a few things set up this morning.”

He opened the door they had decided would be Garrett’s room and she was stunned. This man was full of good surprises lately, and she was having trouble handling it.

“We can paint at some point, obviously, but I think it’s a good start.” Luke walked all the way in the room.

There were toys opened and neatly set on shelves. A dresser with a changing table was on the wall with a lot of diaper supplies already on it. She was at a complete loss for words when she noticed the toy mat on the floor and toys already spread around it.

“When did you do this?” she managed.