Page 138 of Trusting You
She lifts a laugh out of me. “Yes. Too right.”
I get down on my knees, reaching to hug Lily when there’s another knock at the door.
“Seriously?” I ask the air. I stand back up. “Who is it?”
“Ash,” comes the response. “Locke needs me to grab some shit.”
I roll my eyes, any effort at getting these men to stop swearing around Lily long diminished. “Hang on.”
For the second time, I unlock the deadbolt. This time, it’s a hulking, mean-looking dude in my purview. Out of all of them, this one scares me the most, even though he’s been intimidating, but polite. I suppose it’s all his muscles and tattoos. And his buzzcut.
“We’re just on our way to see him,” I say as Asher clunks in on motorcycle boots.
“I’d offer you a ride,” he says as he scans the apartment for no reason I can decipher. “But I’m on a bike.”
“Do you and Easton share?” I quip before I can stop myself. He pegs me over his shoulder.
“Ain’t nobody touches my bike but me.”
I raise my brows and say under my breath, “Duly noted.”
“I’ll be a sec. Just going into Locke’s room—oh, hey, little dude!”
Lily’s appeared from under the coffee table, crawling this time but giving an open-mouthed smile to Asher. Probably the only person in the world not in fear of him.
He picks her up and asks me, “Does she hate on anybody?”
It elicits a laugh. “Nope. She has a grin for anyone paying attention to her.”
“That’s gonna be a problem for me when she’s older,” Asher says, then makes kissy-faces at Lily.
I’m torn between laughing and taking a picture so I can use it to remind myself that Lily can even coax Asher into making a fool out of himself.
Sophie picks that moment to come out of the nursery. “I’ve picked a corner, but feel free to move it if—who’re you?”
Sophie stops midway into the room and rakes Asher up and down.
“Who’re you?” Asher asks, settling Lily against his chest.
“A person with permission to hold that tiny tyke. Can you say the same or are you here to kidnap her?”
Asher says dryly, “Permission has been granted by her father.”
“Ah. Suppose that’s okay then,” Sophie says, but cautiously sidles up near me.
“You still haven’t told me who you are,” he says.
“Don’t have to,” Sophie says, then turns to me. “Hungry? I can make us some sandwiches.”
“Uh, sure.” I’m happy to have Sophie depart for the kitchen because Asher is staring at her ass in a weird way.
“A Sophie Spectacular coming right up!” she says and makes her way to the fridge.
Asher stares after her.
“Oh hell, hell no,” I say to him.
He bats his eyes innocently at me, but it only emotes devilish sin. “Whatever am I doing?”