Baby Secret (Slade Brothers Book 3) Read online

  “Whoa, you okay?” he asks, steadying me with his hands on my biceps. The skin beneath his hand burns hot.

  I nod. “Yeah, I was just a little hot. Thought I’d go sit on the porch until you got here.” I look into his eyes. They’re big and wide, bright blue and sparkling. He’s in a good mood.

  “Okay. Let’s have a seat and share some coffee while we talk about the game plan today.” He releases me, but drops one hand in mine, leading me out to the porch.

  We sit on the top step like we usually do, and he pours us both a paper cup full of freshly brewed, homemade coffee.

  I bring the cup to my lips and take a sip, savoring it.

  “How was your morning?” he asks, looking out over the land in front of us.

  I laugh, and his head turns quickly to study me. “Is this what we’re doing? Back to awkward chit-chat?”

  He lets out a sigh and shakes his head. “It’s not chit-chat. I really want to know how your morning was.” He sits with his elbows resting on his knees, cup of coffee held in both hands.

  “Oh.” I swallow my embarrassment. “It was great actually.”

  He smiles a boyish grin. “Mine too."

  “Look, we don’t have to pretend yesterday meant anything,” I start, but he cuts me off.

  “Will you go on a date with me now?” He looks straight at me, eyes not moving away. They’re holding strong on mine. His jaw is cocked and his muscles tensed as he waits for my answer.

  I laugh and shake my head. “Okay,” I finally agree, causing his smile to grow. “But it has to be a day date, while Bryce is at daycare. No dinner and a movie type date. Think you can swing that?”

  He nods. “I think so.” His boyish grin is still in place as his eyes take me in, up, down, and back.

  I nudge my shoulder into his, causing him to sway slightly to the left. “Let’s get to work.”

  After our talk, everything goes as smooth as it always has. We work together in the bathroom, installing the new bathtub and shower surround. After that, we move onto the toilet. There isn’t much for me to do there, so I sit on the sidelines and we talk about anything and everything. We talk about movies, books, books that have been turned into movies, and which is better. He tells me about growing up in the country with four brothers and how he can’t wait for me to meet them. Apparently, they’re some real characters. Everything feels easy, which is a nice break from what I’m used to dealing with. He asks about growing up in Ohio, and I have a feeling he wants to ask about my past, marriage, and Bryce’s father, but he doesn’t bring up any of it. Maybe he senses how much anxiety it causes me.

  When he’s done with the toilet, we move onto the sink and vanity. It’s going on four when we finish up.

  “Looks like the only thing left in here is the painting. This room is small enough we can probably have it done in the next day or so. Have you picked a color?”

  I place my finger on my chin as I look at the bathroom and all of his hard work. “I’m thinking blue, but a nice, grayish blue. You think we’ll have enough tile left over from the kitchen to add a little in here, like between the mirror and sink?”

  He nods. “Probably. If not, we can always order more.”

  I smile up at him and his head dips low, lips finding mine. He kisses me softly, teasingly. “So, about that date?” he whispers against my lips.

  “What about it?” I ask, refusing to open my eyes.

  “Tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow is Saturday. I’ll have Bryce tomorrow. Monday?” I reply, finally opening my eyes and wrapping my arms around his neck, letting him know that I’m not done yet.

  “Monday,” he agrees, finally moving his mouth back to mine.

  “What do you want to do today?” I ask Bryce as I flop down on his bed.

  “Hmmm.” He thinks about it. “A hike?”

  “Okay, that sounds good. Why don’t we go out to the house and you can see all the work we’ve done, then we can explore your new backyard?”

  “Yeah! That will be fun. Let’s go!” He’s up and off the bed, grabbing his shoes.

  I laugh and push myself up. “Alright, let’s go.”

  We make the drive out to the house and to my surprise, Clay’s truck is already in the drive. We hop out, and Bryce runs to the front door.

  “Wow!” he exclaims, checking out the foyer.

  “You like it?” I ask, walking up behind him.

  “Yeah, it’s cool. I love this house!”

  “Check out the living room,” I tell him. Just as he runs to the living room, Clay steps out of the kitchen.

  “I didn’t know you were going to be working today.” I offer up a small smile.

  “I didn’t know you’d be visiting today,” he replies.

  “Bryce wanted to take a hike. Figured we could explore the land.” I shrug.

  He nods as Bryce comes running back in. “Can we check out the barn? Can we, can we?”

  I laugh. “I don’t know how sound it is yet, buddy. We haven’t even been in there.”

  Clay bends down to eye level. “We can check it out, can’t we?”

  “Yeah! Let’s go.” Bryce grabs Clay’s hand and tries pulling him toward the door.

  “Alright, alright,” Clay says, getting up off his knee.

  “I’m going to grab my speaker out of the kitchen, and I’ll be out,” I tell them as Bryce pulls him down the front steps.

  I head into the kitchen and find my speaker right where I left it. To my surprise, I find the kitchen is coming along nicely too. The cabinets are all back up and look beautiful. The dark stain will look amazing with the white tile. I check them out, opening each one and running my hand across them to check their smoothness. It’s all perfect and falling into place. I’m smiling to myself when I walk out and find Clay and Bryce standing outside the barn, talking.

  “Well, was it all you hoped it’d be?” I ask Bryce.

  “Clay’s brother has a horse! Can we go ride it, Mom? Can we?” His eyes are wide with excitement.

  I place one hand on my hip. “That’s not up to me, Bryce. That’s something Clay will have to talk about with his brother. It’s not polite to invite yourself places.”

  Clay waves him off. “Nah, it’s my brother. He has to put up with me,” he jokes. “But seriously, any time you guys are free. They don’t have kids so I’m sure they could use all the attention they can get for the horse.”

  “Okay, I guess we can go ride him sometime.”

  “Now?” Bryce asks. I want to shake my head and roll my eyes. He looks at Clay, and I know he will fall for those big puppy dog eyes in a second.

  “Sure. You care?” he asks me. “I don’t want to ruin your hiking plan.”

  “No way. Horses are way cooler than hikes,” Bryce says.

  Clay laughs. “Alright, load up.” He motions toward his truck, and Bryce takes off in a sprint.

  As we follow Bryce across the grass to the truck, Clay takes my hand in his. “I hope this is okay,” he says, looking over at me.

  “It’s fine, Clay. Thank you for being so sweet with him. I’m sure he’ll be talking about this day for a while. I don’t know what his obsession is with horses.”

  I keep walking, but he holds me back. “Hey,” he says softly.

  “Huh?” I ask, turning to face him.

  Quickly, he presses his lips to mine. “I’ve been wanting to do that since you walked in.”

  I smile and turn to make sure Bryce didn’t notice, but he’s under his tree, playing with his cars, not paying us boring adults any attention.

  12

  Clay

  The minute I pull the truck into Drake’s drive, he’s stepping out of the house. He waves his hand at us as we all pile out of the truck. We head up to the porch, and he walks down the few steps.

  He offers up a smile. “And who do we have here?”

  “This is Bryce.” I ruffle his dark hair. “And his mom, Autumn. Bryce here has a fascination with horses, so I thought I’d bring
him by to see yours.”

  “Cool. Let’s go to the barn and check him out,” Drake says, looking down at him. He looks up and holds out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Autumn. I’m Drake, Clay’s older, cuter brother,” he teases.

  I laugh and casually scratch my nose with my middle finger so the kid doesn’t see.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Drake. And not to disagree with you the first time meeting you, but I think Clay is definitely cuter.”

  I laugh loud.

  Drake shrugs. “I bet my fiancée will be glad you said so. Come on, shorty, let’s check out the horse.” He leads the way, and Autumn and I follow along behind. “Either of you want a beer or anything to drink?” Drake asks as we walk into the barn.

  “Nah, I’m good,” I reply. I turn and look at Autumn.

  “No, thank you.” She walks over and leans against the railing with Bryce. He sucks in a loud breath, and his eyes stretch wide when he sees the horse.

  “Where’s Celeste?” I ask, reaching over and petting the horse’s nose.

  “She just ran to the office. I wish I would’ve known you were coming. I would’ve had her wait so she could meet everyone,” he says, watching how excited Bryce gets over the horse.

  “There’s plenty of time,” I tell him. “Unless she plans on packing up and running in the night.” I shoot her a wink when she looks over her shoulder at me.

  “Can I ride him?” Bryce asks, looking up at Drake with hopeful eyes.

  “How about I take you for a ride? If that’s okay,” he adds, looking at Autumn.

  “Yeah, Mom! Please?”

  She rolls her head from one side to the other. “Okay,” she nods and Bryce cheers.

  Drake gets the horse out of the stall and gets her all ready to ride. He takes his place in the saddle, and I hand Bryce up to him. He sits him up in front.

  “I’m going to take him through our ATV trail. We’ll probably be about twenty minutes or so.”

  “Alright,” I say, waving him off.

  Drake turns the horse around, and they go galloping across the field. Autumn and I go sit on a stack of hay in the barn. I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “You know, we have twenty minutes all to ourselves,” I tease.

  She laughs and playfully smacks my chest. “I’m not having sex with you in your brother’s barn. I mean, what if he has cameras or something?”

  I chuckle. That does sound like him. “I was only teasing. Plus, with the way you scream, they’ll hear us for sure,” I add, earning another firm smack.

  “Ouch, that one stung,” I say, rubbing the spot on my chest that’s surely red.

  “You deserved it,” she replies in her best mom voice, giving me a serious look.

  “I was only joking,” I say, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her into my lap. “I love the way you scream my name,” I whisper, moving in for a kiss—a real kiss this time where there are no kids to see. She snakes her arms around my neck and kisses me softy, deeply. My hands tighten on her hips, switching from a firm grasp to a soft caress as they make their way up her back. She lets out a soft whimper against my lips, and it causes my dick to twitch against her. She breaks the kiss and leans back, looking at me questionably.

  I laugh, feeling my face redden. “I can’t help it. That’s quickly becoming my favorite sound.”

  She rolls her green eyes but moves back in and presses her lips to mine. I cup her jaw with my right hand, keeping my left on the small of her back, pulling her closer—needing her closer. As my tongue dances with hers, I breathe her in, savoring every moment.

  “We should stop before they get back,” she whispers against my lips.

  “We have at least ten more minutes.”

  She giggles but crawls off my lap, taking her place next to me. She crosses her legs and places her hands on her knee. I notice that tan line again on her ring finger.

  I reach over and run my index finger across it. “When are you going to tell me about this?” I ask.

  Her fingers curl up. “Maybe one of these days,” is all she says, and I don’t push for more. She’ll tell me when she’s ready. I won’t try to force it out of her.

  Drake and Bryce are back soon after, and he’s going a mile a minute about how awesome the ride was, how fast the horse went, and about how cool my older brother is. This annoys me a bit. I want to be the cool brother, not Drake. Drake is old—well, he’s not that old, but any time I can hold that over his head, I do.

  The three of us hang out and talk for a bit and thank him for the ride, but Autumn says she needs to get back because it’s getting close to Bryce’s dinner time.

  “You care if I come with?” I ask. “I’m starving.” I shoot her a smile.

  “I don’t know, Bryce? What do you think?” She looks down at him.

  “Yeah, he can come,” he says, suddenly too interested in the game in his hands to care about anything else.

  We head back to the house, and I pack up all the tools for the night. I’m locking up just as Autumn gets Bryce in the van.

  “I’ll follow you?” I ask, wanting to double check to make sure it’s okay.

  She smiles and nods. “See you in a minute.” I stand there, watching as she climbs behind the wheel and drives away from me. That pull in my stomach gets stronger, urging me to follow, and I do.

  The three of us meet at the diner, and we sit, and talk, and eat. I talk to Bryce mostly, wanting to know more about the kid. He seems mature for his age. He talks about video games, his daycare, and new friends he’s made, and about how cool Drake is because he has a horse. I tell him a few stories about us growing up together and how I’m the much cooler brother. Autumn laughs at my stories and frowns jokingly when I try swaying him my way instead of Drake’s.

  After we’re done, I pay the ticket and walk them outside. Autumn places Bryce in his seat and buckles him up. She closes the door and spins around to face me. A serious look is suddenly painting her features.

  “Look, Clay…” she starts.

  “Oh, no. You’re not backing out of our date,” I tell her.

  She laughs and shakes her head. “No, I’m not trying to. But things with us need to stay casual. I mean, I’m new here. I’m just starting out and I have Bryce. I’m not ready for anything serious. We can have our little date. We can work together and be friends and laugh, but as far as starting something up…”

  I shrug. “I agree. I’m not trying to rope you into something you’re not ready for.” I laugh. “Hell, I’m not looking to be in a relationship either.” I reach out and open the driver’s side door.

  She slides into her seat, letting out a breath of relief.

  “The crew will be joining us on Monday, so things should start going at a much faster pace now.”

  She smiles. “Good. Maybe Bryce and I will be able to move in soon and have our own home again.”

  I offer a smile, knowing how much it means to her. “We’ll work as quickly as we can. See you Monday.” I shut the door and step back. She waves and starts the van up. I watch as she backs out and takes off down the road.

  When she’s no longer in view, I turn to head toward the truck but bump into Tessa. She’s just walking inside for the night shift.

  “Hey, what are you doing here?” she asks, leaning in and hugging me.

  “Just finished eating.” I hug her back but pull away as I begin digging my keys out of my pocket.

  “You’ve been silent for a few days. That new B&B keeping you busy?”

  I nod. “Yeah, I’ve been there every day since we started.”

  “Well, how about dinner tomorrow night?” She bats her dark lashes at me and offers up a flirty smile.

  “I wish I could, Tess, but I’m busy and I’m beat. Think I’m just going to stay in and rest up for the upcoming week.” I start back toward the truck. “But I’ll call you,” I say, knowing damn well I won’t.

  I climb behind the wheel, and Tessa holds up her hand, waving me goodbye. She stands in the parking
lot and watches me drive away. Deep down, I wonder if maybe she’s beginning to get attached, despite our agreement. Fuck, I hope not. I’ve never wanted a relationship with anyone, let alone her. But Autumn, she’s something different. She’s something I can’t seem to get a handle on. I want her even though I don’t know why. It’s just that when I envisioned my future before, I was always alone. Now, it’s so easy to see myself with her, it scares me. I have an urge to pull away, to put as much space between us as I can, but deep down, I don’t want to. I want to see how this goes.

  Annoyed by not even understanding myself, I push all thoughts away and head for the house. I take a quick shower and then build a fire in the fireplace—not for the heat, but for the relaxation. I like to kick back, put my feet up, and watch a fire burn. I love the smell of the wood and the crackle of the fire. It lulls me into a deep sleep.

  13

  Autumn

  Bryce is asleep before we make it back to the motel. He’s had such a busy, exciting day that he just couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. I pick him up and carry him into the room. I kick the door closed behind me, place him in bed, and then remove his socks and shoes before tucking him in.

  Walking back into my room, I head directly for the door to lock it up. That’s when I notice the postcard lying on the table by the door. Fear consumes me. I know I didn’t leave that on the table. It feels every one of my hairs stand on end as I slowly walk toward it. My hands are shaking by the time I pick it up.