“Stop looking at my baby like she’s a freak.”
I walked over, bumped him out the way, and unbuckled Avi. Once I had her in my arms, I snatched up my phone and headed to Avi’s room, slamming the door. We did playtime on the floor, then I fed her and put my baby girl down for a nap. I did my best to stay out of the way, deciding to choose my battles. If he wanted to waste his money on unnecessary things, then that was on him.
What I didn’t like was how I could hear the deep, sexy melody of Omiri’s voice telling them how to dismantle my living room and restructure it to fit what he wanted. While my little muffin slept, I worked on a few of my clients’ accounts, going through their posts to pull together recovery strategies to help further mold their brands into that of respectable athletes instead of the idiots they truly were.
Unfortunately his voice carried and I kept getting distracted when he laughed at something one of the delivery guys saidor brushed off their compliments about how great he was as a quarterback. By lunchtime, my stomach started growling and Avi was up from her nap. I sucked it up and headed to the kitchen to grab something quick.
As much as I wanted to hate the new set up, the massive gray sectional looked cozy and soft. The matching end table completed the set and blended with the rest of my décor. My world and his merged perfectly and that had me frowning with yet another reminder that this man had bulldozed his way into my life.
Once I made it to the refrigerator, I settled Avi back into her bouncer and began removing ingredients to make a sandwich. By the time I had everything I needed, I became instantly annoyed from the brown mismatched eyes following my every move. I glanced toward the entrance to the kitchen and frowned harder.
“Can I help you?” I was instantly aware of the yoga pants and oversized sweater I was in which had experienced one too many wears and washes. Nothing about my current look was appealing and I shouldn’t have cared but I was hyper aware of his eyes on me.
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Then be good out there.”
He chuckled but didn’t leave, so I focused on arranging everything, trying extremely hard to ignore the way my kitchen all of a sudden felt incredibly small.
“You don’t want me in here with you?” That cocky, amused tone of his had me groaning internally, because I wasn’t mad at the idea of having him near me. He was sexy, he smelled so damn good, and I remembered what he felt like when his hands were on me. Omiri was the last man I’d slept with and although I hadn’t missed the intimacy before now. With him back in my life, I couldn’t erase the fact that the last orgasm I had paled incomparison to the ones he provided. Toys did not and could not compete with the real thing.
“There are strangers in my house because you’re inconsiderate. What I would like is for you to be out there supervising them so they don’t leave with any of my personal items.”
I shot him an evil glare and he smiled sexily. “Rex don’t play that shit. He wouldn’t hire anyone who would steal from his customers and he would be offended that you insinuated they would.”
“I don’t know who Rex is so it’s hard for me to care that he would be offended.”
“He owns Goode Living.”
“Of course you would call in a personal favor to make this happen.”
“I didn’t call in a favor. I pulled up what I wanted online, paid for that shit, and picked a delivery date.”
“Yep.”
Instead of responding he moved deeper into the kitchen and leaned over Avi, frowning like I’d caught him doing earlier. I was about to ask him what the hell his problem was until he spoke.
“She always this quiet?”
Avi’s little brow was pinched but she was watching the two of us curiously. She knew my face and was trying to learn his.
“She’s a good baby, so most of the time, yes.”
I worked mayo onto the bread, hating that he was so close to both of us. Having him in my space felt odd but comfortable at the same time.
“I have turkey and ham.”
When his eyes left Avi and landed on me, I almost laughed because he looked confused. “You making me lunch?”
“Just because you don’t have manners doesn’t mean I don’t.”
He smiled in a lazy way that made him even more attractive. “I’m good with either one.”
After I finished the first sandwich I pushed the plate toward him. “Chips are over there if you want some.”
He filled the chair furthest from Avi and took a bite that demolished half the damn sandwich, shoving the rest into his mouth and mumbling thank you before he was out of the chair and taking a call, leaving me at peace and with the ability to breathe once he was gone. Unlike Omiri, I took my time eating, straining to hear his conversation since it didn’t sound like business. He was laughing and talking low, which had me annoyed with myself because the first thing that came to mind was that it was a woman.
By the time I was done eating, I heard the delivery guys telling him there was someone else pulling up, which had me lifting Avi into my arms and heading to the living room. I stood in the doorway watching a van with SecureMe on the side pulling up behind Omiri’s Range Rover.
