Page 42 of Crazy In Love (Love & War #2)

“I heard that Barbara saw him coming up here last week.” Hormonal overage done , she walks a lap of my living space, stepping ridiculously, sickeningly close to Chris’ boots, but too tired to look down and notice them.

“I rarely listen to town gossip, but I was in the hospital for three days, and gossip is the only thing anyone has to pass the time in there. I heard you and Cliff were cutesy and giggly.”

“We were not!”

“But he was here?”

“Yes, he was here. He’s helping me with the bathroom renovations. But we weren’t giggly. I’m never giggly.”

“So someone else, then.” Her belly is still round-ish, though not as round as it was this time last week.

So when she reaches the window and turns back to face me, smug taunting in her eyes, her belly is the first thing to turn.

“I heard you were at the gym a few days ago, too. So it’s someone there. ”

“Good lord, woman. You sound an awful lot like the old biddies you call and complain about! You heard this, you heard that?”

“I heard a heard and heard.” She snickers. “Am I wrong?”

“About me being at the gym? The day I took your son to the gym ?”

“Oh… hmm…”

I knock the wind from her sails and draw her to a pause. “Okay, so although that rumor is true, it might not mean anything more than taking Franky to the gym.”

“Ya think?! Jesus. Have I ever not told you about my sex life?”

“Never. Which is why I’m so curious now. Why hide him, if not because you think I’ll be scandalized by whoever he is?”

“Or maybe you’re overthinking things and letting your baby hormones take over.

” Great! Gaslighting your best friend is a new low for you, Fox.

“I was out late last night at the movies, and I slept in today. It’s not a crime.

Can you head down and open the shop while I get dressed?

I’m running late, and it’s unprofessional for a store not to open when they say they’ll open. ”

“You want me to open? Really? I’m six days postpartum, and you’re already putting me back to work?”

“Oh, bring out the violins!”

“For shame. For shame!”

“Go the hell away. Open the shop. I’ll be down in five minutes.”

“Fine.”

She sets her coffee cup on the counter and wanders forward with her hands outstretched. But I turn and snarl. “Leave the baby. I’m not done snuggling with her yet, and you’re irritating me. I deserve her hugs, and you deserve to work.”

“Even though I have stitches in my vagina?”

I choke out a delirious laugh, not because of her stitches but because Chris is being forced to hear about them. Again . “Even then. Are you sticking around for long?”

“I’ll stay until I stop wanting to cry every time you and I are not in the same room.

So…” She meanders to the door and picks up her diaper bag.

“A couple of hours’ll do it. Assuming I’m sitting for most of them so I don’t bleed out.

Then I’ll head over to the gym and watch my man exercise for a little bit.

He’s all worked up and undersexed. So he’s got energy to spare. ”

“Undersexed,” I snort, dropping my chin in a nod. “So glad I know that about him. Maybe I should come by the gym too, watch a couple of frustrated Watkins boys whale on each other.”

“Not sure Chris is as frustrated as his brother. I heard he went running through the drugstore last week, buying condoms and making a scene.” She swings my apartment door open, allllmost , but not quite rested up enough to connect a couple of ridiculously obvious dots.

“I should talk to him about that. I wonder who he’s banging this week? ”

“ This week ?” Jealousy is like a sharp barbed knife piercing my stomach. “Does he shuffle lovers regularly?”

She lifts her shoulder in a delicate, teasing shrug. “Pretty sure he shops from out of town these days, seeing as how he’s tasted everyone within a fifty-mile radius who isn’t married and isn’t Barbara’s age.”

“Ew.” I lose my smile and screw my nose in disgust. “He’s out here banging grandmas, and you’re worried about my sex life?”

“Not grandmas,” she cackles. “Just… mas . Single motherhood is a lonely time, and he’s just doing his civic duty, keeping them loose and limber. It’s like community service at this point and could probably buy him leniency within the court system if he’s ever busted for something bad.”

“Go away now.” I follow her to the door and close it at her back, then pressing my ear to the wood and making damn sure she moves down the stairs, I turn again with a growl. “Community service, Christian Watkins? Is she serious right now?”

“Stitches in her vagina!?” He pops up on the other side of the bed, tossing his jeans to the mattress and coming around to meet me, toe-to-toe. “You and Cliff?”

“He’s fixing my bathroom!”

“Giggly and cute?”

“I’m never giggly.”

“The condoms were for you!” He sweeps Hazel out of my arms and holds her in a gentle, horrifyingly endearing way. “Why’d you keep the baby if you want to shower, anyway? You would need to get out and tend to her again if she cries.”

“Because I knew you’d want to hold her, dummy.

Because I knew you’d be pissy that she was so close, but you didn’t get a hug.

Because you are a community icon, allegedly, and I knew having the baby between us would stop me from ripping your face to shreds!

” Tearing my shirt off and tossing it into my suitcase, I stalk into the bathroom and flip the taps on.

“You shop for ass outside of Plainview, huh? How many hearts have you broken?”

“None.” He saunters to the bathroom door, rocking his baby niece with a barely there sway of his hips. “I break no hearts. I merely serve physical needs.”

“Not for as long as I’m in town, you don’t. You’ll serve only my physical needs, and if I hear you’re serving on the side, I’ll pry a skull open with a crowbar.”

“Whose skull?” His eyes glitter with torment. “Hers or mine? Because that’ll help me make future decisions.”

“Yours. Since it’s hardly her fault she wants to be serviced by the magical Watkins penis. It should be a regulated substance. Your dick is ad dick tive.”

He purses his lips and looks me up and down. “Really? You can play on words when you’re mad?”

“I’m not mad!” I spin under the spray of the shower, only to slam my elbow and hiss when the pain takes my breath away. “Shit! Dammit.”

“You okay?”

“Shut up! If I find out you’re sharing your dick with someone else for as long as I’m in this godforsaken town, you’ll find out exactly how annoying I can be.”

“Fox—”

I rub my elbow and pretend the idea of him with someone else doesn’t make my chest ache. “Did you order the cake yet for the party?”

“No, I?—”

“Put the baby down, get dressed, and Spiderman your ass out the damn window! Order the cake before I hurt you.”