Page 53 of Double Daddies (Dirty Daddies Anthologies #8)

“Stop!” I order. “It’s over, Ortega!” My harsh order doesn’t stop his smile, or the weapon he’s pointing at me. I pull the trigger, but I’m a second behind him deploying his own.

I feel the shock of the bullet’s impact just moments before I hear the sound of my taser clattering on the gravel beneath my feet.

Ryle

When I got Cami’s text, I felt a rush of emotion. Excitement, followed by hope, surged through my veins. All I needed to do was to see her, and I could make her understand that all I want is what’s best for her, what’s best for the baby. I know it.

But when I open the door and step inside, I see the boyfriend sitting up in a hospital bed instead. All of my earlier high hopes come crashing down, smashing on the floor.

“Hey.”

I hold up my cell phone. “Cami asked me to meet her here.”

There’s a shadow of a grin on his face. “I did, actually. She leaves her phone all the time. I was going to bring it to her, but?—”

As he’s speaking, my eyes rove the room as I realize that he’s hooked up to a machine that is measuring his heart rate and other stats. “Are you okay? Did something happen? Is Cami…”

“She’s okay. She doesn’t know I’m here, actually.”

I arch a brow and fold my arms across my chest.

“Could you close that door?”

I hesitate, but in the end I push it closed. Then I turn back to him, waiting expectantly.

“I got shot on a stake out today.”

My jaw clenches and I nod. I’m not sure what he’s expecting me to say, but if I thought finding him here in Cami’s place is strange, this announcement giving so nonchalantly is more so.

“It got me thinking about… well, about everything.” His smile flashes again. “But especially about Cami. About what would happen to her if…”

He trails off, and I see from his face he can’t say the words aloud.

“If you died.” I don’t hurl the words, or weaponize them, but I’ve spent some time thinking about death recently, and I know it’s best to be honest, no matter how hard it is.

“Yeah. I’ll be fine this time. But… I want to know she’s going to be okay, if… if that ever happened.”

I wait, still not certain what he’s getting at.

“I thought about a lot of things. And I think it’s better if Cami, if the baby, if they both have more people to love them.”

My hands ball into fists at my sides.

Is he saying what I think he’s saying?

“Maybe we could try to make this work… the three of us.”

“I’m flattered, but you’re not really my type,” I intone dryly.

Ben surprises me by laughing. It takes some of the tension from the room. “I hear you. And I’m with you on that. But for Cami’s sake, for the baby… do you think we could try?”

I look at him, a man who hours ago I’d considered a rival, and the clear winner when it came to Cami. And now he’s suggesting we what ? Share her? I would have laughed myself out of the room if the idea didn’t appeal to me so damn much.

And then there’s the fact that what he’s saying made so much sense.

Everyone needed as many people as possible in their corner—an only child of only children, who knew that better than me?

My father had built an impressive empire, but I ruled it on my own, with no one to share the burden or the success.

“What if it’s not mine? How will you feel then?”

He lets the questions hang there as he sizes me up. “One day at a time, Ryle. Let’s see if we can figure this out, we’ll worry about the rest later.” He holds out his hand.

I can’t help but be impressed by his daring.

It takes a lot of courage, a great deal of humility to suggest what he has.

I have to admit, it bumps him up in my estimation.

I move toward him and reach for his hand.

But before I can grasp it, I hear the sound of the door being thrown open, and I turn toward the noise.

Cami

I stand in the doorway, my mouth open, staring for several long seconds.

I don’t understand what I’m seeing, and no matter how much I blink my eyes, I can’t get my brain to make sense of it.

I was shocked when Helen told me the ambulance had brought Ben in, and that he’d asked that I not be paged.

I had run all the way here, fueled by panic, not sure what I’d find.

But this went beyond my wildest imaginings.

“What… why… I don’t understand,” I say at last.

“Cami, why don’t you?—”

“No.” I cut Ben off and glare at him, even though my trained eyes can’t help but notice he’s hurt. “No more of this. No more secret meetings behind my back.”

“We weren’t?—”

The furrow in my brow deepens as I scowl.

“ No . It’s my turn, and you get to listen to me this time.

” My eyes swing toward Ryle so he knows this is for him, too.

“No more deciding things for me. It’s my body, and my baby, and I’m going to have a say in how things go from this point on.

No more springing people on me.” I spear Ben with my gaze.

“No more talking about me when I’m not in the room.

” I fold my arms over my chest and turn to Ryle. “Are we all clear?”

“Yes, of course,” he says calmly, but I don’t let him off the hook, even though his smooth, sexy voice sets my pussy to pulsing.

“What about you?” I demand, whirling on Ben.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

That’s all I need to hear and he has me melting.

I rush toward him, my bravado vanishing as I let concern for him take the driver’s seat.

“Are you okay? What happened? Why didn’t you have them page me?

I was so worried.” I’m reaching for chart at the end of his bed, but Ben sits up and takes my arm, pulling me to him.

“I’m okay. A little banged up, but okay.” He smiles at me, and I feel tears sting my eyes.

Damn hormones.

“Don’t ever do that again.” I smack his chest. “Do you know what that was like, to hear you wouldn’t let them call me?” I am about to smack him again, but he catches my hand and gives me a warning look that makes my breath hitch.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to worry you. Especially…”

I soften, due in part to the warning in his eyes, and in part to the reminder that he was looking out for me. For the baby. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“You’re lucky you’re pregnant, or I’d pull you over my knee right now,” he murmurs for my ears alone. “Who do you think you are, hitting me?” he asks, his teasing tone easing my worry.

I lean my forehead against his. “Sorry, Daddy.”

“Mmm-hmm. You can make it up to me.”

“I can? How?”

“What do you say we get some lunch? We can all… talk.”

Suddenly remembering Ryle is in the room watching us makes me feel flustered.

I pull away and walk around the bed to retrieve Ben’s chart.

He reaches for me again, clearly trying to distract me from learning his injuries, but I’ve done this dance before.

I dodge him, and slink to the corner, out of reach, and begin to read.

“Ben!” I gasp as my eyes scan the clipboard. “You were—you were?—”

“I’m fine.”

I gape at him. “But… but what happened ?”

“Stakeout.” He grins, but his trademark humor can’t distract me for a change.

“Benton Ross, I?—”

“Benton?” Ryle’s voice breaks through my scolding.

I whirl on him and glare.

“Sorry.” He lifts his hands in a gesture of surrender. “It’s just, I mean, Benton?”

“Excuse me?” Ben snorts. “You really think you have a place to judge with a name like Ryle ? What is that short for? Ryland? Rylerson?”

“I see you’ve spent a lot of time on this,” he remarks.

“How else was I supposed to pass the time on my stakeout?”

I want to stay mad that Ben got himself hurt, or angry and confused that Ryle is here, but their banter makes it impossible.

I try to hold back my giggles, mainly because I don’t want to give them the satisfaction, but my willpower isn’t as strong as my amusement.

I hold the clipboard up to block my face, but I have to move it eventually, and when I do I see the two of them looking at me, grinning.

Before I can summon up the energy to reprimand them again, Helen walks in. She glances around the room, but if she’s surprised to find a stranger in the room, she doesn’t comment. Nurses are well trained to observe and keep it to ourselves.

“How are you feeling, Ben?”

“ Benton .” I hear Ryle mutter.

I press my lips together to smother a smile.

“Ready to go home, Helen.”

“Hmm.” She looks at his stats, then glances at me. “I think you need to rest.”

“I can rest at home.”

She turns away from him and directs her question at me. “How many stairs do you have at home?”

“We’re on the third floor, so about forty-eight per trip,” I answer at once. “Is that a problem?” My eyes scan the clipboard and then I see it: a near-miss gun shot. My heart squeezes in my chest and I close the distance between me and Ben. I put my hand on his shoulder and give it a squeeze.

“It just grazed me,” he says softly, reading my thoughts as only he can.

“You got really lucky. And it grazed your sciatic nerve. That’s not nothing.”

“I would really feel better if you weren’t taking all those stairs,” Helen mused. “Is there any way you can stay at a hotel? Or with parents?”

“Maybe we could?—”

Ben is already shaking his head before I can finish my sentence. He grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze. “We don’t have the extra money for that right now, and neither of our parents live in town.”

I frown at him. “We have savings. This is important.”

He glances at my stomach, and then back at me. “We need to keep it there. Save it for something more important. Besides, I’ll be fine.”

I hear the clearing of a throat. Suddenly, I remember that Ryle is in the room, watching this scene unfold. I flush with the feeling of his eyes on me. Then I lower my own to the floor, embarrassed someone might have noticed—most of all Ryle.

“My place might be an option.”

“Oh, uh, thanks, but we don’t want to put you out.”

I raise my head to look at Ryle, despite Ben’s objections. “Why do you say that?”

“Well, I don’t have stairs, for one thing. But also, it’s closer to your job, which I think could be helpful, considering…”

I feel something inside me clench with what he left unsaid. Considering the baby. My gaze shoots over to Helen, but once again she’s wearing her impassive face. “We’ll take a look.”

“Cami—”

The betrayal in Ben’s voice would normally stop me in my tracks, but I don’t so much as blink this time. “If roles were reversed, you’d make sure we did whatever we had to make sure I didn’t take extra risks.”

Ben lets out a long sigh. “Yeah, but?—”

“So, I’m going to do that for you. Besides—you owe me.” I look from him to Ryle this time, including both of them in my determination.

Ben’s lips press firmly together, and that’s it. My secret sign that I’ve won.