Page 28 of For Your Consideration

He cut me off. “Wouldn’t offer if I didn’t want to, sweetheart. You just tell me if you want help or not.”

My gut reaction was to say no. That this was something I could handle on my own, no problem. It was the way I’d been doing things since she was born. I wouldn’t have let Iris in to help if she hadn’t just barged her way in. And, as she pointed out to me many times, I needed to work on letting others help me.

So instead of rejecting him like I’d started to do, I just nodded. He was offering, and this was small. I could let him stand there keeping me company while I did this.

He sent me a small smile as his hand landed on the diaper bag. I shifted Sophie in my arm so he could slide it off my shoulder and then he trailed in behind me.

I didn’t know what was wrong with me but I felt like I was going to cry as he passed me what I requested from the diaper bag. I even had to clear my throat a few times. I muttered to Sophie to keep her happy because while her tears had stopped, she was teetering on a fine line and it was written all over her face.

Asher wasn’t fazed by any of it, at least not now that her crying had stopped. I couldn’t meet his eyes as he grabbed the dirty diaper off the change table where I had placed it and threw it out for me without me having to ask. He stepped up beside me and scooped Sophie up the second I had her dressed.

I washed my hands, clearing my throat again and blinking to push the tears back down. He didn’t comment on it but I could feel him watching me closely. His eyes seemed locked on my face.

What he was watching for, I wasn’t sure.

Neither of us said anything as we left the bathroom, him holding my daughter with her diaper bag slung over his shoulder. I was wringing my hands together nervously. No one other than Iris had helped me with Sophie like this before and even that was rare since we both weren’t usually in the room and if we were I insisted on doing everything because of how much she did for me. I didn’t know what to do with these feelings.

The event was winding down and the clean-up had started when we came back out, so we made our way over to where Quinn and Knight were standing off to the side of the room. He had Quinn pulled against his chest and was looking down at her with a small smile as she talked to him, light animating her face.

“Hey,” Quinn said as we wandered up. She tried to pull away from Knight, but he just dropped one arm over her shoulder and pulled her into his side. I liked that they were always touching.

“What can I do?” I asked, looking around.

“Nothing,” Quinn replied. “You did great work today.”

“Are you sure? Because I can—”

“Go home.” She shook her head with a wave of her hand. “Although I’m a little annoyed I didn’t get any time with that sweet baby.” She made a face at Sophie who looked like she had no interest in leaving Asher’s arms. Quinn even reached out to her but Sophie just hid her face in his chest.

My girl was growing attached, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

Probably bad. He was nothing more than my boss’s fiancés friend.

“I can clean up the registration table while you—”

“You’re done, Sutton. Thank you for all your help today. Theo went and hired extra people for the event, so they’ve got it covered.” She rolled her eyes but Knight just smirked, looking pretty proud of himself.

“Okay.” I bit my lip and looked up at Asher. “We can grab a cab since we don’t have as much stuff.” He shot me an annoyed look and let out a grunt. “You picked us up because I had boxes. I don’t have to bring anything home so I can grab the car seat base and…” I trailed off. He just kept looking at me with hard eyes. “Fine.” I shook my head. “But you don’t get to be all worked up when Sophie cries when you put her in the car seat. And I can promise you that she will but she’s completely fine.” My eyes felt trapped in his as he nodded once but I could see a little frown. He wasn’t going to like her crying, it seemed, for any reason.

The spell was broken after a few moments when Quinn and Knight started laughing. I looked over at them. I’d kind of forgotten they were there.

“Do you realize you just had a whole conversation with him and he didn’t say a single word?”

I tilted my head, thinking it over for a moment before letting out a laugh of my own. I hadn’t really noticed that he didn’t actually reply to anything I’d been saying.

“You’ve translated Asher’s grunts and looks faster than anyone I’ve seen. Took Noah a few months to figure out he needed to shut up when he got one of those looks.” Knight pointed at Asher with amusement in his tone, his eyes dancing between us.

“I was not telling her to shut up,” Asher bit out with a glare at his friend.

We said our goodbyes and got into Asher’s truck without either one of us saying anything, though his hand had lingered on my back, heat rising up from his touch.

Sophie did cry a little as we got her settled, which made Asher’s jaw tense slightly as he watched me buckle her in. But once the car started, she quietened down, which the car always helped with.

There were times when she was a few months old and wouldn’t go to sleep, probably feeding off my own stress, so I’d gotten us both in the car and drove. She’d fall asleep within minutes and it gave me room to breathe.

Asher had low music playing in the background this time and I watched the city pass around us as we headed back to my apartment. There was a comfortable silence between us and I liked that neither of us felt like we had to speak. After a long day of smiling and talking, I didn’t mind that I was getting a reprieve.

Except it was giving me time to think, well, more accurately, spiral. I was fidgeting with my fingers, rubbing my thumb with my other hand, as the silence started to feel heavy.