Page 87 of For Your Consideration

Sophie was sleeping in her cot. Eventually she would be too big to be in here and we would have to figure it out but for right now, I didn’t mind. Plus, maybe by that point I would have enough money to afford something bigger. The only problem with that was losing Iris next door.

“I’ll be right back.” I grabbed a T-shirt off the bed.

“Shh,” he hissed, looking at Sophie with wide eyes. I laughed at him.

“I made sure she could sleep through noise so unless you scream or something she shouldn’t wake up.”

I quickly went to the bathroom and got ready for bed. It felt good to clean all the makeup off my face and brush my teeth. I was buzzing with the excitement of having Asher sleep next to me. I had to keep reminding my libido that he was my friend and nothing would be happening tonight.

Heading back into the room, I stopped and smiled. Asher was standing over Sophie, a small smile on his face as he watched her sleep. He looked up at me, his gaze dragging over the extra-large T-shirt covering my body.

“There’s a toothbrush on the counter you can use. It’s new.” My voice cracked a little. Thank goodness I bought toothbrushes in bulk. He brushed against me as he moved into the washroom.

After hanging his jacket on a hanger, I climbed into bed on my normal side and pulled the covers up to my chin as I waited for him. I yawned as the water ran in the bathroom, my eyes getting heavy.

My eyes were closed when I heard the bathroom door open and before I knew it the bed was dipping on the other side. I pried my eyes open, looked over at him, and then started to laugh. He was still in his suit, minus the jacket, and was lying on top of the covers, both hands tucked behind his head.

“What are you doing?”

“I am not sleeping under the covers with you while you’re drunk.”

I started to laugh again. “You’re in a full suit and there’s a baby sleeping next to us.”

“Shut it.”

I yawned again and maybe it was the alcohol or just because I was feeling good tonight but I closed the distance between us. I curled into him on my side and rested my head in the crook of his neck. After a moment’s hesitation, one of his hands went around my shoulders and then I felt his chin rest on the top of my head. I let out a content sigh and closed my eyes.

With my baby sleeping soundly beside me and Asher’s warm body pressed against mine, I fell asleep quickly. Just as I was about to lose consciousness, I felt him lightly press his lips to my head.

“Sleep well, sweetheart.”

23

Asher

When Sophie had started making noises next to us earlier, I’d scooped her up and moved us into the living room. I didn’t want to leave the bed with Sutton pressed against me but I didn’t want her to wake up. She had burrowed into me not long after she’d fallen asleep, her hair spread out over my chest.

Thankfully we weren’t spooning because otherwise she would have felt how hard I was.

The smell of coconuts lingered in her room. It had become my new favorite smell.

I knew Sutton had things to change Sophie’s diaper out here so I did just that. I’d watched videos earlier and paid close attention when I’d seen Sutton do it before. I didn’t know how or what to feed her, which I needed to figure out right away, but I had her on a mat in the middle of the living room and we were playing with blocks. She seemed content.

We had just stacked another block on a tower when I heard a groan from the other room and an alarm going off.

“Should we go see your mama?” I asked Soph, who looked up at me with a toothless smile. As I stood, she reached for me and I picked her up, grabbed the glass from the kitchen, and walked into the bedroom.

“Morning, sweetheart,” I muttered as Soph started clapping for her mum. I would have stopped her because I was sure Sutton had a headache but it was so damn adorable I couldn’t.

“Ughh,” she groaned as she rolled over and popped one eye open.

I moved over to the bed and placed Sophie down next to her. She sat up and held her breath for a moment. I looked at her with my eyebrows raised.

“I’m not going to be sick.” She must have noticed my face. It was shocking to me how well she read me. She leaned down and kissed Sophie on the head before looking over at me. “Turns out it wasn’t such a good idea to drink so much on a Wednesday night.”

I shook my head and passed her the water I was holding, grabbing the pills out of my pocket that I had stashed there earlier, knowing she would need them.

“I could have told you that,” I mused as she chugged the pills and water. “How do you feel?”