Morrison (Caldwell Brothers)

“Morning,” I say as I walk past her. “Coffee?”

“Um . . . I . . . um . . .”

“You take it black?”

“I need to find a grocery store.”

“Okay. But until then—”

“Do you come here a lot?” she cuts me off. “You have a room. Do you—”

“I stay in Vegas until I make enough to come home for a while. Then I hang with my family. If I wanna work, I work at the bar. Hendrix owns a place down the road.”

“I need to—”

“Whatever you need, we’ll get it.”

“I need a job,” she blurts out.

“Done,” I hear Hendrix say as he comes bounding down the stairs. “Caught one of my girls doing lines when I went to grab the bank bag last night. Shit’s not happening at Caldwell’s. If you’re clean and want a job, it’s yours. Livi or I can train you—”

“She worked—” I interrupt him.

“I have experience,” she cuts me off. “I worked as a cocktail waitress in Vegas, even filled in when the bartenders needed a break.”

“Tap beer and shots at my place,” Hendrix says.

“I can’t start tonight. I need to find child care.” I see her eyes shifting wildly as if she’s trying to figure things out all by her goddamned self. I fucking hate that.

“Trust me to watch her?” I ask.

“As if I have a choice,” she mumbles.

I head toward the bathroom before I say some shit I can’t take back, but I stop when I hear her speak.

“You won’t take her anywhere, will you? You don’t have a car seat, and I don’t know the area.”

“No, we’ll hang here.”

For three days she has worked, and in that time we haven’t said more than ten sentences to each other. She and Livi are getting close, which is cool, and Marisa and I have a little routine at night.

Mom leaves and we hit the home gym in the garage. After two minutes on the treadmill, she is sitting on the ground.

Today, she is on my back, laughing as I run. Cutest little shit in the world. She likes grapes, eats the hell out of them things while we watch Sofia the First—not Firs. Then we read.

Hailey is off tonight, and from a distance, I can see a light has returned to her eyes. She jokes around with my brothers and Livi and seems almost comfortable. The only time I heard any friction was when she and Hendrix argued about her paying rent. He told her no; she told him she’d leave.

“Pain in the ass, you know,” he grumbled when she shoved the envelope at him.

And when I bought a car seat—a fucking car seat—for the Escalade, she was pissed.

“You ever need to take her to the doctor’s, you won’t be so pissed off at me,” I call out as I walk away.

Shaking my head, I bring myself back to the present and realize I need to put some distance between us, so I go to talk to Momma. Then I go to the bar, where I drink too much.

I get offers, lots of them, and I can’t even think about accepting. All I can think about is her. By the end of the night, I can’t drive, so I wait for the cab that Sally, the bartender, calls for me and then head home, where I stumble down the hallway to her door.

I stand in the doorway, watching them sleep. She looks stunning with the little frown gone, the worry seeming to have been erased. I have platinum right here in front of me, and I can’t even touch it.

I don’t know how long I’ve been staring at her when her eyes open. She sees me, then glares.

I merely shake my head and walk away.

I hear the door shut and look back as she walks toward me, wrapping her robe around her.

“What the hell are you doing? Do you watch me every night?”

“Yep.” I want to lean forward and touch her. I won’t, though.

“Well, don’t. It’s creepy and wrong. It’s fucked up, Morrison.”

I nod. “Your fault.”

“Mine?”

“I have walked around here for days, looking at you smile, laugh, and let down that wall with everyone around here.” I lean forward a little. “You have no idea how sexy that is to me.”

“Don’t,” her voice quivers.

I shake my head. “I want you all the damn time. I get hard when you walk by. I could have fucked five different women tonight—God knows I need a release—but I didn’t, because all I wanted was to come back here and look at the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The you here, Hailey—the Hailey lying with her daughter, sleeping without a frown or any visible worry—is the one I would prefer. But that Hailey wants nothing to do with me. So forgive me if I like to watch you sleep. I promise you I won’t do it again.”