Play Me (Take a Chance 3)

“Ever?”

“Ever.” She hesitated, her eyes flitting to his before she picked up the instructions. “I tried that once. Look what it got me. And Chris was devastated. I won’t do that again. We have you. Why do we need anyone else?”

“Pete was an ass.” Garrett picked up the Allen wrench and started working on the crib again. Anything to keep his hands busy. Idle hands meant temptation to touch. “You can’t judge every man by the actions of one.”

“You make it sound so easy.” She handed him a piece of wood. He checked the instructions to make sure it was the right one. It was. “But it’s not.”

“Why not?” he asked.

When she stiffened, he remembered saying those very words to her right before they made love. He glanced up at her and stopped breathing. She was looking at him like she needed him again, only this time she needed something a bit more elemental. He ignored the answering surge of lust within him.

She licked her lips and looked down at the instructions again. “When your heart is broken, it’s not easy to just tape it back together and move on. Especially when you have a kid.”

Garrett flinched and finished torqueing in the nut. “I know.”

She picked up another, identical piece of wood and handed it off to him. Damn, she was good at this. Better than he was. “Did you ever have your heart broken?”

Not until her. He hadn’t gotten close enough to anyone for his heart to be on the line. But if anyone had ever near it, it would be Kiersten. That one night together had hurt, and it hadn’t stopped hurting yet. “Yeah. Sure. Once or twice.”

“Then you know how stupid you can be when it comes to love.” She blew out a breath. “Even knowing I was probably making a mistake, I let Pete get to me. I even thought that maybe I was wrong. That love was pure and good and could heal all things. Brianna had found it once. Maybe I could, too.”

“And then he pulled a dick move and cheated on you.” He spun the wrench tighter than necessary. The prick needed another ass whooping. Garrett might have already given him one the night he heard the news. And he might have fractured his hand punching the dickhead in the jaw. But it had been worth it.

Hypothetically.

“Yeah.” She traced the curve of the crib leg. “Brianna found Thomas, and got married again. And I got…well, pregnant.” She laughed, but it sounded forced. She looked away from him, but didn’t say anything, then picked up another piece of the crib. The pile was getting a lot smaller. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Their fingers brushed, and they looked up at each other in surprise. Was that an answering need he saw within her eyes? “You’re good at this. Where did you learn how to build furniture?”

“Mike.” She grinned, and the moment between them passed, which was probably a good thing. He probably shouldn’t be throwing her on the nursery floor and fucking her next to the unfinished crib. “He said if I was going to be an old maid, I needed to know how to take care of myself.”

Garrett chuckled. “You’ll never be an old maid. You’re too pretty.”

“If you say so,” she said skeptically, her brow quirked. She handed him a nut. “You forgot to do the middle one.”

He looked down. Damn it, he had. “Oops.”

As he twisted the wrench, he came to a scary conclusion. She really didn’t need him at all. She could have probably built this crib on her own—and faster, to boot. She already knew how to be a single mother, and was damn good at it. What did he bring to the table here? What could he possibly offer her that she didn’t already have?

Love.

That’s all he could ever give her, and she didn’t even want it.

She nudged him with her elbow. “What’s wrong? Forget how to twist a wrench?”

He forced a laugh and took the next piece from her. There were only three pieces left. “No, but I have to stand it up now.”

“I’ll help,” she said, starting to rise.

“No, don’t even think about touching something heavy.” He frowned at her as he set down the Allen wrench. “I’ve got it.”

She pursed her lips, and a flash of irritation lit up her eyes. “It’s going to be a long nine months if you keep up this crap the whole time.”

“Maybe.” He leapt to his feet and made quick work of standing it upright. “But when I’m here, I do the heavy lifting for you. You can supervise.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s both adorable and annoying at the same time.”

“That’s me.” He took the nut from her and fastened it. “You can put it on my tombstone when I die. ‘Here lies Garrett Kelley. Loving Father. Both adorable and annoying at the same time.’ It has a certain ring to it, don’t you think?”