Claim My Baby (Crescent Cove 2)

Crass, but true.

Sage curled into me as if I was her shelter in a brutal storm. Fanciful, but still fact. She purported not to like me—or had before we’d embarked on this flight—yet she snuggled into me as if she were starved for that kind of comfort.

I would’ve said I wasn’t. I was touched often enough to suit my needs. Or so I’d believed.

Not like this. Nothing like this.

She was so soft. So yielding and trusting. At least in this moment and in this space, if in no other. Her long blond hair was in a messy ponytail, the wild waves trying to escape, and it took everything I possessed not to bury my face in the thick, fragrant strands. Sunshine in a bottle, that was Sage’s scent. Clean clothes drying on a clothesline in the summertime. Warm, inviting.

Intoxicating.

And that wasn’t saying a damn thing about how she felt. She was curvy as hell, and let’s just say my cock had no problem with me being cozied up to the parts of her I’d only ogled the other day. Her impossibly full breasts tucked against my chest would probably live in my fondest jacking-off fantasies for the next few months.

If not years.

She eventually moved back, once the flight had stabilized and the ride had become smooth as satin. I pretended to be so absorbed in my work on my tablet that I didn’t hear her chatting brightly with her new friend, who probably would’ve offered to marry her if they’d had another few hours on the plane.

Alas, they did not, though they exchanged numbers when they parted. Rob also gave me his number, since he was now my friend too. There was talk of getting together for drinks once we were back in New York.

He was a nice enough guy, but I’d just file that idea under the heading not going to happen.

Sage might not like the idea of watching me hook up, but guess what? The feeling was mutual.

Though it did bear questioning why she cared about my dating habits. I knew why hers interested me. She was too sweet, inexperienced, and naive. Men were, by and large, pigs. She was Ally’s best friend.

Hell, my entire role for being here on this trip was to ensure she had a fun, safe time. That was why I’d wanted to growl at Rob every time he so much as smiled at her too warmly. He hadn’t been properly vetted yet, that was all.

That could be the only explanation.

We collected Sage’s eye-searing-pink suitcase from the conveyor belt and arranged for a car over to the hotel. Once we were in the backseat, she pulled out her phone and started texting, ignoring me entirely.

All righty then.

“Ally says hello.”

I glanced up from my iPad. “Hello, Ally. Kid still inside?”

Sage sighed. “Must you sound so dispassionate about your own nephew?”

“Who’s being dispassionate? I asked a question that proves my concern.”

“Sure it does.” She went back to texting.

I’d just returned to reviewing the contract I’d be presenting to Stanley Curtis next week for the purchase of a dairy farm on the outskirts of town when Sage let out a gasp and my head snapped up. Which triggered the pain in my jaw from her head colliding with mine.

Because she’d forgotten her bathing suit. Sweet Jesus. As if I needed to put a picture of her in swimwear in my brain.

“What is it?”

“Ally found the cutest Yankees outfit for the baby. Look!” She thrust her phone at me.

A tiny slugger outfit was spread out on Ally and Seth’s bed. It was cute. Hardly worthy of a gasp, however.

“Lovely.”

Sage yanked back her phone. “See what I mean? Dispassionate.”

“I’m in the middle of work. Remember, the business you said I didn’t have in Vegas?”