Beyond the Play (Out of Reach 3)

“Maybe.” Parker smiles at him.

Maybe? Hell yes. I need to remember to spoil this kid rotten anytime he’s with us.

Jett surprises me when he runs to me and wraps his arms around my legs. “Bye, Holden,” he says, smiling up at me.

I ruffle his hair. “It was nice meeting you,” I tell him.

He nods and runs to his mom, who lifts him into her arms. “Paisley, let me carry him,” Cameron says with concern in his voice.

“I’m pregnant, Cameron, not handicapped. The doctor said now that I’m in the second trimester, I can lift him.”

“But you don’t need to if I’m here. Come to Daddy,” Cameron tells his son. He pulls Jett from her arms and snuggles them both close.

Paisley looks at her sister. “We’re going to go. Good luck next week.” She turns to me. “Holden, it was nice to meet you.” She gives me a kind smile.

Technically, we were never introduced, but she did watch me introduce myself to her son, and it’s obvious she already knows who I am. Then there’s her husband, my new teammate. He doesn’t seem happy to see me, but that’s fine. He’s just going to have to get over it. The more time I spend with his sister-in-law, the more of her I crave.

“Thanks for helping me today,” Parker says as we pack up the leftovers and place them in the fridge. She called Autumn to see if she wanted us to leave it out for her, but she said she was eating with her parents.

“Thanks for letting me,” I say, pulling her into a hug. It’s not the actions of a man who is supposed to be taking things slow, but I just needed to feel her against me for a minute.

She pulls back, just enough to look up at me. “What are you doing now?” she asks.

“Holding you.”

“I mean, do you need to go?”

“No.”

She nods. “You want to watch a movie?”

“Yes.” Hell fucking yes, I do. She steps out of my embrace and moves to the couch. I hit the light switch on the wall, and the kitchen goes dark. I don’t pretend I don’t want her in my arms when I take the spot next to her on the couch and put my arm around her.

“What do you want to watch?” she asks, pointing the remote at the TV.

“You.”

“Come on.” She laughs.

“I’ll always be honest with you, Parker.”

“Then tell me what you want to watch.”

“I just did.”

She rolls her beautiful blue eyes. “Fine. But I don’t want any grumbling if you don’t like what I choose.”

“Deal.”

She scrolls through the channels and lands on Hallmark. “You good with Christmas movies?”

“Sure. I grew up watching them with my mom.”

“Aw, you’re such a good son.” She snuggles into my chest, and that ends our conversation. Parker focuses on the movie, and me, well, I focus on her. I run my fingers through her hair and just enjoy being here with her like this. It’s simple and more than I expected when she called me this morning.

I’m so enthralled with her, and just being close to her, I don’t even notice that the movie is over until the front door opens. I turn to see Autumn walking in, holding a bag of what looks like laundry, a backpack, and a reusable grocery bag. I move to help her, and she shakes her head.

“No. You’ll wake her.” I look down, and sure enough, Parker is sound asleep. I knew her body was completely relaxed against mine, and I thought maybe she was, but I didn’t want to speak and break the spell we were both under. Well, that I was under since apparently, she was asleep.

I nod and sit back. She places the bags on the floor and comes to stand next to me. “Glad to see you’re still here, Bailey,” she whispers.

“She’s hard to leave,” I confess. “What time is it?”

“After ten.”

I look down at Parker. “I should get her to bed.” I nod toward the bags she placed on the floor. “You need help with that?”

“No. I can get it. You know which room is hers?”

“No.”

“First door on the right.”

“Thank you.” I move Parker into my arms and lift her effortlessly.

“Where are we going?” she asks, placing her arms around my neck.

“I’m taking you to bed.”

“That’s not very slow of you, Bailey,” she says, her voice laced with sleep and sounding sexy as fuck.

“I’m going as slow as I can, sweet pea. You don’t make this easy on me.” Her bedroom door is open, which makes things easier for me as I move to place her on her bed. She wiggles around until she’s under the covers.

“Thank you, Holden. For today, for breakfast, for helping me study, for being so great when my family showed up. For putting me to bed. All of it.”