“How about six weeks? That gets me through the next four races. And I’ll pay you, Lena. I don’t want to take advantage of you in any way. I just…” I sigh deeply and rub my tired eyes. “I just need you right now. I need a friend. Someone I trust.”
Now it’s her turn to sigh, and I know I have her. She closes her eyes for a few moments, so I let her be and continue to try to burp Oliver. When the baby finally burps and lies limp against my body, I start to get up from the chair. As much as I’d like to hold him—because for some crazy reason, the need to hold him close is so fucking strong—I follow Fish’s recommendation to put him in the bassinet. It’s the one thing, furniture wise, he ran out and bought for me last night. We’ll need to get a lot of other stuff, but I just haven’t been able to venture out just yet.
Just as I approach the stairs, my right foot poised on the bottom step, I hear her voice. “I’ll do it. For six weeks.”
I almost sag with relief as her words register. “Thank you, Lena,” I say as I turn to face her. “I know this isn’t easy on you. It’s not easy on me either, but I just, well, I didn’t know who else to call.”
She nods.
Turning back to the staircase, I’m about take a step when something else hits me. “Am I keeping you away from anyone back home?” My heart thunders in my chest as I await her answer.
“No.” That’s all she says, and relief fills my entire body.
I make my way up the stairs and toward my room where the bassinet is set up. Carefully, I lower Oliver on to the thin mattress, grateful that he stays asleep for the time being. I’m so tired, I feel it deep in my bones. I never expected parenthood to be quite like this. I mean, I knew babies took a lot of time and energy, but I wasn’t prepared for the pure exhaustion that comes with it.
And this is only the second day.
I drop onto my bed, my legs rejoicing in relief as I throw them up on the mattress. Maybe if I rest for a few minutes, I’ll be able to go down and properly deal with Lena and our new arrangement. I’m sure it’s the tiredness that has me not firing on all cylinders the way I normally do, right? It has nothing to do with the beauty from my past downstairs on my couch.
I’ll close my eyes for just a second, and then go down and wash the bottle. Maybe I’ll even be able to take a quick shower. You remember when showers were a luxury you had whenever you wanted, right?
Right.
Just give me one second…
***
I wake with a startle. It takes me a few seconds to get my bearings. The clock reads four fifteen, which tells me I just slept for an hour and a half. I jump up and check the bassinet, only to find Oliver still sawing logs in the exact same position, head to the side and arms above his head. He looks so sweet, so peaceful, and I can’t help but smile.
Yeah, he’s peaceful now. Three in the morning? Not so much.
I carefully slip out of my room, leaving the door open so I can hear him cry. The stairs squeak slightly under my weight as I descend them, the scent of something cooking making my stomach growl. Lena isn’t in the living room, so I head to the dining room, already spying her leaning against the counter in the kitchen, lost in whatever she sees on her phone. Her ass is to me, and I can’t help but stop and take a long appreciative look at Lena’s backside. She’s always had a great ass, but now, after three long years, the view is doing inappropriate things to my cock.
I’m not sure if it’s simply for the fact it’s my Lena or because I haven’t exactly had a reason to get this kind of erection in the last nine months or so. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ve taken matters into my own hand on multiple occasions, especially after a race where the adrenaline is coursing through my veins, but I haven’t slept with anyone since Renee that fateful night all those months ago.
Why, you ask?
I’ve had a fucked up year.
And I’m worried Colton isn’t going to renew my contract after this season. I’m in year three, which means he has the option to extend my ride with CD Enterprises, but if I can’t pull off anything better than a top five placement, there’ll be no reason for him to keep me around. He wants a racer. A winner. And I haven’t done that since last fall.
Lena shifts, tapping away on her phone, the motion wiggling her ass in my direction. I almost groan, but manage to hold it in. The last thing I need is for her to take off because I can’t keep my mind out of the gutter when she’s around.
“Hey,” I state, stepping into the kitchen and startling her.
“Oh!” she hollers, her hand against her chest as she whips around to face me, her phone still clenched in her hand.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” I look over at the stove and find the source of the amazing smell. “What’s that?” I ask, nodding toward the big stock pot.
“Oh, uh, I made some beef and noodles. I hope that’s okay,” she replies, looking at me uncertainly.
I walk over and glance in the pot. It looks as good as it smells, and my stomach growls angrily, reminding me my eating schedule hasn’t exactly been normal lately. “It’s perfect, actually. Thank you.” Our eyes meet again, and it’s like a kick to the chest. It hurts a little, but I’ll be damned if I can look away.
Lena’s the first one to break eye contact as she gazes back down at her phone. “It’ll be ready in about thirty minutes.”
She’s studying that device pretty hard, and I can’t help but reach my hand out and ask, “Whatcha got there?”
Lena glances down and blushes. “Oh, uh, when you didn’t come back downstairs, I sort of went up to make sure you were okay. I noticed you don’t have much yet for the baby, so I got online and started looking at different sites. I started adding a few things to a shopping cart,” she replies with a shrug.
Extending my hand, I ask, “Can I see it?”
Our fingers brush as she hands me the phone, and it feels like electricity zipping through my blood. It’s a familiar and welcome feeling. I try to keep my cool and play off the sensations coursing through my veins and scan the shopping cart. There’s a lot here, and honestly, I have no clue what most of it is, but I trust Lena. She’s a researcher, so if she has it in a cart, it’s probably something we need. “Let’s order it all,” I tell her, handing her back her phone.
“What?” she asks, her eyes wide. “There’s like…four thousand dollars’ worth of stuff here.”
I shrug. “If you think I need it, then we get it. I’ll get my credit card,” I tell her, grabbing my wallet off the corner of the counter.
“But don’t you think we should go through it? It’s a lot of stuff,” she argues, taking in the extensive list of baby products.
Again, I shrug. “Not necessary. It’ll save us from having to go out and try to deal with shopping in the store,” I tell her, reaching for the phone to enter my card information. It takes me a few minutes to input my shipping and billing details, and even though I rarely pay for express shipping, I go ahead and click next day. It adds an ungodly amount to the total, but it’s necessary. “Done,” I tell her as I hand her back the phone.
“Wow, okay,” she replies, closing out the app and slipping her phone back in her pocket.