Enticing: Chapter 12

If you speak to me before I’ve had coffee, and I’m mean, that’s your fault. Not mine.

—Addie’s Secret Thoughts

My dry eyes feel like gritty sandpaper rubbing together when I finally force them open and immediately slam them shut as my pulse pounds violently in my skull.

Ouch.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Once I’m curled up in the fetal position and the warm covers are over my head, I let the quiet house lull me back to sleep.

Wait . . . My house is never quiet.

Freaked-out, I sit up way too fucking fast and stop as the room spins around me.

Oh. My. God.

The night crashes over me like a violent wave refusing to let me get my bearings before knocking me back down. Oh no, I think I’m going to be sick.

Once I’m somewhat stable, I manage to stumble to the en suite bath and drop to my knees in front of the toilet while I try to breathe through it. I hate to throw up. Like hate it with a visceral passion, so much so it always makes me cry. On my knees in front of the toilet, I basically practice Lamaze breathing to get me through it.

It didn’t help me at all when I went into labor, but it helps me now, thank goodness.

Never again . . . I’m not sure what I was thinking last night, but wine and I are far from besties, and this morning is all the reminder I needed. I slump against the wall and look longingly at the big clawfoot bathtub I haven’t managed to use since before Lennox’s birth. My lip quivers, and my boobs are two painful, rock-solid bowling balls full of milk. This is by far the longest I’ve gone without nursing Lennox, and my body is revolting.

What I wouldn’t give to have an hour to soak in that tub.

A dark room, some quiet music, and maybe some of those rose-gold eye de-puffers Coraline gave me for last Christmas that are still sitting in an unopened box on a shelf.

My eyes drift closed, and I focus on the quiet. Maybe I should have checked the time, but there was no way I could have stopped once the nausea hit. I allow myself one last loving look at the tub before I stand and breathe in and out again. Guess the shower it is.

One lukewarm shower later, and I’m reminded I need to deal with the crappy hot water heater that was kind enough to decide it only wanted to work sporadically. Chilled, I throw on a pair of black leggings with white fuzzy socks pulled up and my favorite oversized light-blue Boston Bay Hawks hoodie. I may have had my issues with my father while he was alive and possibly even more so now that he’s gone, but this stupid sweatshirt still reminds me of home. The good and the bad.

It’s also perfectly broken in and nearly threadbare in some spots, making it the most comfortable thing in my closet.

As I make my way down the hall, I thank whatever higher power there might be for sending Coraline home for the holidays. Quick glances in the girls’ empty rooms show just how late it must be. Izzy and Lennox are both out of their beds, and I’m assuming downstairs with Aunt Cori. Guess I really owe her one.

Slowly, I move down the long, curved staircase of the old Victorian, listening for my girls, but instead of Izzy negotiating or Lennox crying, I’m met with silence.

Sweet, calming silence that immediately sets me on edge.

I move further into the house and nearly stumble as my breath catches in my lungs.

My memories from last night end with me crying myself to sleep on my couch.

I don’t seem to recall anything after that.

I certainly don’t have any explanation for the sight before me now.

Leo Sinclair is lying on my couch with Lennox sleeping peacefully on his big, broad chest. His hypnotic baby-blue eyes watch me as I take my last step into the room and freeze. “What are you doing with Lennox?” I ask, angry that this man is in my house and holding my baby.

This is my space.

Where I’m safe.

How dare he just be here, uninvited?

Before Leo can answer, Coraline pops her head in from the kitchen. “Hey.” She glances down at Lennox sleeping and winces. “Sorry.” She lowers her voice and cocks her head as she regards me. “Nice of you to wake up, sleepyhead. Pancakes are ready.”

My mouth opens and closes as she scoops Lennox off Leo’s chest, like it’s the most normal thing in the world for the giant to be here. “I’ve got her. Go eat before you’ve got to get out of here.”

Lennox pulls her chubby little legs up tight and stretches her arms above her head as her tiny red lips purse.

I hold my breath again, waiting for her to cry, but she doesn’t.

She snuggles in against Coraline, looking slightly offended that she’s been taken from Leo, but then goes right back to sleeping like the angel she rarely is.

When I force my eyes back to the man who just sat up in front of me, I wonder if I should just hook myself up to a tank of oxygen because the look he’s giving me . . . the hunger in his crystalline eyes doesn’t just steal my breath, I think it’s going to haunt my soul.

“Boston Bay Hawks . . .” He reaches out and tugs the front of my crew neck, pulling me toward him. “You’re in Kroydon Hills now, Adelaide.”

His big hands play with the hem of the soft cotton. “Do you have something on underneath this?”

My words die in my throat, and I manage to nod before he pulls the sweatshirt over my head and tosses it to the couch, then takes off his own gray Revolution hoodie and pulls it down over my head. I should probably be pissed that he’s being so assertive, but it’s warm and soft and smells like him, and for some seriously fucked up reason, I feel the tiniest bit less alone than I did a minute ago.

A sexy grin tugs at his full lips, and I swear to God, that look melts me.

It also jostles a faint memory free. Strong arms and a deliciously sexy scent . . .

“Did you carry me to bed?” I ask, wondering if that was a dream.

Leo’s rough hand cups my cheek, and I know immediately it wasn’t a dream.

It was him.

Without thinking too hard, I run my thumb over the scruff covering his jaw, needing to feel something, and whisper the only words I have, “Thank you.”

His lips brush over my forehead, and I breathe in deeply before lifting my face to his. “What are you doing here, Leo?” My voice comes out sharper than I intend at first, so I force myself to soften my tone. “I don’t remember inviting you over, even if you did look pretty good with Lennox sleeping on your chest.”

“So that’s what it’s gonna take, huh? I’m sexy holding your babies?” he teases, lightening the sudden heavy mood, and holy hell . . . hearing him talk about holding my babies, mixed with that smile, is some kind of magic.

God, yes, is what I want to say. But that’s not the answer I give.

“Don’t go putting words in my mouth, Sinclair. Nobody said sexy.” I take a step back teasingly, and he drops his hold. “When did you get here?”

“You had me worried last night, Addie. Something was wrong, but you wouldn’t tell me what.” He studies me in a way that makes me feel so damn vulnerable. “How am I supposed to help you if I don’t know what you’re up against?”

“Why would you want to help me? You barely know me,” I ask him, stunned by his admission. “I’m a mess. This old house is falling apart around me, and there’s no money to fix it. My girls are my world, which leaves very little time for anything else. What time I can find has to go to my job. My parents are dead, and Coraline is the only family I have. Like I said . . . I’m a mess.”

Relief washes over me as I finally say everything I’ve been thinking, but it’s momentary and followed by a heavy dose of shame for laying that all at his feet. Him, of all people. What was I thinking?

This giant of a man takes one step closer, getting right into my space and removing any distance I’d tried to put between us to help me think straight. “I don’t see a mess. I see a woman who’s holding her family together. Fighting to give her girls the world. There’s more to your story, Adelaide James, and one day, you’re going to trust me enough to tell it to me.”

“Tell him, Addie,” Coraline lectures as she moves back into the room.

“Coraline—” I bite out, hating the vulnerability that’s bubbling to the surface.

“No,” she cuts me off and crosses the room until she’s in front of me. “You don’t want to admit there’s another option. But there is, and I’m pretty sure he’s standing right here, offering,” she argues. “You can’t keep going on like this, Adelaide. I’m worried about you and the girls. You don’t even have a car. And the repairman said the heater is on its last leg.”

“If you need money—” Leo starts, but Cori cuts him off, much to my chagrin.

“She doesn’t actually need money. She has money. She just needs access to it.”

“Coraline,” I practically yell. “Shut up.”

“What she needs is a husband, so she can access her billion-dollar trust fund.”

“Bitch,” I hiss, shaking with anger. “That wasn’t your secret to tell.”

Tears cloud my vision as I suck in a breath.

“I have the same secret, Addie. And if I could access mine to save you, I would. But I can’t. Not until I finish law school and find my own husband.” She casts a glance toward Leo and softens. “He wants to help you, sissy. Let him. You can’t keep living like this.”

I turn toward Leo, absolutely mortified. “I’m so sorry she dumped this all on you. She shouldn’t⁠—”

“I’ll do it,” he interrupts and my entire world tilts. “I’ll marry you.”

Leo

Adelaide’s mouth opens and closes nearly as wide as her eyes as both she and Coraline stare at me in shock.

“Are you insane?” Coraline asks, and Addie’s head spins her way so fast, I’d swear it was going to snap off her delicate neck.

“Him?” Addie screeches. “What about you? You just laid it all bare for him. My business, Coraline. That wasn’t yours to share, and now you think he’s insane? What does that make you?”

When Coraline doesn’t answer fast enough for the furious beauty in front of me, she plants her hands on her hips and turns her ire my way. “And you . . . are you actually insane?”

Fuck. This is definitely a trick question, and I’m not sure there’s any good answer.

“Not so quick to speak now, are you? So how about I do the talking for a minute, since the two of you have this all figured out. You can’t marry me, Leo. You don’t even know me, and even if you did, it’s not your job to save me.”

“I don’t want to save you, Addie. I want to help you. There’s a difference. You need access to your inheritance, and I can help you get it. What’s wrong with that?” In no universe is any of this going to be as simple as that, and I know it. Yet somehow, the thought of marrying this woman excites me.

What the fuck does that say about me?

I’m willing to marry her to get her to date me?

Fuck me.

Yup. That’s it.

It’s backward, but it’s going to work because there’s been something about Adelaide James since the first time I saw her at Hockey Tots.

“It’s not that simple, Leo . . .” Her voice softens.

“It really is, Adelaide,” I try to convince her, desperate to get her to take the help I’m offering.

“If you’re serious, Sinclair, it really isn’t that simple,” Coraline adds, looking between us. “Let me get breakfast cleaned up and Izzy occupied, so we can all discuss the details because I promise you, there is nothing about our parents’ estate that isn’t complicated.”

Adelaide doesn’t move.

She doesn’t offer to help with the kids.

She doesn’t argue with her sister.

She stands, frozen in place, and I can’t get a good read on her.

“Addie . . . tell me what you’re thinking,” I push but resist the urge to go to her. She needs space to process this, and something tells me she can’t do that with me in it.

My hoodie dwarfs her, hitting her mid-thigh, and a vision of her bent over the couch with nothing on but that . . . her hips gripped in my hands . . . Fuck . . .

That’s a good image.

She shifts her weight and crosses her arms over her chest, plumping what’s gotta be the most perfect breasts I’m ever going to see . . . one day. “I’m thinking . . . what do you get out of this, Leo? Why on earth would you agree to this?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I can help you, so let me.” Not going to her right now, when all I want to do is touch her—to hold her and ask if she really doesn’t feel this between us . . . if she really doesn’t understand why I’d do this . . . holding my ground—is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

“I just don’t understand how it can be so easy for you. That’s not real, Leo. Nobody is that much of a nice guy.” She shakes her head, frustrated. “Not without wanting something in return.”

Fuck this.

I cross the distance in two steps and have her face in my hands before her next fucking breath. “I’m a lot of things, Adelaide. I’m a good man, a great fucking hockey player, and a pretty good friend. I’m not sure what I’m going to have to do to convince you I am a nice guy. But only to the people I give a shit about, and sweetheart, you are on that list. You have been since the minute you stormed into the arena, pissed at the world, and didn’t even look at me.” Addie rolls her lips together and bites down, and I fucking groan and run my thumb along her lower lip. “And I never said there wasn’t something in this for me too.”

“Can today be a pajama day, Mom?” Izzy darts out of the kitchen, and I drop my hands and take a step back.

Adelaide’s attention jumps from me to her daughter, and she runs a gentle hand over her wild hair. “I don’t know what we’ve got planned for today, Izz.”

“Aunt Cori said I could watch Frozen.” She spins around in her pajamas as if to say, look, Mom. “I’m already in my Elsa pj’s. Please, Mom.”

Addie sighs and looks over Izzy’s shoulder at Coraline, who just walked back in the room with Lennox. She hesitates but gives in, and this kid knows it before her mom ever opens her mouth. “Fine.”

Izzy practically tackles Addie as she throws her arms around her neck. “PJ days are the best days. Thanks, Mom.”

“Love you, Izz. Now, how about you go grab a blanket and find a spot on the couch? Do you need help putting it on?”

“Nope. I got this,” the tiny tornado answers before taking off toward another room.

“Where’s she going?” I ask, having assumed she’d be plopping down on the couch I slept on.

With her eyes still locked on where Izz just ran off, Addie shakes her head. “She has a playroom in the back of the house. It used to be Gran’s solarium. It’s her favorite room.”

“Even better. She doesn’t need to be part of this conversation.” Coraline passes Lennox to me. “Have you ever changed a diaper, number ten?”

“Cori—” Addie throws her hands in the air when I laugh.

“I’ve changed a few. My sisters have a ton of kids.”

Coraline giggles. “I’m kidding. I just changed her. I just wanted my hands free, so I could grab my computer. We’ve got some things to discuss.”

“No, we don’t,” Addie argues with a little less force behind it this time.

Coraline clicks her tongue as she picks up a cherry-red laptop from an end table. She slides down to the floor and rests her laptop on her knees with her back to the couch. “Yeah, ya do. Look at it this way, sissy. He’s perfect. Your kids like him. He’s not after your money because he’s got his own, and truth be told, you could even offer him a settlement at the end of the marriage. And let’s not forget he’s pretty to look at too.”

“He’s also right here,” I remind her, and she laughs at me.

“Don’t like being objectified?” Coraline laughs.

“Nope. That part’s fine. I just wanted to remind you,” I tease, trying to thaw the ice that’s formed in the room. Part of me knows this plan is insane, but the rest of me isn’t so sure it is. That part, the bigger part doesn’t give a shit that it all sounds nuts. It just wants to take care of Addie. “And I don’t need any of your money. I’ve got plenty of my own.”

“Leo,” Addie pleads, her soft expression giving me everything her words won’t. “I can’t ask you to do this.”

“You didn’t ask,” I remind her. “I offered.”

Lennox whimpers, and I sway from side to side, the way my niece Molly used to like.

Addie chews her thumbnail for a minute, then peeks over the back of Coraline’s laptop. “Was there a stipulation for how long I have to be married?”

“Who the hell were your parents that they made that kind of a stipulation in the first place?” I ask the one thing that’s been eating at me since Coraline spilled her guts earlier.

The sisters look at each other in a way that screams I’m not going to like what I’m about to hear. “Don’t leave me hanging now, guys.”