Rowan blows out a puff of air. “I trust her with our baby. I don’t trust her not to throw a rave while I’m away.”
“She’d throw a rave with a baby in the house?”
“It’s Ashlyn. She’d have a concert in the living room while the baby’s sleeping on her chest.”
I chuckle. “Maybe buying her a recording studio wasn’t the best idea you’ve had.”
Rowan renovated the old building next to the brewery to createBertie’s Recording Studiofor Ashlyn. In addition to recording the audiobooks she narrates there, she rents out the studios to all kinds of musical performers.
“My dream girl can have whatever she wants.”
I want what they have. The thought nearly knocks me on my ass. I’ve never wanted a woman to call my own before. Meeting Cassandra has changed everything.
“Are you done with the brotherly bonding now?” Beckett’s question forces my thoughts away from Cassandra and back to the situation at hand.
Rowan motions toward Beckett. “Go ahead.”
“Go ahead? You want him to beat me up for no reason?”
“My beat down is not without reason,” Beckett claims.
I cross my arms over my chest. “What’s this supposed reason?”
“You used my sister.”
“I didn’t use Cassandra. We’re friends.”
“Friends with benefits,” he sneers. “Every man knows friends with benefits is a convenient way to have sex without commitment while waiting for the ‘one’ to show up.”
He’s wrong. I’m not waiting for the ‘one’ to show up. In fact, I’ve always thought marriage and kids weren’t for me since I can’t settle down in one place. But since Cassie burst into my life, everything’s turned upside down.
I step down from my porch into the clearing. “I don’t want to fight you.”
“Aha! You admit you used my sister.”
“I’m not admitting to shit, but I can recognize crazy when I see it and you’re not willing to listen to reason at the moment.”
“I’m not crazy. I’m pissed. I raised Cassandra and her sisters after our parents died. I’m responsible for her.”
“She’s thirty-three years old. You’re not responsible for her any longer.”
He snorts. “You obviously don’t have children. You remain responsible for them until you die. There are no off days.”
“Tell me about it,” Rowan mumbles. “I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in what feels like years. And then there’s the spit-up and poopy diapers. I don’t know what Ashlyn’s milk contains but those diapers are rancid. I have never seen anything similar to it in my life and I used to play pro ball with a bunch of pranksters.”
“They graduate from poopy diapers to teething to repeating every word you say. Just when you think you have it all figured out, boom! Puberty hits.”
“I’m fucked. Ashlyn had to give me a daughter. Considering how gorgeous her mother is, Patience is bound to be a beauty. I’m going to spend her teenage years chasing boys away.” Rowan buries his face in his hands.
I bark out a laugh. “Aren’t you glad Ashlyn was on a mission to give you a child now?”
And make no doubt about it. The woman was on a mission. The second Rowan admitted he loved her, she threw away his condoms and her pills and it was on like bang-a-con.
“It’s worth it, brother. Every second of noxious diapers is worth it.” Judging by the stars in his eyes, he believes his words.
I wonder if he’s right. Is settling down with a woman worth giving up my wandering ways? My gut hasn’t urged me to get moving since I parked my tiny home in this clearing. Not even a bit of gurgling and it’s been months already.
“You should settle down in one place. Give yourself a chance to have a woman,” Rowan says and Beckett growls.