“Just make sure you support her head.”

When Allie was cradled in my arms, I was a fucking puddle of mush. This little girl could ask me for the moon and I’d make it happen. Looking down at her little round face, and dark dirty-blonde hair, I loved her, and she wasn’t even mine. I couldn’t help but wonder in that moment, if I felt so strongly about my niece, how I would feel when I had my own children? Just then, while peacefully sleeping, her tiny mouth quirked up in a grin.

“Hey, she’s smiling.” I looked over at a beaming Em.

She giggled and Finn said, “It’s probably gas.”

“Sweet. I do the same thing, Allie girl.”

We all laughed. Em looked behind me towards the door.

“Where’s Harper?”

Shrugging my shoulders I said, “I’m assuming she went to her hotel. She got a phone call from Michael and I left her to talk.” My voice didn’t exactly sound friendly when mentioning Michael’s name.

“I wonder why she left? She didn’t even get to hold Allie.” Em sounded a little sad.

“She told me that she wanted to give you two sometime alone with the baby.”

“Hmmm … I wish she would’ve told me. I didn’t mean to make her feel like she needed to leave.”

“Don’t worry about it, Shorty.” I gently handed Allie back to Finn. “She seemed tired, so I’m sure she just went to get some rest and will be back later.”

“I guess so.” She looked like she was pondering something before she spoke again. “So is everything between you and her okay? I mean, she hasn’t talked much about what went down. Maybe you can tell me.”

Okay, that was where most men would’ve shut their traps and not said a word, simply because we didn’t involve ourselves in all of that gossipy shit. But I thought I might actually be able to use it to my advantage.

“Why don’t you tell me what you know?” I asked her.

“I really don’t know much. Harper said you both decided it was best to take a break while you’re on tour. Other than that, she always changes the subject when I bring it up.”

My mouth tipped up in a slight grin. “We both decided, huh?”

Very interesting. Why would she lie to her best friend about the breakup? It certainly wasn’t something that I’d wanted, so there was no ‘both’ about it. Although Shorty could be lying to me as well … except I don’t think she would have asked if she truly didn’t know anything. She may be Harper’s best friend, but Em and I used to be pretty tight. I knew exactly what I was going to do to get Harper to talk to me.

“I wouldn’t say that it was my idea. In fact, I didn’t want the breakup to happen at all.”

Finn and Em both wore looks of confusion.

“Then why would she say that you were okay with it?” Em asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “My best guess is because Harper didn’t want you up her ass, asking her questions. I mean let’s face it, you love me as much as you love her and you would have grilled her about the details.”

Finn chuckled. “You’re a cocky son of a bitch.”

“I am just calling a spade a spade.”

Em shook her head back and forth. “Shut up, both of you. And you,” she said, pointing a finger at me, “you’re cocky and I love you dearly, but never more than Harper.”

I gave her puppy dog eyes and poked out my lip. “That hurts, but I forgive you.”

“Shut up.” Em rolled her eyes. “I don’t understand. Harper tells me everything. Why would she lie to me about this?”

I dropped the bomb that I knew would bait Em and get Harper right where I wanted her.

“So when you’ve mentioned me, she didn’t even tell you about all of the phone calls, texts, and emails she ignores?”

I sat back and watched the wheels turning. I glanced over at Finn, who was adjusting Allie’s blanket, excluding himself from the turn this conversation was taking.

“What? She said she hadn’t heard from you. How often do you try to get a hold of her?”

“I email her every day.”

That was it. I’d planted the seed, and I knew damn well that Em would give Harper an earful. I also knew that Harper would be so pissed off that I’d ratted her out that she would hunt me down like a blood hound.

I’d ended up sleeping longer than planned. It was already almost one o’clock the following day before I rolled out of my hotel room bed with a massive headache, and feeling like I was hung-over. What the hell? I walked to the bathroom sink and put toothpaste on my toothbrush to scrub out whatever nastiness was in my mouth. I knew I’d had a rough night last night but give me a break, I’d had worse.

My reflection in the mirror was atrocious. My mascara was smeared underneath my eyes, and my hair looked like a tornado had blown through it. I paused with my toothbrush in my mouth and wetted down a washcloth to wipe the smudges under my eyes. I needed to get myself together and head out to take care of some things before I went to Em and Finn’s house to see baby Allie. They were being released that afternoon sometime and I wanted to cook them dinner.

First order of business: stopping at the sports store to buy a baseball bat—had I been at home this wouldn’t have been necessary because I already owned three of them. Second order of business, hunting down that tattle-telling, conniving-piece-of-shit-rat-bastard-asshat, Kyler, who’d decided to tell Em every detail of our breakup. Third order of business was beating him with the baseball bat until he died a bloody death.

I was still brushing my teeth when there was a knock on the door.

“I don’t need any new towels, but thank you,” I called from the bathroom, thinking it was the maid.

Another knock sounded. Seriously, did they not speak English? Growling, I spat into the sink and marched over to the door, throwing it open. My breath caught in my throat as a whoosh of air that smelled like men’s body wash, and something that was strictly Kyler, hit me in the face. The sight before me was as delicious as the smell. Ky wore a pair of dark wash, low slung jeans, and a plain gray v-neck t-shirt. His hair was still wet from the shower and he was holding a cup of coffee out to me. I leaned in to the smell as if my body was drawn to it, and I had to fight back a moan.

“Good morning, gorgeous. Sleep okay?” His deep voice traveled right through me, straight to my lower half.

No fucking way! I wasn’t going to allow this man to affect me like this, and certainly not when I was supposed to be pissed at him. Scowling, I started to close the door, but he shoved his foot inside before I got a chance to totally close it.

“Move out of the way, asshat. I’m not letting you in!” I tried to push his foot out of the door with my foot, but I didn’t have shoes on and I was hurting my toes. Did his boots have steel toes?

“Aww come on, Harper, don’t be like that. I have coffee … your favorite,” he taunted.

I paused. I really could go for some coffee right about now. “A tall white mocha, with extra whipped cream, and extra hot?”

He chuckled. “It’s a grande, and I know you want it, so let me in.”

Bastard. He knew I’d open the door for my favorite coffee. I held my hand out for it before I let him in.

“Huh-uh, Harper, door first then you can have the coffee.”

Reluctantly, I opened the door and put my hand back out, silently demanding the steaming cup of goodness. Another wave of Ky-smelling air assaulted me. I snatched the coffee and turned away quickly before he could see me inhaling deeply.

I walked as far away from him as I could and sat on the unmade bed. Pinning him with a glare I asked, “To what do I owe the pleasure, traitor?”

“Traitor?” He actually looked shocked.

“Well, I could actually come up with a few other choice words. In fact maybe it’s a good thing that you came here. It’ll save me the trip of finding you.” I brought the cup to my mouth and took a slow sip.