[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
“Coo-keeee!” Lily clapped her hands and babbled at Nick, a gleeful expression on her face.

Nick shook his head and pointed a finger at her. “I know your kind, baby. You can smile all you want, but I am not going to give you another cookie. Look at the mess you’ve already made.” He gently wiped a damp paper towel over the smears of chocolate and crumbs on her chin and cheeks—the only evidence of the eleven chocolate chip cookies she’d already consumed. “If I gave you any more, your mother would kill me.”

“Nick!”

“No.”

“Nick!”

“No, munchkin. No more.”

“Niiiick.” Now she wore a forlorn expression on her face. “Pease?”

“Be strong, Nick,” he muttered to himself as that look clawed at his resolve. “No, Lily. Why don’t we go and…play with your toys!” He congratulated himself on coming up with a decent idea when her face lit up.

“Toys! Nick! Yes!” And, fast as her tiny legs would carry her, she toddled off to the corner of the room where he’d stashed all of her playthings.

He watched her whip out her laptop-type machine and had to prevent himself from groaning. He didn’t think he’d make it through another round of “Green starts with the letter G” and “A is for apple”. The plane ride with it had been bad enough, but if she was insisting on playing with it now, well, he was out for this round.

“How about something else, huh?” Nick rummaged through the toys and pulled out a wind-up doll. When he pulled its string, it emitted a high-pitched “Hi! I’m Cindy! Will you be my friend?”

He shuddered. “Why would your mom buy you such a creepy toy, Lilykins?”

She cocked her head at him quizzically and held out her hands. “Shindy?”

“If that’s what you really want,” he said and handed the sketchy doll over.

Lily proceeded to alternate between pressing buttons on the laptop and pulling Cindy’s string so that, by the time the locks on the door snicked open, Nick was ready to cry. The damned doll with its creepy as hell voice and the stupid laptop had driven him up the fucking wall. Enough was enough, he thought desperately, and nearly wept when Autumn opened the door.

“Thank God!” he gasped and slumped against the wall.

Autumn’s brows flew up. “Nick? What on earth are you doing here?” She bent to pick up Lily as her daughter wrapped herself around her mother’s legs. “Hi, baby,” she murmured and kissed the toddler’s cheek before settling her onto her hip. “Nick, what are the two of you doing in Chicago?”

“We thought we’d surprise you.” He shrugged at her surprised expression. “Let me ask you a question, Evans. Who the heck makes creepy dolls like Cindy from Hell over there? And what possessed you to buy that annoying computer for Lily? If I hear ‘B is for ball’ one more time, I will throw it out the window.”

She wisely swallowed the grin and shook her head. “I should’ve warned you that Lily’s in love with those two toys at the moment. I think I could probably recite everything that’s stored in that laptop’s memory chip. And, you’re right, Cindy is annoying. But, Lily here loves her, so Creepy Cindy stays.”

“I suddenly wish I still smoked,” Nick muttered and stood. “So, how was Oprah?”

Autumn lifted a brow. “You didn’t answer my question. I was first.”

“What was your question again?”

Her foot tapped impatiently on the carpeted floor. “What are you and Lily doing here? Lily was supposed to be with Liz, and you—well, I don’t have a clue where you’re supposed to be.”

“Look, I was headed out to Nashville to record with the guys, and Lily really missed you. So, I thought, why not drop her off on the way to Tennessee? I don’t see what the big deal is,” he added. “I mean, I thought you’d be glad to see Lily.”

“I am.” She sighed and looked down at her daughter, now asleep, in her arms. “Well, you must have really tired her out. And,” she leaned close to Lily’s face and sniffed, “did you feed her chocolate?”

Nick gulped. “Uh, no?”

“Nick.”

“I didn’t!”

“Nick.”

“I swear, Autumn, I didn’t give her chocolate.”

“Make me believe you.”

“How was Oprah? You have to answer my question now because I answered your first question,” he tried to evade quickly.

She just shook her head when she spotted the package of cookies on the dresser behind him. “How many chocolate chip cookies did she eat? Lily’s a chocolate fiend, so I’m betting she conned you out of more than two.”

“You can say that again,” he muttered then winced when he saw her expression. “Okay, you got me.” He held up his hands in surrender. “Man, when she bats those eyes at you and gives you that sad face, you just can’t help it. That kid is a potent weapon and knows it, too.”

Autumn had to smile at the obvious affection behind the words. He’d been right when he’d said he and Lily got along well. It would make working in Peru more bearable, she thought, knowing that Nick would take good care of her daughter. She’d never thought she’d ever feel that way, but it was obvious that Lily loved her soon-to-be stepdad just as much as he loved her. And the fact that Nick did love Lily was such a surprise. He’d never seemed the type to fall for kids or be good with them, but here he’d earned her daughter’s affections in a matter of days. Much as she might be annoyed with the fact that she was going to have to marry him, she was glad that he was someone she could trust to care for Lily well.

“It’s okay,” she said after a few moments. “By the time she wakes up, she’ll be hungry again. We’ll just go for dinner then.” She laid the baby in the center of the queen-sized bed and piled pillows up on either side to keep her from rolling off the bed. “Why don’t we go discuss this in the sitting room?”

Nick sighed but nodded. “Yeah, why not?”

When they were settled on the comfy armchairs in the small sitting room, Autumn studied Nick for a minute before sighing. “Oprah was pretty much the way she is on television. She’s intimidating as hell but a genuinely sweet woman. I guess, if I had to rate that interview, I’d say it was a nine on a scale of difficulty.”

“Did you feel the need to just tell her the truth because it’s like she can practically see through you?”

“You could see that, too?” Well, at least she wasn’t alone.

Nick nodded. “The guys and I were on Oprah a couple years ago, and, even though she was just about nicest woman, I was still really nervous the whole time. AJ, though, spilled his guts to her. It’s like she pulled it out of him. He was so drained afterwards.”

“Yeah.” She rested her head against the back of the couch and stared at the ceiling. “Nick. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

She let her eyelids close and let the blissful darkness drift over her. “If it’s this hard to keep this act going during the first two weeks, how much harder is it going to get in the coming months? I mean, maybe it’ll be easier if we’re not with each other. I’ll be in Peru next week, and you’ll be in Nashville. We won’t have to pretend to be in love then, but what happens when we come back?”

Hadn’t the same questions run through his mind half a thousand times in the last couple days? Hadn’t he worried over what he’d just gotten himself into? “We’ll figure it out when we get to that point. Autumn.” He waited until she opened her eyes and turned her head to see him. “Are you still pissed at me?”

She blinked. “Honestly?” He nodded. “Honestly, I think I’m just annoyed at the whole situation. You’re just playing your part, and I’m playing mine. I’m trying to make myself think that this is just another role I have to work at. I hope we do well.”

“Me, too.” They were silent for a few moments, and Nick realized that it wasn’t awkward at all to sit quietly next to her. It was a peaceful silence that didn’t need to be broken by unnecessary words. It was…nice. “When are we getting married?” he asked, breaking the silence and regretting the words when he noticed her stiffen.

Autumn sat up. “I don’t know. I don’t really have the time to plan out the huge bash that is expected of us.”

“We don’t have to have a big wedding. We’re in control here and we call the shots. Whatever we want goes,” he pointed out. “We could just have it be a small reception deal with whoever we want.”

“Right. Because that’ll really make the press hounds happy.” She shook her head. “If that’s what we want, we should just get married in one of those silly Chapels of Love. It wouldn’t be too different from a small reception.” She chuckled to herself. “I think that would actually make the press happier. They probably wouldn’t believe that we’d do something like that. You know, shock value.”

“Let’s do it.”

“What?” Quizzical green eyes met his. “Nick, I was kidding!”

Nick took her hands in hers. “Look, I’m here until tomorrow afternoon. Lily’s here, too, and I don’t think we’d have a hard time finding some private place to seal the deal. Why not just do it here and now while the three of us are together?”

“Are you nuts? Liz and the rest of our management teams would kill us if we did that!”

“This is our life, Autumn, not theirs. Don’t you just want to stop beating around the bush and just get it over with? The faster we’re married, the faster the press will get off our backs.” His gaze was intent. “You can go off to filming in Peru without worrying about a wedding that still needs to be planned, and I’ll deal with the media flurry. I don’t see anything wrong with this picture.”

Autumn had to admit she was having a hard time coming up with excuses for not agreeing to his crazy plan. “Nick.”

He heard the answer she didn’t voice and bit his lip nervously. “Trust me?”

Oh, God. “I think I might.”