Behaving Badly in Vegas (Vegas Love #3)

11. Chapter 10

Chapter 1 0

Charli

Carina and I had a busy day, productive but exhausting. The last thing I wanted to do was entertain a baby while making dinner. My leg ached and my knee throbbed from being on my feet all day. Sitting on my ass with my leg up while drinking a glass of wine sounded heavenly.

Cooking wasn’t really part of my job, but I figured it might get me in Hunter’s good graces if he came home to a hot meal. After all, the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. Not that I wanted into his heart, but I owed him for hiring the moving company.

It wasn’t quite time to feed Carina, so I sprinkled cereal puffs on the tray of her high chair to keep her busy. She banged on the tray and shoved them in her mouth with her chubby fists, gobbling them down like they were caviar.

I poked around in Hunter’s refrigerator, searching for something I could make for dinner. The selection was sparse. He was a typical bachelor. The fridge was stocked with bacon, eggs, yogurt, and protein shakes. I wondered if he had a girlfriend, but I’d say no, according to the inadequate food choices.

The pantry wasn’t much better. Did the man not believe in snacks? There wasn’t a bag of chips or package of cookies in sight. Not that I needed snacks, but it was nice to have options. I’d put ten pounds on since my accident and my muscles had all but disappeared. Before the fall, I was in the best shape of my life. Performing six nights a week kept me toned and lean. Climbing up the silks like a rope might have looked easy to the audience, but only because I had the strength of a man twice my size. Getting back in the gym topped my priority list right after taking care of Carina. The sooner I got back in shape, the sooner I could get back in the air, assuming my job would still be there when I was ready.

I grabbed a box of pasta and a jar of spaghetti sauce. It was far from gourmet, but it was something. Digging through the bottom cabinets, I pulled out a large pot to boil the noodles in. Filling it with water, I placed it on the stove and turned the heat on.

I wasn’t sure what time Hunter got home from work because he didn’t include it in the incredibly detailed schedule left on the counter. My best guesstimate was between six o’clock and six thirty. He left the apartment early this morning and I figured he would be anxious to come home to his giggly bundle of joy, although last night, he seemed perfectly fine letting me take care of her.

I looked over at Carina, who had somehow smooshed cereal puffs into her fine hair and across her cheeks. “Well, look at you. You’re a mess.” She responded by crushing more puffs into the side of her head. “You’re going to be a handful, aren’t you, baby girl?”

Carina waved her fists in the air and kicked her legs. “Gah, gah!”

I laughed and leaned down in front of her. “Let’s try this. Dah, dah, dah.”

She blew air through her lips and giggled as puffs sprayed all over my face.

“Nice,” I said, wiping the soggy cereal from my cheek. “Now we’re both a mess.” I grabbed a washcloth and cleaned Carina’s hands and face. “No more puffs for you until dinnertime.” I suctioned a spinning fish toy to the tray instead and showed her how to use it. “That’s right,” I took her little hand and helped her hit the fish, “Knock ‘em on the head. Knock ‘em real good.” I started singing. “Bomp, bomp, bomp, ba bomp. Knock ‘em real good. Bomp, bomp, bomp, ba…”

“Are you trying to set the house on fire?”

I straightened up, embarrassed Hunter caught me singing. “What?”

He pointed to the stove, where water boiled out of the pot and splashed along the surface, sizzling as it hit the hot burner. I rushed over and turned it off. “It’s just a little water.”

“Are you aware that most house fires start in the kitchen due to distracted cooking?”

Actually, I wasn’t. I’d never given it any thought. “Ummm…”

He sighed. “If you’re going to live here, then you need to be more careful. I can’t be worried that you’re going to burn the house down.”

“I won’t burn the house down,” I promised. Hunter loosened his tie and pulled it away from the collar of his dress shirt. There were gray smudges on the sleeves and on the sides like he’d been standing with his hands on his hips with dirty fingers. Dark circles hung under his eyes and his shoulders slumped. He wasn’t the intimidating jerk face from last night. Something must have happened at work today. “Are you alright?”

He ran a hand through his short hair. “I’m fine. What are you attempting to cook?”

“Oh!” I held up the box of dry rotini noodles and shook it. “Spaghetti. Are you hungry?”

“Famished. How did the move go?”

“Excellent. Thank you so much for hiring the movers. It was really a godsend. All I have left to do is unpack the things in my room.” I pulled out another pot and dumped the spaghetti sauce into it, then turned the water back on for the noodles. “Carina and I had an excellent day.”

“Uh-huh. And were the delivery guys on time this morning?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

There was an edge to his voice that told me to be careful. Had the delivery guy called him and tattled on me for being late. “Yep. Right on time. Nine o’clock sharp.” I needed to shut up .

“Is that so?” he asked.

I turned my back to him and stirred the sauce. “Absolutely. They were very efficient too. Set everything up and hauled all the boxes away.”

“That’s what I paid them for. Everything I ordered came?”

I shrugged and poured the noodles into the boiling water, setting the timer. “I think so.”

“You think so? Didn’t you check the packing slip before signing the delivery receipt?”

I shrugged again. “Sort of.”

He went over to Carina and pulled her from the high chair, snuggling her to his chest. “Sort of? Charlotte, did you check the packing slip or not? If something is missing, I need to know.”

Stirring the sauce one more time, I dropped the spoon into the pot and faced Hunter. “Listen, I know you think I’m incompetent, but it was really hectic around here. People coming and going. There were so many boxes, and I didn’t know what was what or where to put anything. I eyeballed the list, and it all seemed to be here. If it wasn’t for your mother, I’d still be unpacking bottles, hanging up clothes, and assembling the bouncy seat. You said it was going to be furniture, not the entire baby department from Macy’s.”

His jaw clenched. “Wait. Why was Rose here?”

It was weird that he called his mother by her first name. I might have been younger than him, but I couldn’t ever see myself calling my mom Pamela. Maybe that’s what rich people did, called their parents by their first names. “I don’t know. She came to help and see Carina? I’m thankful she did.”

“I don’t want her here,” Hunter stated.

I let that sink in. “You don’t want your mom here? Why?”

He pulled a cereal puff out of Carina’s hair and turned his back to me. “She’s not my mother. She’s my father’s wife.”

“Oh.” That explained why Trent and Hunter looked nothing alike. “She was really excited about seeing Carina. She called herself Grandma Rose.” Even if Rose wasn’t Hunter’s biological mom, would it be so bad for Carina to have a grandma? Someone who loved her .

“I bet she did,” Hunter grumbled. “That woman doesn’t know boundaries.”

That woman? Yikes! “What do you want me to do if she shows up again? Kick her out?”

“That’s perfect. I’m glad you suggested it.”

Wait! What? The timer went off on the stove. I drained the noodles before they got overcooked and soggy, then turned back to Hunter. “I didn’t suggest it. Look, I get that you don’t have a good relationship with Rose, but I think it would be a mistake to deprive Carina of having a grandma. She already doesn’t have a mother.”

Hunter considered that for a moment. I could practically see the gears turning in his head. “Not that I asked for your opinion, but I’ll think about it.” He carefully placed Carina back in her high chair and kissed the top of her head. “Is the spaghetti ready yet?”

“A couple more minutes. Why don’t you go change into something more comfortable.”

He looked down at his dress shirt and pants. “I am comfortable.”

I shrugged. “Suit yourself.” Going to the pantry, I pulled out two jars of baby food. “Squash or peas?”

“Squash,” he said as he pulled bowls from the cabinet and silverware from the drawer. “The peas make her poop green. It’s disgusting.”

“Noted.” We stood side by side, scooping food into the bowls and took them to the table. My leg throbbed, and I winced as I sat down. Damn this leg. How was I ever going to get back on stage if I couldn’t even handle one day as a nanny? I lifted my leg onto the empty chair and pulled the brace down. My knee looked like an angry red balloon.

Hunter looked down at my leg. “Painful?”

“It’s fine.” I didn’t want to give him a reason to take this job away from me. A little pain was worth the paycheck.

“It doesn’t look fine. Did you take anything?”

I pulled Carina’s high chair between us and fastened a bib around her neck. “I’ll take something after dinner. Tomorrow, it’ll be good as new.” That was a lie. I wasn’t sure my knee and leg would ever be good as new , but I wasn’t going to let it hold me back .

He got up from the table and brought back two little white pills. “Take these. After dinner I want you to finish unpacking and rest your leg. I need you in tip-top condition tomorrow.”

I swallowed down the pills greedily. “I still have to give Carina a bath.” I put a few plain noodles on her tray and let Carina feed herself while we ate.

“I’m her father. I can give her a bath and get her ready for bed.”

“But that’s what you’re paying me for,” I argued.

“I’m paying you to do what I say, and you won’t be worth a damn if you’re limping around like a gimp tomorrow. Understood?” He dug into his spaghetti like the conversation was over, ignoring me.

God, he was bossy. Why did I find it attractive when he went all caveman on me? I suppressed the urge to argue with him. He was right about resting my leg, even if I didn’t want to admit it. “Thank you. It was a busy day, and I’m not used to spending so much time on my feet.”

“I’m not worried about it.”

We ate in awkward silence as I fed Carina the squash in between my bites of spaghetti. She puckered her lips and spit it out. The orange goo dripped down her chin and onto the bib. “Damn it.” I rushed to wipe her mouth before it dripped onto her clothes, but it smeared all over her cheeks, giving her an orange Joker smile. She laughed and blinked at me with her bright-blue eyes. “You’re a stinkpot, you know that?” I stuffed another spoonful of squash in her mouth, and she spit it out again.

Hunter grabbed the leg of the high chair and pulled it toward him. “Let me try.” I gave him the spoon and he dipped it into the jar. “Open up, princess.” He leaned in close as he shoveled it into her mouth.

Carina sputtered her lips, spraying the orange squash all over Hunter’s face, and laughed again.

I laughed too, and handed him a napkin over the table. “Nice try.”

He wiped his face and frowned. “I don’t understand. She ate it fine yesterday.”

“She’s playing a game with us.” I plopped some more noodles on her tray, and she eagerly shoved them in her mouth. “No worries. I’ll give her a bottle later. ”

When we finished eating, I limped over to the sink, rinsed our bowls, and loaded them into the dishwasher.

“What are you doing?”

“Cleaning up,” I said as I poured the leftover sauce into a plastic container.

“I thought I told you to go rest your leg. I’ll clean up and then give Carina her bath.”

“I can wash the dishes,” I argued. “I’m not an invalid.”

“You can do as you’re told,” he growled as he pulled the pot from my hand. “Go.”

I held up my hands and backed away. “Alright, alright. I was trying to help.” In his own grouchy way, Hunter was being nice. Truth be told, I was exhausted and although the pain pills were helping, my knee was still swollen.

Overall, my first day went well. I almost missed the delivery guy this morning, but Hunter didn’t know about that. It would be my little secret.

I was halfway down the hallway when Hunter called out to me. “One more thing, dollface.”

“Yes?”

“Nine o’clock does not mean 9:07. Don’t be late again.”

Seemed it wasn’t such a secret after all.