Cannon (A Step Brother Romance #3)

Brady bursts back into the living room, truck in hand, making "zoom" noises as he runs the truck across the arms of the sofa, then climbs onto it with his shoes on. Addison trails behind him. "You're a great mom, Gracie," she says.

"Brady, shoes off." Grace is pulling off his shoes as Brady continues to stomp on the sofa, muddy footprints on the fabric, but Addison just laughs.

"It's only dirt," she says. "Let him be."

"He has to learn he can't totally destroy your house, Addison, even if he's a toddler," Grace says. "She's totally happy being the cool aunt who lets him run completely and utterly wild when he's here."

Addison grins, and it's the first time in the past few days I've seen her look really happy. "That's part of being an aunt," she says. "I get to give him toys and sugar, and then send him back to you."

Grace laughs. "See the crap I have to put up with?"

Addison shrugs. "Free babysitting, Gracie," she says. "Are you going to your shoot?"

Grace nods. "Is it bad that I'm totally nervous? I'm nervous. I haven't done a photo shoot in ages." She turns to me. "It's a modeling thing."

"I was going to ask if you were a model now," I say, meaning it. Grace has always had that kind of look.

"Hardee-har-har," Grace says. "I look like a hot mess. That's what being a mom does to you."

"You're not supposed to show up at a shoot looking gorgeous. They'll redo you," Addison says.

"I'm stupid for doing this," Grace says. "I'm too old. And I'm a mom. I totally have a mom pooch right here." She grabs at the flesh on her belly.

"I'm not listening to you," Addison says, making a show of putting her fingers in her ears. "La la la la la. Now, get out of here or you're going to be late. Hendrix can drive you."

"What? No. I've got GPS in the car. I don't need a babysitter. I mean, no offense, Hendrix."

Addison snorts. "But I do, apparently."

"What?" Gracie looks between her and me, and opens her eyes wider. "Ohhh...Mom said Hendrix was going to be your assistant."

Addison frowns. "Yeah, assistant."

"Actually," I interrupt. "That's why I was hired. Your mom forced Addison to take me on as a charity case. I lost my job, and Addy is just too nice to tell you that."

"Oh, Hendrix, that sucks," Gracie says. "For you, obviously. I wouldn't want to have Addison as my boss, either." She sticks her tongue out at Addison, who makes a face at her, but still avoids looking at me. "I have to run, but I want to catch up later. And don't feed him sugar, Addison. Hendrix, you have to make sure she doesn't. Last time Addy babysat, she gave him a cupcake and I practically had to peel Brady off the walls when we got home."

"Roger," I say.

"Oh, cute, you're so military still," Gracie says, planting a kiss on Brady's head before she heads for the door. "Okay, I'll see you later today. I don't know how long these things take, so I'm not sure how long I'll be. Are you absolutely positive you've got this, Addy?"

"Oh my God. You act like I've never babysat Brady before. Get out of here," Addison says. She busies herself playing with Brady for a few seconds, before looking up at me. "You told Grace that you're my bodyguard."

I shrug. "Yeah, so? It's what I was hired as."

Brady grabs his truck from Addison's hand and bounces off the couch to "zoom" it along her coffee table, and she turns around to face me. "So, you know that's not exactly how it is. You made it sound like I chose to hire you out of the goodness of my heart."

"And?"

"So why did you say that?"

I shrug. "It seemed like the thing to say at the time."

She looks at me for a long time before speaking. "Did you really get fired?"

"I quit, but they were going to fire me, so it's the same thing."

"Why did they fire you?"

"Hell, you're nosy."

"You're my employee, aren't you? I'm supposed to know these kinds of things," she says. But the corners of her mouth turn up and I know she's joking.

"Am I?" I ask. "I thought I was your bodyguard."

"That means you work for me," she says.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to guard your body."

Addison narrows her eyes at me. "Very funny," she says. "Not in the way you apparently mean."

"How do you know what I mean, Addy-girl?" I ask. "You have a dirty mind."

Brady runs for Addy, crashing into her leg with all the force of an almost-three-year-old boy, and she looks down at him and laughs. "What do you want to do, Brade-man? You want to go to the park?"

"Yes! The park! The park!" Brady shouts.

Addison looks up at me and grins. "Well, since you're my employee, you can be in charge of the diaper bag."

I should be annoyed, carrying the diaper bag and tagging along with Addison and Brady down the sidewalk to the park. But I'm not. We take turns pushing Brady in the swing and following him as he runs through the grass, and we don't talk about much of anything.