One Night Stand With My Ex's Billionaire Enemy-Chapter 372 Baby Names

Still, I didn’t argue, just got up and let him steady me as we started walking slow laps around the villa.

I kept sneaking glances at him as we walked. His expression was so serious it was almost comical, as if he were pondering some grave philosophical problem.

Then, as we passed the conservatory, he suddenly stopped. I stopped too, confused.

‘We need two names,’ he said, thoughtful. ‘For both girls and boys. And not Maple.’

I stared at him. So that’s what he’d been thinking about all this time.

‘Fine. Not Maple.’ The name had been something I’d made up on a whim ages ago, never meant to be permanent, but apparently he’d taken it to heart.

‘So,’ I asked, ‘have you come up with any good ones?’

‘I’ll think about it properly when we get back,’ he said.

I could only sigh. So all that brooding was for nothing, then.

We finished our walk, headed back inside, and later I lay in bed listening to soft music, doing some prenatal bonding with the babies.

After a while, I realised something was odd. Ashton wasn’t there.

I sat up, got out of bed, and glanced around. The door to the study down the hall was slightly ajar, light spilling out through the gap.

Assuming he was working, I padded over quietly, peeked through the half-open door, and craned my neck just enough to see. I meant to take a quick look and leave, but what I saw made me freeze.

Ashton wasn’t working at all. He was on a baby name website.

I couldn’t help walking in. He was so absorbed he didn’t even notice me. I watched him scroll through long lists of names, occasionally jotting down the ones he liked into a Word document, his brow furrowed in concentration.

‘You’re really doing baby names now?’ I said.

He startled, hand pausing mid-click, and looked up at me with those dark eyes of his.

He put the mouse down. ‘What are you doing up?’

If I’d looked closely, I’d have noticed his ears turning faintly red.

‘I saw you hadn’t come back to bed, so I came to see what you were doing.’

His expression softened with something gentler, almost tender. He reached for me, pulling me over to sit on his lap.

He held me close, his arms circling carefully around my waist as his hands came to rest on my stomach. He stayed that way for a while, trying to feel the tiny life moving beneath his palms, his chin resting lightly on my shoulder.

Then he asked quietly, ‘Do you have any names you like?’

I turned to look at his laptop and saw the document open on the screen, filled with names.

Ashton had split the list into two sides: boys’ names and girls’ names.

On the left: Leo, Finn, Oscar, Alfie, Noah, Elias.

On the right: Isla, Ava, Florence, Violet, Amelie, Lucy.

It wasn’t a long list, but clearly he’d spent quite some time on it. If I hadn’t walked in, he’d probably still be scrolling through that baby name site.

‘Leo, Finn, Oscar,’ I read aloud, then, ‘Isla, Ava, Florence.’

I frowned. They all sounded nice. We only had two babies, and we didn’t even know the genders yet, so choosing now felt impossible.

‘Pick whichever you like,’ Ashton said lightly, handing the decision to me.

‘Then I’ll need some time to think about it,’ I said seriously.

‘So you’re not naming them Maple and Captain Crunch after all?’ he teased, giving me a sideways look.

‘What’s wrong with Maple and Captain Crunch?’ I said defensively. ‘I’ve decided, once they’re born, their nicknames will be Maple and Captain Crunch. The first one’s Maple, the second’s Captain Crunch. Boy or girl, no objections allowed.’

Ashton blinked, looking as though he wasn’t quite sure how to respond.

His reaction pleased me.

But those were nicknames at best. We still had to pick two proper names.

Choosing names was truly a nightmare.

We ended up spending half the night in the study, going back and forth over baby names. In the end, we gave up, exhausted, and decided to get some sleep instead.

Ashton pulled me into his arms. Eventually, his eyes closed.

Suddenly, I sat bolt upright. ‘I’ve decided,’ I said.

He cleared his throat. ‘Decided what?’ 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

‘If they’re both boys, the older one’s Owen, the younger one’s Miles. If they’re both girls, the elder’s Eliza, the younger’s Esme.’

‘And if it’s one of each?’ he asked.

‘Then the boy’s Owen, the girl’s Eliza. Nicknames Maple and Captain Crunch.’

Having made my decision, I suddenly felt lighter, as if a great weight had lifted. I looked straight at Ashton, eyes bright. ‘What do you think?’

From my tone, it was obvious there was only one acceptable answer.

Ashton thought for a moment, then smiled. It was simple, straightforward, and most importantly, it spared him another round of endless decision-making.

He nodded. ‘I think they’re great names.’