like always.
One side of Ben’s lips tipped up. “That’s the truth. You’re a good friend.”
Vic eyed Aurelia, and she tried to hide the sting from the f-word, but based on the pitying look in Vic’s eyes, she had a feeling she’d failed miserably.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of feedings and diaper changes. Aurelia had newfound appreciation for parents. She also had a greater appreciation for Ben. He was human after all. She’d started to wonder if there was anything he couldn’t handle. Now she knew there was one thing that could rattle the calm, cool, and collected man. Throw a baby at him, and he kind of fell apart for a while. She thought about their chaotic, exhausting day and felt the tug of a smile.
Whoever said that all babies did was eat, sleep, and poop got two parts right. But Baby B was not a great sleeper. She slept in fits and spurts and was happiest snuggled on Ben’s chest.
I would be, too, Aurelia thought.
Every time he put the baby down, she cried, so he picked her up. Watching him try to answer emails with the baby cradled in the crook of one of his arms was pretty funny, but he adjusted quickly. Aurelia had heard enough baby talk from Bridgette to know it wasn’t good for the baby to be held all the time, but B had just been abandoned by her mother, and Aurelia figured she deserved the extra love. Besides, she was hardly one to argue with wanting to be in Ben’s arms.
They’d navigated some pretty stinky situations today, but at least with the second diaper blowout she hadn’t had to cast away her—Ben’s—shirt, which she was still wearing. They’d bathed the baby again, but neither she nor Ben had found time to shower. Now they were back where they’d started, sprawled out on the chaise lounge. Ben smelled like sweat and baby puke, and still her stomach fluttered when he tightened his hold on her or made one of his sleepy, sexy noises. It would be much easier to start fresh in Harmony Pointe and leave her feelings for Benny boy behind if he were an asshole. But even that thought felt wrong, because being an asshole wouldn’t make him a good father for Baby B, and she’d never want that—even if it kind of felt weird that he might actually be the father to some random woman’s baby.
She lay beside him and B, wondering how she’d ended up there. After they’d ordered, and devoured, an entire extra-large pizza, she’d tried to leave so she could go home to shower and check on her renovations, but Ben had flashed those dark, sexy eyes, pleading for her to stay as he pulled her down on the chaise lounge beside him, and she was toast. She’d been lying with him and B ever since. Now it was after eleven, the living room was dark, Ben and B were fast asleep, and she could barely stand the smell of herself.
She carefully and quietly pushed up to a sitting position, and as she rose to her feet, Ben grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t leave,” he whispered.
“I’m just going to shower. I smell like baby puke and poop.”
A smile lifted his lips, and he said, “I love how you smell.”
She sighed over the honesty in his voice, but she knew better and quickly reined in that hopeful thought. “That’s because you’re delirious from lack of sleep.” She pried his fingers from her wrist and said, “I’m borrowing your flannel pajama pants and another shirt to sleep in.”
He pressed a kiss to the baby’s head and pulled one of the new blankets he’d bought her over her little body. “You can have anything, as long as you come back and sleep with me.”
Her body threw a little celebration at his words, despite knowing he didn’t mean it the way she hoped. But after wanting him for so long, and seeing him love up the baby all day, her hormones were in overdrive.
He yawned and patted the spot she’d just vacated, his eyes fluttering closed again as he said, “Hurry back. We’ll miss you.”
There went the fireworks again.
I’m leaving in the morning.
No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Today had felt like a month rather than a day. She had to get on with her life.
At least that’s what she told herself, because I’m falling harder for him was too terrifying a thought to ponder.
CHAPTER FOUR
MORNING CAME FOR the third time