Call Her Mine (Harmony Pointe #1)- Melissa Foster Page 0,42
in overdrive all day. She was glad Ben had offered to make dinner. He’d been adorable sneaking in gropes and kisses while he cooked, as if he had to sneak around the baby. But she had to admit, those furtive touches and sensual kisses had left her body humming all the way through dinner, which was delicious. Now, as she bathed B in the new baby bath Piper had bought and Ben did the dishes, even the thought of those stolen kisses made her hungry for him. But since she had no idea how long B would be awake, she tried to push away those naughty thoughts and focus on the baby.
“This is much easier than using a pillow, isn’t it?” she said as she shielded the baby’s eyes and rinsed her hair. She leaned in close, smiling into B’s curious eyes. “You are such a good girl. You like your bath, don’t you?”
As she gently bathed the baby, she felt overwhelmingly happy about finally allowing herself to open her heart completely to beautiful B. She marveled at her adorable little nose and Cupid’s bow lips, her tiny fisted hands, and the way her downy-soft hair turned pitch-black when wet. She carefully wrapped her in a cute hooded towel, which made her look like a little bunny, and swaddled her the way Piper had taught her. There was so much to learn about caring for B, but Aurelia felt like she and Ben were doing pretty well for having been thrown into the situation. Ben always came out on top in sink-or-swim situations, but this was a big one, and she wondered if all new parents transitioned from freak-out mode to calm acceptance as quickly as Ben had.
She carried B into the bedroom and chose a snuggly white sleeper with little yellow ducks across the chest, which Piper had washed and left on the bed for them. She’d washed all of the new clothes and blankets. She’d also washed the baby things Ben had brought over. Of all Ben’s sisters, Aurelia had always thought of Piper as the least maternal. Boy, had she been wrong. It had taken Piper as long to finally say goodbye to B as it had for Ben to give her instructions before they’d left that morning.
“Ready for some snuggly pajamas?” Aurelia said as she laid B on the bed and began putting on her diaper. “So now we know that your mama is the woman from Los Angeles.” Her heart hurt a little at that, because part of her thought that the woman didn’t deserve to be mentioned. She didn’t deserve to have been given such a wonderful gift as this baby. But having grown up missing the mother she’d never known, Aurelia couldn’t bring herself to take the possibility of knowing her mother away from B.
She dressed B and held her hands as she kissed her cheeks.
“Who your father is might be up in the air right now, but you should know that Benny and I love you, whether you’re his or not.” She kissed the baby’s hands, and then she lifted her into her arms, breathing in her sweet smell. “You are safe, and you are loved, peanut, and no matter where you are in this world, nothing will ever take our love away from you.” She moved her hand in soothing circles on the baby’s back and closed her eyes, wishing there was some way for the baby to remember what she was about to say. “You need to know that just because your mom had to give you up doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you. It means she loved you so much she wanted the best for you. That’s a lot of love, B, and I can only imagine how hard it was for her to leave you.”
She sensed Ben’s presence and opened her eyes.
He was standing behind her, and he leaned down to kiss the baby’s head. “I love you, B,” he whispered, and then he pressed a kiss to Aurelia’s temple and said, “And I love you, too, Aurelia. I don’t want to hold back anymore, not from either of you.”
The now-familiar fireworks went off inside her, and she turned toward him. “Oh, Ben.”
He lowered his lips to hers, kissing her slow and sweet. But slow and sweet wasn’t nearly enough. She’d waited years for this very moment. Her pulse was racing as he pulled back, and she trapped his lower lip between her teeth, earning a masculine, rumbly