I told him about you hitting me up to help with the baby, and he said to work it out with you first because, as much as the shop needs the help, he thinks you’ll need me more. He said he’d work me in around your schedule.”
Smiling even bigger, Orlando nodded animatedly as if she could see him. “I am anxious and like I said I do have help with him, between my mom and—” He caught himself because it was only then that he realized he wasn’t sure how to refer to his relationship with Felicia anymore. Technically, he’d never called Felicia his girlfriend, and she’d only called him her boyfriend the one time. They’d since gone back to the way things were before with exception that he’d agreed to have her help with the most precious thing in his life—something he’d never trust with just any of the other women he’d ever dated. But only because she’d insisted she was absolutely willing to help him. If he didn’t need the help so bad, and he wasn’t so hesitant to leave him with strangers, he’d see her less. Yet he’d had no choice but to see her a little more often now than he had after her boyfriend comment. He had even less time for a social life now, so technically, Felicia was the only girl he’d had any time for lately. At this point, he had to admit she was more to him than just one of his go-to girls. But she wasn’t his girlfriend. “My uh . . . friend and I have most of the week covered. But my friend is just doing it temporarily until I find someone else. Right now, she watches him on Fridays. My mom does Monday and Tuesday. Ideally, I’d like to take off Wednesday and Thursday, so I can be at the shop on the weekend when we work on our VIP stuff, but I haven’t really been able to be there on the weekends unless I take Little Man with me.”
“So, you need me on the weekends?”
“Well, not every weekend. I mean I’m sure you have a life. I am part owner, so I can pretty much set my own hours. But Nine’s been running the place pretty much on his own since the baby . . .” He almost said had been in his custody but, again and not sure why, he caught himself. “We can rotate if you need the weekend off, and I can take the weekend off to be with him instead.”
“I’m okay with weekends,” she said eagerly then seemed to catch herself and added something quickly. “I mean, if I ever do need them off, I can let you know ahead of time, and we’ll work something out. But for now, that would be fine. In fact, I think this will work out. I can be at the shop Monday through Friday and watch the baby on the weekends, but if you ever need me to, since Nine said he’d work around you, I could even watch him on Wednesday and/or Thursday and just do my three days at the shop.”
Feeling like a greedy bastard, he nearly blurted out, hell yeah! He’d take her all the days she’d give him. After the way she handled the baby without even being there, he was more than sold on having her around as much as possible. And it had nothing to do with how damn good she looked the day she walked into the shop to get her brakes checked either. Obviously, she had a boyfriend—one who’d made it more than apparent he didn’t take too kindly to Orlando’s flirting with her. Last thing Orlando wanted was for her to pick up any inappropriate vibes from him and maybe change her mind about this. It’s what he’d begun to think. That maybe her boyfriend had balked at her working at the shop and especially watching his kid at his place. So, before he blew it, he reminded himself this was strictly business. He’d be very mindful to make sure it came across that way. “I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but just in the beginning, as I get more used to this baby thing, you wouldn’t have to do all day Wednesday and Thursday. But maybe you can come by and walk me through some other stuff like the teething thing and luluing just for a few hours.
“He’s also starting to