Who's the Boss? - Erin McCarthy Page 0,55

an hour.”

I shook his hand, trying to gauge how old this guy was. He looked easily ten years younger than me. “No problem. I was just telling Savannah I like kids.” I held my hands out. “How does he feel about strangers?”

The baby reached right out for me in total trust.

“He’s obviously pretty good about meeting new people,” Maddox said with a smile, running his hand over the baby’s hair. “He has a couple of babysitters and all of Savannah’s friends. He’s chill.”

I could hear the pride and love in Maddox’s voice.

My brother was going to be experiencing this in just a few months. It was crazy, in the best way possible. Months ago I had been talking to Michael about having kids and I had joked that eventually I was going to need to use a surrogate if I wanted a family. I had always wanted and assumed I would have children, but it felt so far in the future.

Seeing Maddox with Sully, seeing my brother on the flipside of that, in his forties starting a family, made me think a little harder about what I wanted and when. I didn’t want to blink and be having a baby for the first time at sixty-years-old.

I held Sully in my arms and made faces at him. He didn’t grin or cry. He just stared at me, solemnly, like a baby owl. His fingers wrapped around the fabric of my jacket and squeezed reflexively, close and open. “You’re definitely a chill dude,” I told him.

“He gets that from me,” Savannah said.

Both Isla and Maddox laughed.

Savannah said, “Hey!” but also looked sheepish, like she knew they had the right of it.

The apartment had toys strewn all over the floor and a clear family vibe.

“I can take him if you want,” Isla said.

“No, I’m fine.” I found a spot on the floor and set him down, then flopped onto the floor next to him. I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep over the weekend, for the best reason possible, and it felt good to stretch out and let the kid crawl all over me.

I realized Isla was staring at me. “What?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

Sean in my bed was dangerous. Sean playing with a baby was deadly.

My ovaries, that I hadn’t even been sure I was in possession of previously, now exploded. There was nothing cuter on the planet than a strong, muscular, arrogant man being reduced to mush by a baby.

With zero hesitation, Sean had taken Sully from Maddox and dropped to the floor with him. Now he was laying on his back with Sully on his lap so they were facing each other. Sean was doing some kind of horsey ride thing, bouncing his legs up and down and making neighing sounds.

Yep. Ovaries fluttering. Vagina on high alert.

It wasn’t playing fair.

I was supposed to be staying remote, not melting over his babysitting skills.

This was twice now he’d done this to me, and it was rude. Just really damn rude.

“He’s so good with Sully,” Savannah said, smiling widely and being super obvious. “I’m so impressed.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “Very subtle.”

“What?” She feigned innocence.

Savannah was literally the worst liar ever and a terrible actress. Sometimes it still made me shake my head to think that she had come to New York to pursue acting. “Just go to dinner. Have fun. Dance up on Maddox and let loose.”

“I like that plan,” Maddox said, giving me a grin.

“You’re welcome,” I told him, as Savannah blushed a little.

Once they were out of the apartment and I locked it behind them, I turned back to Sean and Sully. They had quite a game going. Sully was chuckling and drooling, seemingly unaware his parents had left.

Sean was looking ridiculously good looking, his T-shirt pulling up to expose abs I could never get enough of. I’d had a previous commitment to watch Sully, or I would be at my apartment right then climbing onto Sean’s lap myself. Horsey ride for me. I couldn’t get enough of him. But I wouldn’t cancel on Savannah. I knew she lived for the isolated breaks she got. It must be hard as hell to work from home with a baby in the same room.

Now though I was kind of glad I was getting to witness Sean with a child. I understood fully why his ex-girlfriend would trust him to babysit her toddler. He was great at it.

After another minute, he pretended to throw Sully, like a rider off