The Introvert's Guide to Online Dating - Emma Hart Page 0,48
stop my uterus bouncing right out of it.
“Okay?” I whispered after a moment.
He almost jolted but caught himself at the last minute. “She’s asleep. What do I do now?”
“Put her to bed.” I was trying not to laugh. Honestly, I was. It was the cutest thing.
“But she’ll wake up if I move.”
“Then sit there all night with her. I doubt she’ll complain.”
“I can’t move, Tori.”
Good God. I walked over and crouched down, gently taking her from him. She stirred a little but quickly recovered from being moved, swiftly falling back to sleep.
I carried her upstairs to her bedroom and very carefully set her in her crib. One of Ivy’s robes was laid out under her, and I smiled when I saw the leopard print.
That was the one she’d taken to hospital when she was born.
Tegan stirred again, but by the time I was backing out of her room, she was completely still and completely crashed.
I crept out and back downstairs where I let out a big breath. I still had to tidy Tegan’s things away, but when I entered the living room, it was perfectly clean.
“How—”
Colton smiled. “I wasn’t sure where it all went, so it’s kind of in a pile, but it’s tidy?”
Laughing, I dropped down on the sofa and swung my legs up onto his lap. “Well, that wasn’t too difficult.”
“You only put her to bed.”
“No, I meant for you. I thought you hated babies.”
“I do not hate babies.” He laughed, dropping his head back on the sofa. “Not all babies. Just some babies. I like Tegan.”
“Everyone likes Tegan.” I sighed again, this time happily, and lay back to stare up at the ceiling.
It was quiet.
I’d never appreciated quiet quite this much.
But oddly, I could picture this. Lying here, with him, after putting a baby to bed.
Jesus.
I needed fucking help.
I was going to have to have a word with my ovaries about this. They needed to pipe down.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Hm?” I looked over at Colton.
“You’re quiet. What are you thinking about?”
“Just things.”
“Like?”
“Have you ever considered having kids?”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN – COLTON
rule fourteen: the ground rules should be laid down early in a relationship. like who buys dinner on what night.
I blinked at Tori. Had she really just asked that?
“I think babysitting is messing with you,” I said, tapping her foot.
She repaid me by ramming her heel into my thigh. “Stop it. You apparently hate babies, yet tonight I’ve watched you make one fall in love with you.”
“I’m just that charming.”
“Colton.”
I laughed, shrugging. “I guess. A few times.”
She rolled her head to the side and looked at me. “With Amber, right?”
I took a deep breath and nodded, letting it down slowly. “It was what ultimately made me realize we weren’t working anymore.”
“How so?”
“I wanted to buy my house,” I said, stroking her lower leg. “I’d been saving for years, and I knew she’d been saving, so I assumed we’d buy one together. Then I’d propose and we’d get married and have kids.”
“Makes sense.”
“But she didn’t want to move.” My lips pressed into a thin line. “She wouldn’t even move into my apartment which was bigger than hers. She was attached to her place, and I get it, but I never saw myself raising kids in an apartment, you know?”
Tori nodded. “I get that. Kids should have a yard and a driveway and a puppy.”
“Pretty much. It was a sticking point and ultimately the wedge that made me realize I just didn’t love her anymore.”
She smiled sadly at me. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. If it hadn’t have happened, we’d have gotten married, had kids, and divorced within ten years.” I met her eyes. “And I wouldn’t be here right now with my girlfriend of forty-eight hours asking me if I’ve thought about having kids.”
She blushed. “We haven’t discussed that, and it was just a flippant question. People discuss that on first dates, you know.”
“You’re my girlfriend. Deal with it.” I squeezed her ankle with a grin. “I’m only messing with you. I’m glad you’ve asked. I’m thirty. I don’t have time to mess around with someone who doesn’t want what I want.”
“Ironic, given that for the past six months we’ve had a no-strings-attached sexual relationship.”
“Ah, but you were on board with that, so it counts.”
“Semantics.” She paused. “So you do want kids?”
“Do you?”
“I asked first.”
“Yes,” I replied honestly. “I do. When the time is right. And you?”
Shit, why was I afraid of that answer?
Because if she didn’t, it would change things?
It would. It would change things if she didn’t want