head back. “I’ve heard a good babysitter can be harder to find than a single guy.”
“So, I shouldn’t call her?”
“No! Not unless you’re looking for a babysitting gig, and I promise you, you won’t ever get a date if you’re working as a manny.”
“Fine. So what now?”
“I wish my apartment was bigger. I’d have a party with women hand-picked just for you.” Kyla drummed her fingers. Then she snapped them. “I have a baby shower to go to this weekend. All the single women will have babies on the brain. They’ll be in man-hunting overdrive. You’ll get a date for sure.”
He rubbed his chin. “At a baby shower?”
“Sometimes they’re co-ed.”
“Is this one?”
“No, but we’ll tell them we thought it was to explain why you’re there.”
Stone paused. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Don’t question the master.”
“Remind again me what makes you the master?”
“Years of watching and helping three older brothers weave their magic. Now let’s get out of here.”
Stone walked her to her car, and as she stood there by her door, her lips tingled for a moment. Stop it, she told herself. He’s not the right kind of guy for you.
And why the hell not? She sighed. There was her mother’s voice.
“Everything all right?” Stone asked.
She opened her car door. “It will be once we get you set up on a date.”
“I’m sorry this is turning into such a pain in the ass for you.”
She was about to say, ‘It’s not you, it’s me,’ but that might lead to a discussion she didn’t want to have. “Good night.” She hopped in her car and drove home.
***
Stone was chatting up a tall, leggy brunette with five baby binkies hanging around his neck.
“Can I talk to you?” Kyla asked him as she walked up.
“You and I will chat later,” he told the woman. “You can tell me all about your nursery theme.”
She shook her head, confused. “No, I don’t have a baby.”
He pointed at her. “Gotcha! And now you don’t have your binky necklace either—you said b-a-b-y! Hand it over.” He did a little victory dance, and then held out his hand, wiggling his fingers.
The brunette pouted and took off the binky tethered to long pink string around her neck.
Stone proudly looped it around his neck. “That makes six. I’m totally going to win this thing, just so long as I stay away from the granny in the corner with the bifocals. She’s got quite a few and she’s been eyeing me up. Either that or she wants me. And I don’t think I’m into the cougar thing.” He glared at an old woman in the corner, toying with the binkies around her neck, and she glared right back at him.
Kyla jabbed him with her elbow. “Be nice to her. She’s going to be a great-grandmother when this baby is born.”
“Ha!” Stone held out his hand. “Give me your binky!”
Kyla sighed and took off her binky necklace and handed it to him. “We didn’t come here to play games, we came here so you could meet some women.”
“I’m meeting lots of women.”
“And you’re pissing them all off by tricking them out of their binkies.”
His shoulders slumped. “Oh. Right, I see.”
Kyla put her hands on his shoulders. “Clearly you can’t do this on your own. So, pick out someone you think is cute and I’ll introduce you. Just smile and nod and say very little. Or nothing. Saying nothing might be good, too. Okay?”
“Okay.” He looked around the room and his gaze settled on a pretty redhead by the punch bowl. “How about Ginger over there wetting her whistle?”
“Or, a nice way to say it would’ve been, ‘The lovely redhead getting a drink.’”
“Yes. Her.”
“Follow me.”
But before they could reach the gal, the tiny white-haired woman went straight for Stone. “I don’t think I know you.”
He reached out his hand. “I’m Stone Kinney. I’m friends with Kyla.”
“I’m Nana Clark. Soon to be a great-grandma once this kiddo is born. Is this the first time you’ve been to one of these newborn shindigs?” She had a twinkle in her eye as she touched the binkies hanging around her neck, like she was making sure they were still there.
Stone opened his mouth then fixed her with a steely gaze. “You mean a party to herald the arrival of a treasured infant into the world? Yes, this is my first soiree dedicated to celebrating the birth of a family’s progeny.” He grabbed a handful of dinner mints from the table and popped them in his