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She rose to her feet, faintly trembling with frustration. Or anger. He was never quite sure where he stood with her, which was one of the reasons he found her so intriguing. “Yet you want to put my son to sleep.”
“Look at me, trying to take things to the next level.” He rose as well, and enjoyed the way her eyes flashed as he loomed over her. “C’mon, Chloe. Help a guy succeed. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”
“You know what? Fine. Go ahead.” She crossed her arms. “His room is second door on the left upstairs. Right next to the powder room.”
Okay, so now he was going to have to put the baby to bed. That was great. Awesome.
He scooped up Axl and shifted him in his arms as the kid predictably started to whimper. Anytime Michael even approached him, he went into reactive mode. Chloe moved forward, but Michael held up a hand. “We’ll be fine.”
She clasped her hands in front of herself. “Just be glad he doesn’t need a bath tonight.”
Michael shot her a horrified glance and hustled out of the room before Axl’s tears could really take root.
He knuckled his eyes on the way upstairs though, and nearly lost his hold on his bottle. “Want Mama. Mama. Want Mama.”
“She’s right behind us, pal. Probably will install a baby cam in your room if she doesn’t have one in there already.”
“Already have one,” she said from the bottom of the stairs.
Michael sighed and stared down into Axl’s streaming brown eyes. “Slugger, she’s still here with us. Just taking you upstairs so you can sleep. You’re tired, right? Zzz.”
The baby took one long probing look at him as Michael turned on the landing to go up the next flight. And started to howl.
“Shh. There, there. Nice baby. Good baby.” Michael patted Axl’s back and felt his little body vibrate from the force of his tears. Mucus seemed to come out of several of his orifices at once.
That couldn’t be good.
Chloe’s feet thundered up the stairs behind them, but Michael resolutely carried Axl into his bedroom. Carefully, he set him in his bed in his sweet blue and yellow room, with the lighted mobile above his race car big boy bed. “There you go. See?” He pulled up the little yellow blanket over Axl’s squirming body. “All nice and safe and tucked in.”
Axl hiccupped and wheezed, immediately shooting out his chubby little arms upon sighting Chloe. “Mama. Mama!”
But for some reason she hung back. She remained in Axl’s view, still in the room, but she gave Michael space.
So he heaved out a breath, brushed Axl’s sweat-and-tear-sticky curls off his forehead and rose to look for the book she’d mentioned he liked in the tiny yellow bookcase.
He found it on the top shelf, tucked in the first slot. His fingers shook more than a little as he pulled it out before dragging over the little rocking chair barely big enough for his bony ass. Fingers still unsteady, he flipped to page one and started to read. Axl continued to sob and flop from side to side in his bed, banging his arms for emphasis.
And Michael read aloud.
By the third or fourth page, he was into it. The illustrations were really incredible and the story was cute. Toward the end, he was turning the pages as fast as he could for himself almost as much as Axl.
When he read the words “The End”, he was both relieved and disappointed. Then he glanced up and glimpsed Axl gnawing on his knuckle in his sleep and did a mental fist pump.
“I did it,” he said, stunned.
“Never fails,” Chloe murmured from the doorway. “By the last page, he’s always unconscious. It’s a magical book.”
“Sure, take away my accomplishment.” But Michael grinned as he glanced at her over his shoulder. Her hair had partially come out of its ponytail and was curling around her cheeks. Her eyes were so big and dark, filled with shadows and secrets he wanted nothing more than to discover.
Every part of this woman fascinated him, not the least of which how she could be such a good mother and so devoted to her home life, yet still be the woman who’d entranced him so effortlessly while he was onstage. She had a million different sides, every one of them more intriguing than the last.
He rose and returned the book and chair to their spots. After looking at Axl one last time, he walked to the door and cupped her shoulders. As expected, she stiffened.
“You may think I’m a thoughtless horndog, but even I wouldn’t seduce a woman in the doorway of a child’s bedroom,” he said, voice low so he wouldn’t wake Axl.
“You won’t be seducing me anywhere.”
Before he could dispute that assertion, she vanished down the hall and down the stairs.
