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I winked. "It just needed a little time to wake up and kick in."
"I don't know," she murmured, eyeing me as if she suddenly thought I was shifty. "You were telling me my voice sounded hot last night when I called you Patrick, and you were half out of it then."
"I did? Hmm, I must be better than I thought."
She laughed and laid Skylar in the crib. "You better get to work already, Rico Suave. Or you're going to be late."
"I'm always late. My boss would probably drop dead from shock if I actually showed up on time."
When she turned to me, I was tempted to lay Julian down too, so I could scoop Eva up and just tackle her onto the bed and have my sexy way with her.
"Well, Wonder Woman Eva is on the scene today," she said, completely oblivious to my lusty thoughts. "So you don't have to be late. Now give me that beautiful boy so I can spoil him rotten."
Sold. I handed Fighter over and waited until she had him settled in her arms before I leaned in to kiss my kid one last time and told him to be good for Tinker Bell. Then, I snuck to the bed to skim my fingers gently over Skylar's forehead. She'd fallen asleep, so I whispered, "Take care, princess."
When I straightened, Eva met my gaze, her awesome blue eyes expectant.
It felt wrong not to give her a special goodbye too. So, I said, "Thank you," before pressing my lips to her forehead. I lingered for longer than I should have. But she didn't push me away. She gazed up at me when I pulled back, and her eyes mirrored all the yearning I felt deep within my chest.
Turning away before I gave into temptation, I strode from the room.
After I left the apartment, the strangest fullness swirled in my chest. I was sure I could damn near float off ground and drift in my contentment. I could do anything. Because it felt as if I'd just wished my family goodbye for the day.
It was the dirtiest tease ever; I knew that. When Eva returned to Mason and Reese, I was probably going to feel more empty than I'd felt before she'd come into my life. But I refused to regret her presence, because it felt too good to have her here now.
EVA
Reese was more than willing to help me out. "I know you've only been gone a day, but I already miss you. I had to do a load of my own laundry this morning. And I actually had to cook last night. It was awful."
I laughed. "Oh, now I see why you hadn't kicked me out yet."
"I know. Not everyone has a free live-in maid. Seriously, E., I never r
ealized how much you did around our place since you came to stay with us. But Mason and I definitely noticed it after Sky was born and you were stuck in the hospital. You do realize you didn't have to take over all the cooking and housework just because we took you in, right?"
I shrugged, unable to tell her how strongly I'd felt the need to pay her back somehow. "I actually enjoyed it. I never got to do that kind of stuff when I was growing up. We always had people to cook and clean for us, and my mother made such menial tasks sound like they were beneath us."
"God, it's crazy how different our mothers are when they were raised by the same parents."
Reese braked at the entrance to the first grocery store we came across in Pick's neighborhood. Yikes, was that a prostitute hanging around just outside the entrance? When a beat up car stopped along the curb beside her, the passenger side window rolled down and the driver waved some cash at her. She hobbled forward in her tight skirt and heels and hopped into the passenger's seat. Reese and I we exchanged similar, wary glances.
"Anyway," she said as she pulled right back out of the exit and started toward the grocer we used closer to her apartment. "My mom always made me clean my room and do my own laundry once I turned sixteen. Then I had supper night and one Saturday morning breakfast a month."
Reese had no idea how well she had it by getting Aunt Andrea for her mom, and not mine. But I couldn't tell her just how fortunate she was. So I kept my trap shut and glanced back to check on both babies. They were so cute, all bundled up in their car seats, side by side. Julian looked like a hulking gorilla next to petite little Skylar, and she looked pasty pale next to his nice mocha skin tone. They made the perfect contrast, and I felt grateful to have them both with me for as long as Julian would be under my care. I already knew I was going to miss him like crazy when Pick no longer needed me.
***
Shopping with Reese and two infants was quite an experience. We needed two carts to carry around both kids, and I swear Reese had to ooh and ahh over every brand of kids' cereal and ice cream; she was such a five-year-old at heart sometimes, but I loved that about her.
I had checked Pick's cabinets before leaving for the store to see what exactly he needed; I swear, the list would've been shorter if I'd written down what he didn't need instead. The man had nothing. But he'd left a butt-load of cash with me, more than Mason and Reese had to grocery shop with. So we might've gotten a little carried away.
One thing was for sure, Pick wouldn't be able to complain about an un-stocked pantry any time soon, and Julian now had a good month's worth of diapers. Reese had to impulse buy a sucker at the checkout line. The cherry scent it emitted as soon as she unwrapped it and started in before she'd even purchased it induced me into tossing my own sucker onto the pile of groceries.
She was such a bad influence.
On the way back to Pick's apartment, the babies slept in their car seats while Reese and I sat up front, working our way through our lollipops.
At one stoplight, she popped hers free of her mouth to waggle her brows at me. "So how was spending the night with Pick?"
