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TWO
HENRY
Henry Kaplan was filled with anxiety about the prospect of having to take care of his own ten-week-old child. It wasn’t the idea alone, of course, that made him so apprehensive. It was the feeling that he had been left alone, abandoned in a sense, to do something that he thought he was going to be doing with a loving partner.
But that all had gone out the window the moment his ex-wife, Sher, decided that she wanted out. Out of their partnership, the marriage, and the entire idea of forming a family. They had been linked together due to their family’s long lineage and history, but that didn’t mean there was passion or love. In fact, it was the complete opposite.
It was like a business arrangement devoid of any emotion and fervency. Henry had learned what it was like to have a mate, the throttle of pleasure and agony that came with such a connection, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Sher wasn’t it.
But he wasn’t it for her either. She had gone through some postpartum depression once Zara was born and decided that she didn’t want to participate in the charade any longer. Henry was partly relieved and partly terrified when they filed for divorce, especially when Sher decided that she didn’t want anything to do with their daughter.
He still didn’t blame her when she chose to go to Thailand when Zara was merely eight weeks old. That was where tiger shifters originated, and she wanted to go back and heal, find her roots, and leave the life she had been forced into behind.
Henry could have been exceptionally angry with her, but their families had put them both in a precarious position, forcing them to wed and reproduce for the sake of the family line. Henry was also pressured by his father, who had passed away shortly after his wedding to Sher. He had done everything he could for the sake of his family and for others, not thinking of his own feelings or enjoyment for a single second.
And, of course, he had Zara.
He had never known true love, but when he looked at his child, he knew that there would be a permanent glowing light tethering them together. He felt lost in his attempt to care for her, especially while trying to run his wood carving business at the same time, so, in desperation, he’d hired a nanny.
The nanny who arrived blew him away in more ways than one. Henry had been changing Zara, who was squirming around on the changing table when the doorbell rang. He delicately placed her back in her crib, thankful that she had dropped back to sleep after he got rid of her dirty diaper.
Henry didn’t know what he was expecting, but he certainly wasn’t expecting the goddess in front of him when he answered the door.
Kirsten’s long black hair looked soft and glossy in the sun, her eyes gentle and the shade of honeysuckles. She was dressed in a tasteful light gray suit that ran along the curves of her body the way snow trailed the mountainside. Henry immediately felt his tiger come alive inside him as if it had been awakened from a deep hibernation.
He tried to keep it cool by welcoming her inside, then leading her upstairs to Zara’s room. Along the way, he tried to keep his eyes from magnetically straying to her rocking body, and, without realizing it, he emitted a subconscious purring sound.
As Kirsten walked down the hallway, she turned to him with a cocked eyebrow.
“Do you have a cat?”
Henry gazed around, playing stupid but not very well.
“Oh yes! He’s somewhere around here. He can be shy at first.”
She grinned, a stunning look of contentment that made Henry want to roll his eyes into the back of his head.
But, of course, he didn’t have a cat. He made a mental note to get one to cover up the vibrating sounds coming from his chest.
Kirsten pushed open the door of the baby’s room, and she immediately began crooning. She went to the crib and whispered to Henry as Zara laid still, breaths as soft as feathers.
“She is so beautiful,” Kirsten said, beaming. “You said she is ten weeks old?”
Henry nodded.
He wasn’t sure what was more alluring, the fact that Kirsten clearly knew what she was doing with Zara or the fact that her perfume reminded him of snowy mornings in the dead of winter. It was the scent of Christmas, peppermint, and firewood.
“Your room is connected to this one,” Henry said, pointing to a door in the corner. “It’s a 24/7 job, of course, as I’m constantly working. You will need to let me know when you want days off, as I’ll need to get someone else to take of her on those days. I have a housekeeper, Jana, who has been watching Zara when I need to work, but she needs to be relieved of that duty so she can keep the house going. I think you will like her. She is very nice and adores Zara.”
Kirsten nodded absentmindedly, for she was already captivated by the tiny life dozing before her eyes.
She readily accepted the position and returned to her home to get the rest of her things to essentially move in. Henry held Zara as he waited for her to return. His tiger growled a truth inside him that he wasn’t ready to consider yet.
Sher had never made him feel that way, not even for a second during their entire short relationship. It wasn’t that she wasn’t attractive. She was ... physically, emotionally, and spiritually. But they had both been forced to be together, which likely dampened any spark they might have potentially had.
But Kirsten made his loins stir, his heart beat like a kettle drum, and his hands tremble. He was a strong and fierce alpha tiger shifter. It took a lot to make him nervous.
That all had to be put aside, though, as Zara was the main focus for the time being. He needed her to be well taken care of so he wouldn’t worry at work. He had a feeling that Kirsten was someone he could rely on, even after having met her for merely an hour.
