Page 71 of Had to Be You

"I’ve always been good with babies. When Ford had Ivy and Iris, their mom was useless, and our mom still worked two jobs, so I was the go-to babysitter. I could always get them to go to sleep. And over the years, I somehow became the designated base babysitter." Knox hadn’t ever really cared about going out and getting shitfaced. So whenever guys in his squad or just people he knew needed babysitting, Knox was the one they called.

"Wow. That’s impressive. Thanks. I can take him. You can go."

Knox kept holding the baby. "I’ll stay."

"What?"

"To help you. I’ll stay." There was no way he was leaving her. One, because this was too much for one person to handle. And two, because he missed her so badly that his body ached for her when he wasn’t with her. It wasn’t even about the sex. He just needed to be in her presence.

That was a problem; he knew that, but he’d save it for another day. Today, they had enough on their plate.

* * *

Laura blinked up at Knox. "Why? Why would you stay?"

"Because this is a lot."

"It is." Laura had no choice but to agree.

As much as she loved her nieces and nephews, having them all here at once was more than she’d bargained for. Especially since her two oldest nieces, Marissa and Marianna, were not here to help because they were both at camp this week.

"Do you do this a lot? Have them all over at once?" he asked.

"No!" Laura shook her head. "My entire family got hit with a nasty bug. It’s really bad. Lori had to go to the hospital for dehydration. I offered to watch the kids who weren’t sick so that they wouldn’t catch it. I didn’t realize it was going to be eight of them."

"How long do you have them for?"

Laura shrugged. "I don’t know. Until everybody’s feeling better. Ricky and Kennedy are both covering at the shop tomorrow and maybe the next day."

"Tia, can we have pizza?" Matty asked as he ran into the kitchen.

"Sure." Laura answered. She’d been planning on getting delivery since there was no way she was going to cook for all eight kids. "Thanks for getting him to sleep. You can go lay him down in the guest room. I have his Pack ’n Play set up."

Knox nodded, and Laura grabbed her phone to call for the pizza. She ordered four large pizzas: two cheese and two pepperoni. When she put the phone down, Knox was walking back into the kitchen.

"Did he go down okay?" she asked.

"Like a baby," he teased.

She couldn’t help but smile at his dad joke. Dad joke. Even his jokes would make him a good parent. As much as she wanted and needed the help, she wasn’t sure her heart or her ovaries could take watching Knox with kids. If he stayed and helped her, she was scared she might go allMiseryon him and tie him to the bed.

"Thanks for getting him down. I’ll call you when I have free time."

He took a step toward her, and her heart started beating faster. It did that when he was around.

She found herself holding her breath as he lifted his hand and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I’m not going anywhere."

"Knox, you do not have to stay," she tried to insist, but it came out sounding a lot weaker than she’d meant it to.

"I know I don’t. I want to."

"Why?"

"Because you need help. And I don’t leave men behind," he grinned.

"Tia! The boys are jumping on the couch," Penelope, her youngest niece, tattled.

"Hey, who wants to go in the back and play kickball?" Knox picked up the soccer ball that Mikey had brought with him.

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