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“Be nicer, Elliot. I’m certain you have room to be.” “I’ll leave the charm to Luca. It’s not my forte.” “Did I mention charm? I’d never expect that from you.”
Babies weren’t my thing. I’d never paid attention to them before now. But this one struck me as exceptionally pretty and sweet.
“She looks pretty good to me.” “I had her living in a hovel.” He shot me a pointed look. “She had floors, Catherine.” I exhaled, tension flowing out with my heavy breath. “Yeah. She did have that, Elliot.”
“That might not be a problem since I can’t get her in anywhere. My current plan is keeping her in my bottom drawer.” His brow winged. “No. That’ll never work.” My shoulders slumped. “Yeah, I know. I—” “Your bottom drawer is far too narrow. The rate she eats, she’ll outgrow it within a month.”
“Can I hug you?” I asked. “If you feel like you have to.” He opened his arms wide. “Make it quick.”
“This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, Elliot.” “That’s too bad. On the scale of nice things, this is pretty low.” He slid his palm up and down my spine. “After all, I did this for purely selfish reasons.”
We both calmed the instant I had her in my arms. Catherine circled the car, grinning at me. “Are you stealing my baby, Elliot?” I swayed with her the way she liked, palming the back of her head. “I really don’t like when she cries.”
“It’s not nice to call your daughter names, Catherine,” he deadpanned. “Well, she’s a milk-a-holic. I’m not going to pussyfoot around the truth.”
“I won’t kiss you again without warning,” I whispered. “Please do. I’ll be read—” I pressed my lips to his, and his reaction was instantaneous.
“It doesn’t have to be unfamiliar. I had a great time with Josephine this morning. When I unwrapped her from her swaddle, her little arms popped straight up, and she did this great big stretch that looked like it felt so fucking amazing.”
“This is concern, not judgment.” Luca sounded more subdued than I’d ever heard him. “She’s really lovely.” “No kidding.” My jaw flexed. “She makes me feel…she makes me feel.”
“If you can’t forgive your oldest best friends for screwing up, how am I going to trust you’ll forgive me when I eventually screw up?” He jerked his gaze to me then back to the road. “There’s nothing you could do short of cheating on me that I wouldn’t forgive.”
“It’s only a week. We’ll be fine.” “You and Joey will. I’m not sure about me.” He teased my lips with his fingertip. “You’ve gotten me used to waking up to sunshine.” “There’s sunshine in Dubai. Plenty of it.” “Not the kind I crave.”
“Good morning, little girl. How did you sleep?” Velcro ripped as he opened her swaddle. “Big stretch, Josephine. That means it’s going to be an incredible day.” He picked her up from her bassinet and carried her to the changing pad on the dresser. “I’m sorry to tell you, I’m leaving for a while. Lucky you, you get to hang out with your mommy while I’m on the other side of the world with a guy who shakes like a leaf when I speak to him.”
“I need you to promise me not to change too much while I’m gone, baby girl. If you’re going to have a cool milestone soon, how about waiting until I’m home? That would be very much appreciated.”
“Thank you. I like when you say things like that.” Her lips turned up in a pleased little grin. “And I like that my compliments make you feel good. I have a lot of them stored up for future use.” “Give me another. I need it to make it through the meeting I have later.”
I didn’t know any other toddlers, but I could say, without a doubt, mine was something special.
