Chaser (Dive Bar #3)(40)

Her smile was hesitant, waiting.

“Good. You look, yeah, good.”

“Thanks.”

“But back to these…” I held up the pair of fluffy ears attached to Ada’s seriously stupid bunny snowsuit. Despite needing every and any distraction, I was pretty offended on the kid’s behalf. “Do these say warrior princess to you?”

“Isn’t she a little small to be kicking butt?”

“But it’s the message you’re sending. She should be in like a wolf suit or a dragon costume or something.”

With a smile, Jean held Ada’s hands. “Fine. Whatever. You dress her next time.”

“All right, I will.”

She laughed. “Can’t wait to see that.”

“Why? It’s not that hard, is it?”

Jean just shrugged. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. Big capable guy such as yourself should have no trouble getting her into her suit. Especially when she’s in a foul mood and throwing a tantrum. It’s really fun then.”

Ada’s little feet swung around, one hand waving while the other got sucked on. When she was all chill and cute, it seemed hard to believe she could ever be all “hell hath no fury.”

“Hmm.” I tucked the ears back so they didn’t hang in her face. “I think your mommy’s being mean to me about this whole suit thing, Ada. And I was only trying to stick up for you.”

“Not even remotely. Rest assured, you’ll know when I’m being mean to you, Mr. Collins.” Jean raised an eyebrow. Never had a woman holding frozen chicken strips looked so hot.

Whoa. I stopped, licked my lips. “Will I now?”

“Mm-hmm.” With five solid hours of sleep under her belt, she seemed a little more back to being herself. The charming young woman who had swanned into the bar a few months ago.

“Why would you want to be mean to me, when I live only to serve you and Miss Floppy Ears here?”

“Oh, do you now?” she asked, going heavy on the disbelief.

“You know I do.”

Jean shot me a megawatt smile this time.

We were not flirting. We were doing something else. Something that felt a shitload like flirting, but wasn’t. Because we were just friends. And hey, I’d only been stating a simple fact. “I, ah, did meet someone last night at work who I wanted to tell you about.”

Jean’s smiled disappeared. “Yes?”

“Her name was Caroline and she’s a single mom like you,” I said. “She had some interesting ideas for helping Ada go to sleep. About using light to signal that it’s bedtime. Basically, lots of sunlight during the day, then use the dimmers at night when you want her to settle.”

“Okay,” she said slowly.

“You’re already putting her down when she’s drowsy instead of asleep, so we knew about that one. Same with the baby origami so she doesn’t twitch and startle.” I put my hands under Ada’s little sock-covered feet. She liked pushing against something, testing her strength. “But Caroline also suggested avoiding eye contact during midnight feeds so you don’t stimulate her.”

“You talked about baby bedtime routines with a random woman at the bar?”

I shrugged. “Yeah. She was very nice. Gave me her number in case you wanted to reach out.”

“Um, I don’t think it’s me she’s hoping will reach out.”

“Of course it is.”

Jean laughed. “Since when in your experience have women talked to you in the hopes of finding baby playdate friends?”

“Hey now,” I said, “just because I’m delightful and ridiculously good looking doesn’t mean every woman I talk to is only thinking about what I can do for them in bed.”

“Hmm.”

“You don’t constantly think about us having sex, do you?” I asked, already knowing the answer. Because Jean might have flirted with me at first, but those days were long gone. “I rest my case.”

Her mouth opened, then closed, her brows drawing closer together. “I’m too tired to think about sex.”

“Exactly.”

“Besides, look what sex did to me.” She stroked Ada’s cheek with a finger. “It gave me this beautiful, wonderful, incredibly high-maintenance baby girl. Excuse me if I take a break from all things naked and horizontal for a while. I only just got to stop sharing my body with a little being. I’m not sure I want to open it up to anyone else anytime soon.”

“Fair enough,” I said. “Now stop saying ‘sex.’”

“You stop saying ‘sex.’”

“I swear, it’s all you ever think about, you ladies.”

More laughter. “No, I think about diapers and milk and laundry. It’s a very glamorous life having a baby. God knows how people deal with more than one. They should be given gold medals and cookies.”

I grinned.

“Hey, I thought it was you guys,” said Andre, wandering up alongside us. He nodded at my chest. “Got something on your front there, man.”

“Yeah, thanks,” I said drily.

Ada waved her chubby fist and he grinned. “Hey, bunny girl. Cool costume.”

Jean gave me a look like, “Andre likes the outfit” so I gave her a look like, “that really just makes my point.” And then he had to go and do it. He leaned in and kissed Jean on the cheek. Give me strength. If it had been the baby, no worries. But I didn’t even get to kiss Jean on the cheek and we were like besties these days. When I wasn’t at work, I was helping her out with whatever she needed. Be it taking out the trash, doing dishes, or hanging out with Ada so she could get stuff done. Hanging with her and Ada was my new happy place.