Be My Hero (Forbidden Men #3)(75)

From the back, she looked good first thing in the morning, her clothes wrinkled and molded to her curves and her hair pulled up into a fashionable yet sloppy knot with these tempting little stray tendrils hanging down and teasing the back of her kissable neck. I knew she'd look twice as amazing when she turned around. I was so tempted to come up behind her, wrap myself around her and kiss the tops of her shoulders. My arms ached because I restrained them from acting on the impulse.

She turned around, and I saw she had Skylar cradled in one arm. "'Morning," she said brightly, though lavender bruises of sleeplessness underlined her eyes.

I yawned and ran my hand through my wet hair. "'Morning." After I padded barefoot across the kitchen to the table, I plopped into a chair and pulled on my socks. Though I'd gotten more sleep than usual since I hadn't needed to pace the floor with Julian at all, I felt stiff and sore from bunking on the couch.

I jumped when Eva set one of the bowls of cereal in front of me. About to tell her she hadn't needed to do that, because it seemed to be my catch phrase these past twenty-four hours, I paused, wondering if she was getting sick of me constantly repeating it. So I settled for a sincere, "Thanks."

She sat across from me and rocked Skylar in her arms as she ate with one hand. "So how many days do you work from nine in the morning until two the next morning?" she asked between bites.

I smiled through my munching, amazed by how well she multitasked. When a drop of milked dripped down her chin, making her scramble with both hands full to wipe it up, I smiled even wider and leaned over to mop it up for her.

"A couple," I answered, licking the droplet of milk off my thumb. I worked that much most weekdays, actually.

She shook her head, staring at my thumb as I pulled it away from my tongue. "I don't know how you do it without tumbling dead from exhaustion."

I motioned to her with my spoon before I took a big bite. "You just worked the same hours as I did yesterday. More, actually. How're you still going?"

She shook her head to disagree. "But I had plenty of down time."

I snorted. "When? When you were watching not just mine, but your own kid, cleaning my house or cooking me supper? Oh, and don't think I didn't notice you gave Fighter a bath last night. He smelled all clean and fresh when I leaned in to kiss his head just now."

"Okay, fine," she relented on a sigh. "I'm secretly Wonder Woman. I just hid my bracelets, tiara, and lasso in Skylar's diaper bag so you wouldn't find out."

I grinned. "Wonder Woman was always my favorite superhero."

"And I'm sure her breast size, tiny waist, and incredible thighs had nothing to do with it either."

I snorted out a laugh and nearly choked on the last of the milk I was drinking from my bowl. "You know me too well." Rising to my feet, I went to rinse it in the sink, only to realize how freaking spotless the sink was. Not only had she done dishes, she'd scrubbed the sink as well.

Shaking my head and thinking she really must be Wonder Woman, I turned to say, "I can drive you back to Lowe's whenever you're ready."

She looked up in surprise. "Aren't I watching Julian again today?"

I drew in a quick, pleased breath. "You were serious about that?"

"Of course." She frowned as if I was crazy for asking. "You still need help watching him, don't you?"

"Yeah, but . . . " I shrugged, suddenly self-conscious. "I was kind of an * to you the last time we saw each other. I don't get why you're being so amazing and helping me like this."

She shook her head, her confusion blatant. "How were you an * to me?"

I glanced away, ashamed. "I basically told you I didn't want you knowing I didn't have a real marriage because I didn't want you tempting me into something I knew you could very easily tempt me into doing. And then I walked out on you and never talked to you again."

"Okay, first of all, that was three days ago, not decades like you're making it sound. And your hands were full, Pick. That's totally understandable. Besides, you weren't obligated to ever talk to me again, though not calling when your wife left you hanging with a four-month-old to take care of by yourself stung a little. I thought we'd become friends. Why didn't you think I'd help you watch him?"

"I . . . " I gave a small laugh. "Actually, the idea didn't even occur to me. I'm not used to asking anyone for help. Usually, it's the other way around and people come to me when they need something."

"Then it sounds as if you need new friends. If you never get anything in return from them, they're not your friends. They're just people who use you." Before I could respond to her statement, she continued, "And besides, I totally understand why you didn't tell me about the true nature of your wedding vows. I only had to spend five minutes with Julian to know how amazing he is and how much he needs you in his life. I would never do anything to jeopardize that." A line between her brows formed. "How is that going to work out, anyway? Now that she's gone. I mean, it's okay for you to keep him, right?"

"I don't know," I confessed quietly as I leaned against the kitchen counter to wipe the exhaustion from my eyes. "But I'm certainly not going to call up a social worker to see if it's fine. No way in hell am I doing anything that might land him in the foster care system."