Be My Hero(43)

"Then . . . " I shook my head, confused and hurt. "Why?"

He opened his mouth. "I . . . I like you," he admitted as if it were some kind of great confession.

"Okay," I said slowly. "Wouldn't that mean you should feel more comfortable sharing those kinds of facts with me, then?"

He lifted his hand, as if to tell me he was having trouble explaining.  "I . . . I mean, if I wasn't tied down to her right now . . . if I  wasn't . . . " He groaned and shoved his fingers through his hair again.  "I would want to be more than just your friend."

"Oh." I gulped. Oh, wow.

He watched me intently, regret in his dark brown eyes. "I can't annul  the marriage. She's an awful mother. I feel sick about even admitting  that out loud, but it's true, and I feel even worse every time I have to  leave Julian alone with her. I never know if she's going to skip  feeding him or not change his diaper or just leave him in his swing all  day. That's why I'm itching to get home right now. What if . . .  anything could be happening. If I stop this marriage, I will have no  rights to him whatsoever. I basically don't now, but it's better than  nothing." His eyes reddened around the edges as he pushed off the bed  and cleared his throat. "I need to get home."

He was at the door before I collected my scattered thoughts enough to say, "Pick."

He stopped but kept his back to me, his head bowed.

"I understand," I said softly.

He glanced at me, looking almost sick with regret. Then his gaze  flickered longingly over Skylar. "Take care of yourself, Tinker Bell."

And then he was gone.





Chapter 17


EVA


On Sunday evening, Reese and I gave Skylar her first sponge bath at the  kitchen table. We were oohing and ahhing over every tiny finger and toe  when Mason got a call on his cell phone.

"Shit," he muttered to the caller. "Yeah, I can take on tomorrow night.  I'm already working Wednesday and Thursday. Can you handle Friday? Good.  I promised Reese a date night."

When he hung up and rubbed his tired face, Reese straightened to shoot him a curious glance. "What's going on?"

Mason glanced uneasily at me before saying, "That was Noel. Pick's  babysitter has chicken pox, or her kids do or . . . someone. I don't  know. They're all contagious for the next two weeks, so he has to stay  home with his boy until he finds someone he can trust to watch him."

I frowned. "What about his wife?"

It was her son. Why was he looking for babysitters? And why wasn't she taking off from her own job to watch him?

"She, uh, she left," Mason mumbled, ducking his chin as he answered.

"What?" I plopped down into at chair at the table and gaped.

He blew out a breath. "Yeah. He came home from the picnic at our house to find her gone."

"Oh my God," Reese gasped. "And she left her baby there? Alone?"

I felt sick to my stomach. Pick had tried more than once to call home  that day with no answer. Julian had probably been alone the entire time.  "I wonder how long he was there by himself. Jesus, he's only four  months old."

Mason shook his head. "I have no idea how long he was alone. And I'm  pretty sure Pick doesn't even want to think about it. Gamble said he  sounded pretty upset."

"I bet." I set my hand over my heart, and checked on my own kid, still wrapped up in her towel as she tried to kick it off.

I felt like crap. Pick had been here, talking to me, caring for me,  while his stepson was being abandoned by his own mother. He probably  never wanted to see me again.

Even as I had that thought, though, I blurted, "I'll babysit."

I'd make this up to him. Somehow.



PICK



I was still in a state of shock, anger, and heartbreak when someone  knocked on my door early Monday morning. Even though Tris could  definitely improve on her mothering skills, I hadn't thought she would  actually do this. It still haunted me to remember how I'd found Fighter  screaming in his swing, beating his fists in the air, his face red with  anguish as I'd come through the doorway and found him home alone.         

     



 

So many things could've happened to him. Just thinking about them made  me physically sick to my stomach. My hands were shaking from fear. If I  ever saw Tristy again, I was honestly afraid of what I might do to her.  But how could she do this to him? Her own child.

With my fingers curled into fists as I strode to the door, I half-hoped  it wasn't Tris because I was scared of what I'd say, and I half-hoped it  was her so I could say exactly what I wanted to. I'd been loath to put  Fighter down these past few days, so he was slung over my shoulder as he  napped.

I opened the door and jerked back in surprise when Reese grinned up at me. She held out her hand. "Cell phone please."

"Wha . . . ?" Confused, I wrinkled my brow and dug my phone out of my  back pocket, without thought. "What're you doing here?" I was so  dumbstruck, I handed the phone over, not even asking her what she  planned to do with it.

"Pass-code," she ordered.

With a sigh, I took it from her and got her into the phone before handing it back.

"Thank you." Focusing her attention on the screen, she punched some  numbers into the phonebook. "Here's my cell. Call me when you're done  with her, and I'll come pick her up immediately. Oh, and please take  care of my girl. She's not only my favorite cousin, she's my best  friend, too."

I took the phone when she handed it back to me. Shaking my head and not catching on at all, I said, "Huh?"

That's when a panting Eva came up behind her, lugging Skylar in a huge-ass car seat with a diaper bag thrown over her shoulder.

Reese was instantly forgotten. I blinked repeatedly to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing. "Tink?"

She smiled, and my entire chest lit up with warmth.

"Mason said you needed a babysitter." She gave a breathless explanation. "So . . . here I am."

"You . . . ?" I shook my head in confusion, even though she'd just made it perfectly clear why she was here. "What?"

This couldn't happen, because if she stepped into my home, I'd never  want to leave. Eva used the car seat as a cattle prod, plowing forward  and forcing me to shift aside. Yep, I was going to have to call in and  quit my job. Both jobs. I could become a professional couch potato and  just drool every time she walked past. This was my new life goal.

"Okay, bye, E. Love ya." From behind me, someone in the hallway made  kissy sounds. I have no idea who it was. No one else in my universe  currently existed, except maybe Julian and Skylar.

But Eva leaned past me to smile at that other, annoying person, and blow her a kiss. "Love you, too. Thanks for the ride."

Her ride must've departed soon thereafter because Eva arched me an amused glance. "Are you going to shut the door?"

"Huh?"

"Go take a shower and get ready for work, Patrick." Her voice was dry, yet amused. "You don't want to be late."

"Work?" I echoed. I thought we'd already decided my new job was to ogle her.

Turning away, she set Skylar's carrier on the floor and slung this fancy  looking purse thing with Skylar's name stitched across the side next to  it. Then she went to unbuckle her baby. The entire time she was bent  over, my gaze was fixated on her ass. And the only reason I could  believe she'd been pregnant not quite a month ago was because I'd seen  it with my own eyes.

Instead of taking her baby from the seat, she straightened and caught me  staring. "Goodness gracious. You can check out my ass later. It's not  going anywhere. Now scoot." She reached forward and began to ease  Fighter out of my arms.

It was a testament of how crazy I was about her that I didn't snap her  fingers off for trying to touch him. But after Saturday, I had some  major attachment issues, yet another reason I couldn't go to work today.  Leaving Julian just felt wrong. I really needed to sit there and hold  him while I ogled the babysitter.

And then Tinker Bell made it even worse by immediately cooing as soon as  she got him in her arms. "Oh my God. He's so cute. Look at those  perfect cheekbones. He's going to be a model someday."

Julian stirred and opened his eyes. I tensed, ready to snag him back,  because Eva was a stranger and would probably scare him. But he merely  blinked at her a few times.

She grinned and kissed him on the nose. "Hey there, handsome. You're  even more adorable when you open those big chocolate brown eyes. Yes,  you are. My name is Eva. Some people call me E." She slid a grin my way.  "Or Tinker Bell." Turning her attention back to my boy, she kept  talking to him, explaining how he was going to hang out with her and  Skylar today and they were going to have loads of fun.

I just kept staring. Tinker Bell was talking to him; Tristy would claim  he couldn't respond, except that's exactly what he did. He responded by  breaking out one his famous grins and making her melt.