My One and Only(19)
She dealt with life and death. He dealt with nuts and bolts. She was educated and refined. He was countrified and clumsy. Ironically enough, the only thing Cooper really had going for him was a total lack of resemblance to the guys she typically dated.
“I know what you’re doing,” Cooper said, preferring to keep his thoughts on Haleigh to himself. “Married guys trying to recruit one more into the fold.” He tucked his napkin into his shirt collar. “You’re not getting me, buddy. Go hunt up some other poor sucker.”
Spencer gave Caleb a bored look. “Twenty bucks says he’s married within a year.”
With a nod, Caleb said, “I give him six months.” He grinned. “The big ones always fall the hardest.”
“Keep it up, fellas.” Cooper picked up a taco. “I’ll prove you both wrong.”
Chapter 6
Haleigh needed coffee, and she needed it now.
After her conscience-cleansing visit with Cooper she’d returned home exhausted and ready to sleep for possibly the first time in days. Too bad the universe had other ideas. A late-night call pulled her back to the hospital shortly after two for a difficult delivery that ended with a C-section at four in the morning.
Though she was home by six, adrenaline had kept her going for another forty-five minutes before she’d crashed just as the sun peeked through her curtains. But her peaceful sleep had been invaded by a very vivid dream. One in which a bare-chested mechanic with devastating green eyes and a mouthwatering body put Haleigh through a highly pleasurable workout.
The sensations had been so real that she’d awoken with a gasp, sweaty, aching, and wanting more.
“My brain hates me,” she mumbled, shoving tangled waves away from her face. “Stupid libido.”
Ten minutes later, she used the kitchen counter for support while waiting for Abby’s Keurig machine to do its magic. The smell of caffeine helped open her eyes, but it was the piercing cry that brought Haleigh to full alert.
“What the—”
Rounding the corner into the hallway, she met Jessi coming out of her room with Emma in her arms. “I don’t know what’s wrong,” she said. “I’ve changed her and tried to feed her, but she won’t latch on. She did it great before we left the hospital, but now it’s like she can’t figure it out.” Wide brown eyes bored into Haleigh as if she had all the answers. “I’m doing it wrong, aren’t I? I’m doing something wrong!”
Nursing wasn’t really Haleigh’s territory and, oddly enough considering her line of work, neither were babies. That’s what nurses and pediatricians were for. Haleigh dealt with the mothers, got the babies out, and then handed them off to a person qualified to handle them.
“We can figure this out,” she said, hoping beyond reason that she could find a solution despite her brain feeling like mush. “The hospital sent home bottles, right? Those little premade ones they give to newborns?”
Jessi vigorously shook her head. “The nurse was adamant that I breastfeed. It’s the best thing for her.”
“Not feeding her at all would be worse.” Haleigh charged into the baby’s room, half looking for bottles and half trying to outrun the headache-inducing screams. “Here we go,” she said, finding the bottles in a box beneath the changing table. “Try this.”
The young mother hesitated. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure,” Haleigh answered. “I’m a doctor.”
Not a pediatrician, but Jessi didn’t need to think about that.
“Right. But don’t we need to warm it up? Do that test on the wrist thing?”
If Jessi already knew so much, why was she asking Haleigh? Taking the bottle back, she said, “Let’s run it under hot water. In the meantime, have you tried a pacifier?”
“Of course I have,” Jessi snapped. So Haleigh wasn’t the only person who needed a nap.
Without another word, Haleigh marched into the kitchen with Jessi close behind—heaven forbid she spare anyone else’s eardrums—and flipped on the hot water. “How long should it take?” she asked.
Jessi stopped her shushing long enough to say, “You’re the doctor. Shouldn’t you know?”
“My experience with babies happens while they’re still inside their mothers. Warming bottles doesn’t come up much at that point in the process.”
“You’re more clueless than I am,” Jessi accused. “Here.” She rolled Emma into Haleigh’s arms. “Let me do it.”
Shocked to find the angry bundle in her care, Haleigh followed her instincts and began swaying from side to side. Desperate to stop the screaming, she slid a knuckle between the baby’s quivering lips. Emma quieted instantly.