The Billionaire's Unexpected Baby(35)

"I'll get her," she said.

Brooks mumbled something half-hearted about getting up, but she ignored  him. It had been a very long night. The baby, who usually could run for  perfect textbook baby of the year, had decided she'd had enough of  behaving and refused to sleep unless being held, fed, or generally  coddled. Not that Leah minded. Her little princess had captured her  heart from the moment she'd entered the world and pampering her was  generally a pleasure. Doing so on just a few hours sleep … not as much  fun.

For Brooks … yeah, even less fun. He'd been surprisingly game to help out  with everything baby-related. Though he typically needed so much  reassuring it was easier to do it herself. And despite his assurances,  she knew they were cramping his lifestyle. After he'd left the hospital  right after the baby's birth, Leah hadn't been at all sure they'd be  returning to his apartment. But he'd been there when she'd woken. And  when it had been discharge time, he'd gathered them up and brought them  home.

Still, things couldn't go on as they were. They were going to have to  figure everything out. Time was up. The peanut had arrived and she  needed a stable home. Somewhere. And Leah grew less and less sure that  that somewhere should be with Brooks. It had been bad enough having a  pregnant woman under his roof, but with the baby there now, and Marcus  dropping by almost every day …

Leah sighed and scooped up the baby, taking her out to the couch so she  could feed her without disturbing Brooks more than necessary.

The sun shone brightly and Leah blinked sleepily at the clock. Ten in  the morning. She stifled a yawn and got the baby settled into nursing.  Their hours were completely messed up.

She looked down at the baby. "You need to learn the difference between  day and night, my little love," she said. She ran a hand over the baby's  soft downy hair. "And we really need to find you a name. Lucy … are you a  Lucy?"

The baby didn't react.

"Emma? Charlotte? We could call you Charlie for short."

The baby kept right on nursing.

"I still say you go with something unusual. Make her stand out in the  crowd. Like … Chadwick," Brooks said, rubbing a hand over his face as he  stumbled in the direction of the coffee pot.

Leah chuckled. "I'm not calling her Chadwick."

"You could go full-on celebrity and call her Rainbow Unicorn Dust. Or Poppyseed Cornbread."

"Oh, those are lovely," she said, trying not to laugh too hard or she'd  dislodge little Unnamed One. "I'm a terrible mother, aren't I? I mean,  she's been here almost a week and I still haven't named her. What kind  of mother can't name her own child?"

Brooks carried his coffee over to her and leaned down to kiss her head.  "The kind who loves her child so much she wants to wait until she has  the perfect name. Take your time. Her Majesty isn't going anywhere."

Leah's laugh turned to a gasp when Brooks turned to navigate around the  couch but got tangled up in the straps of the diaper bag lying near the  end. His body went one way, his legs stayed with the diaper bag, and in a  move truly worthy of a hero movie, he twisted in time to keep his hot  coffee from splattering Leah and the baby, tossing it instead over his  other shoulder toward the pale white wall behind him. He went down hard.  Let out a grunt of distressed air. And then lay perfectly still.       

   





"Ow."

Leah put the baby in the bassinet they kept near the couch and hurried to him.

"Are you okay?"

He blinked up at her. "That depends on your definition of okay."

Her lips twitched. "Anything broken?"

He frowned. "Not that I'm aware of."

"Need help up?"

He shook his head. The movement brought his newly coffee-splattered  wall, and the painting centered on it that now sported a new brown  splotch, to his attention.

Leah shrugged. "I kind of like it. It's like a big abstract mural or  something with the coffee adding a new dimension to the painting that  carries right off the canvas."

He snorted. "Yeah. I'm sure the new design will make an original Jackson Pollock worth even more."

Leah's mouth dropped open. "Oh my gosh, is it … "

He waved her away. "Don't worry about it. Hopefully it can be cleaned or  restored. The more pressing problem is finding a place for all this  stuff," he said, sitting up and rolling his shoulders. "Or get rid of  most of it. Surely something that little," he said, pointing in the  direction of the baby, "doesn't really need this much."

Leah glanced around. He wasn't wrong about the stuff everywhere. The  apartment had been redecorated in wall-to-wall baby gear. Brooks's once  seductive bachelor pad had turned into Baby Central and no matter what  he said, she could tell he wasn't all that thrilled with the changes.  But he was wrong about whether she needed it all. There were quite a few  things she didn't have that she'd like to but hadn't gotten because  there was nowhere to put it.

And it wasn't because his apartment wasn't big enough. The place was  huge. But an industrial loft, no matter how jazzed up, wasn't a great  spot for a baby. At least not if they were going to keep the pool table  and poker table and bar and gaming center and all the other  non-baby-friendly crap he had and refused to get rid of. They were  really going to have to bite the bullet and discuss their arrangements.  If they were going to make them permanent. Or try to. Or if they were  going to start looking for another place. A place where the baby stuff  could go in the baby's room instead of being strewn haphazardly about  where anyone could trip and break their neck.

She wouldn't even think about when the baby became mobile. The entire  apartment would transform into a death trap-if they were even there that  long.

The baby was born. Technically, their little charade should be coming to  an end. Brooks won the marriage pool. He'd stuck it out through Baby  Day, but they hadn't discussed what happened next, and she wasn't sure  what he wanted. He hadn't asked her to go.

But he hadn't asked her to stay, either.

The buzzer sounded and Leah jumped and ran for the baby, who immediately  began to wail. Brooks hauled himself up from the floor and hurried to  answer the intercom.

She bounced the baby who hiccupped a few times and subsided back into sleep.

"It's Marcus," he said, opening the door. "I'll be in the other room."

He disappeared into the wine room and closed the door before Leah had a chance to say anything.

She took a deep breath, trying to force the hurt and frustration back  into its dark little corner. Marcus and Brooks had called a sort of  truce for the birth of the baby, but the moment they'd come home, the  truce had ended. Now things were deteriorating day by day. It had only  been a week and things had gone downhill to the point that Brooks  wouldn't stay in the same room as Marcus if at all possible. How the  hell were they supposed to make a functional family unit for the baby if  the men couldn't even be in the same room?

Marcus came in and looked around, relaxing a little when he saw it was only her.

"How are you lovely ladies this morning?" he asked, handing her an iced  tea that she gratefully accepted and nearly downed in a couple large  sips. Nursing was thirsty work.

"We're good," she said, though her gaze flickered to the wine room.

"No Brooks this morning?"

Leah gave him a tight smile. "He's home, just … busy."       

   





Marcus sighed and sat down. "I wish you'd let me hire a nanny. Even part  time. It would give you a little break, a little extra help. I'd be  here more, but with these mergers getting ready to go through … "

"I totally understand. And it's sweet of you, really. But I'm fine. I promise. We just haven't found our groove yet."

"Well, if you change your mind, I've got a handful of excellent choices for you to look at. Say the word."

"I will," she said. She really did appreciate the offer, but there was  no need to hire a nanny, at least not until she went back to work. Until  then, she'd manage on her own.

"Okay, I've got paperwork for insurance and the trust fund I've set up  for little Miss Perfect here. But we really have to settle on a name  because eventually we'll need it for the legal documents. Right now we  can go with offspring, I suppose, but it's not ideal."

Leah spaced out a little as Marcus droned on about very important  details she really needed to be paying attention to. But every time he'd  make a statement she'd think about how Brooks would react and how she  could minimize the antagonism between them. Frankly, the whole damn  thing was exhausting.

"Marcus," she said, holding out a hand to interrupt him. "All this is  great, really. But do you mind if we continue later on? The baby just  woke up and I haven't showered yet and-"

"Not a problem. We can do this whenever. Sign these two real quick," he  said, laying a couple documents in front of her. "These will get her  insurance going and gives you access to a few funds I'm setting up."