Autumn Wish (3 page)

“What? What did I do?”

“Don’t yell, it scares her. Talk to her. Softly. And rock her.
Gently
.”

He stared at the crying baby, but couldn’t think of a thing to say.
Rock her.
That he could do. Stiff-legged, he moved from side to side. The intensity of the crying lowered a couple notches. The sound of his front door opening brought him to an abrupt halt, and he whipped his head up to see the messenger leaving.

“Nikki—
Nicole
.”

She closed the door on his panicked appeal. And why wouldn’t she? The infant in his arms wailed louder, and it wasn’t
her
problem. He desperately resumed the rocking motion that had worked a moment ago. His eardrums vibrated, and his head was beginning to pound in time with his racing heart. A glance out the window caught his neighbor’s front door closing.

Oh, my God, what the hell am I going to do?

He dropped his gaze to his niece’s face.

“Hi.”

Too loud.
Softly.

“Hey, there...little girl,” he whispered. “It’s okay. Don’t cry...Ella.
Please,
don’t cry.”

He started a circuit around the living room, striving to obtain a comfortable rhythm, repeating the same plea about fifty more times as he wracked his brain for a solution. He’d only been in Pulaski for about three months, and while he liked the town well enough to buy a house for the first time in his life, he didn’t have any friends here.

Sure, he joked around with the guys at work, and some of them talked about their wives and kids, but that didn’t mean he was about to call one of them for help with the baby his sister had dumped on him.

His boss, Carter, the one guy he did feel comfortable enough to talk to, was separated from his wife and had no kids. Which left Sam exactly at square one.

A desperate glance at the muted football game told him it’d only been one quarter, but it felt like hours before the baby’s cries subsided to sniffles. Her eyes were red, cheeks wet, and clear boogers coated her upper lip. On his way to the bathroom for a wad of toilet paper, she lifted those little fists and wiped snot all over her face.

Gross.

In the bathroom, he grabbed a washcloth from the linen closet and wet it one-handed. Then he wiped her face, which started her screaming again. Moments later, her little body tensed, and a gurgling eruption sounded from the area where his hand supported her bottom.

His hand grew considerably warmer. And
wet
.

When the smell hit his nostrils and comprehension struck, it took about two seconds for his gag reflex to kick in.

Chapter 3

Nikki tossed the leftover piece of her pizza in the garbage as guilt continued to gnaw at her. She’d had to get out of Sam’s house before she never wanted to let that precious little girl go. And yeah, he’d pissed her off with the family services comment, but the expression of sheer terror on his face as she walked out replayed in her mind about every forty-five seconds—pretty much every time he made a circuit of his living room and passed the window.

Yeah, she was spying on purpose this time. From behind the curtain in her dark dining room, with her conscience for company.

Poor guy. He’d admitted to knowing nothing about babies, and she’d just left him, high and dry.

Worse, poor
Ella.
She needed her as much as Sam did.

Thirty-seven minutes after Nikki left, she stood on his porch again. She didn’t see him through the window, and when she didn’t hear Ella crying, she almost returned to her own place for good. Her neighbor’s family issues weren’t her problem.

Then a faint cry came through the door and reactivated her guilt. She thought about ringing the bell, but didn’t want to add to the baby’s distress. Discovering he hadn’t locked the door behind her earlier, she let herself in and followed the noise. Ella’s crying stopped once Nikki entered the hall, and she reached the bathroom in time to see Sam turn his head to the side as he gagged.

A putrid smell reached her nose, and she bit back a smile. “You going to make it?”

He whipped his head around at the sound of her voice. “Oh, thank
God.
No—take her. I’m gonna throw up.”

Ella ended up in her arms, and Nikki immediately discovered it was more than the smell freaking him out. The blanket was warm and squishy, and liquid soaked into her sleeve and the front of her sweater. Sam backed up, his horrified gaze dropping to his own wet shirt.

“You’ll get used to it...” She trailed off as he turned to dry-heave into the sink.

He reached up to strip his T-shirt off over his head. After tossing it into the tub, he yanked on the handle of the sink faucet to run the water full blast. Three full pumps of the soap dispenser seemed a bit overboard, but he slathered it all over his hands and arm before rinsing clean. Then he grabbed the wadded wash cloth sitting on the edge of the sink to swipe across his stomach.

“Ew,” he groaned. Grimacing, he threw the cloth into the tub with his shirt, then wet a new one and resumed scrubbing.

Nikki’s gaze fixed on his chest and abs.
Oh, good Lord!
He was attractive enough with a shirt on and stubble-covered jaw. All that bare skin and those jeans riding low on his lean hips shot the sexy to a whole ’nother level. Just the thought of reaching out to test the firmness of those slabs of defined muscles made her mouth go bone dry. Whatever his job was with those tools of his, physical labor had done one heck of a number on his body.

His gaze rose to hers as he reached to shut off the water, and she experienced the full effect of his striking brown eyes in the bright bathroom light. The gold flecks around his pupil gave them a bronze tone, set off all the more by dark lashes and dark brown hair. The word
beautiful
came to mind, but she doubted he’d appreciate that description.

“Get used to
this
?” he responded to her earlier comment. “I don’t think so.”

Ella squirmed and began to fuss again. Gathering her wits and reining in her hormones, Nikki shifted the baby in her arms. “Happens to me at least once a day at work, though I don’t usually end up wearing it.”

“Where the hell do you work?”

“At a daycare. Now, grab a couple towels and two wash cloths, and bring them to the dining room table. Your niece needs a bath and a clean diaper.”

In the dining room, she moved aside the boxes on the table with one hand until there was room for the towel. She had him fold it in half and spread it on the table, then laid the baby on the padded surface.

“There you go. Strip her down while I get a bowl of warm water.”

“Me?”

“Yes,
you
. I came back to give you a few lessons, not do it for you.”

She headed for the kitchen and started searching through his cupboards before he could argue. The emptiness surprised her, even though he’d only moved in a week ago. From what she’d seen in the dining room, the few boxes he had left to unpack were not marked
kitchen,
and there were no others stacked around the sparse, neat house.

Instead of a bowl, she had to settle for a big metal pot. By the time she filled and carried it over, he’d managed to remove Ella’s one-piece sleeper, leaving her in just her dirty, overflowing diaper. Nikki hid a smile when he turned his head to the side, eyes scrunched tight as his Adam’s apple jerked up and down with a hard swallow.

Once she retrieved wipes, a diaper, and clean clothes from the bag his sister had left, she joined him at the table. “Tomorrow you’ll want to pick up a mat for the bathtub, but for tonight, this’ll have to do.”

“Shouldn’t we be doing this in the tub now? I’m never going to be able to eat at this table again.”

She laughed. “You’ll be fine. We’re out here to give you plenty of room to work. Now, first thing you want to do is check the water temperature. Either dip your elbow in, or drip some on the inside of your wrist. If it’s too hot for you, it’s too hot for Ella. And on the flip side, you don’t want it too cool because it will give her the chills.”

“Didn’t you already check it?”

“Yes, but you should, too.”

He leaned over and submerged his elbow. “Feels fine.”

“Good. Now, undo the diaper and use the front to wipe her as much as you can.”

“Ah…” Sam turned a pleading look her way. “Can’t you just show me?”

Nikki shook her head. “Hands on learning is the best way.”

He started to reach for the baby, then stopped and flipped his palms up. “My hands are really rough.”

Her skin tingled at the thought of those rough hands touching
her
. She wouldn’t mind one bit.

Stop it!

“You’re wiping with the diaper, not your hands. You’ll be fine.”

With a resigned sigh, he did as instructed. His gag reflex seemed to have been so overwhelmed, it’d now completely given up. Then she realized he was holding his breath.

“You’re gonna want to breathe at some point,” she teased.

He released his breath with a sheepish smile. Damn, the man was hot even while wiping poop off a baby’s butt.

She took the diaper and continued with her directions. “Pick her up under the arms, spreading your fingers so they support the base of her neck, then lift and dip her into the pot so I can rinse her.”

With Ella’s bottom half in the water, Nikki moved in close to rinse off the worst of the poop. Her shoulder rested against Sam’s bare one, and she couldn’t help but notice the heat emanating from his body. Beneath the baby smells, she caught a trace of a man who’d worked all day in the fresh outdoors.

Awareness fluttered deep in her belly, and when her fingers brushed against the tanned skin of his arms as she worked, her pulse began a steady increase. The desire to lean closer to his chest for a deep inhale was quickly squelched when she stepped back to get rid of the soiled towel and spread out the clean one.

“You can lay her back down while I get some clean rinse water.” Sam lifted the baby from the water and she grabbed the pot. “Cover her with the other half of the towel so she doesn’t get cold,” she advised over her shoulder on her way to the bathroom to flush the dirty water.

While filling the pot with fresh water, she noticed his soiled shirt and the washcloth in the tub, and draped them over the stain on her own shirtsleeve. Then she snagged another towel, his antibacterial hand soap, and returned to the dining room. She started to tell him to make sure he bought baby shampoo tomorrow, but decided it would be easier for both of them if she made him a list.

“This is not how I imagined I’d be spending my evening,” he grumbled a few minutes later as she watched him fumble through her bathing instructions. “I was supposed to be watching the game.”

“I know it was a shock, but someday you’ll realize this was more fun.”

He glanced over at her as if she’d lost her mind. “I think the smell has gone to your head.”

His
smell certainly had.

“You’ll see,” she predicted with complete confidence. “Besides, you’re getting a crash course here. It’s not always like this.”

“This isn’t normal?” he asked, an obvious hopeful note in his voice.

“No. The poor little angel was probably stressed over the past couple hours and had an upset stomach.”

“Thank
God
. I was worried when you said it happens to you every day.”

She chuckled as she gathered up the dirty laundry. “Almost every day, but there’s also seven babies in the infant room.”

He looked up without lifting his head, his eyebrows rising to disappear behind the tousled hair covering his forehead. “You take care of seven of them by yourself?”

“There’s two of us in there, so it’s not so bad.”

“Still, that’s three and a half apiece.”

His voice and headshake conveyed his amazement as he returned his attention to the table. His big, calloused hands were very gentle with Ella, and though he clearly didn’t know anything about babies, his instincts seemed to be kicking in pretty good. With some time and a little guidance, she bet he’d be a great dad.

No,
uncle
. Then again, if his sister didn’t return, Ella would probably end up calling him
daddy
. She’d love to see his face when that happened.

Oh, good Lord, what was she thinking? They’d just met!

She held up the dirty towel and shirt to distract herself again. “Do you have a wash machine I can put this stuff in? While it’s not normal, it probably will happen again, and you’re going to want to soak everything right away so nothing stains.”

“Yeah. The laundry room is through the kitchen to the right.”

Leaving him to finish washing Ella, she went and loaded the machine. Force of habit had her opening the dryer while the washer filled with water. A load of Sam’s clothes reminded her
not my house,
but as she began to close it again, she noticed a couple of his T-shirts inside. With a viable option in front of her, the last thing she wanted to do was go back out by him with stinky poop stains all over her clothes.

A glance toward the open doorway assured her he was busy with the baby, so she stripped off her pink sweater and threw it in with the other wash. Then she leaned to grab one of his T-shirts and straightened at the exact moment Sam stepped into the laundry room.

Chapter 4

“I was...” Sam completely lost his words when he caught sight of Nikki’s bra and the smooth expanse of creamy skin leading down to her low-rise jeans.

Damn
, her breasts filled out those pink satin cups to perfection. Her alluring almond scent had wreaked havoc on his senses while she’d stood so close to wash the baby. The effect had doubled when her fingers brushed his skin as she worked. Seeing all that bare skin, he wanted to touch and taste.

She lifted the T-shirt she’d pulled from his dryer to her chest. Realizing he was blatantly staring, he forced his gaze back to her face. A blush bloomed in her cheeks, but before he could turn away and apologize, she shifted her attention past his shoulder.