Autumn Wish (6 page)

Be smart and leave the room
.

Right. Her fingers closed around the handle of the baby carrier.

“Ready?”

She yanked her hand back, choking on a shriek as Sam swung his legs off the bed while sitting up.

“Stop doing that!”

He chuckled as he stood, then strode from the room with Ella’s carrier in his hand. “Why? It’s kinda fun.”

Chapter 6

Sam checked his list as he pushed the cart down to the end of the medicine aisle in the grocery store. Only three more items to go. Ella was making up for having been awake most of the previous night by sleeping much of the evening, which made the shopping much easier.

Man, he couldn’t believe it, but he was having fun. Sure, he was still exhausted, getting
really
hungry, had spent a boatload of money even with all the items from Nikki’s sister, and despite all that, he’d had more fun since Nikki came home than he’d had in months.

He liked her. Liked that she hadn’t freaked out last night when he’d accidentally caught her in her bra. Liked that she’d texted him to check on them during the day. Liked that she’d acted like a momma bear as she ejected Sherri from his home. Liked that she wasn’t fussy, and looked beautiful after taking barely fifteen minutes to wash her hair and go.
Really
liked that she’d taken the time to check him out on the bed.

Strange, but he realized her help with Ella was just a bonus. Wonder what she’d say if he actually asked her out for a date? Dinner. A movie. Something other than shopping for baby stuff.

Having reached the children’s medicines, he shifted his gaze to his sleeping niece. Hmm...dating was probably out of the question for a while, or at least until he got a handle on his new reality. Besides, Nikki was his neighbor, a girl-next-door kind of girl who a guy settled down with. Not one of those couple-nights-of-fun-pass-the-time kind of girl he was used to in his life.

With a sigh that sounded suspiciously like regret even to his ears, he found the fever reducer written on the list and grabbed a box to drop it into the cart.

The sound of Nikki’s voice caught his attention. Yeah, damn it, he liked her voice, too. He eased back on his heel to glance past the end of the aisle without lifting his head. She’d split up from him to pick up some groceries for herself, and now stood at the end of the next aisle over in front of a tall, dark-haired man and a brunette.

Something about the situation seemed off, and it went beyond the man’s expensive tailored suit and the woman’s sexy dress that seemed all wrong for a trip to the grocery store. Nikki’s voice had a defensive edge, and from what he could see of her expression in profile, she appeared upset.

None of them noticed him, so he shifted his gaze from her, to the man, to the woman clinging to the guy’s arm. While she wasn’t quite smiling, the upward tilt of her lips bordered on smug. In fact, both of them seemed a little...self-satisfied, though in different ways.

“Joe, we should go,” the brunette urged. “There’s no need to make this harder on her than it already is.”

“In a minute.” He didn’t move his gaze from Nikki’s face. “Nicole, I’m really sorry—”

“Oh, God,
please
don’t,” she interrupted with a harsh laugh, lifting her chin as she sniffed. “This isn’t for you, it’s allergies. I haven’t cried over you since the day after you left, so don’t flatter yourself.”

The guy was her ex? Sounded like he’d dumped her, and damn, she
was
crying over him, but trying to save face. Joe’s expression of concerned pity as he stood in front of her with a new girlfriend pissed Sam off. He transferred his gaze to the rows of pharmaceuticals in front of him.

“I don’t remember you having allergies,” Joe said to Nikki in the other aisle.

There
—allergy medicine.

Leaning back on his heel once more, Sam raised his voice. “Hey, Nik? Did you want the regular Claritin, or the generic brand?”

She whipped her head around, those shimmering eyes wide with surprise. “Um, generic’s fine.”

“Got it.”

He grabbed a box, tossed it over Ella’s carrier, and pushed the cart around the corner. Nikki didn’t resist when he took her overloaded hand-basket and slid it onto the bottom rack of the cart. “All right, then, looks like we’re set. How about—” He straightened and pretended to suddenly notice the other two. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“It’s okay.” Nikki eased closer to him and checked the baby carrier. “How’s Ella doing?”

“Still out like a light.”

“Good. I’ve got everything I need, too. Let’s go.”

“Excuse me.” Joe’s raised voice demanded their attention. “Who are you?”

“Sam.”

The man’s gaze made a quick circuit from Sam, to the baby, to Nikki, and back to Sam. Speculation glittered in his eyes, and when Sam didn’t volunteer any further information, his jaw tightened.

“I’m Joe,” he stated, extending his hand.

Good for you
. Much as he wanted to, Sam couldn’t very well ignore the introduction. He gripped tight for a brief shake, then pulled away before Joe could turn it into a pissing contest. Sam offered a pointed greeting to the sophisticated brunette and found out her name was Tanya.

Returning his full attention to Nikki, he lifted his hand to span the small of her back. “Did you decide where you’d like to go to dinner yet?”

To her credit, she only hesitated one beat. “How about Mexican?”

“I’m good with whatever you want, you know that, babe.”

He grinned at her quick upward glance, and bent to press a kiss to her lips. Her eyes widened in the split second before contact, then her lashes swept down. Sam lingered for an extra heartbeat, rubbing his hand up her back to her shoulder, wishing he could pull her close and savor the moment. Her lips were warm, soft, and as intriguing as the small catch in her breath.

But now was not the time to explore possibilities, and his desires were not the point of this kiss, so he eased back. She lowered her chin before he could gauge her reaction. Without a goodbye for her ex, she grabbed the cart and bee-lined for the front of the store. Sam started after her, then turned back as if he’d just remembered the other two. Joe’s stunned expression made his impulse move that much sweeter.

“Sorry, but we’ve got to go. We’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, you will.”

Sam ignored Joe’s muttered response and followed Nikki to the checkout stations. She glanced over as she started to unload her groceries from the basket underneath.

“Thank you.”

Okay, good, she’s not mad
.

“You’re welcome.” He leaned closer and caught the scent of her almond-scented shampoo. Because he liked teasing her, he asked, “Would you like another?”

Pink tinged her cheeks and the item in her hands tumbled onto the conveyor belt. “I meant about with Joe.”

“I know.” Yep, he definitely liked teasing her.

She smiled as he began to help, but it faded as her gaze shifted past him. His quick glance spotted the over-dressed couple coming toward the checkouts. They didn’t say anything, but Sam noticed Joe watching the two of them, so he made sure to keep close to Nikki. He even got her to laugh as they hurried to his truck through the cold drizzle that’d been falling all day.

“So, seriously now, where would you like to eat?” he asked after they’d closed the cab doors.

“We don’t have to stop anywhere. I can make something at home.”

“Dinner is the least I can do after everything you’ve done for me.”

“Sam, I know you were just trying to help in there. I really don’t expect you to take me to dinner,” she insisted.

“The thing is, you might be able to make something at home, but my fridge is empty. And I’m starving. And I have all this stuff to unpack when I get home and Ella will probably wake up as soon as—”

Laughing, she held up her hand. “Okay, I get it. You can buy me dinner.”

“Great. Where’s a good Mexican place?”

She directed him to a little place called El Azteca on the west side of Green Bay. Ella woke up and began fussing as they pulled into the parking lot. In the interest of saving time, Nikki handled the diaper change, and then he fed the bottle while they waited for their food. Thanks to the practice he’d had on his own earlier that day, he only felt slightly self-conscious handling the squirming infant. Once she had the bottle clutched in her little hands, though, she got right down to business sucking down her dinner.

“You’re doing great with her.”

“I’ve got a good teacher.”

Nikki smiled at the compliment, but seemed contemplative as their food arrived and they began to eat. He wondered if she was thinking about what had happened in the grocery store. If she was, he hoped it was his kiss, but the odds were she was thinking about her ex. Was she still carrying a torch for the guy?

That
he didn’t like. Not one bit, but he also hadn’t liked those tears in her eyes.

Joe, on the other hand, hadn’t seemed to like seeing her with someone else, even as another woman clung to his arm. Of course, Sam had no clue why they’d broken up, but maybe seeing Nikki with him made the guy realize the grass wasn’t always greener on the other side of the fence.

The idea lingered in his mind as they drove home and unloaded the truck. When she followed him outside for a second armload of his purchases, he reluctantly offered her a way out. “I appreciate the help, but you’ve done way more than enough.”

“I don’t mind,” she argued, reaching to take the bag containing the new baby monitor. “Unless you’ve had enough of me?”

She clearly tried to pass the comment off as a joke, but he heard a vulnerable undercurrent in her words, and she didn’t lower her gaze quick enough to hide a glint of insecurity. It made him dislike Joe even more.

“I haven’t had near enough,” he stated, his voice low. Her quick upward glance prompted him to add in a less serious voice, “I just don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage.”

“I don’t.”

They spent the next two hours setting up a nursery for Ella in one of his two spare bedrooms upstairs. Once the last diaper was unpacked, and the clothes put away in an extra dresser they’d carried over from her house, everything was set except for the crib.

Her brother-in-law had offered to bring it over, but after all they’d given him already, he didn’t want to put the guy out in the nasty weather. Plus, Nikki assured him the playpen he’d bought would suffice for tonight, so Sam had insisted he’d pick up the crib tomorrow.

Once back downstairs, he expected her to hand Ella over and say goodnight. Instead, she laid her in the playpen, and they stood together watching the little girl smiling up at them as she kicked her feet. He couldn’t believe how important she’d become to him in a mere twenty-four hours.

And Nikki, too. They got along like they’d been friends for years, yet working side by side with her, he’d kept biting his tongue to keep from asking about her past. God, it was bugging the hell out of him, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to analyze why.

Well, he knew part of the reason why—he wanted to kiss her again. A real kiss, with give and take, touching and tasting. Anticipation sped up his pulse when she straightened after giving Ella a rattle.

He couldn’t take it anymore. Slipping his hands into his front pockets, he did his best to sound casual. “So…this Joe guy…were you two together long?”

Her shoulders stiffened, and her fingers tightened on the edge of the playpen. “About a year.”

Hm. More than few dates.
Coupled with the tears at the grocery store, it didn’t bode well for him. “Do you mind me asking what happened?”

She shrugged, her gaze still fixed on Ella. “We didn’t want the same things.”

“Such as?”

“Marriage. Kids. I wanted them, he didn’t, so he left.”

Ah ha. That sounded familiar. It was the exact reason he’d avoided serious relationships since he was seventeen. He’d always believed he was better off on his own, and putting himself in the position to be left again was never an option. Hell, up until he’d decided to buy this house, he’d never even stayed in one place long enough to worry about what would happen if he met someone he could imagine spending more than a couple nights with.

Yet, when he’d least expected it, he found himself responsible for a baby and watching a woman who made the idea of a family something appealing enough to consider.

“How long has it been since he left?”

“About a month.”

He made himself ask the next question, though he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer. “Do you still have feelings for him?”

After a slight hesitation, she turned to face him. “The night he told me it was over, I thought he was going to propose. I would’ve said yes.”

Sam hunched his shoulders, keeping his hands in his pockets when he really wanted to reach out and hug her. “I can see where it would hurt that he moved on so fast.”

“That’s the difference between being prepared to spend the rest of your life with someone and not.” She moved away, snagging the diaper bag to carry it into the kitchen. Sam joined her, leaning back against the counter as she removed the empty bottle and rinsed it.

“If it’s any consolation, he didn’t look too pleased at the idea of the two of us together. I got the impression he was a little bit jealous.”

“Joe never got jealous.”

“Did you look at his face?”

“No.”

“He was jealous.”

She paused, her head tilted. “You think so?

Yeah, he thought so. He just wished she didn’t sound so hopeful about the possibility. Like she’d take the guy back if he decided to hop over to her side of the fence again. The thought made him want to growl in disapproval.

Sam opened the dishwasher to set the empty bottle inside and an idea popped into his head. His initial response was to shove the ridiculous notion away. Then he thought better of it and decided,
what the hell, why not?
She’d probably say no, and if she didn’t, it would give him a reason to get close to her besides Ella. He liked that possibility because if she said yes, he could make his own case in the process.