Getting Off Easy

by Erin Nicholas

  Harper watched Sophie walking away, and she felt her heart swell. She might not know how to buy a car seat for a baby, but she knew how to encourage a young woman who was just getting started going after her passion and looking at her future.

  Maybe she had a little nurturing in her after all.

  “Well, you can’t take him to the ER if you don’t want cops involved.”

  James turned to look at Logan and Caleb. The two men were lounging on opposite ends of his sofa while he paced the living room with the baby. Who was no longer sleeping peacefully. He also wasn’t wet. Or hungry. He was just yelling for no apparent reason.

  It made James want Harper. Which was funny, actually. Last night had, in no way, convinced him that she was a baby person. In fact, for the most part, she’d seemed befuddled and had been following his lead. Which had given him a shot of confidence and was stupidly hot. She was easily the most capable woman he’d ever been attracted to, yet last night she’d needed his guidance. He liked that. He liked feeling like they were more on the same level. He found her sophistication hot as hell. He also found her vulnerability hot as hell.

  He was pretty well enamored with her all around. And he was fine with that.

  But right now, as the baby cried, and his friends acted amused and lifted not one finger to help, he wished she was here, for sure.

  “I definitely don’t want the cops involved.” He’d already explained that. Whoever left the baby with him had chosen James. He was willing to give her a chance to explain herself before he said anything to the cops

  He looked down at the baby.

  Except that he wasn’t going to say anything to the cops. He had this handled.

  The baby gave a particularly loud squawk and he amended the thought to he had this handled with Harper’s help.

  “Should I just call a pediatrician’s office?” he asked.

  Logan shook his head. “How are you going to do that? You don’t know his birthday. You know nothing about his actual birth. You don’t know anything about his mother—even if you knew who she was. Which you don’t.”

  Caleb chuckled.

  Yeah, his friends were very entertained by the fact he now had a baby that presumably belonged to him, and that he was having trouble narrowing down who the mother could possibly be.

  He thought he had it down to two.

  He’d need help tracking down one who had been a tourist, and he thought maybe she was from Wisconsin. Or Wyoming. And it didn’t really matter because both were pretty big states.

  The other was the sister of one of his firefighter brothers. It wasn’t a fellow firefighter he was particularly friendly with, and James was sure that would be even more the case once Ethan found out James had showed his sister some true Southern hospitality. But he’d been hoping Caleb might poke around and find out if Ethan’s sister had been expecting in the past few months. Of course, Caleb had pointed out that she probably wouldn’t have just left the baby on a doorstep if her family knew she was pregnant. The baby’s sudden absence would have been hard to explain. Which had reminded James that Ethan’s sister had been in town from Oklahoma. Ethan might not have known she was pregnant. Possibly. Maybe. But she was last on James’s list. And not just because he wanted to avoid any hint to Ethan that he’d slept with his sister. But mostly because he wanted to avoid any hint to Ethan that he’d slept with his sister.

  Logan and Caleb thought it was all hilarious. But they could also empathize. They’d both had plenty of those kinds of flings. And Logan had, actually, knocked up a one-night stand. He was now happily married to her and the father of her two girls from her first marriage and their own baby girl. But it had all started with one hot night that wasn’t supposed to be more than that.

  “That’s going to be a problem,” James agreed.

  “Yeah, that will raise a ton of red flags,” Caleb said. “You can’t just waltz in there with a baby you know nothing about. You don’t even know his name.”

  James looked down. No, he didn’t. “What if he doesn’t have a name?”

  “He needs a name,” Logan agreed.

  “He looks like a Nathan to me,” Caleb said.

  James frowned. “We’re not just going to slap some name on him.”

  Caleb lifted a brow. “We’re not?”

  “Names should mean something.” Was he channeling Harper? Yep. But if they were going to give the baby a name, then she should be a part of it.

  And she’d probably kill him if she wasn’t.

  And then change the name anyway.

  The dog’s name meant something. Harper had even insisted on knowing the actual type of olive tree he’d brought over. She would definitely want to be a part of this. And he wanted her to be.

  “Anyway, back to the ER thing,” James said, shifting the baby so he was propped up against his left shoulder.

  “I guess you can waltz in with the baby,” Caleb said. “But you probably won’t waltz back out with him. Even if you try to tell them he’s yours, they’ll want proof before they let you take him back home with you, if you can’t give them any other information. A doctor’s office will be the same way. You’ll be throwing red flags up all over the place.”

  “So what should I do? I want to be sure he’s okay. He seems all right from what I can tell, but I’d like to have a professional opinion. And at some point he’ll need to go to the doctor for something.”

  Just then there was a knock on the door. James frowned and started in that direction, but Caleb stretched to his feet and beat James there. He opened the door for his girlfriend, Lexi.

  “Hey, guys,” she said with a big smile as Caleb pulled her in and kissed the top of her head.

  James’s eyes widened. “Hey.”

  Her attention zeroed in on the baby, and she came toward James, holding her arms out. “Let’s see him.”

  “You told Lexi?” James asked, surrendering the unhappy infant to her.

  She started cooing and patting him, bouncing him as she walked.

  Caleb shrugged. “Of course.”

  “I didn’t really think that I’d let everyone in on this until—”

  “She’s a nurse,” Caleb reminded him. “And she’s a mom. She can give you some good advice and info here. Plus she knows a pediatrician who will trust her to vouch for you and keep things on the down low until we figure it all out.”

  James let all protests die with that. In fact, he felt a rush of relief. “Right. Okay.”

  Lexi smiled at him. “Also, I need to swab you.”

  “You need to what?”

  “DNA test.”

  “What is going on?”

  They all swung to face the doorway, where Harper had just come in. She was staring at everyone, looking confused and a little irritated.

  “Hey, Professor,” James said, stupidly happy to see her.

  “What is going on?” she repeated. Her eyes were on Lexi and the baby. She looked worried and wary. “Who are these people?”

  She’d met Caleb only once, when he’d stopped by to grab some tools from James. She had no idea who these people were, and the possessiveness in her eyes when she looked at Lexi made James want to smile. He didn’t know if it was because of the baby or because of him, but Harper felt like there was another woman on her turf. He liked that.

  “This is Lexi, Caleb’s…” James looked at his friend. “Girlfriend?”

  “For sure,” Caleb said, his eyes on Lexi.

  Lexi gave him a smile that was hot and sweet at the same time. “Yeah.”

  “This is Caleb,” James said with a slight eye roll. Caleb and Lexi were a fantastic couple. In fact, they’d been a fantastic couple long before either of them admitted they even were a couple.

  James was envious of them. But as he looked at Harper, he realized that if he knew she was as crazy about him as Lexi was about Caleb, he’d be strutting around and making sure everyone knew it, too.

  “And this is Logan,” he said, gesturing to the other
man. “A couple of the dads that you suggested I call,” he reminded her.

  Harper came into the room, still frowning. “I see.” Her eyes were still on Lexi. “Seems like even with all the advice, things aren’t exactly smooth sailing.”

  James stifled a grin. Yeah, she was feeling possessive.

  Even though Lexi was younger than Harper by probably a good eight years, she got a knowing look on her face. She came over to Harper and offered the baby to her. “He’s fussy.”

  Harper took him without the look of trepidation in her eyes that had seemed constant last night. She cuddled him up against her neck, talking to him softly and rocking him back and forth, even as she continued to study Lexi.

  James went hard instantly.

  Damn.

  And damn if the baby didn’t start to settle down as Harper stroked his back.

  Lexi gave her a smile. “I’m a registered nurse,” she said. “I work in the ER, but I feel confident in doing an exam. If that’s okay with you. Then if there’s anything to be concerned about, I have some resources we can tap into.”

  Harper looked over at James.

  “We were just discussing that it will seem strange, and likely problematic, for the ER staff or a physician if we don’t know more about him when we take him in.”

  “Well, we can’t just never take him to the doctor,” Harper said. “How old do you think he is?” she asked Lexi.

  “Maybe a couple weeks?” Lexi said. “Not much over that. He’s not smiling yet, but James said he’s sleeping eight hours at night and eating well. He’s turning his head, but not lifting it. And he’s maybe seven or eight pounds? We need to weigh him.” She shrugged. “It’s hard to pinpoint, of course. Babies are different, just like adults are. But he isn’t more than a month.”

  Harper frowned. “But if we don’t know how old he is, it’s hard to know if he’s on track. The sleeping thing, for instance. We won’t know if that’s normal or something to be concerned about.”

  “He seems fine otherwise,” Lexi said. “But yes. It would be better if we knew when he was born, if he was premature at all. We need to monitor his weight and growth from here on for sure, though.”

  “What we need is to get the information from his mother,” Harper said matter-of-factly. She looked at James. “You need to track this woman down. And have her sign over custody to you if she wants nothing to do with him. But you need to do everything you can to find her. We might want to think about hiring a private investigator. Then if you can’t find her, we need to get an attorney and look into what comes next, if there’s a way for us to become foster parents, or something. But we need to figure this out. Now.”

  James couldn’t help it. He grinned. That firm, no-nonsense tone of voice was the Harper he knew. Plus her continued use of “we” made him happier than he would have expected. Not to mention that she had not suggested they turn the baby over to social services in the event they couldn’t find his mother. She didn’t seem to be entertaining the idea that he should be with anyone other than them, no matter whether they found his mom or not. He might be the one who could step in and handle things like blow-out diapers, but Harper was an intelligent, extremely capable woman who could help him with the other details. Like attorneys. And math homework. When it was time for that.

  He really wanted her to still be around when it was time for that.

  “We do,” he agreed. He looked from her big brown eyes to the baby who was now sucking on his fist with his nose nuzzled against Harper’s neck.

  Yeah, he’d be pretty content right in that spot, too.

  “What do you need to examine him?” Harper asked Lexi, breaking eye contact with James after a long moment.

  “Let’s get some towels and blankets to pad the table,” Lexi said, shifting into professional gear. “Do you have a scale?” she asked James.

  “A scale?” he repeated.

  “To weigh things?” Lexi asked.

  “I do,” Harper said.

  “You’ll have to just step on it without him and then with him, and we’ll use the difference,” Lexi said.

  Harper nodded and turned to head for her apartment. James started after her.

  “Need help?”

  Harper turned to him. “To step on a scale?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “Yeah.”

  “No.”

  “I can… come anyway.”

  “I will not be telling you what I weigh, James,” Harper said.

  He let his gaze travel over her blatantly. “Not too much for me to lift up against the wall, Professor.”

  Instead of blushing or even shooting a glance in the direction of their audience, she said, “Good thing, since I’ve got some shower-wall ideas after last night.” Then she looked at the doorknob.

  Grinning, James twisted it and pulled the door open for her.

  “Stay here,” she told him as she headed across the landing.

  He was still grinning when he turned back to his friends.

  “She can totally handle you, can’t she?” Lexi asked, her hand on her hip, looking pleased and amused.

  “Totally,” James agreed.

  “Shower-wall ideas after last night?” Logan asked.

  “You’re a charming son of a bitch,” James told him. “But I managed to make a woman want me even when there were poopy baby diapers involved.”

  Caleb laughed, but Lexi shrugged. “I wanted Caleb the minute he offered to take a look at my piece-of-crap car, but the first time I really wanted to tear my clothes off was when I walked in and found him cleaning up poop.”

  Caleb looked surprised. “Really?”

  “Really. Jack had been fussy all day and clearly wasn’t feeling well, but you insisted I bring him over anyway and go to class. I came to your house that evening, and you had him and Shay in the tub and were cleaning up the floor. For about five seconds I wondered what would happen if I just took my clothes off.”

  Caleb’s eyes darkened. “I would have…” He paused then blew out a breath. “Dammit. I wouldn’t have done anything because we couldn’t have left the kids.”

  She nodded. “Probably ninety percent of the reason I didn’t do it.”

  “The other ten percent?” Caleb asked, his voice a little gruff.

  “I didn’t know how you felt.”

  Caleb didn’t say anything. His jaw tightened. Then he nodded. “I didn’t know how I felt either.”

  Lexi gave him a soft smile. “I know.”

  James turned wide eyes to Logan. Logan sighed. “Yes, they’re always like this now.”

  James saw Caleb a lot at the station but didn’t see him and Lexi together that much. Logan saw them as a couple more often because of the support group they all attended. It had started as a single-parent support group and was where Lexi and Caleb had met. Dana, Logan’s wife, and Logan’s brother, Gabe, had met there as well, and Logan had come to some of the family events with his brother and nephew. The group continued to meet but had evolved into more of a group of friends who still shared their parenting struggles but also supported each other through everything else life threw their way—the good and the bad.

  “That was a long time ago,” Caleb said, clearly still thinking about what Lexi had said.

  She laughed softly. “Yeah.”

  “You’ve been wanting to take your clothes off for me for that long?”

  “For sure.”

  Caleb cleared his throat and looked at James. “Sometimes they just cry. For no reason. It’s okay. No one will die. You can’t really hold them too much, no matter what some people say. Sleep whenever you can. No one really knows what they’re doing, so don’t worry too much.”

  “What are you doing?” James asked.

  “Giving you all my advice now. Lexi and I are heading out as soon as she’s done with the exam.”

  Logan laughed. “Kids are with Bea?”

  “Yep,” Caleb said simply.

  “Bea?” James asked.

  “Bea i
s from the support group,” Lexi explained, her cheeks a little pink. “She takes the kids when neither of us can.”

  Great. So Caleb and Lexi were heading home to have sex. He didn’t need to know that.

  “So, Lexi,” James said, changing the subject. “If he’s two or three weeks old, that means he was conceived nine months ago, right?”

  Lexi shook her head. “It’s not that easy. A typical pregnancy is forty weeks, actually. He doesn’t show signs of being premature—not that we can tell that for sure—but assuming he wasn’t, then he could have been born anywhere from maybe three weeks early to two weeks late.”

  “So thirty-eight to forty-three weeks ago?” Caleb asked, doing the calculation quickly.

  She nodded. “Yeah.”

  James rolled his neck. “Okay, so that’s… what? A five-week window?”

  “Give or take,” Lexi agreed.

  James sighed. “Give or take how much?”

  “Another week or two on either side.”

  Dammit.

  “How many women is that?” Logan asked with a grin.

  James shook his head. He didn’t know for sure. It’s not like he penciled the women in on a planner or even on his phone. He met women. He flirted. If he wanted to sleep with them and they wanted to sleep with him and the opportunity arose, they did. But sometimes those things didn’t all line up.

  “I don’t know. Two? Three?” He couldn’t be sure. But that was probably a decent guess.

  “That’s it?” Logan gave him a fake shocked look.

  “I actually sleep alone almost every night,” James said. “And I do see women more than once. Sometimes.” James wasn’t grinning. This was going to be a pain in the ass. He was going to have to actually get a calendar out and try to remember what he’d been doing and where ten months ago.

  “So not a woman a week?” Logan asked.

  James shrugged. “Between the station and the club, I get busy.” He also had a lot of family in the area, and he did several projects here and there during his time off. He loved women, but he had other interests, too. “At least we can narrow it down to that window of time.” James shoved a hand through his hair. “If only Harper had moved in ten months ago.”