Call Her Mine

by Melissa Foster

  He wished she could go with him. Everything was better when they were together. He hooked his arm around her neck, pulling her against his chest. He’d done that so often, it felt like her spot, and damn, she felt great in it. “Thanks, Rels.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I couldn’t do this without you.”

  He was an idiot for having waited so long to make his move, as he’d realized a few weeks ago. He’d decided he was done with innuendos, done pussyfooting around the woman he wanted, and he’d convinced himself to risk their friendship for a chance at forever. He’d planned the whole thing out, prepared to make his move at Bridgette and Bodhi’s wedding reception. Like a fool, he’d had a romantic notion of professing his feelings to her as they slow danced beneath the stars, and since most of his family would be tied up after the wedding, it was the perfect time to finally become a couple. Bridgette and Bodhi would be on their honeymoon, his parents were leaving for a trip to a resort, and Willow and Zane would be caring for Louie and his enormous dog, Dahlia. Talia and Derek had their hands full with home renovations and caring for Derek’s father, Jonah, who had Alzheimer’s, which left only Piper to distract Aurelia. But Aurelia had shut him down two weeks before the wedding when she’d bought the fucking bookstore and moved to Harmony Pointe in search of a fresh start. She’d said she was starting a new chapter in her life. She’d not only friend-zoned him; she’d tried to put him firmly in the past-life album, only he refused to let her go.

  He clung to their friendship, because if she didn’t want more, at least he’d have that.

  Now she gazed up at him with trusting eyes, as if he knew exactly what to get at the store and wouldn’t let either her or Baby B down, and he berated himself for the millionth time for letting his chance slip away—because if that baby girl was his, it just might be too late.

  CHAPTER THREE

  SHOPPING FOR A baby was nothing like shopping for an adult. There were too many choices and too many cute things Ben simply couldn’t pass up. Even if Baby B wasn’t his, she’d already had a tough go of things, and every little girl deserved to have pretty outfits, soft, cozy blankets, and a few toys. As he stepped inside with his arms loaded up with purchases, he called out, “Honey, I’m home,” and kicked the door closed behind him—sparking a bloodcurdling wail from the living room.

  Aw, shit.

  “Ben! You woke her up,” Aurelia scolded as she picked up the crying baby and held her against her shoulder. “Oh, she stinks. What’d you do, buy out the store?”

  “Sorry, but you try getting out of a baby store without spending a thousand dollars. It’s not possible.” He dropped the bags, trying to figure out what the brownish stuff was in the basket. He looked at the baby, and the same watery mess stained the back of her outfit. “What is that?”

  He stepped closer, and the pungent odor of poop hit him like a gust of rancid wind. He gagged, pointing to the baby’s back and trying to speak at the same time. But all that came out was dry heaves.

  “What?” Aurelia lifted her hand, and the mess was on her forearm, her shirt, and the front of the baby’s legs. “Gross! Help me!” She held the wailing baby away from her body as if it were a ticking time bomb.

  Ben pulled off his shirt, answering Aurelia’s perplexed expression with, “I’m not getting that shit on my shirt.” He reached for the baby, holding his breath.

  She shoved the baby into his hands, and he held her away from his body, trying to get his dry heaves under control. Aurelia tore her shirt over her head—drawing Ben’s attention and immediately remedying his gags. He had a screaming baby in his hands and his eyes were riveted to Aurelia’s breasts, which were practically popping out of a sexy lace bra.

  “What are you doing, Rels? This isn’t exactly the best time to try to turn me on.”

  She shot him a death glare, using the shirt to wipe her arms and hands. “It’s all over me!”

  “You keep doing that and you’ll have more than poop all over you,” he warned, earning another glare. “Get the scissors from the kitchen and cut her clothes off.”

  Aurelia darted into the kitchen. She returned seconds later and quickly and carefully cut off the baby’s poop-covered clothes. Then she ran to the kitchen to throw them away.

  Ben looked past the screaming baby at Aurelia as she ran back into the room. “Take her. I don’t want to drop her.”

  “Let me get something to wrap her in so we can change her.” She looked around the living room.

  “Use my shirt!”

  “But you just said you didn’t want to get sh—”

  “Do it!”

  She grabbed his shirt and wrapped it around the baby, who was still screaming bloody murder.

  He remembered how the baby had quieted when she’d fed her and said, “I’ll get a bottle.”

  “Ben! Focus,” she said, bouncing the baby in her arms. “She doesn’t need to eat. She has poop all over her. She needs to be changed.”

  “Okay. I got diapers.” He dug through the bags, found the diapers and wipes, and held them up like prizes. “Got them!”

  Aurelia knelt to lay the baby on the floor.

  “Wait. That’s too hard. She’ll hate it.” He grabbed the blankets from the basket, holding his breath as he folded the dirty parts inside and then laid them on the floor. “Put her on that.”

  Aurelia placed her on the blankets, and B’s eyes slammed shut with a louder, shriller wail. Her tiny arms shot straight up, hands fisted, and her cry tapered to silence, the same frightening way it had earlier. Ben’s heart stopped. The hell with the poop. He scooped B into his arms and put her on his chest as another cry sounded. Thank God.

  “Ben! What are you doing?”

  “Change her like this. I don’t want her to stop breathing, and she’s so unhappy. Just do it, please.”

  “Then take her in the kitchen in case this stuff drips.”

  He followed her into the kitchen, holding B against his hammering heart, floored that his skyrocketing pulse wasn’t due solely to Aurelia traipsing around in a skimpy bra.

  As Aurelia peeled off the diaper, Ben pressed his lips to the baby’s head and tried to soothe her. “It’s okay. We’re going to get that nasty diaper off you. Shh, sweetheart. We’ve got you. You’re okay.” As he said the words, he knew they were true. They did have her, and he’d make damn sure she was okay.

  “Can you stop bouncing her?” Aurelia asked as she tossed the diaper into the trash.

  “I didn’t know I was.”

  He stood stock-still, and Aurelia used what seemed like dozens of baby wipes to clean her up.

  “Holding her isn’t so hard,” he said. “As long as you support her head. She’s like a floppy doll. How old are babies before they can hold their heads up?” Her tiny fingers clung to him, and his protective urges surged. He pressed his lips to her head again. “We have to watch out for her, Rels. She’s so small, and she has no one else.”

  He glanced at Aurelia and realized she was staring at him with a soft, unfamiliar gaze. In the next second the unmistakable look of desire darkened her beautiful eyes. The temperature around them spiked, and she quickly shifted her eyes away. Holy hell. He wanted more of that heat, that connection.

  Testing the Ben-and-Aurelia waters, he said, “If I’d known baby poop was a turn-on, I’d have rented a baby.”

  “Shut up. All guys look hotter with their strong arms holding a tiny baby.”

  “Good to know you like my arms. You should see my—”

  She silenced him with another glare, and he chuckled.

  “Sorry. I’m making a mental note . . . ‘How to get Aurelia naked. Step one, rent a baby. Step two, make its diaper explode.’”

  “No wonder you’re still single. Turn her around so I can get the front.” As he shifted the baby, she said, “We should give her a bath. Did you buy a baby bath?”

  “A what?”

  “Never mind.” She lifted the baby’s legs as she cleaned her. “There are at least six bags out there
. What did you buy?”

  “I don’t know. Things I thought she needed,” he said as she tossed the wipes in the trash. He turned the baby toward him again, cradling her bottom and her head as he gently placed her on his chest and shoulder. He realized B had stopped crying and whispered, “Listen. She’s not crying.”

  He kissed B’s head again, holding her tiny body against him. Aurelia was looking at him that way again, like he wasn’t her friend Ben but something more. He wanted to pull her into his arms, too, but he was afraid he might lose his grip on the baby. She went to the sink and washed her hands, but not before he noticed a pink flush creeping up her cheeks.

  “We did it, Rels. We’ve always made a great team.”

  She busied herself washing her hands as she said, “How about we team our way over to the sink for a bath?”

  “You want to put her in the sink?” He went to her, and when she turned around, he was right there. He didn’t step back, unwilling to put space between them. Not after that spark he’d seen in her eyes. The flush on her cheeks deepened, probably because she was shirtless and her breast was brushing against the back of his hand, but he’d like to think it was because they were in this crazy situation together, and it was hard not to think of each other in a whole different way.

  “What are you doing?” she asked a little breathlessly. “You have a better idea than the sink?”

  “I’ve got about a hundred better ideas, but none of them are about the baby,” came out before he could stop it. She breathed harder, her breasts brushing temptingly against his skin with every inhalation.

  “You’re not using that child as a wingman.” She stepped around him and escaped into his laundry room, returning a moment later wearing one of his clean T-shirts—and looking just as hot as she did in her bra.

  Didn’t she know what she wore didn’t matter?

  “We have to bathe her before taking her to see Vic.” She put the stopper in the sink and filled it with water.

  “You can’t just stick her in the sink.”

  She began opening cabinets. “Where’s that big popcorn bowl?”

  “Are you insane? You’re not putting B in a bowl.” He stalked out to the living room, retrieved a thin throw pillow, and dropped it in the sink, pressing it beneath the water. “We’ll lay her on that.”

  “You realize you just ruined your pillow.”

  “I don’t care. I’ll buy a hundred more if I need them.” He lowered the baby from his shoulder and said, “Look at her, Rels. She doesn’t know if we’re good or bad, rich or poor. All she knows is we’re the ones she’s with right now. Whether she’s mine or not, I want to make sure that while she’s with us, she’s comfortable, happy, and safe.” He looked at Aurelia and said, “Like you.”

  Aurelia didn’t know what was worse, that Ben was finally looking at her the way she’d always dreamed he might or that he might be doing it just so she wouldn’t leave him alone with the baby. His words, Like you, kept coming back to her, hitting her each time with a new dose of warmth. But he could have meant that as a friend. Lord knew neither one of them was thinking straight right now. They were both so afraid of doing something wrong as they bathed the baby that they hovered over her, their sides mashed together so they could reach her. Water splashed over the edge of the sink because of the pillow, but it actually worked pretty well, keeping the baby’s head out of the water and making it easier for them to bathe her.

  When they were done, they dressed her in a long-sleeve pink-and-white-striped onesie and a pair of the tiniest pink leggings Aurelia had ever seen, both of which Ben had bought. He’d even remembered to buy socks. She’d known he would come through for the baby.

  It took them only twenty-five minutes to figure out the right way to install the car seat and to get her in it properly, which was a miracle considering Ben questioned Aurelia’s every move and insisted on reading the directions three times. He drove so slowly to Vic’s office she didn’t think they’d ever arrive.

  They parked around back and used the rear entrance because rumors in Sweetwater traveled faster than spit in the wind. Ben refused to carry the baby in the carrier part of the car seat. It might break. I’d rather she was in my arms.

  As he carried her in, he said, “I feel like I’m making a drug deal.”

  Vic was coming down the hall wearing scrubs the same royal-blue color as his eyes. He had short honey-brown hair and ever-present scruff. The handsome physician always looked like he’d just walked off the set of Grey’s Anatomy, even when he was jogging through town.

  He looked at them like he was holding back a joke and pointed to his office as he said, “Go on in. I’ll just be another minute or two.”

  They waited in his office, and Aurelia felt like she could finally breathe. Her heart had been racing since they’d found the baby, and over the last few hours Ben had made it beat even harder. She stole a glance at him, looking lovingly down at the baby cradled in his right arm. B looked even smaller against his broad, athletic body. She was whimpering a little, and he lifted her to his shoulder and rubbed her back, looking nothing like the man who had acted like the baby might burn him a few hours ago.

  “Shh, peanut,” he said softly. “You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

  Peanut? That language was hardly fair. What woman wouldn’t turn to mush seeing a big man like Ben Dalton get all squishy and lovey over a baby like that? He kissed the baby’s temple the same way he kissed hers, and her heart melted every single time.

  “Seems like you’re getting pretty attached.”

  Ben’s brow wrinkled. “Why? Because I’m trying to keep her happy?”

  “Peanut?”

  “Look at her. She’s as small as a peanut.” The baby started crying, and he stood up and paced with her. “Trust me, I’m not getting attached. The last thing I want is a baby that needs constant attention just to stay alive. I’m on the cusp of one of the biggest deals of my life. Barrister Hotels is an international conglomerate of boutique hotels. It requires my full concentration, and once the deal goes through, I’ll be traveling internationally for the next several months. I’m nowhere near ready for this type of commitment.”

  Aurelia knew all of that, and it was one of the reasons she’d finally forced herself to move away. But seeing him with B and hearing him talk so affectionately, she’d wondered if he’d momentarily lost sight of all of that. It was silly of her to think Ben Businessman Dalton would put anything before business in the long run.

  “I’m just doing what anyone else would do in this situation,” he said. The baby cried louder. “Shh. It’s okay.” He touched his lips to the baby’s head again, and then he looked at Aurelia and said, “I’m trying to keep my shit together until we figure out the bottom line.”

  The door opened and Vic breezed in, closing the door behind him as he said, “Good to see you, Ben, Aurelia. Aurelia, I was sorry to hear about your grandfather passing away. How’s your grandmother holding up?”

  “Thank you. She’s doing well,” she said, wincing as the baby’s cries escalated.

  “I see Ben’s still adept at making girls cry.”

  Ben gave him a disapproving, serious look and said, “You have no idea how loud this baby can cry. Thanks for seeing us so quickly.”

  “And covertly,” Vic reminded him. “How long has she been crying like that?”

  “Just a few minutes,” Aurelia said. “She cried earlier, but she’d had a diaper blowout.”

  “And she cries so hard it seems like she stops breathing,” Ben said.

  “But she doesn’t,” Aurelia explained. “Her cries taper off and she goes silent for a second or two, and then she wails again.”

  “That’s common.” Vic put his hands on his hips, brows knitted. “When’s the last time she ate?”

  Ben looked at Aurelia, like she had the answers.

  “A few hours ago,” Aurelia said. “Actually, she cried then, too. It was shortly after we found her.”

  “She’s
probably hungry,” Vic said. “When they’re this young, they eat every few hours. You’d be smart to carry a bottle and diapers with you at all times.” His gaze ran over Ben’s tousled hair, thicker-than-usual scruff, and damp T-shirt.

  When he glanced at Aurelia, she realized she was still wearing Ben’s shirt, which hung halfway down her thighs, and the front was wet from bathing the baby. She picked up the hem of the shirt and tied it in a knot at her hip. “We haven’t showered. The morning’s been a little crazy.” The second the words left her mouth, she regretted them. We haven’t showered sounded very much like they’d slept together. She quickly added, “We fell asleep watching a movie last night. As friends, not . . .”

  Ben chuckled.

  “No judgment here,” Vic said. “Most new parents look disheveled and sleep deprived for the first couple months.”

  “We’re not her parents,” Ben reminded him.

  “We’ll see about paternity soon enough,” Vic said. “Where’s your baby bag?”

  “Oh shoot. I forgot it,” she said, and looked at Ben. The guilt in his eyes was palpable, but she should have remembered. He’d had his hands full with the baby.

  “No worries. You’ve only had a few hours with a baby. You’ll learn these things.” He pressed a button on his phone and spoke into it. “Britt, can you bring me a new-parent pack and a bottle of formula, please?”

  When he was done, Ben said, “Hopefully we won’t need to learn too many baby rules. This is so screwed up.”

  “There are worse things in life than being handed a beautiful baby girl. She’s a lucky one,” Vic said. “Her mother cared enough to give her to you, her supposed father. Thousands of infants suffer far worse fates.”

  Ben’s shoulders rounded, and his hands spread over the head and back of the baby, like he was trying to protect her from those worse fates.

  There was a knock at the door, and Vic blocked whoever it was from coming into the room as he retrieved the things he’d asked for. He thanked her and closed the door. Then he handed a bottle of formula to Ben.