Call Her Mine

by Melissa Foster

  “You’ve said that three times already. It’s fine. I’m sure Echo knows you were frazzled because B was upset, and I was only embarrassed for a second.”

  “Still. I don’t lose my cool often, and in the last week you’ve seen me totally out of my element more than once. I don’t like that, and I don’t want you to think I’m the kind of guy who will go off over little things.”

  She smiled up at him and said, “Afraid it’s going to knock your cool quotient down a notch?”

  “Rels, I’m serious. I shouldn’t have gotten so mad.”

  “Okay, well, I’ve known you for years, and I’m pretty sure if you were the kind of guy who lost his mind over meaningless crap, I’d know it by now. Here’s my honest-to-goodness thoughts on what happened. At first I was a little embarrassed, because you were so panicked. But then I realized two things. B needs a father who cares enough to make things right, and”—she flattened her hands against his chest and said—“that panicked, fatherly side of you? That was serious boyfriend porn. You were being protective of your baby girl, and you spoke up for all single dads in the area. That’s awesome, Benny boy. I think I fell a little harder for you again today.”

  He touched his forehead to hers and said, “What did I do to deserve you?”

  “Heck if I know.” She smiled with the tease, and then she went up on her toes, meeting his delicious lips in a decadent kiss.

  “If I’m hearing you right,” he said as he picked up the shopping bags, “all I have to do to turn you on is stand up for my little girl?”

  She began pushing the stroller as they walked toward the furniture store. “All you have to do is look at me, Ben. Get with the program.”

  He chuckled and stole another kiss.

  They made their way to the furniture store and found the nursery section, which was stocked with cribs, dressers, changing tables, bookcases, and more in varying colors of paint and types of wood.

  “Whoa,” Ben said, looking over the sea of pastel-colored walls and furniture.

  “Out of your element again?” Aurelia asked as she peeked at B.

  “Slightly.” He noticed a woman with short gray hair hurrying over. He smiled at the stout, friendly-faced woman, who looked to be in her fifties.

  “Hello, there. I’m Peggy.” She clasped her hands together, bending down to get a closer look at B, and said, “Oh, look at your darling girl. Are you shopping for this little princess?”

  “Yes. We’re looking for nursery furniture,” Ben said.

  “Well, you’ve come to the right place,” Peggy said cheerily. “Did you have anything specific in mind?”

  Ben looked at Aurelia, who shrugged, and then he said, “We want the best of everything.”

  Aurelia’s eyes widened.

  “Do you have a color scheme in mind?” Peggy asked.

  Again he deferred to Aurelia, who said, “I kind of like white.”

  “A perfect choice. Follow me.”

  As they followed Peggy, Aurelia whispered, “Ben, she’s seeing dollar signs. You don’t need to spend a fortune.”

  “It’s only money, and my girl deserves the best.”

  “Okay, Daddy Dalton. Bang that chest,” she joked.

  After Peggy explained the difference between convertible, mini, and standard cribs and gave them more information than they could possibly process about baby furniture, she left Aurelia and Ben alone to look around. Ben watched Aurelia checking price tags and running her hands over the furniture. It was easy to tell which pieces she liked and which she didn’t by the look in her eyes. It was just as easy to tell which she thought were too expensive, as she peeked at the price tags, then dropped them like hot potatoes, moving away from them like she might get burned.

  “Ben, this place is outrageously expensive,” she whispered. “We can probably do better online.”

  “I know, but we’re here, and I’d like to get her nursery set up. I want to get B nice things, babe. You know I can afford it.”

  “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should,” she said. “But you’re a smart businessman. You know that.”

  He kissed her tenderly and said, “I love you, and I love how fiscally careful you are. But I also saw the way you were looking at that white nursery set with the inlaid roses, matching dresser, and bookshelf.”

  “No way, Ben. It’s almost the same as that one over there.” She pointed across the room at another nursery set. “But it’s twice the price, and the only difference I saw was that the expensive one has curved sides. She’s a baby, Ben. She’s not going to notice curved sides.”

  “I get that, but we found her in a basket, Aurelia, and every time I think of her being left on my porch, abandoned, I just want to give her the world.”

  “I know you do,” she said softly, taking his hands in hers. “But, Ben, you grew up with a big family who didn’t always have money for shiny new things. You know that love matters most, not material things. I know you have more money than God himself, but you got that way by being smart, not by overcompensating for other people’s faults. Overcompensate with your time, with your love and affection, and sock the money away in her college fund or something.”

  “Relsy, you never fail to make sense.” He pressed his smiling lips to hers and said, “Maybe you’re right, because if we have a big brood like my parents did, we’ll need a lot of college money.”

  “Wait . . . What? Big brood? We’re not even married.”

  “Yet . . .” He grabbed the bags and pushed the stroller toward the less expensive furniture, leaving her to pick her jaw up off the floor. Oh yeah, baby. Get used to that idea.

  After ordering furniture, which would be delivered to Ben’s house Friday, they headed back toward Aurelia’s apartment. When they reached Main Street, Aurelia spotted Fletch and his Bernese mountain dog, Molly, coming down the street. Fletch was a professor at Beckwith University and a good friend of Ben’s.

  Fletch grinned mischievously, eyeing the stroller with his vibrant baby blues. “I’d heard a rumor about the newest Dalton family member.” He embraced Ben, giving him a manly slap on the back. “Congrats, man.” Then he hugged Aurelia and said, “And I hear this big lug finally wrangled you onto his arm.”

  “That he did,” Aurelia said as she crouched to love up Molly.

  “So, all I have to do to get a beautiful woman is find a baby?” Fletch asked as he peered into the stroller. “She’s a cutie, but I think I can do without the midnight feedings.”

  “No shit,” Ben said as Molly came to his side, tail wagging, tongue hanging out, in search of attention. As he petted her, he said, “It’s exhausting, but worth it. Speaking of women, are you seeing anyone?”

  “Don’t even go there, dude. Your mom keeps giving me bottles of body wash. I’ve been giving them away for faculty birthdays, and I scrub my hands with Brillo after touching them, just in case.”

  They all laughed.

  “We’re heading into the park. Want to join us?” Fletch waved across the street toward Chiffon Park, where people milled about on acres of lush lawns and winding trails.

  There was a hill on the other side of the park, with an old farmhouse at the top that Aurelia had heard might be going on the market as commercial property. It was the perfect location for a quaint teahouse or café, as that was an iconic winter sledding hill.

  Ben arched a brow at Aurelia, who nodded eagerly. “Sure,” he said. “Let me just put these bags in Aurelia’s apartment.”

  Aurelia gave him her keys, and he disappeared around the side of the building.

  “How’s he holding up with all this?” Fletch asked.

  “He’s good,” Aurelia assured him. “Tired, but you know Ben. Once he realized the baby really needed him, he figured out the best way to handle things and went all in.”

  “And you? I know Ben’s been into you for a long time, but this is a lot to take on all at once.”

  “Tell me about it. Single girl to single dad’s girlfriend inside of a
week’s time. It’s been a whirlwind, but just look at her.” She gazed into the stroller and said, “You know, Fletch, a baby is a lot to take on, and I have no idea how this all happened so fast, but I’m all in, too.” She thought about what Ben had said about a big brood, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for all that yet, but the three of them? That she wanted. Desperately.

  “I don’t get it. I mean, she’s cute, but I’m not feeling a paternal clock ticking or anything,” Fletch said.

  She met his assessing gaze and said, “How long did it take you to fall in love with Molly?”

  “Ten minutes maybe. I got her from the Loves. One of their orchard dogs had pups. She was just a little bundle of fur when I got her.” He waggled a finger at Aurelia. “I see what you’re doing. I’d imagine a baby is hard to resist if you have some familial—or romantic—connection to it.”

  Aurelia laughed. “You should hold her. She’s much harder to keep your distance from than a puppy.”

  He took a step backward. “No, thank you. Molly’s enough responsibility for me.”

  “You know, B’s only half the allure of the Ben-and-baby equation. You do know Ben, right? Big, handsome guy with a heart larger than this town? Trustworthy, great secret keeper? Not afraid to say when he’s wrong? Well, that man had me way before B did,” she said as Ben came around the corner of the building, his eyes locked on her, unleashing a flutter of heat in her chest. Oh yeah, you had me all right.

  Ben draped an arm over her shoulder and said, “I put another bottle in the backpack just in case she needs it. Ready?”

  “Am I ever,” she said, and as they crossed the street she looked at Fletch and mouthed, Thoughtful, too.

  Fletch smiled, nodding his agreement. “How are things coming along with the bookstore?”

  “Great. They’re almost done with the renovations, and Everly is starting a mural for the kids’ section next week. I’m thinking about starting a monthly book club. You’ve lived here a long time. Do you think that would fly in this area?”

  “Hell yes,” Fletch said as they entered the park.

  “That’s a great idea, Rels.” Ben winked at Fletch and said, “I bet Fletch knows lots of women at the college. He can probably pass out flyers.”

  Aurelia shook her head. “You’re not using my book club as a dating pool for Fletch.”

  “Sorry, man,” Ben said. “I tried to hook you up.”

  Fletch laughed and took a tennis ball from his jacket pocket. He unhooked Molly’s leash, showed her the ball, and threw it.

  They followed a path toward a gazebo. In the distance, kids fed ducks around the pond, a family sat on a blanket beneath a big oak tree, and an older couple walked hand in hand along a footpath. Molly skidded to a stop by the gazebo, retrieved the ball, and bounded toward them.

  The baby fussed, and Aurelia stopped to take her out of the stroller. “Come here, little one.” She kissed her cheek, and Ben pushed the stroller to the gazebo. “I love this gazebo. Fletch, do you ever attend the lectures they give here? Or the concerts?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he said as Molly dropped the ball at his feet. He picked it up and threw it again, sending Molly on another mad dash. “Do you think you guys will come to them now that you’re living here?”

  “Oh gosh, yes. I hope to, at least,” she said, glancing at Ben.

  “Sure. Whatever you want,” Ben said.

  “Once I hire staff and I’ve worked out all the kinks at the bookstore”—she sat on the gazebo steps—“I hope to be able to do readings here a few times a year.” Talia had referred a couple of college students to work part-time at the bookstore, and Aurelia had scheduled interviews for the coming week.

  “Will you dress up like you did for the readings at Pages?” Ben asked.

  She looked curiously at him as he parked the stroller and sat beside her. “How do you know I dressed up for my readings?”

  Fletch chuckled, and Ben scrubbed a hand down his face, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

  “Ben . . . ?” She didn’t remember ever telling him about dressing up. In fact, she didn’t remember mentioning much about the readings other than that she did them.

  “I might have . . . um . . .” He glanced at Fletch. Then he turned that panty-melting grin on Aurelia and said, “I caught a few of them.”

  “When? I don’t remember seeing you. Wait a sec. You had meetings Thursday nights. Aida Strong meetings,” she said with a wince of discomfort. “You couldn’t have gone to my readings.”

  Ben looked like a kid caught with his hand in the candy jar. “You were my meetings, babe, not her. Second and fourth Thursdays of the month.”

  She couldn’t believe he’d secretly gone to hear her readings. “I . . . But . . . ?”

  “No buts. I was there, babe.”

  “But I never saw you at the bookstore.”

  “That was by design. I wanted to see you, but that didn’t mean I thought you wanted to see me.” He kissed B’s head, and then he said, “You were the sexiest Scarlett O’Hara I’ve ever seen. And when you were Anna Karenina? Whew, Rels. I’m not gonna lie. You made for some pretty interesting fantasies.”

  A rumble of laughter burst from Fletch’s lungs. “That’s definitely TMI for this guy. I’ll catch up with y’all another time.” He threw the ball for Molly and walked off in the same direction.

  “Ben, are you serious? Did you really come see me without me knowing?”

  “Like clockwork, babe.”

  She filled with joy. “Do you have any idea how many nooky points that could have won you?”

  He laughed and slid a hand to the nape of her neck, drawing her mouth closer to his. “I’m going to calculate how many times I went to see you, and you’re going to have a lot of payback to do.”

  “Good thing I make good on all of my IOUs.”

  “If I have my way, you’ll be paying me back for a very long time. But don’t worry, I’ll make it worth your while.” He lowered his lips toward hers, and his warm breath coasted over her skin as he said, “When this little one goes down tonight, your man’s going down, too.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  AURELIA’S BACK HIT the cold, wet shower tile with a thud early Sunday morning as Ben thrust his rigid cock in deep, sending shocks of heat searing through her.

  “Oh God, yes!” she panted out.

  Ben’s mouth crashed over hers, rough and demanding, as he pounded into her beneath the warm spray of the shower. She loved his strength and his ravenous desire for her. He’d made good on his promise last night. Having his greedy hands and his talented, insanely wicked mouth all over her had left her fantasizing about what she wanted to do to him. She’d woken up wet and needy, craving him like a drug, and decided to take their pleasure into her own hands. After B’s 5:00 a.m. feeding, Aurelia had slithered beneath the covers and done just that. She’d loved him with her mouth and hands until he was nearly blinded with desire, but they were both afraid of waking the baby. Her brilliant boyfriend had swept her into his arms and carried her—and the baby monitor—into the bathroom. The steamy shower was the perfect buffer for their sounds as she clung to his slippery flesh.

  He banded one arm around her back, and the other clutched her ass as he sent her up to the clouds, her body clenching hot and tight around him.

  “Fuck, baby,” he ground out. “I want you to come a hundred times, and then I want to make you come a hundred more.”

  “Later,” she pleaded. “I want to feel you come with me now.”

  The darkness in his grin made her go ever wilder. She clawed at his slick skin, ate at his mouth, thrusting and grinding against him. He had to have the strongest legs and hips known to man, because his efforts never faltered. His grip was confident and unyielding, his kisses were all-consuming, and his love was inescapable. She felt his muscles tense, and then his body jerked with such force, his release sent lightning shooting through her core, and she surrendered to another mind-numbing climax.

  He tore his mouth
away, holding her trembling, bucking body beneath the warm shower spray, and spoke in a gravelly, lustful voice. “I love making love with you. But make no mistake, Rels,” he panted out. “I’m truly, madly, passionately in love with everything about you, not just your incredible body.”

  A laugh slipped out before she could stop it. “I know, Ben. I see it in your eyes, and I feel it in your touch. But I should tell you, I’m totally into Ten-Inch Ben.”

  He smacked her ass, making her laugh again.

  “Don’t worry,” she said through a wide grin. “I loved you when you were Ten-Second Ben, too.”

  “Hey,” he growled. “We sent him packing days ago.”

  She held his face between her hands, so in love with him she couldn’t tease him for a second longer. “You’re the smartest, kindest, sexiest man I know, and there’s no one I’d rather be naked with for ten seconds, ten hours, or ten million years than you.”

  Sunday evening they stocked up on baby supplies, folded up the Pack ’n Play, and headed into Sweetwater to have dinner with Ben’s family. As Ben drove down the familiar cobblestone streets and Sugar Lake came into view, he was hit with a strange, detached sensation, like he was a visitor in his own town. He’d gone away to college and traveled often for work, and he’d never once felt the tightening in his chest or the sense of separation that came over him now as he turned onto Main Street. He passed Willow’s bakery and Bridgette’s flower shop, expecting the feelings to right themselves. When they didn’t, he realized Aurelia’s apartment, and her new town, had already started feeling like home.

  He looked at his beautiful girlfriend, the woman who had always been by his side and in his heart, and then he glanced in the rearview mirror at his sleeping baby girl, and that discomfort dissipated, replaced with a sense of completeness.

  “Are you nervous about seeing your parents?” Aurelia asked, reaching for his hand. “I know you talked to your father, but seeing them in person is different.”