Glancing at her, he said, “I’ve had a front-row seat my whole damn life to the show of my parents constantly looking for and never finding this mysterious ‘love.’ They discard wives and husbands like most people change cars and never once have they found what they’re looking for.
“My brothers, sisters and I were caught up in the resulting chaos.” He turned to face her. “So no, I can’t promise love. And I’d like to say that I really don’t require your approval for how I raise my niece.”
“I know,” she said, though those two simple words left a bitter taste in her mouth. “But this isn’t about only you, Reed. This is about what’s best for Rosie.”
“I know that, which is why you’re still here.” He loosened his tie, then shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it behind him to the arm of the sofa. When he looked at her again, he said, “You’ve got some idea of what my life with Rose should be. News flash—no kid has a perfect life. I’ve got a demanding job with long hours. Doesn’t leave a lot of time for building a nest, for God’s sake.”
“You don’t have to—I already have,” she said, sweeping one hand out to encompass the living room and the rest of the house besides. “But you will have to make some changes for Rose’s sake.”
He laughed shortly. “I’d say we’re both standing in the middle of a pretty damn big change.”
“Yes, but—”
“And Connie’s here now.” He glanced past her toward the hall that led to the kitchen. “Trust me when I say Rose couldn’t have a better person taking care of her.”
“I believe that,” Lilah said, since spending just a few minutes with Connie had convinced her that the woman was a born nurturer. “Okay, yes, Rosie will get plenty of care and affection from Connie. But you’re her father figure.”
He scowled at her.
She saw the flicker of what might have been panic in his eyes and actually felt better seeing it. “You are the man in her life and you have to be in her life—not just some ghost who drifts in and out.”
She watched a muscle in his jaw twitch and flex and she knew how hard this was for him. There probably weren’t many people in Reed Hudson’s life who were willing to stand toe-to-toe with him over anything. And maybe she wouldn’t have been either, ordinarily. But this was about Rose’s future, so she was willing to do what she had to. Didn’t seem to matter that her mouth was still buzzing from that kiss or that her nerves were still tangled together in slippery knots.
“You know,” he said, “I don’t much like taking orders.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Oh, yeah, you did,” he said and loomed over her, maybe hoping to intimidate her. But Lilah just met him glare for glare.
Seconds ticked past and the silence stretched out between them.
“Why do you smell different every day?” he murmured, and the irritation in his eyes shifted to something hotter, more intimate.
“What?” The abrupt shift in conversation had her shaking her head, trying to catch up.
“Your scent,” he repeated, moving in and drawing a deep breath. “It’s oranges today.” He laid both hands on her shoulders and then skimmed his hands up along her neck to cup her face in his palms.
God, she felt the heat of him sliding down into her system, again, and she shivered with the rush of it. This was not a good idea. Hadn’t she just told him that he wouldn’t be kissing her again. Ever? And here she was, sliding into that puddle of want just because he touched her.
“It’s driving me crazy,” he admitted, his voice no more than a whisper now. His gaze locked on hers. “Every day, there’s a new scent clinging to you and I wake up wondering what it’s going to be. Then I have to get close enough to you to taste it. And,” he added, as he dipped his head to hers, “once I’m close I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
“It’s my soaps,” she whispered, amazed that she could talk with his mouth no more than a breath from hers. With the golden sunlight streaming through the window, wrapping them both in a slash of light that seemed to glow with warmth.
“Yeah,” he said, “I figured that out. And now I know that when you’re rubbing that scent all over you, you’re wet and naked.”
She took a long, slow breath and her stomach did a quick spin. He was going to pull her in again, she knew it. He knew it. Maybe she’d stand a chance against him and what he made her feel if she turned and sprinted from the room. But she wasn’t entirely sure her legs would support her. So she had to try for reason instead.
“Okay, maybe we should just stop…”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Maybe we should. But we’re not going to.”
“No, I don’t think we are.”
CHAPTER SIX
A tiny voice in the back of Lilah’s mind shouted that it would be much better for this situation if they could keep their distance. But she’d never felt anything like this incredible heat, this indescribable need, so she silently told that logical little voice to be quiet and go away.
This was ridiculous. She knew it. But she couldn’t help the wanting. Her heart hammered in her chest. Breath caught in her lungs and her body felt as if she were on fire. This man had way too much power over her. One touch from him was a storm of sensation and the need for more clamored inside her.
“This isn’t solving anything,” she managed to say.
“Yeah, I know.” He took her mouth again and instantly Lilah’s thoughts dissolved into a murky puddle.
She met him eagerly, wrapping her around him, holding on as her body trembled and quaked from too many sensations pouring in at once. His hands dropped from her face to explore her curves with a rough sense of urgency that felt like gasoline being poured on a fire. Up and down her spine, down to her bottom and back up to cup her breasts, his hands seemed to be everywhere at once. She groaned and even that small sound was muffled by the roaring in her ears.
The house was quiet, only adding to the feeling of intimacy. And though it felt as if they were alone in the house, they really weren’t, and a moment later, both of them remembered it.
The baby’s wail shattered their kiss and broke them apart in an instant.
“What the hell?” Reed demanded, clearly horrified. “It sounds like she’s being tortured.”
“No.” Lilah choked out a laugh and pushed her hair back from her face with shaking hands. “She’s just past her nap time.”
“Good God.”
The appalled look on his face brought another short laugh from her. He was clearly clueless about babies and now was as good a time as any to start his education. Still a little unsteady on her feet, Lilah reached out and patted his chest. “I’ll be right back.”
She left him, headed for the kitchen. A few deep breaths helped her steady herself, though she figured her stomach would be jumping and her heart racing for quite a while yet. Once inside, she found Connie patting Rose’s back and murmuring to her. Glancing up at Lilah, she said, “She’s tired, poor thing.”
“It’s way past her nap time,” Lilah agreed. “If we had food and any of her things already here, we could just put her down upstairs. But we’ll get her back to the hotel.”
“Good idea,” Connie said, handing the baby over. “While you three are gone, I’ll get groceries and things and have everything ready for all of you to settle in tomorrow.”
Rose dropped her head on Lilah’s shoulder, but the crying didn’t stop. Sliding her hand up and down Rose’s back, Lilah gave Connie a grateful smile. “I’m really glad you’re going to be a part of Rose’s life, Connie.”
“Me, too,” the older woman said, already beginning to bustle around the model-home-perfect kitchen, making it her own. “Retirement’s for old people. I was bored stiff to tell the truth.” Humming to herself, she set about rearranging the cupboards and didn’t even notice when Lilah and Rosie left the room.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Lilah crooned, giving the baby a soft jiggle as she walked down the hall back toward the main room where she�
�d left Reed.
The comforting, warm weight of Rose’s small body pressed to hers made Lilah’s heart sigh with love—even while she tried to imagine living without it. That thought was dark enough to make her eyes sting, but she blinked back tears that wouldn’t do her any good. The house was cozy, in spite of its size, and she knew that Rose would love living here. Lilah only wished that she could be there, to watch Rose grow, to be a part of her life.
Walking into the great room, she watched Reed turn at the sound of Rose’s sniffling cry. His eyes were shining, but wary.
Perfect, Lilah thought. She knew he wasn’t immune to Rose. She’d seen him that first night, after all, when he’d cuddled her close. And she could understand the caution she sensed in him. But until he let himself truly care for Rose, that wariness would always be with him. It was part of the wall he’d built around himself. He’d already told her about what growing up with a very different family had been like for him. So she couldn’t really blame him for being suspicious of love. But wasn’t it long overdue for him to put his past behind him?
“Is she all right?” he asked.
“She’s fine,” Lilah said, still stroking the crying baby’s back. “Just tired.”
“Then we should go.” He grabbed his suit jacket off the sofa and shrugged into it. “Give me the keys to your rental. I’ll bring it around to the front and you can strap her in for the drive back to the hotel.”
“Yeah.” She walked up to him and plopped Rose into his arms, giving him no choice but to hold the tiny girl. “I’ll bring the car around, then you can strap her in.”
He looked like a man caught in a trap. Shifting the baby to his shoulder, he looked at her. “I don’t—”
“Look,” Lilah interrupted. “She’s even stopped crying for you.” Good girl, Rosie, she thought. “Won’t take me a minute to get the car.”
She hurriedly left the room, but paused at the threshold long enough to glance back. Reed and Rose stood in a slash of sunlight, each of them staring at the other as if discovering a new world. And maybe, she thought as she left the house, that’s exactly what they were doing.
* * *
They settled into the house with hardly a bump.
Reed spent every day buried in paperwork, hand-holding clients and thinking about the woman currently living in his house. For the first time in his memory, his concentration was shattered. Reed went through the motions, going to court, meeting with mediators and advising his clients, yet there was one corner of his mind not focused on the job at all. Instead, it was centered on Lilah Strong and what she was doing to him.
Memories of kisses that never should have happened continued to bubble and burn at the back of his mind, tormenting him during the day and torturing him at night. He couldn’t sleep, and even work didn’t have the same draw for him as it had before.
His life had been thrown into turmoil and there was only one way to get everything back into order. Lilah wouldn’t leave until she knew that Rosie would be happy. So, the way to make her go the hell home and let him get back to his normal life was to prove to her that he and Rose would get along without her.
And fine, he could admit she’d had a point about getting to know Rose. He couldn’t stand back from a child he’d agreed to raise. Even not counting the problem of Lilah, Reed had to get comfortable with the baby who was now a part of his life.
Which was why he was bent over a bathtub, getting just as wet as the infant sitting in a few inches of warm, bubble-filled water.
“She doesn’t think we can do this.” Reed kept one cautious hand lightly against Rose’s back as she splashed gleefully in the tub. Her tiny feet kicked up a storm, making frantic waves while she laughed and turned her shining eyes up to him.
Unexpectedly, Reed’s heart gave a hard thump in his chest as he looked down into her bright green gaze. Until tonight, she’d been more or less a shadow to him. He knew she was there of course, but their interactions had been limited—purposely. He’d deliberately avoided contact with her because he hadn’t wanted to care. Caring was an open doorway to misery, pain, fear and all kinds of dark possibilities.
And as his heart continued to squeeze in his chest, he realized that he was in it now. A few minutes alone with a child who looked up at him as if he was her personal hero was enough to start him down the road he’d managed to sidestep most of his life.
She was so small, yet already, Rose was her own little person with a grin that caught at your heart and a temper that could set off a screech strong enough to peel paint off walls. Weirdly, Reed liked knowing she had that strong personality. She wouldn’t be a pushover, that was for sure. She’d stand up for herself.
But he’d be there, too. His course was set and whether Lilah believed it or not, Reed knew his life was never again going to be what it had been. “I’ll make sure you’re safe, Rose.”
The baby giggled, and that deep, rolling, straight-up-from-the-gut sound settled into his chest and gave his heart another hard squeeze.
“You’re going to tear me up, aren’t you?” He smoothed the soft washcloth over her back, and then around to her narrow chest while she slapped the water, sending droplets flying to splatter his shirt and face.
“Yeah, you are. You’re a heartbreaker. It’s in your eyes and you’re already working on me.” He sighed a little as the baby laughed and then gently ran the flat of his hand over her damp curly hair.
It had been inevitable, he told himself. From the moment Lilah had carried Spring’s daughter into his office, he’d been headed exactly here. Somewhere deep inside, he’d known that Rose would be able to breach his defenses. He’d spent most of his life with the determination to keep from caring too much about anyone. He loved his brothers and sisters of course, but even there he maintained a distance. Just enough to protect himself. But this one baby with her happy smile and trusting eyes could undo him. Reed blew out a breath and tried to accept his new reality. But if he was still fighting it just a little, who could blame him?
“Time to get out,” he said with a sudden laugh as Rose kicked and slapped all at once and splashed water into her own face. Her tiny features screwed up, the smile disappeared and she blinked frantically. “Not as much fun when you’re the one getting splashed, is it?”
She looked up at him, her mouth turned down, and he knew he was about to be deafened by a screech. Quickly, he snatched her up out of the water and, using only one hand, wrapped a towel around her as he cuddled her to his chest. “Hey, you’re okay. It’s just water.”
She sniffled and watched him as she seemed to think it over for a minute or two. Then, apparently the crisis passed, because she smiled and patted his face.
God. She already had a hold on him with those tiny fingers of hers. His heart did another slow tumble and Reed told himself to be careful. To not be drawn in so deeply he wouldn’t be able to defend himself. Maybe the answer here was to show Lilah he could and would care for Rose, but to hold enough of himself back that he wouldn’t eventually have his heart crushed.
He stood in the bathroom, looked into the mirror and saw his own rumpled reflection, holding a tiny wet baby. Bath time should definitely prove to Lilah that he was willing to involve himself with Rose, right? And that was good, wasn’t it? Lilah would leave when he and Rose had “bonded” and then he could get back to the way life should be lived without constantly thinking about a woman he shouldn’t be thinking about.
Reed wondered if he was losing his mind. His sharp, cagey brain was fogged a lot lately and he had the feeling it was all because of Lilah. Desire was eating away at his logic. Bonded.
“Stupid word, isn’t it, Rose?”
“What’s stupid?” Lilah spoke up from the doorway.
He groaned inwardly. See? Another example of foggy brain. He hadn’t even heard Lilah approach. Shaking his head a little, he met her gaze in the mirror. She looked good, of course. Even in faded jeans and a pale blue T-shirt, Lilah Strong was enough to make a man’s mouth
water. No wonder he was foggy. With her around, he would challenge any guy to keep his mind on the mundane. Not like he could tell her that, though. So he did the first thing he could think of and lied.
“Nothing. Rose was just telling me she thought USC would beat UCLA this fall and I told her that was stupid. Nobody beats the Bruins.”
“Uh-huh.” Lilah’s fabulous mouth curved. “Big football fan, is she?”
“Who isn’t?”
She studied him and he realized he could get lost in those blue eyes of hers. The color of summer skies, or clear lakes. Her red-gold hair was a constant fascination to him, and now that he’d had his hands in that heavy, silky mass, all he could think about was doing it again. Her lips were full and shaped into a slight smile that made a single dimple wink in her cheek, and all he could think about was getting another taste of that mouth.
He was in deep trouble here, and when he took a breath and dragged the scent of lilacs into his lungs, he almost groaned aloud. Seriously, couldn’t the woman pick one scent and stick to it? The changeup was making him crazy.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“What? Yeah. Fine.” Perfect. His poker face had almost completely dissolved now. Somehow, this one woman managed to always keep him off guard—which was another good reason for her to get back to her own life as soon as possible and leave him to his. “Did you want something?”
“Just to tell you your sister Savannah’s here.”
“Here?”
“Right here, actually.” Savannah stepped up behind Lilah and grinned.
The huge master bath was beginning to feel like a broom closet.
“Well,” Savannah said, still smiling, “here’s something I never thought I’d see. Reed Hudson bathing a baby.”
He sighed at his sister’s teasing. Savannah’s short black hair hugged her scalp and her eyes were the same shade of green as his own. He, Savannah and their brother James were the first batch of Hudson siblings, and they were all close.
Though he was surprised to see Savannah, he shouldn’t have been. A few days ago, Reed had sent out an email blast to the entire family giving them his new address. It had been only a matter of time before they started trickling in to see him, demanding help with one thing or another.
The Baby Inheritance (Billionaires and Babies) Page 8
