“I give him credit for jumping in. That had to be one hell of a curveball. We had the whole process of finding a surrogate, then her pregnancy, to mentally prepare to be parents. Grayson just woke up one day and found himself with a seven-month-old baby girl.”
No wonder he looked so exhausted. I feel bad for him.
I also am more excited that he’s single than I have any right to be. A little sexy no-strings-attached fun would be very welcome right now.
“It says good things about him that he took the baby. That’s intense, though. Poor guy.”
James gives me an ‘I-know-your-dirty-fucking-mind look’. “Why do I get the feeling you want to comfort him with your pussy?”
“James!” I cover Noah’s tiny ears. “Not in front of the baby.”
“I’m right though, aren’t I?” he says dryly.
“You’re notwrong,” I admit. “Though he looked like he needed a shower.”
“You can offer to scrub his back for him.”
“If that man is naked, I’m not focusing on his back.” I shrug. “It’s been a minute. What can I say? How’s your new gym venture going?”
“Good, actually. Hey, if you’re looking for some extra money, I could really use a part-time teacher.”
James has opened up a storefront downstairs that hosts Daddy and Me classes, Mommy and Me classes, and toddler tumbling. Given his background in gymnastics, it seems like a great fit.
“I’d love to. You know I love kids. I was planning to take on a serving job at the boardwalk, but we’re toward the end of the season, so that is probably a long shot. This would help me out a lot.”
“It would help me, too. Now that Noah is sleeping less, it’s becoming more challenging to manage my schedule. Cas is a lawyer, so he works in Charleston and has long hours.”
“Sleeps less?” I lift Noah a tad. He’s just dead weight. “This baby?” I joke. “I don’t believe you.”
“He used to sleep eighteen hours a day. He’s scaling back, I swear.”
I’m about to respond when there is a hard knock on the apartment door. It’s so demanding we both jump. Noah stirs in his sleep.
“Jesus, who is that?” James stands up and goes to the door right as another pounding knock booms through the room.
When he opens the door, Grayson Ross strides in with his daughter in his arms. He’s still wearing pajama pants and a T-shirt that has unknown stains on it. His hair is sticking up, and he looks frantic. James didn’t even invite him in and he’s already standing in the middle of the living room.
“Can either of you watch Evelyn?” he asks without even so much as a greeting.
I sit up a little straighter, taken aback. He doesn’t even know my name, and he wants me to watch hischild?
“What?” James asks, closing the door behind him. “Why?”
“I have a work call in twenty minutes, and I need to take a shower before it starts. I called my mom and my sister and they can’t get over here in time.”
“Where did your nanny go?” I ask.
“She quit.” Grayson waves his hand in the air. “I’m desperate. Please.”
“Dude, you can’t just leave your baby with random people,” James says, looking visibly appalled.
“You’re not random. You’re my neighbor. You have a baby yourself. Your mother knows my mother. I trust you. I meant in my apartment, anyway. Evelyn doesn’t like change. If I try to leave her here, she’ll scream.”
I have to admit she is a very suspicious-looking baby. She is eyeing us like we are about to kidnap her, her little hands digging tightly into Grayson’s arm and chest. Every time he moves, she turns her head so she can track us.
My heart goes out to the little girl whose mother has left her with a total stranger, biological father or not.
I’m not sure what to say. I want to help Grayson, but he seems a little…ferocious. “I have lunch plans in an hour.”
