“Elevators fixed, remember?” She smiles.
“Your mom likes getting one over on me,” I chuckle as Claudia moves to open the door. “Little does she know I have no problem being at the bottom from time to time.”
I watch as her spine straightens and she misses just a beat before unlocking the door.
“Okay if I use the bathroom?” she asks.
“Yeah, we’re good,” I answer, then whisper to the sleeping beauty. “Isn’t that right, little one?”
I stay in the living room, rocking Savannah gently when she starts to stir. “Hey, little one. You did good tonight. Cheered at all the right times and looked adorable. You’re a Bears girl, aren't you?”
Her tiny hand opens and closes against my chest as I walk into the bedroom and see the little crib thing set up. “Are these little pink pajamas yours? I'm guessing that's why they're lying on the bed, think you and I can figure this out, give mom a break tonight?”
I lay her on the little changing pad and, without thinking twice, get her all changed into a fresh onesie and the pink footie pajamas. It feels natural.
“You’re gonna have a beautiful life,” I murmur to her. “No matter how this plays out. Even if your mom doesn’t want my help, I’ll make sure he doesn’t get the chance to make you feel like you were ever an afterthought. Because if it had been me…” I pause, the words catching in my throat. “If it had been me, I’d have known I was the luckiest man in the world.”
I catch Claudia out of the corner of my eye. She just stands there, the light from the other room wrapped around her, making her glow. Her eyes shine—not tears exactly, but something close.
I lay Savannah down gently, pulling the blanket up to her chin. She sighs in her sleep, that soft baby sound that hits right in the heart.
When I turn, Claudia’s still there, lips parted, breath shallow.
I should step back. I don’t.
Her whisper barely makes it across the room. “You really mean that?”
I nod once. “Every word.”
“I’m not in a place where I can do much more than I am now, and to be honest, I don’t want to go on a head trip. Swore them off by sophomore year in college.”
For a long heartbeat, neither of us moves. Then I start to cross the room, slow enough that she knows every step is deliberate and what’s to come. She doesn’t back away.
Her breathing shifts, shallower, her eyes tracking mine. I stop close enough to feel her warmth, to see the tiny tremor in her hands where they hover near her sides.
She swallows hard, and I can see the pulse flutter at her throat. The faint rise of goosebumps on her skin catches the light. The space between us hums. It’s charged, unspoken,real.
Neither of us speaks. We just stand there, caught in the same gravity. The quiet is louder than words, stretching tight until it almost hurts.
When I finally breathe, it’s against her hair, and she shivers. “Tell me no.”
SIXTEEN
A long time coming
Claudia
It’s not onlythe heat in his deep brown eyes, but also the reserve. He’s holding back, waiting for a sign, and I give him one. I hold out my hand, and he takes it. I turn and walk out the door, slowing for him to shut it behind him.
“This is a long time coming,” he says as he unlinks our pinkies and takes my face in his hand, pressing his lips to mine and sliding his hot, wet tongue into my mouth as his other hand comes up to the side of my neck, pulling me closer.
“You shouldn't taste like my favorite dessert, but you do.” He licks inside my mouth again, this time with more hunger. “This should not feel like déjà vu, but it does,Doc. Tell me I'm wrong.”
But I can't, I can't tell him he's wrong because he's not.
He moves us to the couch, “I cannot wait to have you in my own place so that I can lay you out properly.”
I whimper; his mouth is on my neck, sucking and then kissing. My head falls back as he turns us and sits on the couchwith me now on his lap, grinding against his hard cock. “This will do.”
