Sloane
Iwake when I hear Adele cry. Zane groans.
“I’ve got her.”
“You don’t have to,” he protests through a yawn.
“You’re tired. You worked hard last night.”
He smirks. “Keeping you quiet when you come is a full-time job.”
“Whatever,” I mutter as I roll out of bed.
He captures my hand. “Seriously, sweetness, I can get her.”
I kiss his cheek. “No need. I’m awake. Go back to sleep.”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” I say but he’s already asleep.
I pad out of the bedroom to the nursery. Adele is fussing in her crib. I pick her up.
“What’s wrong, sweet baby? Are you hungry or do you need to be changed? Or both?” I sniff her diaper. “Definitely need a diaper change.”
I quickly change her diaper and dress her for the day before preparing a bottle for her. I sit in the rocking chair in the corner of the nursery to feed her.
While she drinks from her bottle, I glance around the room. There are no longer boxes everywhere. Even Zane’s office stuff is gone – relegated to the garage. It’s a real nursery now.
The cupboard Jaxon put together is against one wall. It’s filled with all the clothes that were in the other boxes and bags on the floor. On the opposite wall is the bookcase Eli assembled. There are some books, but there are also baskets filled with toys.
This is a room Adele can grow up in. I can’t wait to experience it all. Her first tooth. The first time she walks. Her first day of school. I want to be there for it all.
Adele finishes her bottle. After I burp her, I rock her back to sleep. My heart is so full it could burst. I have everything I’ve ever wanted. A man I love. A baby I love. Adele isn’t mine but I don’t care. I love her.
Adele kicks out in her sleep. I sigh. I have to put her back in her crib.
Once she’s settled, I aim for the kitchen. There’s no sense trying to go back to sleep. I’m awake now. Coffee it is.
Coffee made. I grab my Kindle and return to the nursery to read in the rocking chair while Adele sleeps.
But when I check in the crib. Adele isn’t alone. My dog is cuddled up to her.
“Boozer! Get out of there!”
He doesn’t move – the little shit. I grab him by the collar and yank until he’s forced to jump out of the crib.
“I can’t believe you. Zane is going to kill me. And you’re going to the glue factory.”
Boozer whines and lies down in the middle of the room.
“You have to get out of here. I can’t hide what you did if you stay here.”
I pat his bottom and he sighs before heaving himself to his feet and trotting out of the room. Phew.
I clasp my chest as I wait for my heart rate to slow back down to normal.
Zane strolls into the room. Crap. Did he hear?
