“Bye Linky.” Gavin kisses Lincoln on the head, then tousles his fluffy red hair. “Be good for Santa.”
“Well?” Phoebe turns Lincoln to face me. “What do you think?”
He’s wearing a tiny ugly Christmas sweater with a picture of a dinosaur in a Santa hat.
“Does that say Merry Rex-mas?” I chuckle. “Adorable. How’s mine?”
I stretch out the front of my shirt so she can see the image of a man’s buff chest and abs under an unbuttoned festive cardigan that adorns my ugly sweater.
She laughs. “I love it. It would probably be funnier if you didn’t actually look like that underneath, though.” I watch as her cheeks redden before my eyes. “I mean…Here, take Lincoln.” She thrusts the baby into my arms and he promptly smacks my face, forcing a surprised laugh from me.
“Hello to you too, little man. Is it just me, or did your mom tell me she’s been thinking about me shirtless? Yeah, I thought so.”
“Oh my god,” Phoebe says, scrubbing a hand down her face. “Forget I said that, please. Here, take the diaper bag for a minute.” She passes me a bag, then grabs a set of keys from a hook on the wall. “Let me grab the car seat from my car and then I’m all set.”
“Oh, no need,” I tell her. “I already have one in my vehicle.”
She turns back and studies me. “You do?” She hangs the keys back on the wall. “Is it installed?” She bites her lip and looks away.
I wonder if she knows I didn’t know how to install a car seat and she’s worried about Lincoln’s safety? Or worried she’ll have to tell me I’m an idiot and did it all wrong? I bet she wants to inspect it.
“Yes. I put it in yesterday.” I step out onto the porch and wait for her to join me. “Let me show you.”
I lead her out to my car and open up the back door. “Does it look alright?”
She climbs in and kneels in the seat, pulling straps and wiggling around. Her butt is right in my face and I’m so fucking mesmerized I can’t think straight. What I wouldn’t do to grab that juicy ass in both hands and grind her down on my dick while she straddles me.Jesus, Archer. Get it together.It will be hell to spend the day with a hard-on and no way to deal with it. Especially since we’re trying to have a nice day as a co-parenting family.
“It looks perfect. You did a great job installing it. I know how much of a pain in the ass they are. I was a little worried you wouldn’t know how to do it and it wouldn’t be secure enough.”
“Oh, I know how to do it,” I mumble, thoughts of Phoebe straddling me still front and center in my mind.
“Excuse me?” She climbs out and smiles at me with her eyebrows drawn. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you properly from inside the car.”
Shit. Did I say that out loud?
“Oh, I said that I know how to do it now. Did you know you can go to the fire department and they’ll show you how to safely install a car seat? MaeLynn made the appointment for me when she helped get my apartment set up.” I step around her to put the diaper bag into the car. “I might need you to show me how to tighten the straps properly, though. I practiced with a doll they had at the station, but I’m sure it’s a lot harder with a real baby.”
She chuckles. “Well, they do tend to move more than dolls.” The smile she gives me is everything, and my heart trips over itself. “Why don’t you strap him in and I’ll double-check?”
She puts a hand on my arm and guides me to the door. Maybe I imagine it, but I swear tingles erupt where she touches me. Weird.
“Alright, Lincoln. Help me out here. Can you try not to wiggle too much while I buckle you in so I can try to impress your mom with my car seat skills?” Lincoln makes a gurgling noise and laughs, which I take for his agreement. “Thanks, kiddo.”
I get Lincoln buckled in and Phoebe checks it out, telling me I need to tighten the straps a little. “I know it seems too tight, but it needs to be secure enough to keep him safe if anything happens.” She steps back and looks at the back headrest. “Hold on, I want to grab something.”
I watch as she runs back into the house, admiring the view the whole time. Her ass in those jeans is spectacular.
“Your mom is something else, kid.” Lincoln kicks his legs and makes some baby babbles, which I’m choosing to understand as him encouraging me to get to know her better. “I know, I really should. But knocking her up and then not seeing her for a year probably didn’t leave her with the best impression of me. And that fucki—I mean, that fudging message I left her doesn’t help either.”
“Got it.” Phoebe is jogging out the front door, waving something in the air. “This makes life so much easier when you’re driving with a baby.” She comes around and climbs back into the vehicle for a moment before hopping down. “There. Check it out.”
She’s installed a mirror on the headrest so it’s facing Lincoln. “That’s so smart,” I say, opening the driver’s side door and leaning inside. “I can see him in the rearview mirror.”
“Yeah. I was so scared when I first learned he had to face the back of the vehicle and I wouldn’t be able to see him. A mom from baby yoga told me about these mirrors. Total sanity saver. And time saver, too. Before I had one, I’d pull over every couple of minutes to check and make sure he was still breathing. I was late for everything.”
“I bet that drove all your friends crazy.”
“You know it,” she says with a grin. “Should we get going? I’d like to keep Lincoln on his sleep schedule, if possible.”
