“Next time you fall asleep babysitting, try to be quieter when you get back. Your old man needs his sleep,” he says with a chuckle.
“Okay,” I squeak, then listen to his heavy footsteps leave my bedroom.
At breakfast, I catch myself constantly checking on Dad, wondering if he suspects the real reason I spent the night in Forest’s suite was because of the man himself and not the kids. Forest does the same when he’s not busy smiling at Josephine, who is like a whole different child this morning, chatting with everyone and finishing her plate.
“So,” Dad says with the clap of his hands, rubbing his palms together, after we finish breakfast. “I was thinking we could take shifts watching the kids.” He pulls out his phone with the schedule of the various speaking engagements. “I don’t mind skipping Ted Foster’s talk, if you two want to attend that one. Then one of you can relieve me so I can go to Dr. Liu’s. How does that sound?”
“You don’t mind?” Forest asks Dad as I straighten one of Josephine’s space buns, which she’d asked me to style when the family joined us at our table.
“‘Course not.” He hefts Sebastian up into his arms as he smiles down at the toddler, who doesn’t seem to mind being held by my dad. He even hooks his little arm around Dad’s neck to hang on tighter. “I’ve spent countless hours watching my grandbabies, so I’m a pro at this. Don’t you worry.”
Forest and I cut our eyes to each other. “All right. Thank you,” Forest says. After Dad leaves and we take our seats in one of the conference halls, Forest says, “Never thought my boss would suggest babysitting my kids so I don’t have to take time off from work.”
“That’s the benefit of working for a small firm,” I say, tugging my skirt down when I catch Forest eyeing my legs since the hem has ridden up my thighs after crossing my legs. Getting an erection now would be terribly unprofessional. “We treat everyone like family.”
Forest rests his left elbow on our shared armrest and lightly brushes my knee with the back of his knuckles. “Family, huh?”
The lights dim when Ted Foster walks to the center of the stage and introduces himself, pointing his clicker toward the large screen behind him. As engrossed as I am in the presentation about how the current interest rate will affect the long-term retirement investment goals of our clients, I’m keenly aware of Forest’s hand, now splayed higher across my thigh as if he has every right to touch me there…as well as the fact that I haven’t swatted him away or opted to move to a different seat. I’m the first one to stand, though, as soon as the lights turn back up.
“My turn,” I say, then rush out of the convention center and across the street, booking it up to the hotel’s fourth floor.
“Are you okay?” Dad asks when he opens the door, cradling Benjamin in one arm as he feeds the baby a bottle. “You look a little flush.”
“Fine, fine,” I say, smoothing back my hair and taking a deep breath before I step inside. “How’d it go with the kids?”
“Ah, they were little angels, ain’t that right, Benny?” Dad asks.
Just then, Benjamin grunts several times as he grows increasingly red in the face, then bears down, filling his diaper, and finishing with an adorable smile.
Dad booms with laughter, especially when he hands the stinky baby to me. “Tag, you’re it.” His laugh follows him down the hallway.
I sigh and carry Benjamin into the bathroom, his onesie and my blouse damp and disgusting with his blowout. Filling the tub with a few inches of warm, soapy water, I leave the door open so I can listen out for Sebastian and Josephine, who are lying on the carpet with her art supplies while watching a cartoon.
“Your daddy is going to owe me a new outfit for this,” I coo to Benjamin, making silly faces to get him to laugh as he splashes water all over the place. “Maybe even some jewelry.Throw in a pedicure too, while we’re at it, and we’ll call it even, huh?” I won’t tell him that I’d do it for free, anyway.
“Sherman!” Josephine yells with glee.
I jerk awake, nearly pushing Sebastian off the couch when I roll over, startling him awake from our late nap.
“We gotta stop meeting like this,” Forest jokes, gathering Sebastian in his arms, smiling when the toddler doesn’t fight him off.
“What can I say? A lady needs her beauty sleep.” I follow it up with a small smirk and tease, “Someone kept me up all night.”
Forest clears his throat loudly and cuts his eyes to the side.
I sit straight up with horror, meeting my dad’s sharp gaze as he watches us, his hands pushed into his pockets. “All packed up,” Dad says, standing with our rolling luggage.
I clutch the comforter I’d pulled from Forest’s bed to my chest. No, I’m not scantily clad. It’s so much worse—I’m wearing a pair of Forest’s boxers and one of his college alum T-shirts, both of which are as tight on me and my curves as they are on him. Guess I won’t be stealing his sweatshirts any time soon, like Mom always steals Dad’s.
Ugh. Why am I thinking such things? Forest is simply my boss and nothing else, let alone my husband. It’s the planets in retrograde or something like that. It’s getting to me, my brain spinning all sorts of foolish ideas.
“I need to get the kids packed up,” Forest says, stepping through the kids’ open bedroom door, where Benjamin is just waking up from his nap.
I probably should have kept them up so they’d be more likely to fall asleep on the plane, but I was—and still am—absolutely wiped. It’s why I texted Forest earlier that he didn’tneed to relieve me to take the third shift. I’d no doubt have fallen asleep during the next engagement.
Forest steps back into the living room a second later. “You already packed their suitcases?”
I nod. “Josie and Sebby were a big help,” I say, smiling at Josephine, who’s showing Dad all the pages she’d colored in the new watercolor sketchbook I’d gifted her before we boarded the plane.
