Waving a towel, she chirped, “Bath time for baby!”
He learned a lot about all sorts of practical baby things as she prepped the kitchen for the watery activity.
To understand the process, he studied everything. She plopped a ginormous diaper bag on the counter, produced a stack of towels, and proceeded to create a changing station. She set out a basket of bath stuff—baby washes and whatnot.
The kitchen wasn’t designed for spectator bathing. Frustrated by the lack of viewing space, he squeezed next to Summer, pressing so close he had to stretch out a hand and put it on her waist or run out of room.
Equally impressed and fascinated by the big, cushy flower cradling Ari safely in the water, he muttered, “I bet the patent office has a special section just for baby inventions. Some of this stuff is ingenious.”
Summer agreed. “Guaranteed, right? There’s always something new.”
She turned on the faucet sprayer and directed a gentle shower of warm water on the baby’s feet. Ari splashed and cooed happily. In no time at all, Summer’s shirt was soaking wet.
He asked a million questions. She answered, though sometimes teasingly.
When bath time was over, their wiggling daughter was wrapped in a soft towel and placed her on the makeshift changing table. Summer nudged him with her hip and told him to give her room to maneuver.
“Give me your hands.”
He stammered, “Um, what?”
She didn’t wait for him to get a clue before she reached for his hands and turned them over. Squirting a blob of lotion onto one palm, she directed him to rub it and take a whiff.
The soft scent of lavender filled his nose. He smiled. “Aromatherapy for babies?”
She grinned happily. “Fast learner.”
He lifted his shoulders. “I noticed the bubble bath was lavender too. It makes sense. Teaches baby that yeah, bath time is fun, but it’s also relaxing and restorative.”
“This is her favorite part. Nighttime rubdown. I have a book about baby massage. How to do it and what the benefits are. Watch.”
He crowded close and lost himself in the choreography of touches and strokes. Ari was blissed out and completely relaxed. More than once or twice, he imagined Summer using her hands on him in the same way.
When all was said and done, they had a happy baby and a hellacious mess in the kitchen. He stepped up to do damage control while Summer settled in to nurse.
With the outside world shut out, they enjoyed an easy domesticity. It was heaven. He felt all the pieces of his life falling into place. This was what he was meant for. Now he understood why and how King and Jon fell so hard and so fast. All three of them were alphas in their own way, but add women and kids, and a new alpha behavior was revealed. One he felt good about.
Protector alpha.
When it was time, she took out a storybook and hesitated slightly but eventually patted the spot next to her on the sofa. “Be a big help and sit here. You can turn the pages.”
Something to do? Boom! He was her guy. Taking the book while she got settled, he paged through real quick and was charmed.
“Lots of Love Little One by Sandra Magsamen.”
“The library in North Hollywood where I get books has a great children’s section. The librarian recommended it.”
She let him squirm close enough to kind of cuddle.
“Um, you smell a little gamey,” she drawled.
“It’s what happens when you wear the same clothes for two days and go without showering. Once my girls are both tucked in for the night and I get back to my hotel, the first thing I’m doing is draining the hot water tank.”
“Oh, right,” she muttered. “You’re leaving.”
He heard regret and anxiety, but let it go for now, preferring to keep them in this moment. Plenty of time for borrowing trouble later.
The children’s story was short and sweet. Summer read each page with engaging enthusiasm. She pointed out the illustrations, counted stars, and punctuated everything with kisses.
When she finished, he set the book down and was turning to her when she thrust the baby in his arms. “Time to say night, night.”
He couldn’t hide his surprise and ended up clearing his throat like a Roman Senator about to give a speech.
Night, night was a big deal, and he wanted to get it right the first time.
His very chill baby daughter looked up at him. Her clear blue eyes studied his face. She pursed her lips and cooed.
Without a plan, he had to wing it and let his intuition be his guide.
He sang “You are My Sunshine.” When he finished, he tore his gaze away from Ari’s sweet face and looked at Summer.
Something passed between them. A silent declaration of love.
After the song, he kissed the baby’s face and told her how much Daddy loved her. As Summer walked away to put her to bed, he had to fight for control.
The past few hours had been nothing short of perfect. But they also hadn’t resolved a single thing or done any of the hard work necessary to figure out where the hell they went from here, so maybe calling things perfect was a bit much.
She laid Ari on the bed and swaddled her. Any day now, the little scamp would figure out how to roll over, and then they’d be off on a new adventure so different from the newborn journey.
They sat in the glider for a few minutes of quiet rocking. The baby’s eyes drifted shut.
Never had Summer been happier to see the end of a day.
Lingering a few extra minutes to be sure Ari was sound asleep in the unfamiliar setting, she set up the baby monitor, grabbed the second one, and tiptoed from the room but left the door partially ajar.
In the living room, she found Arnie lounging in front of the TV. He managed to look hot while resembling warmed-up shit.
“What’re you watching?”
He looked up at the sound of her voice and smiled. “Stan got me hooked on renovation and building shows.”
“I’m sure this makes me a carbon footprint hog, but I really don’t think I could live in a tiny home.” She made this admission soberly. “I need too much room. Room to move.”
Arnie chuckled. “Room for activities.”
“Exactly,” she replied with wide-eyed agreement.
As she sat, he looked at her strangely. She felt a firecracker go off in her gut. The real world was about to intrude on their perfect moment.
“So…” he began with drawn-out emphasis. “Listen. Um, I have a house now.”
“A what?”
“You know. A house. A real one.”
She didn’t understand. “I thought you said you had an apartment with little to no furniture.”
“Well, I still have that, but um, something happened recently. At the annual family retreat.” He cleared his throat. “My grandfather didn’t wait for a will and simply signed over his house in Connecticut.”
She shook her head to clear it. “Wait. What? Your grandfather has a house in Connecticut? I thought he lived in Montecito.”
“He does, but the family homestead is in Connecticut.”
“Oh, okay. I get it. How nice. Are you going to keep it?”
He looked at her like she was crazy. “Keep it? Of course I’m going to keep it. We need a proper home base.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means we’ll have a home in the suburbs. Great schools with loads of parks. Nice community.”
“We?”
Color broke out on his face. “Well, yeah. I mean, we’re going to fix this, right? I love you, Summer, and for as long as we’re together, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make up for the past year. You and me and baby makes three. We’re a family.”
“Arnie. Please slow down.”
“No problem,” he swiftly acquiesced. “When you’re ready, okay?”
The TV show was interesting enough to fill in the awkward gaps and silences. When it was over, he handed off the remote and stood.
“I t
hink I should go.”
The regret and anxiety he detected earlier made a return. He didn’t hesitate to pull her into his arms.
“You’re safe here. Hotel security has been briefed.”
She looked genuinely relieved.
“There’s no way I’d leave you unprotected.”
She nodded jerkily and bit her lip. “I’m not ready for what we both know will happen if you stay, but I can’t help being nervous.”
“It’s to be expected after what you’ve been through and totally normal, so don’t let it worry you.”
He kissed her tenderly. She was so dear to him. Emotion swept him away.
“I love you so much.”
She stroked his face and nodded.
It was hard to leave her, but he had no choice. He took a moment to make sure she was okay with the new phone and showed her three separate times how to find his number.
At the door to her suite, she took a deep breath, and asked, “So what’s next?”
He caressed her cheek. “Tomorrow, we do nothing and give King time to tie everything up. I’m sure at some point my dad will show up. He’s eager to get his Pop Pop groove on. I’ll be here bright and early, smelling a lot better and looking less like a giant ninja and more like a guy trying to impress his girl.”
Her smile was everything.
With a sly smirk, she asked, “Do you remember my drink order at our first Starbucks run?”
“Of course!”
Walking her fingers down his chest like a 1950s sex kitten, she winked and purred, “Impress me with my favorite morning beverage, and you never know what might happen.”
36
Despite the chill, she and Ari sat on the terrace, enjoying the early morning quiet. After sleeping like a rock, she woke refreshed and less anxious.
With the baby enjoying swing time, Summer picked through a mountain of organic fruit nibbles artfully arranged on a square platter.
Her mind was a whirl of disjointed, rambling thoughts. She had a lot on her plate.
Making a list on her phone, she tried to organize what was a chaotic mess.
Call Reed
Call Lynda and Bud
Call Cy and Joanne
Call Papa Leo’s
Wow. She had a lot of calls to make. Remembering Dottie telling her to find a lawyer made her tummy rumble, so she stopped thinking about it. In this matter, denial was her only option.
Her new phone vibrated and nearly scared her shitless. She needed to open the settings and play around with the sounds and notifications.
The message was from Arnie. She smiled and chewed on a fingernail. Last night, he checked in after arriving back at his hotel, and there began a back and forth text conversation rife with ridiculous GIFs and memes.
She felt like a kid giggling over the attention of a cute boy in her algebra class. Damn the man! His goofy charm couldn’t be ignored. The only thing saving his cocky ass from getting shut down was how adorably uncertain he was.
His text was to let her know he’d be arriving soon. As she’d already given him a room key so he could let himself in, the contact was a courtesy heads-up.
Ari was blowing saliva bubbles and laughing. She grasped a plastic key in her chubby fingers, but it went sailing when she waved her hand because her motor skills were a work in progress.
“Daddy’s on his way.”
Her face lit up. She kicked her feet and fluttered her hands in the air. Did she understand?
Unhooking the swing harness, Summer lifted the baby and gave her face a big smooch.
“Holy crap, young lady! Phew!” Summer giggled. She wrinkled her nose and made a face. “What is that smell?”
Ari laughed. She always laughed after leaving a mess in her diaper.
“I should save it for Daddy,” she muttered with extra snark.
They were nearly finished at the changing table when Arnie arrived. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was barely seven thirty in the morning.
He came bounding into the room like an excited kid on Christmas morning. His joy at seeing her did not suck. It was exciting to know she put such a big smile on his face.
“Hi, baby girls,” he called out from the doorway. Two steps into the room and he turned green. “What is that horrible stench?”
Ari replied with laughter and happy smiles.
“Poop,” Summer told him in a voice that conveyed how obvious the answer was. “Did you bring me Starbucks?”
“In the kitchen. One venti hot chai latte topped with a gargantuan mound of whipped cream and a light sprinkle of cinnamon powder.”
With the disgusting part of the diaper change accomplished, she handed off the chore and placed a clean diaper in his hands. “Here. You finish.”
The look on his face as she walked away gave her something to laugh about when she was out of earshot.
The latte was delicious. She could easily have downed two.
Daddy and daughter strolled from the bedroom and stopped in the middle of the living room. Summer jolted when Arnie gently tossed her in the air, no more than a few inches, and caught her with a whoop of delight. Her heart stopped, and she froze, but Ari’s reaction? Uncontrollable giggles.
“I think we have a second-generation gymnast in the making,” he proudly declared. From the crook of his arm, her diva daughter blew bubbles and grinned.
She changed the subject and fixed him with a serious stare. “Is it normal to get a daily NIGHTWIND notification? Seven a.m. on the dot.”
He looked guy-gasted. It was her new word to describe the dumbfounded blink men did when they had no idea what to say.
“You got a NIGHTWIND notification?”
Repeating a question meant one of two things. He really didn’t have any clue what she was talking about, or he was playing dumb.
She went with clueless.
“Yes, Arnie. A notification. Apparently, there’s a problem with the guy who snowplows the parking lot.”
His befuddlement was endearing. “Are you serious?” He handed off the baby and took out his phone. “I got nothing.”
“Well, you might want to check with Dottie then because there’s a poll and a poker night reminder.”
“A poll? What?”
Ding, ding, ding! A winner winner chicken dinner bell went off when it dawned on her this was Dottie fucking with Arnie. She fought to keep a straight face.
“Never mind. I’ll check with Dottie.”
The morning only got weirder from there.
Arnie assumed the self-appointed role of major domo as a parade of people came and went from Summer’s suite. His father showed up first bearing half a toy store. He happily gave them privacy so Summer, his dad, and Arianne could bond.
Stan dropped by. He was in a foul mood after a pleading, hysterical phone call from his mother. Deciding what his brother needed was to talk, they hunkered down outside on the patio and indulged in a bitch session. It wasn’t only the ladies who needed a chance to vent about stupid stuff.
“Your girl is something else,” Stan commented. He made the statement in a matter-of-fact way.
Arnie agreed. “One hundred.”
“She busting your balls?”
He shrugged. “Not really. She’s way more subtle about it.”
“How so? Asking for a friend who has a shitty track record with the ladies.”
“Stan,” he began in an oratorical style suited for a classroom. “There are ladies, and then there is the one.”
His brother smiled and nodded. “Ah, I see.”
“The one doesn’t need to shriek or yell. She deploys her power with skill. I swear to you this isn’t me making a joke. When the one looks at you with disappointment, gives a sigh, and turns away? Trust me, the result is an actual measurement involving shrinking balls. There’s more,” he said when Stan grimaced.
Stopping to collect his thoughts, he lit on a single statement to sum it up. “Disappointment is the enemy of trust.”
; “Ouch.”
He nodded. “Exactly.”
“My sponsor says I shouldn’t be looking for a relationship. Not right now. Not in the first year of doing the program. Good call. The fantasy of finding someone has to wait until I know who I am.”
“Now granted, I’m not inside your head, and for all I know, you could be blowing smoke rings up my ass, but from my perspective, you’re doing great. And I know it hasn’t always been easy. Really proud of you, Stan.”
He thumped him on the back and offered words of encouragement. “One step at a time, right? Let’s get you rocking and rolling, and then we’ll have Milo create you a sure-fire dating profile guaranteed to flood the online dating pools.”
“Ah ha ha,” Stan bellowed. “Speaking of Gadgetman, he’s got a project. A side gig.”
“Excuse me, what?” Arnie laughed. “A side gig? Does NIGHTWIND not keep the little shit busy enough?”
“I think pride and competition are fueling this endeavor.”
“Jade?”
Stan chuckled. “One hundred. Anyway, he’s writing a virtual game from the ground floor up, and he’s at the avatar stage of development. You might want to have a look at yours.”
“Stop.” Arnie held his hand up. “This virtual game, is it NIGHTWIND?”
“Knight, with a K. It’s got a warrior vibe. Your avatar wears a gargantuan codpiece.”
“I’m okay with that.” He sniggered.
“I’m not finished,” his brother drawled. “Your guy is also what you might call a Viking drag queen, hence the crotch pouch.”
Hmph. He considered what his brother was telling him. So fucking Milo was trying to impress gamer pro Jade. It wasn’t Arnie’s style, but he had to hand it to the guy. A video game was a creative maneuver.
“How do you know about this?”
Stan grinned like the town idiot. “I’m getting my own avatar!”
There was way too much for Arnie to mentally unpack and make sense of, so he shelved the matter for now and changed the subject.
“What’s happening with the renovation?”
Stan perked up. “I hired a general contractor to run the show. Miguel Ramirez. The dude is a renovating savant. The way he visualizes ideas is extraordinary.”
Finding Summer (Nightwind Book 3) Page 65