Page 5 of Santa Baby
“We can fake most of that.”
I can’t help but give him an unconvinced snort. “Maybe you can but I can’t.”
I wouldn’t even know where to start. Truth is…I couldn’t make a baby of my own because I don’t have a clue about the first place to start. He reaches out for my hand causing me to jump and my heart to pound.
“Why don’t you come have lunch with me and bring Noelle with you.” I’m listening. And not saying no. “We’ll meet in the park so it’s public and you won’t have to worry so much about being alone with a stranger. Say noon.”
I try not to overthink all of this. I try to remember why I have to do this, what it’s all for. Who it’s all for.
“Um…okay. I guess.” Why do I feel like I just made a deal with the devil?
Chapter Five
____________
Nic
I can feel the hot sun on my back. There’s just a hint of a breeze rattling the last remaining leaves on the trees as so many people come out to enjoy the last of the warm days before winter sets in and everything becomes cold and gray. I’ve not even let myself question why I’m doing this. There really isn’t a question there. It just is what it is.
Talia doesn’t realize how much she gives away. In everything she does, her actions, her words, her presence, she tells people around her who she is and what she stands for. How much she loves is evident in the fact she has taken this little baby into her life and her heart and would do anything for it. Even marry someone she doesn’t know, trusting that they will help her reach her ultimate goal of being this baby’s mother. I can tell how attracted I am to her because of how she’s got me doing things I normally wouldn’t even think about doing.
Like how I reacted to her when she mentioned going out and getting knocked up. My knee-jerk reaction was to take her to the ground and get started. To make it even worse she went and told me she’s never had a boyfriend before. I can almost bet what that means given a girl like her doesn’t just fuck around with everyone she meets. She’s innocent and sweet…and mine!
I never understood my brother’s love for younger women especially since he’s only twenty-fucking-one or why he likes women that call him Daddy, but with Talia…things start to make sense. All I want to do is take care of her and keep her safe, make her life easier, and give her whatever the hell she could ever want. Hearing her call me Daddy wouldn’t hurt my feelings if she said it with those plump lips tilted up in a smile and those wintergreen eyes up towards me.
I grunt and squirm around on the blanket I’ve laid out, hoping no one can see my dick tent the front of my dress pants. I check my watch again and stand to start pacing again. I’m sure I look like some sort of madman pacing back and forth in front of a blanket and picnic basket constantly looking at the time, sitting then standing and pacing more. She’s five minutes late. I don’t think she’s coming. She’s talked herself out of doing this and I’m going to have to find another way to get close to her.
And then she’s here, like magic. Carrying two bags and a car seat and the baby in her arms. She comes over to me juggling all of this and still looking like the cutest little fairy I’ve ever seen. I just want to put her in my pocket and take her home with me. Instead, I take the two bags from her shoulders.
“I’m so sorry. The baby spit up on me just as we were leaving, and I had to change shirts…and wipe the spit-up out of my hair.”
“No worries.” I help her sit and take my first look at the baby. “You seem to have a lot of stuff to haul around.”
“Yeah. It takes a lot to leave the house with a baby.”
“This is Noelle, I take.”
She widens her eyes and gives me another apology, “Oh, yeah. Sorry. Noelle, this is Mr.,”
“Nic.” I gently correct her. If we’re going to act like we’ve been dating for a while she’s going to have to get used to calling me Nic.
“Oh…um, yeah. Nic. This is Nic. Nic this is Noelle.” She turns the baby around so I can get my first good look at the chubby little cherub in her arms.
“Wow, she’s a tiny little thing.” Much younger than I had thought. “How old is she?”
“Five months.” She gives the little gurgling bundle a smile and hugs before going on, “She’s just learned to sit up so now she’s trying to walk. In another month she’ll want to drive.”
“That fast, huh?”
“It feels like it.” I watch as she lets the baby tug on her hair and gnaw on her finger.
“Can I…?” I hold my hands out.
“You want to…oh, okay.” She hands the bundle over to me and we sit looking at one another for a long time as I take in the utter smallness of this little thing.
She’s so tiny but her stare is so intense it feels like I’m being judged as she stares into my soul. I look up to find Talia smiling at the both of us.
“I’ve never held a baby.”