Page 9 of Santa Baby
The nickname flusters her, “Oh, um, yeah. I…baby just needed changing, and my phone was all the way across the house.”
Best to get this out right from the start, “I think you need to move in with me.” Silence is my only answer for a long time. So long I start to wonder if she dropped the phone or hung up on me. “Talia?”
“I can’t.”
“Why not? You’re going to have to come live with me when we marry.”
“Bu…but I can’t leave my apartment.”
“Talia, sweetheart, what did you think would happen after we married?” I say it softly not wanting her to think I’m being condescending or rude to her. “We have to live together or nobody's going to believe any of this.”
“I…I didn’t really think that far ahead. I was so caught up with the wedding and…”
“Keeping Noelle.” I finish for her. “I think that’s one of the reasons we should do this quickly. Noelle has to be comfortable around me and we have so much to do while both of us work. I think we would have more time to plan and work on all of this if you and Noelle moved in with me and we had the evenings to work things out.”
“I guess…it would be easier. I could…um, start packing.”
“No worries, sweetheart. Let me handle everything. You have enough to do taking care of Noelle. Can we meet tomorrow afternoon, say five-forty.”
“Um…”
“We can talk, come up with a game plan, and really sink our teeth into all we have to do.”
“Ok. Five-forty.” I feel my lips curl in a Grinch-like grin as we hang up after I gain her promise to meet with me. She thinks I’m coming to pick her up so we can talk. It’s probably better for her to think that than to know what will happen tomorrow. She has to take baby steps and that’s fine, I’ll be the one to take the leaps that take us down the aisle.
Chapter Eight
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Talia
A knock comes on the door at five-forty sharp and I feel my heart kick up at the sound. I have Noelle in my arms but we’re not really ready to leave just yet. Hopefully, Nic won’t be mad about that and will be able to wait on me while I finish. But Nic is not on the other side of the door. When I open up, it’s to find a big, burly man on the other side. He looks me up and down chewing gum before giving me a big smile.
“Whoa, you are…one hot momma.”
“Hey! I don’t pay you to hit on my wife.”
My mouth drops open in shock. Wife? It’s Nic’s voice but…I’m not his wife yet. He comes through the door and drops a kiss on my open mouth causing me to gasp out, or at least try to since his mouth is on top of mine.
“Sorry, Sir!”
“And don’t touch her clothes!”
“Nic?”
He takes me by the arm that I’m not holding Noelle in and leads me to the back of my apartment towards my bedroom. “Where are your things, angel?”
He opens the door to Lissanne’s room, but I move in front of him and shut the door again. Nic’s already moved on and opened the door to the room that is mine. I moved the crib in here after…there’s not a lot of room anymore.
“Why don’t you sit on the bed with Noelle. I’ll be right back, and you can tell me about your day.”
Before I can say anything, he steps out of the room and comes back in with boxes in his arms. “Nic, um, what is going on?”
“Is this your stuff?”
“My…stuff?” He pulls open a drawer full of underwear and I squeak and try to stand up but there just isn’t enough room.
“Underwear, lingerie, anything else you wouldn’t want a stranger to touch?”