Their Instant Baby. Cathy Thacker Gillen

back with the palm of her hand, Amy looked at Nick curiously. “Do you have any idea when Dexter here last ate?”

      Trying not to notice the way Amy’s cotton shirt had ridden up above the waistband of her khaki shorts, revealing several inches of flat, sexy abdomen and silky golden skin, Nick shook his head. Tearing his gaze from the slender but curvy figure visible beneath her loose-fitting knee-length shorts, he shifted his weight to ease the pressure at the front of his slacks and said, “He hasn’t had a bottle since I’ve been here, which is at least two hours.”

      “Then it’s probably time for him to be fed again,” Amy decided. She walked toward the kitchen, her hips swaying so gently and provocatively as she moved it was all Nick could do not to groan out loud. Damn, but it was going to be a long week. Doing his best to return his mind to the task at hand, Nick said, “Lola left some breast milk in the door of the fridge. And there’s more in the freezer when that runs out.”

      Amy handed Dexter to Nick, then moved quickly around the kitchen. Referring often to a handwritten set of instructions on the counter, she warmed Dexter’s bottle in the microwave, then gave it a good shake and tested the liquid on the back of her wrist. Satisfied, she took the bottle to Nick, who was leaning against the counter with Dexter cradled in one arm. He put the nipple to Dexter’s mouth. Dexter spit it out, turned his head away and cried even more loudly.

      Nick and Amy’s subsequent tries to feed Dexter proved no more successful than the first. It didn’t seem to matter if they were sitting or standing, indoors or out. Rocking him or sitting perfectly still. Nick’s nephew was having none of it. Probably, Nick thought, because Dexter kept looking up, expecting to see his mommy’s face, and instead, saw him or Amy. Bottom line, as far as Dexter was concerned, it wasn’t the usual cozy breast-feeding experience he was accustomed to. And he was mighty ticked off about it. Ticked off enough to go on a hunger strike.

      “Now what do we do?” Amy asked anxiously, turning her face to Nick.

      Nick sighed. He could think of only one solution. “I guess there’s no helping it.” He looked at Amy seriously. “You’re going to have to take off your shirt.”

      Chapter Two

      Amy was holding Dexter when Nick made his suggestion, and now she stared at Nick, her pulse taking on a rapid jumping beat. “You’re joking, right?” He looked so handsome and self-assured, lounging against the back of the sofa with his jacket off, his tie loosened and his shirtsleeves rolled up to just beneath the elbow. So big and strong and undeniably sexy that all sorts of romantic thoughts and fantasies came to mind. Fantasies Amy knew she should not be having!

      Nick shook his head, managing to look even more at home at his sister’s small country cottage. “Dexter is used to being fed at Lola’s breast.”

      Heat began to center in Amy’s chest and move outward in mesmerizing waves. “Well, I can’t breast-feed him!” Amy glared at Nick. “I’m not pregnant or nursing. I don’t have any milk!”

      Nick gave Amy an exceedingly patient look, apparently oblivious to the havoc he was causing in her. “I know that,” he said as he gave her an affable smile and somehow avoided looking at her breasts. “But I was thinking about something that was on a television show I produce—Nature’s Kingdom. Have you seen it?”

      “Yes,” Amy said cautiously, aware that being closed in with Nick and the baby this way was putting all her senses in overdrive. Making her wonder what it would be like to have a husband and an infant in her life. She frowned and continued walking Dexter back and forth. “It’s wonderful.”

      “Thanks.” His eyes lit with pleasure. “Anyway, they did a show on puppies who’d been separated from their mother. The new owners comforted the puppies by putting a hot-water bottle covered with a towel with the mother’s scent on it next to the puppies. They all snuggled up to it instinctively and it worked to comfort them. So,” Nick continued, still approaching the problem logically, “I suggest we try to mimic Dexter’s usual mealtime experience as best we can. Therefore—” Nick’s glance slid over her body, head to toe, warming Amy even further “—since your skin is obviously a lot smoother and silkier and your body a lot, uh, curvier than mine, I suggest you do the actual feeding, at least this first time, as we try to help him with the transition from his mom’s breast-feeding.” Nick eased Dexter from Amy’s arms and cuddled the squalling infant close. “Lola left a robe in the bathroom on a hook on the door.”

      Aware her knees suddenly were as wobbly and uncertain as the rest of her, Amy eased past Nick and Dexter. “You really think this will work?”

      Nick shrugged and continued holding Dexter awkwardly against his hard-muscled chest. “I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t.”

      Had they been anywhere else, doing anything else, Amy would have told Nick Everton exactly what he could do with his suggestion that she appear in a state of undress in his presence. But unable to bear Dexter’s hiccupy sobs a second longer, Amy slipped into the bathroom and did as Nick proposed, pulling off her lemon-yellow shirt and donning the robe. When she came back out, Nick was standing next to the rocking chair, Dexter in his arms. His eyes seemed to darken at the sight of her, and he motioned her to sit.

      Her mouth dry, Amy did.

      Nick leaned down and put Dexter in Amy’s arms. With fingers that trembled, Amy tried to discreetly open her robe. Given the way Dexter was still flailing his little limbs and crying, it was impossible to hold on to him and do that simultaneously.

      Realizing she was attempting an impossible task, Nick rushed to the rescue. “Hang on. I’ll help you,” he said, regarding her matter-of-factly. He parted the terry-cloth lapels, revealing Amy’s throat and neck, and the uppermost curves of her breasts above the lacy transparent demi-bra. There was a moment of awareness between Nick and Amy as she noted he had just seen everything there was to see. Flushing, Amy turned her attention away from her tautening nipples and the rapacious gleam in Nick’s eyes, and back to the baby. Still attempting to soothe Dexter, she used both her hands to cuddle the infant close to her and settle his head against her chest.

      Amy saw immediately that Nick had been right about one thing. As soon as Dexter’s head contacted the soft upper swell of Amy’s breast and the feel of her bare skin, he paused, blinking, his tears soaking through to her bra. And although he had stopped crying uncontrollably, Dexter still seemed confused.

      “I don’t think he knows what to do,” Amy murmured.

      “Then I’ll show him,” Nick said softly, gallantly ignoring the way Amy’s lacy demi-bra was now clinging wetly to her breast.

      His touch both incredibly comforting and precise, Nick leaned down and guided the baby bottle to the infant’s mouth once again, murmuring soothingly all the while. Dexter blinked and looked up at Nick with his big, baby blues then sucked on the bottle half-heartedly, a suspicious look on his cherubic face. Nick backed away, still murmuring soothing words, and then three-month-old Dexter looked up at Amy again and began to drink from his bottle in earnest.

      Amy, who’d been baby-sitting from the age of twelve, took it from there, while Nick grabbed his cell phone and laptop computer and stepped out to the screened-in porch to do a little business and check for messages. Not once did he turn back and look at Amy and Dexter, and for that, Amy was very glad. She was still unbearably aroused from the close, albeit meaningless contact with Nick, and she didn’t want to know if he felt the same potent physical attraction. Because Amy wasn’t looking for a fling. She was looking for a deeply satisfying relationship of the heart. One that led to marriage and children of her own. Lola had said little to Amy about her older brother except that she adored him and despaired that Nick’s future did not and never would include marriage and kids.

      Which of course immediately struck him off Amy’s list, despite any attraction she felt for the sexy single man.

      Twenty minutes later Dexter had finished the bottle of Lola’s breast milk and was sleeping soundly in Amy’s arms. Figuring she had better put him in his crib to finish out his nap while she could, Amy