But it really didn’t surprise her to find that in a few hours’ time, he was already handling the dad thing with ease.
Was there anything the guy wasn’t good at?
The question brought to mind a number of things that she’d definitely wondered about over the past few months that involved things like mouths and hands and naked bodies and slippery sheets. Which was not at all appropriate considering she was here to check on him and his infant son.
She tiptoed to the bedroom. The door wasn’t shut, and she found herself in the doorway staring.
James was stretched out on top of the mattress, the sheet over one leg. He was wearing only boxer briefs. And a baby.
The baby was on his chest. Sleeping soundly.
James had an arm slung up over his head, the other cradled the baby’s diapered butt.
Harper wasn’t sure she’d ever been more stunned to be attracted to someone.
Truly, without the baby, this was the sexiest scene she’d ever walked in on. The briefs did nothing to hide a thing about James's big, hard body. They molded to his hips, thighs, and cock lovingly. Even in sleep, and presumably unaroused, the man had so many impressive inches, she paused a moment just to take it all in. All of it. From the sexily mussed dark hair to the scruff on his jaw to the wide chest to the hard abs to all of that below, Harper was thrilled that he was asleep, and she could just look her fill.
Day-um. Yes, with a y. She had an appreciation for language, and that definitely extended to the use of local color to emphasize emotion in ways simple words couldn’t at times.
This guy. He might be wrong for her in a number of ways, but there was no denying her body heated whenever he was around and that for the past six months, whenever she read her erotic romances, James was the guy she was picturing for every hero.
But add that baby in and the way James was protectively holding him, keeping him safe and warm, making him feel comforted… Harper sighed. She’d thought James was sexy when he was holding and playing with Ami.
That was nothing compared to this.
She watched them for another moment. Then realized she had two choices. She could turn around and leave, assured that things seemed fine here. Or she could help. She had no idea how James usually slept, but there was no stretching or rolling or turning in this situation. Or if he did, he risked rolling on top of the baby. Or what if his arm relaxed and slid away from the baby and then the baby rolled or slid off?
Suddenly Harper saw beyond the sexiness and she instantly moved. She could take the baby. She could cuddle, keep him warm, make sure he slept safely since she had forgotten to get a crib. Another realization that was just hitting her.
She’d been distracted at the store. There were so many kinds of formula. So many different types of diapers. She’d been stressed about getting the right car seat. And her mind had been spinning with thoughts of James as a father and the other woman and what all this meant and her own feelings about the whole thing, and yes, she’d forgotten a crib. Merde!
Well, she couldn’t do anything about that right now, so she moved toward the bed. She’d take the baby, and then James could stretch or roll or whatever and get comfortable. Surely, subconsciously, he’d recognize he could move and he’d reposition.
She looked down at them from beside the bed. They weren’t right on the edge. Again, she wondered if James always slept in the middle or if he’d specifically moved over so there was mattress on either side in case the baby did roll off. Still, that was risky. The baby couldn’t lift his own head yet. He could suffocate if he rolled into the blankets. Her heart suddenly pounding, Harper reached out to lift the baby off of James.
But just as her hand touched his back, James stirred.
She froze.
“Professor?”
His voice was husky from sleep, low and gravelly, and Harper’s belly flipped, heat sliding from her stomach lower, between her legs. They were in his bedroom. One of them was in bed. And that voice. And the nickname. She could hardly be blamed for her reaction.
“Hey,” she said softly.
“You okay?”
It was the middle of the night, and he was the one asleep with the thing that had just turned his life upside down, but he was asking about her? She never came to him with needs. He came to her. She nodded. “I thought I’d take him so you could get more comfortable.”
He looked down at the baby, and seemingly instinctively, his hand slid from the baby’s butt to his back. James’s hand was huge on the tiny baby, and Harper swallowed hard at the sweet picture. “He’s okay.”
“You sure? I don’t mind.”
He looked up at her. He was clearly still sleepy, maybe not fully awake. “You wanna help?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yeah.” She felt terrible for leaving earlier. It had gone against every instinct except the one that screamed at her to protect her heart no matter the cost. But she was afraid she was far past the point of that being possible.
“Then come here.”
Harper wet her lips. “Come… there?”
“Yeah.” He reached for her with his free hand and caught her around the wrist, tugging her forward.
She could have easily pulled back, broken free, resisted. But she let him urge her onto the mattress.
Harper knelt with a knee next to his hip. “How does this help?”
“Gets you up against me,” he said, his voice still sleep roughened.
Her heart skittered. “That’s helpful?”
“Can’t imagine how it will hurt.” He gave her a sleepy, but still devastatingly sexy smile. “This way you’re here if he does need something.”
Well, he had a point.
Harper stretched out on the mattress beside James. He put his arm up above his head again, not holding her, but definitely exposing plenty of surface area for her to be up against.
Oh, what the hell. She wouldn’t sleep well at her place now, wondering what was going on over here. This way she was very much here for whatever went on. And she’d wanted to be up against him for a few months now. Lord only knew what the next few days were going to bring with the baby and everything. She might as well enjoy this moment while she had it.
She scooted closer. His body was hot and hard. She swallowed with some difficulty.
Then the baby made a little grunting sound and curled and stretched against James.
This was so not how she’d ever pictured being in bed with James Reynaud. That was for sure.
This was so not how he’d ever pictured being in bed with Harper Broussard.
But damn, he’d take it.
James was stiff, and his arm was asleep, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever get the kink out of his neck, but he had a baby boy sleeping like a rock on his chest and a gorgeous woman sleeping like a rock up against his side, her cheek on his chest, some of her hair clutched in the baby’s fist, and a shaggy dog sleeping like a rock on his left foot. James wouldn’t have moved for a million dollars.
As consciousness slowly returned, he took a further inventory of what was going on. Specifically, Harper. He’d woken up with Fred before, and he had a feeling he’d be waking up like this with the baby a few more times. If not a lot more times. But his chance to lay next to Harper as the morning sun streamed in through his window, before the day started, before he really had to deal with any craziness, was something he wasn’t willing to rush through. It might not happen again.