“No one goes to the store and you move in with me.”
Chapter Five
It was three a.m. and Asher was wailing.
Again.
Groaning, Jamie reached over and gently rocked the stroller hoping to calm his son and perhaps not having to get out of the bed.
Fallon had completely shot down his request for her to move in, and even though he wanted to be angry, he really couldn’t blame her. Hell, he still couldn’t believe she was helping him at all.
Well, I am paying her, so it’s not really like she’s helping…
If anything, I’m helping her while she’s unemployed.
He could argue with himself about it to try to feel better, but the bottom line was that she definitely was helping him and he was grateful—not as grateful as he’d be if she had accepted his offer to move in, but he genuinely appreciated everything she was doing for him and Asher. She’d been coming to the house for the last three days and while some things were getting better, the nights most definitely were not.
The rocking wasn’t helping, so he sat up and came to the conclusion that it was time for another diaper change and a bottle.
Then he got of whiff of something horrific.
“Oh, come on, buddy. In the middle of the night?” But Asher just continued to cry, so Jamie forced himself to get up and do all the things he needed to do.
He had done what Fallon suggested and moved a bunch of stuff into his room—including the changing table, mini fridge, and bottle warmer. He was getting the system pretty much down pat. Bottle went in the warmer before he picked up his son and got him in a fresh diaper and cleaned up. Then he re-swaddled him like a little burrito and by that time, the bottle was the right temperature. Sitting back on the bed, he held Asher close and fed him—still in awe that this little person was his.
“You know…one of these days, you’re going to feel secure enough that you’ll be okay sleeping in your own room,” he said softly as Asher blinked up at him. “But you have to know that I’ll always be there for you. I’ll never be far away. You and me? We’re buddies and I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
Yawning, he got a little more comfortable against the pillows. Within a few minutes, Asher was done eating and let out a loud burp with little effort and Jamie couldn’t help but chuckle.
“That’s my boy.”
He put the bottle and burp cloth on the nightstand, but noticed his son was still fairly wide awake. If he put him back in the stroller, it would be a recipe for disaster for sure.
“Okay, how about this—I give you this awesome pacifier and we sit here and watch a little late-night TV? What do you think?”
More blinking.
Reaching for the pacifier, he offered it to Asher, who greedily accepted it, and then Jamie picked up the remote and put the TV on low. He didn’t care what they watched, just so there was a little background noise to keep him awake.
He ended up on ESPN watching some sort of baseball roundup. Sports was always something he followed, but since it was a lot of talking and commentary, it seemed like the perfect mindless solution. Soon he found himself explaining things to Asher just because, and before he knew it, his son was sound asleep.
Carefully, Jamie put the baby back in the stroller, turned off the light and the TV, and promptly fell back to sleep.
The next time he opened his eyes, it was to the feel of a soft, warm hand on his shoulder.
“Jamie?” someone whispered, and he was certain he was still sleeping.
Covering that soft hand with his own, he let out a low hum. It felt like a lifetime since a woman touched him and he wanted to savor this moment. With a slight tug, he felt her fall onto the bed. His back was to her, but that was about to be rectified. Still holding her hand, he rolled over and…
“Fallon! What the hell are you doing in my bed?” he cried, practically jumping to put some distance between them and dropping her hand as if she’d burned him.
“I came in to wake you up since you clearly overslept and you pulled me onto the bed, you jerk!”
“I…what?” Looking around frantically, he saw it was eight o’clock. Heedless of wearing only a pair of boxer briefs, he sprang from the bed and instantly looked at Asher who was…sleeping.
Now he knew he had to be dreaming.
If Asher was asleep, that meant…
Fallon was standing beside him and eyeing him like he was crazy. “I’ve got him,” she said, averting her gaze. “Go and get ready for work.”
“No…I just need to…” Carefully, he put his hand on his son to make sure he was okay and then nearly sagged to the floor with relief.
“Uh…Jamie?”
He looked up at her and almost cried. “Four hours. He slept for four hours! Do you know what this means?”
“Um…”
“It’s happening!” he said happily. “He’s starting to feel comfortable enough with me to sleep!” Then, without even thinking about it, he hauled her into his arms and hugged her. “Thank you! I didn’t think anything was going to work, but I did everything like you said and…and…he slept! You’re amazing!”
He moved to kiss her cheek at the same time Fallon turned her head to look at him, and his lips landed on hers. And for a moment, neither moved.
Maybe it was sleep deprivation or maybe he’d simply lost his mind, but Jamie’s hands slowly smoothed down her back as he let his lips simply linger on hers before placing a genuine, soft kiss there. When he pulled back, her eyes were still closed and she was completely still.
And he had no idea how to explain himself. Obviously, he hadn’t meant to kiss her. That would just be insane. Fallon wasn’t someone he ever wanted to kiss or even thought about kissing, so…
Okay, then why did I kiss her?
He watched in fascination as her eyes opened and she slowly licked her lips. Their gazes locked and held, and he waited for her to either mock him or tell him off.
“Like I said,” she began, “I’ve got Asher. I’ll take the stroller out to the living room so you can get ready for work.” And then she did just that, closing the bedroom door behind her.
“Denial works,” he murmured and finally realized that not only had he kissed her, but he’d done it in his underwear and was currently sporting a hard on.
Groaning, he did his best not to think about that and quickly gathered some clean clothes and got ready for work.
He preferred getting to the pub before anyone else, but he had a feeling his uncle was going to be there before him again. For the last several days, he’d simply let Ronan believe he was exhausted because he had spent the night with a woman, but he felt guilty lying to him. His parents were already on their cruise, so it wasn’t like anyone could call them, so maybe…
No, definitely. Today he would definitely tell him what was going on.
Decision made, he got dressed and walked out to the kitchen where he found Fallon cleaning up his dinner dishes from last night. “You know you don’t have to do that,” he reminded her as he walked over to pick up his sneakers.
“It’s not a big deal.” Her back was to him as she continued to put dishes in the dishwasher and scrub the sink. “So what time did you put Asher down last night the first time?”