Page 9 of Shotgun Spouse
"For you? Are you sure it's not from a one-night stand from a year ago?"
"I don't do one-night stands, Bunny. I'm the kind of guy who tucks into a relationship. I don't roll out of the sheets in the middle of the night."
She pressed her lips together, then looked away.
"I brought him inside, called Protective Services, and… well, here we are. They told me I’d have to take care of him until morning.”
Bunny’s head snapped back to him. “You?”
“Yeah, me. Apparently, being mayor qualifies me as a babysitter. Who knew?”
She looked at him, her expression caught somewhere between disbelief and amusement. “What do you know about taking care of a baby?”
“Not much,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was an only child. No siblings, no cousins nearby. But there’s no one else, so I’ll figure it out. I’ll stop at the store, grab some milk and baby food?—”
“Milk and baby food?”
“Yeah, you know, the usual baby stuff,” he said, waving a hand vaguely.
“You can’t feed an infant baby food. If they're not on breast milk, they need formula.”
Teddy tried to keep his eyes from dipping to Bunny's chest. “Formula. Right. Of course.”
She tilted her head, giving him a skeptical look that said she didn’t believe he knew what he was talking about. She would've been right.
“Look,” he said, straightening. “I’ll handle it. I’ve got this under control.”
“You’ve got nothing under control,” Bunny shot back, shifting the baby in her arms. “I’m coming with you.”
"All right." He nodded. "If you insist."
Teddy opened his office door for Bunny to proceed him out. She hesitated for a second, like she wasn't sure if she'd been played or not. As she passed him, the kid blinked at him from over her shoulder. Teddy only barely suppressed the urge to stick his tongue out.
CHAPTER SIX
The bright fluorescent lights of the grocery store hummed overhead as Bunny pushed the cart down the baby aisle. The car seat, thankfully sturdy and well-padded, was perched snugly in the front of the buggy. The baby inside cooed softly, as if completely unaware of the chaos surrounding his arrival.
Teddy trailed behind her, his hands stuffed into his coat pockets, his eyes darting between Bunny and the shelves like he was watching some strange, unfathomable sport.
“Do babies really need all this stuff?” He gestured vaguely at the wall of pacifiers, bottles, and bibs.
Bunny didn’t bother looking at him as she grabbed a box of diapers and dropped it into the cart with a thud. “Yes, Teddy. Babies need all this stuff. You think they just come pre-installed with survival skills?”
He scratched the back of his neck, his expression sheepish. “Well, no, but… do they really need five different kinds of bottles? And what even is that?”
“It’s a bottle drying rack.” Bunny picked up a pack of wipes and added it to the growing pile. “And yes, they need differentbottles because not every baby likes the same one. You gotta test the nipples.”
"Nipples?"
"Don't be a child. Or a pervert."
“I'm just shocked babies don't come with a manual, but they're born with nipple preferences.”
“Babies are tiny humans. They’re allowed to have opinions.”
Teddy muttered something under his breath. Bunny ignored him. The baby gurgled.
Bunny reached for a pack of onesies, noting the soft fabric and practical snaps. The fact that the baby’s mother had left him in a well-cared-for car seat lingered in her mind, a small but telling clue. This wasn’t someone who didn’t care—this was someone desperate. And for some reason, they’d decided Teddy was their best solution.
