Lily pulled away from the breast, a drowsy, satisfied expression on her face. It wouldn’t be much longer before she was nappingtoo.
“I’ll change her and put her down for her nap while you go and rest up.” I pushed myself off the couch, removed Lily from Holly’s arms, and carried her to her bedroom. “Hey, beautiful. What do you say Daddy changes you, then you sleep while I make dinner? Does that sound like aplan?”
I would have discussed the rest of my plan with her, to get her female opinion on it, but I didn’t want to risk Hollyoverhearing.
Holly and Lily had been home for a day now. And what was the number one thought parading through my head? No, not the one where I craved to make love to Holly—although it was certainly upthere.
I was already wondering how I’d be able to go back on the road with the team. I couldn’t get enough of seeing my twogirls.
I couldn’t get enough of waking up with Holly next tome.
Now, I know what you’re thinking—that all those times she and I had slept together during the past few months must have counted forsomething.
But theydidn’t.
Sleeping together and living together weren’t the samething.
Living with her was so muchbetter.
Even if I had to learn not to be quite the slob I wasbefore.
Okay, I’ll admit it, it was a work inprogress.
Lily started fussing as I changed her wet diaper, so I did what had become a habit even before she was born—I sang “Unforgettable” to her. By the time I got to the second line, “Unforgettable though near or far,” she settled down and watched me as I continuedsinging.
Once she was changed into a clean diaper and sleeper, I wrapped her up in a pink receiving blanket and settled her in hercrib.
How did I do? With the blanket, I mean. HDF Lesson #15 had been on the fine art of swaddling the baby in a receivingblanket.
Except wrapping a teddy bear wasnotthe same as swaddling a squirming baby. Not evenclose.
Next, I did what all new fathers do…I watched as she fell asleep, then retrieved my phone and shot some more photos of her—for when I was on theroad.
Did I have any pictures of Holly and Lily together? You’d better believeit.
After I stopped staring at Lily, I began making dinner. I’d already given Holly red roses that morning. I know, clichéd. But I was a man. What did youexpect?
Since the meal didn’t need to go into the oven yet, I put it in the fridge for later and checked my social mediasites.
Normally I didn’t read the comments. I doubted most players did. Or when they did read them, they skimmed to the ones from people theyknew.
The last time I’d posted anything was from the day Lily was born. It was the photo Holly had taken. There were the expected comments about how cute she was. Naturally agiven.
There were numerous comments about ovaries exploding because of how hot I looked holding ababy.
Did anyone else think that soundedpainful?
And there were several comments questioning why no one had heard until now that I had a girlfriend…and questioning if Holly had trapped me into a relationship. If I ventured a guess, I’d say those comments came from puckbunnies.
The rest congratulated Holly and me on the birth of ourdaughter.
As I parked my phone next to Holly’s on the coffee table, hers vibrated and lit up with a text from Drew:Call me. Heard of a great job opportunity here. I think you’d be perfect forit.
“She’s got a great jobhere,” I muttered, even though he couldn’t hearme.
“Who has a great job?” Holly asked, startling me. When had she become aninja?
“You do.” I pointed to her phone. “Are you looking for a new job?”InAustralia?
