Page 87 of This Wild Heart

Sheila laughed, her eyes warm as she looked up into my face. “You’ll be just fine. You know what to do.”

“Do I?” I asked wryly.

She patted my chest. “Yup. Plus, you have all those sisters just dying to give you advice on every single thing.”

I winced. “Don’t remind me.”

“Come on, watch some TV with me, son. I don’t get to do that with you very often.”

“What are we watching?” I asked, following her into the family room, waiting while she picked her seat—Dad’s chair. With a smile, I took the corner of the L-shaped couch, stretching my legs out in front of me.

“SportsCenter.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

She gave me a look like I was crazy. “Of course. My son starts training camp soon. I gotta hear what they’re saying about him.”

Chapter 23

Anya

The first time Leo cried, I was so sound asleep that it took a moment to get my bearings.

Baby.

Parker’s room.

Parker’s bed.

I rubbed my eyes as I turned over and tried to clear the sleep from my head, and in that pause, the lamp by Parker’s side of the bed clicked on. Even though it wasn’t bright, I still winced at the sudden change in the room.

Instead of heading to the bottles, to my utter astonishment, the man walked around the foot of the bed, reached into the bassinet, and picked up his son without so much as a meaningful glance or aI’ve got thisorOh hey, don’t worry, I’m okay touching my kid now.

Just … picked him up. Cuddled him against his bare chest like it was totally normal. Leo’s brown hair was a little lighter than Parker’s, but what a sight they were—with the cut lines of his abs and the rippling muscles in his forearms as he slowly unhooked the velcro of the swaddler.

Good Lord, my eggs were practicallyscreamingto be fertilized.

My mouth hung open just a little, but I snapped it shut before he gave me a quick, nervous glance. It was the naked vulnerability in his eyes that had my entire nervous system melting like a freaking ice cream cone, the panting beast in my ovaries cooling just a little bit.

“Can you make the bottle, please?”

I blinked. Blinked again. “Of course,” I said haltingly.

My movements were clumsy getting out of the bed, and when he brought Leo closer to his face, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, I almost tripped over my own fucking feet.

“You all right?” he asked smoothly, eyes cutting over to mine while I peeled the top off the can of formula and tried not to drop it.

“Totally. Totally, completely fine and not at all shocked by these turn of events.”

Parker’s lips twitched, and he laid Leo on the bed, opening up his swaddler. His smile at Leo’s reaction should be illegal—white teeth and a dimple, for fuck’s sake. “I think he hates this thing. Look at how he stretches his arms.”

“Yes, I can tell he hates it by the”—I glanced at the clock as I mixed the powder into the water—“five hours he just slept.”

“I think you’re being sarcastic.” Parker took the bottle from my outstretched hand, scooping the baby back up into his arms. “There you go, dude.”

“I need to pee before I can process this,” I told him, head still spinning.

“Ahh, we’ve reached this point of marriage, huh? The mystery is gone.”

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