Page 31 of Bad Wolf's Nanny
She arched an eyebrow, “Excuse me?”
“I’m not juggling a newborn, night feeds, and shifting schedules on my own. You’re already halfway covered in sick. You might as well commit.”
“That’s your version of gratitude?”
“Thatisgratitude,” he said dryly. “High praise from me.”
She looked at him for a long moment. He wasn’t smiling, but the tension had eased from his shoulders. His walls, the ones she’d seen flare up a dozen times since she arrived, were lower now. Not gone. But lowered enough to let her glimpse the man beneath.
Not just the enforcer.
Not just the flirt.
But the man who’d taken a baby from a stranger and hadn’t walked away. And he might try to hide it behind blustering charm, but she saw his statement for what it truly was.
A cry for help.
“Alright,” she said at last, “one night.”
Dane met her eyes, “That’s all I’m asking.”
It wasn’t.
They both knew it.
But she didn’t press.
Instead, she stood, stretched, and adjusted the baby in her arms. “I’ll need somewhere to sleep.”
“You can take the bed. I’ll crash on the couch.”
“That hardly seems fair. You’re the one with a newborn.”
He gave her a look. “I went on a three-day expedition up the mountains last week with no supplies. I can handle a couch.”
She hesitated, then nodded. “Fine. But I’ll take the first shift with the baby monitor. It’s only fair.”
He smirked. “Bossy.”
Lola rolled her eyes and made her way to the bedroom. She paused at the doorway, looked back once.
Dane hadn’t moved.
He was still watching her. Or maybe the baby.
Or maybe something else entirely.
Whatever it was, it lingered behind her as she stepped into the dark.
And it followed her into sleep.
Chapter 8 - Dane
Two months.
That’s how long it had been since a screaming, wrinkled, red-faced baby had upended Dane’s entire life.
And somehow, against all odds, it was…working.
