The Baby Surprise / The Father for Her Son: The Baby Surprise

“Oh my Lord, child, what did you eat that turned into that?”

Paige smiled, picturing the look of complete horror on his face that she heard in his voice.

For a few minutes, she heard only background noises. The whisper of wipes being tugged out of their container, some muted gagging, the click of the latch on the diaper disposal, the crinkle of a new diaper being unfolded, a quiet gurgle of appreciation, the snap of buttons being refastened. Then Zach spoke again.

“We’ve already made progress, haven’t we?” he was murmuring softly to her now. “Only a few days ago, you would have rather screamed than smiled at me, and although we might have had a little setback at the park, now you’re snuggled in my arms and your eyes are drifting shut.”

He was right, Paige realized. He had made a lot of progress with Emma in a short time, so much so that the little girl looked around for him when she heard his voice and smiled when he came into the room. And she wondered, not for the first time, if she’d made a mistake in inviting Zach to stay with them.

Because Paige was beginning to realize that not only had he made progress with the little girl he was currently rocking to sleep, he was making progress with her, too. She was actually starting to like him, and that wasn’t just foolish, it was potentially dangerous.

“I said ‘your eyes are drifting shut,'” Zach repeated, and Paige smiled, easily picturing Emma’s big blue eyes stubbornly wide open, staring up at him as he tried to coax her to sleep.

She wondered what his air force buddies would think if they could see him now, attempting baby hypnosis. But the silence from the baby monitor told her that he’d not only attempted but succeeded, forcing her to accept that there probably wasn’t anything the man couldn’t do.

Considering that he might seek custody of the little girl, the realization was hardly reassuring.

With a sigh, she picked up her glass and went back outside.

Four chapters later, Paige realized that Zach hadn’t made an appearance since he’d gone upstairs to put Emma down for her nap. Curious, she went back into the house and made her way up the stairs.

She found him when she peeked into Emma’s room. The baby was finally asleep in his arms and Zach looked as if he was sleeping, too. She hesitated in the doorway, tempted to leave them undisturbed. But she knew that Emma would sleep better and longer if she was settled in her crib, and Zach would likely end up with a stiff neck if she left him as he was with his head tilted back in the chair.

She slid one hand beneath Emma’s head and the other under her legs, but as she started to lift the sleeping child, Zach’s grip instinctively tightened. Paige had no intention of playing tug-of-war with the baby, but now her hands were trapped.

She could feel the heat emanating from his body, and her own started to tingle. She swallowed and tried to ease away, but his hold on the baby held her just as fast.

She drew in a breath and inhaled his warm masculine scent. Oh, he smelled good. And looked even better.

His T-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders and molded to his pecs, and his jeans hugged his long, lean legs. Had he shown up at her door dressed as casually as he was now, she likely would have melted in a puddle at his feet. But the uniform had made her cautious, urged her to maintain a safe distance. She tried to picture him in that uniform now, but her mind insisted on wanting to undress him instead.

She swallowed, hard, recognizing that she was in big trouble here.

“What are you doing?”

Her gaze flew to Zach’s face.

His eyes were open now, alert, and focused intently on her.

“I, uh—” Oh Lord, his eyes were so blue and so intense that she nearly lost her train of thought. “Emma,” she suddenly remembered. “I was going to put Emma in her crib.”

“I can do it,” Zach said.

“Oh. Of course,” she agreed. “But I was walking by and it looked like you were sleeping, too, and—”

“I just closed my eyes for a minute.”

Paige nodded and tugged her hands free.

Zach rose from the chair with the baby in his arms. “I wouldn’t have dropped her, you know.”

She nodded again because she knew it was true. Because she knew that Zach wouldn’t do anything to harm Emma, and the obvious evidence of his affection for the child was seriously undermining Paige’s resolve to keep him at a distance.

He settled Emma on her mattress, pulled the blanket up over her. “I would protect my daughter with my life.”

Yeah, she’d realized that, too. And how was she supposed to resist a man who so clearly loved the little girl? But she had to ask, “Are you really that convinced—or are you just so stubborn that you can’t consider the possibility, any superficial physical resemblance aside, that she might not be your daughter?”

“Did Olivia sleep around?”

“No,” Paige responded immediately, firmly, in defense of her friend.

“Was she dishonest?”

“No,” she said again, because even though she could see where he was going with these questions, she couldn’t lie to him.

“Then why would I question her claim that I am the father of her child?”

Paige sighed as she followed him out into the hall. “Because most men probably would.”

“I’m not going to lie and say that I was filled with joy and anticipation when I read Olivia’s letter,” he told her, starting down the steps. “The truth is, I was stunned and more than a little panicked. And maybe my first instinct was to deny the possibility. But once I’d had a chance to think about it, I knew that Olivia wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

“I know you’re right,” Paige admitted. “But what if Olivia wasn’t lying but was simply mistaken? It’s not beyond the realm of possibility to think that she had a brief fling with someone else and didn’t consider that the baby might be his.”

“Well, I guess we’ll know the truth soon enough.”

“I guess we will,” she agreed.

“In the meantime.” He paused at the bottom of the staircase and turned to face her.

Because she was still standing on the last step, they were eye to eye. Her fingers curled around the newel post; her breath caught. His gaze dropped to her mouth, as if he wanted to kiss her. Paige started to sway forward, as if she wanted him to kiss her.

Then Zach took a quick step back. “In the meantime, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

She exhaled an unsteady breath. “What’s that?”

“I want to take Emma to California.”

It was a good thing she was still holding on to the post, because his words nearly knocked her feet out from under her. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

She stepped down, moving past him as she tried to get her head around what he was saying. “Don’t you think that’s a little premature?”

He shook his head. “My parents are expecting me in California next week,” he admitted. “I didn’t know what to tell them about Emma. I wasn’t going to tell them anything until the test results came back, but I know she’s mine, Paige. And you know she’s mine. And I want my parents to meet her.”

“You can’t honestly think I’m going to let you take her across the country with you.”

“Of course not,” he acknowledged drily. “But I thought you could come, too.”

She almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of the suggestion. “I can’t just pack up and take off for California.”