Sin (The Waite Family) (43 page)

Her giggle brought him around. He must have dozed for only a second or two.
He lifted his head and looked down at her smiling face. “Do you usually laugh at men who take you in your kitchen?”
He stood up off her and
felt his cock twitch.
Even after that
,
he still wanted her.

“I don’t know.
I’ve never been taken on any table before.”
She moved slowly as she stood too and turned
,
only to lean against the table again.
“You fell asleep.
You snore.”

He pulled her to him and kissed her.
“I do not.
I love you
,
Sydney.
Are you really going to marry me?”

Suddenly unsure
,
he looked at her.
“Yes, I’ll marry you.
Take me to bed. I’m exhausted.”

They gathered up her uniform
and
put away the mess they’d made.
She went up first and he locked up. He looked at his cell phone when it vibrated in his pocket.
I
t
was Cain.

He answered with a smile.
“She said yes.
When can I get our daughter?”

~Chapter 24~

Sydney moved her arm under the pillow and touched her gun.
She felt it there and rolled over to get the sun out of her face.
She knew where she was, just didn’t know why the sun was so bright.
She opened one eye and looked at the window to find the curtain wide open. Snow drifted down the glass and she
smiled.
She looked around the rest of the room without moving.

It was a nice room. She’d never been in it before Payton
was
.
The walls were a dark pattern of some burgundy color.
She wasn’t sure because the sun made it difficult to see for sure.
Sydney had always preferred warm colors over the dull or bright.
She supposed it had to do with having to wear drab uniforms all the time.

His furniture was big…well, she supposed it was normal
-
sized
,
but compared to her duffle it was huge.
The highboy
,
she thoug
ht
it was called
,
held a television
,
she knew. She’d seen it open when she’d come up here with him before.
The carpet was a creamy color
. S
he thought it was almost beige, but didn’t care enough to ponder it.
She was just moving her eyes to the other dresser when she heard a mewing sound.
Rolling to her back she saw Payton looking at her.
Then she saw the source of the noise.

She leapt from the bed so quickly she nearly fell. “What the fu…heck it that?”

Payton looked down at the pink bundle beside him before answering. “It’s a baby. Come back to bed.”

“I know it’s a baby
,
you as…idiot. What’s it doing here?”
She looked around
,
found one of his t
-
shirts on the
chair
,
and pulled it over her head.
“
Are you
dressed?
You need to get something on.”
She didn’t know why it bothered her to be naked in front of the kid, but it did.
And he was in bed…well, that didn’t bother her too much
. H
e was covered up.

“I’m dressed. I’ve been up since six.”
He lifted the blanket off him to show her he had on jeans but no shirt.
“And to answer your question, she’s here sleeping.
Well
,
she was until someone took it
into her head to squeal.”

“I did not squeal.”
She sat on the bed and looked at the baby.
She was looking at Sydney just like she felt.
Terrified.
“Whose is she?”
Sydney wanted to touch her. See if her skin looked as soft as it appeared.
But the thing looked ready to scream
its
head off so she just looked.
Sydney wondered
how it could move in the blanket
. I
t was wrapped up tighter than her pack was.
She looked at Payton when she realized he hadn’t answered her.

“N
obody’s
.
She was abandoned at the emergency room last week. Your brother has been caring for her until today.
She had to be released.”

“And she’s here because…”
She couldn’t stand it.
She reached over and started to unwrap her
,
making sure her fingers moved over her soft skin at least twice before getting her open.
She was wrong about her skin
;
it was much softer than it looked.

She had on a skull cap that was a pink that defied description.
Her clothes, she thought she’d heard Alyssa call it a sleeper when she’d watched Connor
,
was also pink
.
P
ink with some kind of animal running up the leg.
There was a clip on her jammies that had a short ribbon and a pacifier on it. The kid was sucking it like it was her last meal.

“She has to be somebody’s.
I know enough about biology to know that.” When he didn’t answer she looked at him again and it clicked.
“Oh no you don’t. I’m not taking this thing.
You take her right back to where you got her.
Tell my brother it won’t work.”

He sat up and started to unsnap the
kid’s
jammies.
“She’s not going to be adopted.
No one will take her until she’s at a point where they can tell what kind of care she’ll need
,
if any.”
He got her feet out of the legs of the pink and Sydney could see the tiniest little feet she’d ever seen and toes to match.

“Why would she need care? I mean
,
other than the normal kind kids need. She looks okay to me.”
Actually
,
Sy
dney thought she might be perfect.
But she didn’t comment.

When he pulled the jammies off her arms she lay there in a t
-
shirt that snapped between her legs.
Sydney thought it might be nice to have one of those as an adult.
Never having to tuck in your undershirt again would be heaven.

“She’s a coke baby.
When she came to the ER she was as high as any junkie.
Her mother must
have
done drugs while she was pregnant and
the baby got it too.”

Sydney looked at him to see if he was kidding. She knew he wasn’t. “Why
?
”
S
he didn’t know what she was asking about, but it seemed important to try to understand.
The little kid didn’t stop staring at her
,
but she did look less terrified.

“Who
knows about some people
?
But her problems could be she’ll have developmental issues, maybe learning ones as well.”

He lifted the baby up and snuggled her under his chin.
Sydney was mesmerized by it and was taken completely by surprise when she had the baby in her arms suddenly.
She wanted to hand her back to him or at the very least put her back on the bed
,
but couldn’t seem to do either.

“You suck
,
you know that
?
” she said to Payton without heat.
“If you think I don’t know what you’re doing, you
’
r
e
full of crap.”

He watched her as she held her.
Sydney didn’t have a clue what she was doing with the baby
,
but she wasn’t screaming so she figured she wasn’t hurting her.
Payton had told her when she watched Connor that babies would let you know when you were not doing something right.

“Cait offered me a job. She wants me to be a detective on her police force.”
He
sat up and leaned against the headboard of the bed, several pillows behind him.
Sydney moved around
,
sat between his legs
,
and leaned back against him still holding the baby.

“Are you going to take it?”
The kid was closing her eyes, blinking longer and longer as she was held.
Sydney thought she could join her
,
but knew that she wouldn’t be able to close her eyes so long as she held her.

“I don’t know. I told her I needed to talk to you. She said she’d want me on days with her. She wants to groom me.
She seems to think I’ll take her job when she retires.”

He wrapped his arms around her and showed her how to relax the baby against her body.
He didn’t let either of them go when the kid closed her eyes completely.

“The President offered me a job too. I guess technically I still work for him, but this one would be here.
He wants me to train
his Secret Service when he needs them and to run them through combat training when he doesn’t.
The place will be open to the public so no one will know what
it’s
really for, but I’ll only work with his men.”
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “I told him I had to talk to you first.”

He kissed her cheek and didn’t say anything for a little while.
She was nearly dozing off when he finally spoke.

“About the baby?
We need to decide.
The jobs are easy compared to raising a child. I’ve never done it
,
but I’ve seen it.
What do you want to do?”

~~~

Payton didn’t say anything after he asked. He knew it was a lot to throw at her. He was actually surprised she’d been so calm so far. He had expected…he grinned. He never knew what to expect with Sydney.