The Baby Bond (8 page)

“No, Nic. Your mom—” but before she could finish, he laughed softly and disconnected.

The woman intrigued him. And he was a sucker for Alex. Why not be a good little fireman and rush to the rescue?

Timing himself, Nic arrived at Cassidy’s apartment in eight minutes. He could hear the little dude through the door.
Man, oh man
, he thought. No wonder Cassidy was on the verge of hysteria. The noise increased when she let him inside.

Without giving the motion any consideration, he took the baby from Cassidy’s arms. “You look beat.”

“I am.”

She must be really tired. Most women of his acquaintance would be offended at such a comment.

The half-moons below Cassidy’s eyes were dark and hollow, more so since the last time he’d seen her. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair limp and disheveled.

He had the uncomfortable thought that she was pretty anyway. He must be as tired as she was.

“What’s the matter with the little dude?” he asked, patting the baby’s stiff back, the blue onesie pajamas soft beneath his fingers.

“I have no idea. That’s why I wanted your mother.”

“Mom would know.” He led the way into the nursery and laid the red-faced, bawling baby on the changing table. “Maybe Uncle Nicky knows, too.”

He wasn’t a paramedic-turned-med-school wannabe for nothing.

“What?” She sounded on the edge—on the edge and leaning over the railing ready to jump.

Alex kicked and thrashed, inconsolable as Nic ran a gentle hand over his rigid tummy. “Feel how firm his belly is. Maybe he has a tummy ache.”

Cassidy came up beside him, her side warm against his. She smelled like orange blossoms. Sweet. Very sweet.

Normally when Nic noticed a girl’s cologne, he paid her a compliment. Not tonight. Though his nose couldn’t help enjoying her scent, his focus was baby Alex.

“What do we do for him?”

“Not sure. Comfort him as much as we can until he gets over the worst of it, maybe?”

“Should I take him to the hospital?” she asked over Alex’s intermittent outbursts.

Nic gazed down at the infant. “For a tummy ache? Nah, I don’t think so. Seems like I remember my sisters talking about colic. Could he have colic?”

“You’re asking me?” Her voice rose an octave. She looked frantic enough to cry. Nic couldn’t stand for a woman to cry.

Digging hard into the recesses of his mind, he dragged up conversations between his sisters and mother. Baby and kid stuff came up a lot at his house, though he hadn’t paid all that much attention. Still, with that many kids some of the info was bound to have stuck.

“If he has colic, I don’t think there’s much you can do.”

“What’s caused it? Did I do something wrong?”

“I remember my sisters discussing diet changes.”

Nic stroked the squirming infant with one hand as Cassidy gazed up at him. Blue. Her eyes were the prettiest shade of blue.

“Alex certainly has had those,” she said. “And a lot of other changes. Poor lamb. I feel so bad for him. He’s stuck with an aunt who doesn’t have a clue.”

Nic blinked and dragged his gaze from Cassidy’s blue, blue eyes to Alex. “Tell you what.”

“What?”

“You get some sleep. I’ll look after Alex.”

Cassidy was already shaking her head. “I have to learn to cope. He’s my responsibility.”

She nudged him aside to check Alex’s diaper, changed him, then lifted him against her shoulder. Nic didn’t appreciate the brush-off. She’d called him over here. He wanted to do something.

So much for the trusty-firefighter-to-the-rescue scenario he’d imagined. This woman was messing up his knight-in-shining-turnout-gear fantasy.

“Does he cry like this every night?” He followed her into the living room, wondering what he was doing in Cassidy’s apartment at two in the morning and why he didn’t just hit the road? She didn’t want him here.

No, wait, she
did
want him here. She’d called him.

Yep, she was definitely messing with his head. And he was just stubborn enough to stick around and see what happened.

Besides, he felt sorry for the little dude.

“He cries off and on every night from bedtime until morning. Then he sleeps like a rock at day care.” Cassidy gnawed a pretty lip with white, even teeth. Some orthodontist had made a mint off Grandma Cruella. “Anyway, the day-care workers say he sleeps all day. I don’t trust them.”

“Why not?”

“How can he sleep all day when he’s awake or crying all night?”

“There’s your answer. He’s tired. He has his days and nights confused.”

“Oh.” Drooping with fatigue, she sagged into a chair and propped Alex on her lap facing Nic. “Makes sense. But I still don’t like putting him in day care. Janna never wanted that. She would be appalled.”

Bad deal, but what choice did she have? “Necessary evil, I guess, for a single parent.”

“I guess.”

Cassidy’s whole body was a study in exhaustion. Nic couldn’t take it. Sure, he was a tad weary from three days of fun in the sun, but erratic hours had never bothered him. They were part of a firefighter’s routine. On for twenty-four hours, off for a day, on again, and off for more days. A crazy life that fit him to a tee.

He reached for Alex and plopped down with him on the small couch, propping his feet on the ottoman. If she was too
stubborn to get some sleep, at least he could give her some respite from Alex. The baby couldn’t help having a bellyache and being confused with all the changes in his life.

With Alex over his shoulder, he patted and talked, the way he had done with his gaggle of nieces and nephews. Uncle Nic had been the favored babysitter. Well, maybe not by his siblings, but definitely by the kids. Even when they were infants like Alex, he’d enjoyed them, knowing when the going got rough, he could hand them back to their mothers.

He made up silly songs in the baby’s ear, singing low and soft as he patted. Cassidy looked at him from beneath drooping eyelids and smiled. “That one didn’t rhyme.”

“What are you talking about? I won a third grade poetry contest. I am a master at the rhyming couplet. Convertible and Corvette in the same poem would make the Bard green with envy.”

She laughed softly. A pretty sound. Had he heard her laugh before? If he had, he must not have been paying close attention.

He was paying attention now.

The last thing Cassidy remembered was thinking how cute Nic was and how delirious she must be to allow a firefighter—especially this one—in her apartment.

Slowly returning to consciousness, she adjusted the angle of her neck. A crick was in the making. She’d fallen asleep sitting up in a chair, listening to Nic Carano sing to Alex.

Nic Carano. Oh my goodness.

Her eyes popped open.

The darkly handsome firefighter no longer occupied the couch across from her. She glanced around the dimly lit room. Someone had turned off all the lights except for a small reading lamp.

“Nic?” she whispered. “Nic?”

Fear stood her on her feet. Nic was gone. So was Alex.

Hurrying now, she rushed into the nursery and nearly collapsed with relief. The baby lay in a hump, knees drawn up and tiny backside in the air, a blanket covering him. His back rose and fell in restful slumber.

Tiptoeing, afraid of waking him, she went through the apartment to check the door locks and then to make sure the smoke detectors were functioning. Finding all secure, she looked out into the parking lot. Nic’s truck was gone. A car slid past on the street below, its lights washing the concrete in pale yellow before disappearing.

According to the artsy clock above her sofa Cassidy had slept several hours. Her alarm would go off soon.

Amazing. How had she slept so soundly while sitting up in a chair? She hadn’t even heard Nic leave.

Heading toward the shower, Cassidy rubbed both hands over her groggy face.

She’d fallen asleep with a man in her apartment—a playboy firefighter, of all people—and Alex in pain. What kind of mother was she?

Guilt-ridden, Cassidy spent too much of the following workday telephoning the day care and researching four-month-old babies on the Internet. Then she made a long list of parenting dos and don’ts and scheduled an appointment with a pediatrician. Even though Alex had been thoroughly examined before dismissal from the hospital, Cassidy figured another exam was in order. This time she knew what questions to ask.

On her lunch break, which she had never taken before the baby came into her life, she drove to Bo-peep day care and played with Alex.

Her boss frowned when she walked in after an hour’s
absence. “I need those mock-ups today, Cassidy. We have a production meeting with Carters at two and the design team meets after that.”

“Right.” She was a perfectionist in her job. Shane knew that. “I’ll get it done.” Somehow.

While Nic was comforting Alex last night, she should have whipped out the laptop and gotten busy on this project. But what had she done? She’d fallen asleep.

Since the fire, her creativity had gone flat. She was going through the motions, plugging in clichéd ideas that would get her nowhere. The company expected original, top-notch work from her. They’d always gotten it.

By the time the workday ended, she’d managed to throw together a couple of ideas, which she e-mailed to Shane’s inbox. Her eyes burned and her neck ached. Four hours of sleep had been better than none, but she was still fatigued to the point of dropping. She wished for the time and energy to go for a run.

After picking up the baby and stopping by the supermarket for diapers, formula and a few groceries, she realized her running days might be over. She couldn’t run and leave Alex alone in the apartment—even if she had the energy.

As she trudged up the stairs, baby in one arm, plastic grocery sacks dangling from her elbow and diaper bag and purse over the opposite shoulder, reality struck. Being a good mother was the hardest, most unselfish job on the planet.

And she had a lot of adjustments to make.

“You’re worth it, though, my lamb,” she said to the boy balanced between the crook of her elbow and her hip. She was determined to read and study and do everything in her power to become the best possible mother to this child who held her heart. No matter how much he cried, no matter how much sleep she lost, there were those special moments when he smiled or laughed and cooed up at her with recognition and
pleasure. Then her heart filled with profound joy and the belief that together they would be a family. Somehow. If she could get it right and keep her job in the process. She owed that much to him and to Janna.

“Aunt Cassidy will do better, sweetie, I promise.” She shifted him higher, balancing while she fumbled with the key.

An amused voice jolted her. “Talking to yourself?”

Cassidy jumped and dropped the keys.

Arms and ankles crossed, Nic Carano leaned against the railing outside her door. He wore a crisp, maize-colored shirt unbuttoned over a navy blue T-shirt that said, “Certified Hokey Pokey Instructor.”

Cassidy ignored the sudden butterflies in her stomach. Nic looked as neat and fresh as a catalog model. She felt like the bottom of a clothes hamper.

“You scared me.”

With a charming grin and easy grace, he retrieved the keys and unlocked the door.

As she stumbled awkwardly past, lugging too much stuff, Nic snatched the baby, swinging him high overhead. “Hey, Alex. How’s my man?”

Alex gurgled happily, toothless mouth wide open. The sight was precious, endearing, and Cassidy’s heart turned over with profound love for her sister’s child.

“Be careful,” she said. “He’ll spit up in your face.”

Nic’s shoulders bunched. He grimaced and slowly returned Alex to a level position. “Was that the voice of experience?”

“Unfortunately.” Cassidy dipped her head in wry concession and dropped the load of bags in the doorway. Her place was a mess. Baby toys scattered here and there. Unfolded laundry piled on the table. This morning’s coffee cup and Alex’s dirty bottles cluttered the sink. Until last week, she’d been a perfectionist here as well as at work. Anyone with off-
white furniture had better be neat. Today she was too tired to care. “Sorry the place is a disaster.”

“It is?” Nic’s honest bewilderment made her laugh.

“Does that mean your apartment is less than tidy?”

“Room. I don’t have an apartment. My mom says I’m a pig, a throwback to Great-Uncle Dominic.” Still holding Alex, he plopped down on the sofa in the same spot he’d occupied last night. Alex grabbed Nic’s bottom lip and pulled.

“You still live with your parents?” Hadn’t she figured him for the type?

“For now.” Nic extracted his lip from Alex’s grasp and handed the baby a rattle. “I’m looking around. Time to get out on my own.”

No kidding. She shuddered at the very thought of still living in Grandmother’s house.

But then, the Carano family wasn’t anything like her grandmother.

“The apartment directly below this one is open.” As soon as she spoke the words, Cassidy wished them back. What was she thinking? She didn’t want Nic Carano for a neighbor. She didn’t even want him here now.

“That a fact?”

“Well, ummm,” she stammered. “It’s probably rented by now.”

He studied her for a few seconds. Then he grinned. The cleft in his chin drew her attention. “You trying to discourage me?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Nic kept staring, eyes dancing with amusement.

She tugged at the collar of her blouse, aware of the heat that crept up her neck. Certain the dratted blotches would pop up on her skin any minute, Cassidy turned away, busying herself with straightening the living room.

“Why
did
you come over today?” she asked. And why did
Notorious Nic have to be the firefighter who rescued her nephew? “I mean, there’s really no need. I appreciate all you’ve done, coming to my aid last night, but—”

“Are you telling me to hit the road?”

Hands filled with baby toys, she paused, “No!”
Yes.

“Good. You were about to hurt my delicate feelings.” He grinned at the statement. A man with his self-confidence would never believe he wasn’t wanted. “Probably of more importance to you than my tender ego is this. I bring good tidings and words of advice from my mom, the baby expert.”