Page 20 of The Home Game

“Elizabeta,” she supplied, shaking his hand. “But you can call me Eliza.”

“Nice to meet you, Eliza.”

“I hate to be rude,” she said with a frown. “But I have to leave for an appointment soon. Let me make sure the kids are all ready to go.”

When she was gone, Antoni turned to Matty with an apologetic smile. “Give us a minute, if you don’t mind? It’ll take some time to get them wrangled. Kids travel with a lot of stuff. Probably just as well you had the SUV today.”

“Sure, no prob.” Matty smiled, though the reminder stung a little.

He’d bought the vehicle hoping he’d be driving his own kids around. Today he’d only done it because it was supposed to storm and he didn’t like driving the Jeep in the rain.

The skies were sure clear now though, so maybe he’d been worrying for nothing.

Matty added, “I’m not in a hurry so take all the time you need. It’s not like I live far from here.”

But Antoni froze. “Fuck. I planned this all wrong. I’m going to make you go out of your way to get to my place before you come back here.”

Matty shrugged. “Yeah. No biggie though. It’s still like fifteen-twenty minutes, tops.”

Antoni grimaced. “Oh God, I’m so dumb. You’re gonna have to make an extra trip and …”

“Hey,” Matty said softly. “It’s cool. Really. I’ve got zero plans for the rest of the day.”

“You sure you don’t mind?” Antoni looked conflicted.

“I don’t,” Matty promised, reaching out to touch his shoulder. “Not even a little bit.”

Jeez. For a smart guy, Antoni sure wasn’t getting it.

“Well, I have some good news. We timed the nap right,” Eliza said, carrying a sleepy-looking infant. “Reese just woke up.”

Oh he was cute. “May I?” Matty asked, reaching for him.

Eliza shot a quizzical look at Antoni.

“I promise I’m fully qualified,” Matty reassured them, grinning. “I had training and everything.”

When they both gave him blank looks, he said, “Uh, I volunteer at the children’s hospital. I’m a baby cuddler in the NICU.”

“Oh.” Antoni’s mouth lifted at the corners, his shoulders relaxing a little. “I guess you are qualified to hold Reese then.”

Matty absolutely beamed as Antoni’s mom passed Reese over.

“Hi there,” he said in a delighted voice to Reese. “Oh look at you! You had a good nap, didn’t you, little guy. You look so happy. Your hair is a little wild though. Here, let me fix that.”

Matty smoothed a giant hand over the fluff of blondish hair on Reese’s head. “There, all better.”

Reese made a happy little babbling sound, shoving his fist into his mouth as he stared at Matty with wide, curious eyes.

Antoni sighed, relieved.

Reese was a pretty easygoing baby anyway but Antoni had never seen him look so calm around a stranger. Of course, it helped that Antoni and his mom were right there but it probably also had to do with the way Matty cradled Reese’s body against his broad chest, biceps popping as he steadied Reese with one big hand.

Oh lord. The way Matty held Reese … he was so careful. Careful but confident. Like he knew exactly what he was doing.

Shit! That shouldn’t be so attractive but it really was. And the happy, excited faces Matty kept making at Reese, it was like he’d been given the best gift ever.

Antoni’s mom lifted her eyebrows, shooting Antoni a significant glance as if to say “we’re going to talk about this later” before she excused herself.

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