Page 15 of The Duke's Surprise Heir

“A computer. A monitor.” She smiled softly. “And a lot more sleep.”

“I’ll take care of Kyle during the next few nights for you.”

Macie shook her head. “I’d love to take you up on that, but I nurse Kyle at night. He gets a bottle in the morning and afternoon, so you can take over those feedings.”

“Why a bottle?”

“My pediatrician told me to make sure he knows how to feed from a bottle so that, when I go back to work, he’s okay without nursing all the time.”

“I…uh…hadn’t thought about that.”

She shrugged, then checked to make sure that the movement didn’t bother Kyle. He was already fading off to sleep again. The little fellow was completely off his daily routines.

“There were a lot of things that I hadn’t thought about when I realized I was pregnant.”

“Like contacting me?” he asked, his voice soft.

She looked up at him. “We’ve already talked about that, Edward. I really didn’t think you’d want to know.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what I would have thought, Macie.” He turned and walked a bit, then came back. “I’m sorry that you were in a position that you didn’t know. That you felt you had to hide this from me.”

She bit her lower lip, then shifted Kyle again, causing her nipple to slip from his mouth. Macie heard Edward’s hiss and jumped, glancing up at him while pulling the soft cashmere down to cover her breast.

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize,” he countered. “I’ve been dreaming about your breasts, hell, your whole body, for the past year.”

She blushed again and couldn’t maintain eye contact. Especially when the idea of him seeing her breasts caused such intense aching need deep within her.

“We should…uh…?” she stumbled, not sure what to say. Her thoughts kept going down the path of him seeing her breasts again.

“Dinner,” he interrupted. “I’m going to order something for dinner.” He looked down at Kyle. Any dietary restrictions?”

“Nothing with tomato sauce. Nothing too spicy. Nothing with chocolate, strawberries, caffeine…,” she paused, putting a hand to her head. “Is it possible to just have a burger and fries for dinner tonight?’

He laughed, nodding. “Yeah. I think that’s manageable.”

She released a breath. “Good. I’ve been craving a burger for ages.”

“Why haven’t you had a burger?”

She stood up, lifting Kyle with her. “Because the last few weeks of my pregnancy, this little man didn’t let me eat much.” She sighed and placed him on a sofa cushion, then placed other cushions around him so that he would be protected if he rolled over. “And then after he was born, I couldn’t figure out how to get out of the house. Plus, I was so overwhelmed by how much I needed to learn. The idea of getting food that wasn’t already prepared at the grocery store just wasn’t an option.”

“I’m sorry, Macie. I didn’t know that having a baby was so…overwhelming.”

“It’s life changing,” she declared.

Chapter 6

“We have a big order,” Henry announced, stepping into Gilly’s office.

The Philadelphia warehouse manager looked up from the computer monitor, his expression blank for a long moment. But as soon as he recognized Henry and he grasped his boss’ words, his expression morphed into an anticipatory grin.

“That’s awesome news!” Gilly replied. “I’ve had my eye on a shiny new–”

“No!” Henry interrupted impatiently. “We’ve talked about this before. Nothing new. Don’t get anything new, and especially don’t get anything shiny!” He glared at the manager. “If your staff or even your neighbors, start to notice you spending money, they’ll start to get suspicious. They’ll start asking questions.”

Henry ran a hand through his hair. “Gilly, you even told me that you had a cop living a few doors down from you! Why would you risk raising suspicions?”

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