Page 106 of Set Me On Fire

“Like a dad,” I said.

“Like someone who cares about everyone involved.” He jerked his head down the hall. “What you really want to ask is if you move in here and start banging Noah down the hall, what am I going to think?” Our focus shifted to the empty room. “Is all that going to disappear if someone gets jealous? Well, that’s not how it works for me. I’ve spent my whole damn life wanting a family, imagining some boring suburban life and loving every minute of it. Did I expect to share that with two of my workmates? No. But am I willing to?” I watched him nod slowly. “Yes, one hundred percent yes. I’ve got no blood family that’s worth knowing, but the guys, you? Yeah, that’d work for me. Sometimes it’s not the family you’re born into, but the family you find that’s the right one for you.”

“But…”

It couldn’t be this easy. It couldn’t. My mind raced, inspecting every bit of him, looking for the chink in his armour, but I didn’t find it. Wouldn’t stop me from looking, but right now I had other questions.

“You said you wanted me to go shopping with you?” I moved in and straightened his collar, flicking off an invisible bit of lint. “Did you want advice on a new wardrobe or something?”

“What’s wrong with this shirt?” He looked down in alarm but quickly mastered himself. “No, that’s not what I want.” His hand covered mine, and right then all I could focus on was how huge and warm it was. “I was going to start setting the nursery up.”

One of my eyebrows shot up.

“People don’t usually do that until after the twelfth week,” I told him. My head shook of its own accord. “I might…” I didn’t want to say it, but the doctor had made mention of this fact, so I sucked in a breath and forced it out. “A lot of pregnancies don’t make it past the first trimester.”

“Yours will.”

He spoke with all the same confidence as he had when he’d arrived at the pub fire, not a scrap of doubt in his eyes. That was OK, I had enough for the both of us.

“You can’t just… manifest a healthy baby,” I replied, throwing my hands up. “This isn’t a ‘positive vibes’ only situation.”

“No, but it’s staying hopeful.” He grabbed my hands and used them to pull me close, and suddenly everything I was worrying about seemed to disappear. It couldn’t exist in the same space as him. “That’s what I want you to do with me, Millie. Build something concrete out of hope, because I can redecorate this place myself?—”

“OK, whoa there, mister.” He smiled, seeing he’d gotten under my skin. “Don’t go freaking crazy. This is a nice house, but let’s just say it needs a woman’s touch. Everything is grey.”

“What’s wrong with grey?” he asked, even as he pulled me into a hug.

“Nothing as long as it’s got a warmer undertone and is fairly light. That way it recedes and makes a nice backdrop…” His chuckle had me pausing, then looking up at him. “You know exactly what you’re doing, don’t you?”

“You’re right,” he replied. “Everything in this house does need a woman’s touch, especially me, but let’s start with this room. Millie McDonald, did you want to come nursery shopping with me?”

“Going shopping are my two favourite words,” I told him, daring to go on tiptoes and press a quick kiss to his lips. “Let’s go.”

It waslike stepping into a whole other world, I thought, as we arrived at the baby boutique. A really fancy one. We were onone of the main streets of a pretty swanky suburb, high-end homewares and dress stores everywhere.

“Are you sure we want to go in?” I asked in both trepidation and excitement. Rather than a garishly bright Disney themed front window, the boutique had a window display featuring nursery furniture in soothing, muted tones. “This place looks?—”

“Like the best baby shop in town?” he said, coming to stand beside me. “At least that’s what it said when I was Googling recommendations.”

“You looked up reputable baby stores.” I felt a restless energy shift inside me, one that needed to prod, poke him, see if this was real. Instead, I linked my arm in his. “OK, right now you’re my favourite.”

He snorted in response, then nodded at the building.

“So should we go and take a look?”

“Let’s go and make some very hopeful purchases,” I replied.

I felt like an interloper, sure that there would be a bouncer at the door who’d want to see an ultrasound or something before I entered the shop, but no. There was just a little jingle from the bell attached to the back of the door and a well-dressed woman looked up from where she was serving customers.

“Feel free to have a browse,” she said with a smile. “I’ll be with you in a second.”

Which meant she’d be asking us what we wanted, had we thought about brands and did we have strong opinions about co-sleeping. I swallowed hard as Knox drew us deeper into the shop.

“This feels like one of those nightmares where I have to sit an exam I didn’t even know I had,” I whispered. “Am I naked?”

“Not yet.”

My eyes jerked up, and I was ready to say something in response when the shop assistant joined us.

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