Page 26 of The Secret

I was her employer.

My head fell back against the door and all I could see was her smile as I’d handed the baby back. See her full, peachy lips as she took the baby from me. Lips I wanted to feel against mine.

Fuck.

This was going to be harder than I thought.

6

Kit

Isqueezed the water out of my hair as much as I could before blasting it with the dryer until it reached an acceptable level of dryness - acceptable because no one had the amount of spare time required to dry my hair to actual dryness - then braided it into a crown, got dressed, and went to find Bell. I could hear the financial analysts discussing the day’s predictions on the stock market performance as I walked down the stairs to the kitchen, carefully pulling a sweater over my head.

In the five days I’d been living here, I’d learned the only channels the televisions were tuned to were the financials ones. And the latest count on televisions was seven, not including the one in my bedroom. Not that I could really call it a bedroom when it was bigger than my entire, soon-to-be-ex, apartment. A wave of annoyance washed through me, still smarting over the inconvenience of the eviction, even though Wolfie and Freddie had stayed true to their word and organized the big move for next weekend, plus storage. Despite my irritation, I was now sleeping on very-fucking-sleepable twelve hundred thread count sheets, and despite the fact I was getting up three times a night with Bell, I’d never slept better.

I peered into Murray’s study, where four of said seven televisions were playing on the wall, all but one on mute. But that’s all that was happening. I found what I was looking for when I reached the kitchen, entering as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the scene playing out in front of me.

Goodbye ovaries. It was nice knowing you before you exploded.

I held back the sigh I wanted to let out, a sigh I would have felt deep in my bones.

I don’t think a sexier man had ever existed.

I was living with a walking, talking, Gillette ad.

A poster child for Girl Dads everywhere.

And that English accent? I didn’t know accents could set a pulse racing, but his did. And right now… well, my heart was about to go the way of my ovaries.

Murray was feeding Bell, Barclay lying on the floor underneath them, and I would never get enough of watching it.

Since my second morning, we’d begun a routine. I would get up at six thirty a.m. and prepare her bottle, Murray would wake her at seven, change and feed her while I had a shower and got dressed. Given that my room connected onto Bell’s, if I timed it correctly, I’d hear him talking to her. More adorable conversations had never occurred, I was certain.

But this morning?

Murray was sitting at the kitchen table, still in pajama bottoms, his bare feet propped up on the chair next to him, Bell in his arms, snuggled up against the huge bicep flexing underneath the soft crimson cotton of an aged Harvard Varsity shirt. I didn’t know finance guys had muscles to put pro-athletes to shame, but this one did.

He held the bottle under his chin and turned the page on the newspaper he was reading. One of many, given the amount scattered over the table, because along with the TV, Murray seemed to devour the print news like it was a ritual.

“Oohh, Bell, listen to this.” He was using the soft, lilting voice he always did whenever he spoke to her. “Stock on MerryTown Drinks Incorporated is up four hundred and thirty-five percent following the holiday season.Your daddy was clever investing in that pre-IPO, and that’s what we call a long position, because we know it’s not going to make money straight away. We need to be patient. Uncle Jamie will be pleased. And actually, so will Uncle Penn and Uncle Rafe because I’ve made them a lot of money.”

I pushed off the kitchen counter I’d been leaning against. “Teaching her young?”

He looked up at me, his eyes lingering with a level of intensity that made my breath catch before his gaze dropped back down to Bell. My body reacted in the same way it always did when Murray was around, hot shivers breaking out in waves across my skin, and even though I’d checked the thermostat several times to confirm it wasn’t broken, I still wasn’t convinced. Because every single day so far, I’d felt like I was on the verge of a hormonal flush, originating from the very center of my core.

“Of course. She needs to learn early if she’d going to run the FED one day.”

I smiled to myself at the ever-expanding list of companies she’d be running, took a burp cloth from one of the drawers and placed it over his shoulder. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

“How’s she doing?”

His eyes stayed trained on hers, watching her little hands as they curled and uncurled, trying to touch the bottle he was holding. Like always when he talked about her, his voice overflowed with pride. “She’s doing so well. She’s nearly finished this.”

“You can probably burp her, and then give her the rest of it.”

I busied myself organizing Bell’s things, stopping myself from staring as he pulled the bottle from her lips and shuffled her around, laying her over his shoulder as I’d shown him to. He rubbed her back until she let out a loud burp and resumed her position, snuggling in his arms.

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