Page 4 of Till Cupid Do Us Part

With a sharp inhale, I shove open the door and step into the cold. Junie has been my top priority for the past five months, and that won’t change just because I’m going away for a few days. As much as I love my baby girl to death, I miss my man. This is our first chance to be alone together since she was born.

There’s so much I want to talk to him about that I haven’t been able to and things that I’m equally terrified to bring up.

Our lack of sex life is up near the top of that second list.

Jill has become increasingly important to all of us. She was there through every step of my pregnancy and was the first person I let see Junie once we got her home from the hospital. We’re best friends, and I know better than to doubt her.

Junie’s screams fill the street when I start unbuckling her from her seat. When I bundle her in my arm, she realizes she’s breaking free and switches up faster than I can process.

“Well, you might be worse than me, baby. Hot and cold at the flip of a hat, huh?” I tease.

“I think you’re on the same playin’ field,” Niko says, joining me with the diaper bag on his shoulder and a blanket in his hand.

He covers Junie with the pink knit blanket I made her before she was born and slips her toque on her head. My heart clenches when he drops his head to give her an Eskimo kiss and grins.

Add the thick jacket, dad cap that he refuses to wear backward, the diaper bag slung over his shoulder, and I’m soaked in a flash. My skin tightens over my bones, desire burning my blood as I grip onto our daughter and will myself to think of anything but how hot her dad is.

“Let’s go see Auntie Jill, baby,” I rush, all but sprinting up the sidewalk.

Only when I’m far enough away from Niko to feel the full effects of the frigid air do I calm down. It doesn’t matter that we’ve been together for over a year or that things are so different now than they were. That man can turn me inside out with nothing more than a rude grunt or a look at his scruffy jaw.

It’s criminal.

“Finally! I thought I was going to have to come out there and drag you inside,” Jill rambles from her open door.

I roll my eyes and carefully maneuver up the shovelled front steps. “I wanted to make sure we had everything.”

“Liar. You were second-guessing leaving her behind. Don’t try and play me, Ivy Bell. I know you too well by now.”

“She’s just so small and snuggly! Look at her. She doesn’t want her mommy to leave,” I mutter, rubbing my cheek against her toque.

“Yeah, well, Mommy needs some special time with Daddy, so she’ll just have to make do with her favourite aunt.”

Jill makes room for me to enter the warm house before Niko comes up behind me and grunts a hello. His closeness sends a shiver down my spine that I ignore.

“You’re heronlyaunt,” I say while plucking Junie’s hat off. Her blonde hair sticks up with static.

Jill hums, rubbing a knuckle along my daughter’s plump cheek. “Speaking of aunt. How’s her only uncle doing?”

Niko lets the diaper bag fall to the ground harder than he probably should have. The entryway is too small for all of us to be lingering. It seems to shrink further at the mention of Travis.

“He’s the same he was the last time we spoke about him,” I tell her, trying to stomp the sudden awkwardness into the ground.

Jill met Travis, my ex-boyfriend and now . . .stepson, when he surprised us all with a visit at Christmas. It was only a couple of months since we’d seen him last at the hospital the morning after Junie was born.

The scent of turkey wafts through the kitchen when Niko pops open the oven and bastes it with the juices. I stand a few feet away with my back to the kitchen counter, watching him bend over, my eyes fixed on his ass.

My heart skips when he finishes up and cocks a brow at me over his shoulder.

“Pleased with the show, angel?”

“Very. But if you’re feeling generous, you can baste that thing for a few more seconds.”

His laugh is low, huffed. “As much as I’d love that, I’ll burn my face off. You’ll run for the fuckin’ hills then.”

“Oh, you know I love you for more than just your handsome face. Keep the beard and I’ll hang around,” I tease, wetting my lips.

He closes the oven door and turns to face me, his eyes nearly glowing in the bright kitchen lights. My cheeks warm at the wonder that flicks across them while he watches me simply exist in front of him.

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