Page 11 of Enticing

Mrs. Murkey is a hopeless romantic who lost her husband about five years before she lost Gran too. She never had kids and doesn’t have any family in town. Luckily for me and the girls, she’s claimed our little family as her own.

I step to the side, and Leo offers her his hand. “Sorry, Mrs. Murkey. This is Leo Sinclair. My car wouldn’t start, and he helped us get home.”

Her face lights up with interest. “A knight in shining armor. How lucky he was there.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Murkey,” he offers, and she sighs like he’s just told her she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

This man oozes charm.

“You as well, Mr. Sinclair. I’ll leave you to it then. Let me know if you need any help the rest of the week.” She leans forward and drops a kiss on Lennox’s head, then lets herself out through the garage to make the short trek next door to her house.

I turn to put Lennox in the swing and find Leo staring at us. “So Lennox and Izzy, huh?”

“Yup.” I don’t elaborate. One car ride hasn’t earned him that.

My baby girl’s hands ball up into tight little fists as soon as I rest her in her swing. “Shh, sweet girl. I’ve got to make dinner,” I coo and run an index finger along her chubby cheek, trying to calm her, but tears pool in her big brown eyes.

“I could hold her if you want,” Leo offers almost shyly as he clears his throat. “I mean, if she wants to be held. I’m pretty good with kids. They kinda like me. My sisters call me the baby whisperer.”

“Baby whisperer?” My eyes skip from him back to my mini-me, and I want to scream, but honestly, that will just upset her more. In one afternoon, I go from refusing to ever need another man’s help again to letting this one invade my life and my house.“I mean, if you want to. But Lennox is a fussy baby. Don’t be offended if she cries. Just let me get dinner going, then I can feed her.”

He doesn’t wait for me to move before he scoops her out of the swing, careful to hold her head like she’s a newborn, not a six-month-old chunker, and holds her up in front of his face, having what appears to be a stare-off. “What’s wrong, baby girl? What’s all the fuss about?”

Okay... maybe my icy exterior melts a teensy bit with his smooth voice and sweet words, but the rest of me wants to know if there’s anything this guy can’t do. Because there’s gotta be something... doesn’t there?

I move hesitantly to the refrigerator and grab the ingredients for meatloaf and mac ‘n cheese and lay them out on the counter as Leo continues his one-sided conversation with Lennox until she’s actually cooing in his arms.Cooing. My cranky baby. “Does meatloaf work for you?” I ask a little feistier than he deserves, but how does he get cooing when I get cranky?

“That sounds great.”

I cock a brow. “It’s meatloaf. Meatloaf never sounds great.”

“Honestly, I’m excited for a meal that doesn’t come from a take-out container.” He tucks Lennox into the crook of his arm, and I stare in shock as her heavy little eyes blink once, twice, then close as she dozes, tucked against his chest.

Well hell... Maybe heisthe baby whisperer.

“So you eat a lot of takeout?” I resist the urge to face-palm myself, utterly disgusted by how out of practice I must be if that’s my version of small talk. I guess being an author and semi-professional hermit doesn’t leave time for a ton of practice.

“Yeah.” He sits down on a stool across from me at the oversized center island, and even there, he looks too big for the space. “I keep thinking I need to use a meal delivery service, but I haven’t given in yet. I probably should.”

I nod and get the oven warming, then throw together the meatloaf.

“Why don’t you?”

He chuckles. “Probably because my family keeps telling me I need to, and I don’t want to admit they’re right.” Lennox spits out her binky and almost immediately whimpers until Leo puts his pinky in the open end of it and holds it in her mouth until she settles. “So what’s your story, Addie?”

My eye twitches, and I stare as he soothes my baby back to sleep... What’s my story?

That’s a good question.

“My story...” I sigh and rest my hip against the counter, wishing I could let my guard down but unable to. “It’s long and boring. How about you tell me yours instead. Like how you’re able to get her to sleep when the rest of us can’t.”

Leo eyes me cautiously, like he knows exactly what I’m doing.

“What can I say? Babies love me.”

Something tells me they’re not the only ones.

Bellamy

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