Page 20 of The Nicolaides Baby

“I’m sure you could,” she chuckled while still working to coax Lukas to take the bottle. After a minute or so, a low sound of frustration came from Leo who had moved closer, when all Lukas had done was suck on his lips with each drop of formula she had him taste. Rowan glanced up at her impatient companion. “Leo, this is new to him. He has to learn what this is and how it works.”

“Are you sure you’re doing it right?” he asked, not looking at her but keeping his eyes glued to the little boy so he missed her hard, irritated stare.

“I’m sure,” she said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “You do know I—”

“He’s doing it,” Leo said excitedly and loudly enough to garner a few frowns from the nurses.

Her gaze flew to her nephew’s face, a relieved smile curving her lips with each of Lukas’s hesitant sucks on the nipple.

“I can’t believe it,” he said, standing up and leaning over her shoulder with one arm behind Rowan’s back and warm breath brushing over her cheek. “You’re a genius,” he whispered. She turned her head ever so slightly to meet his gaze. She licked her lips and then swallowed hard when his eyes traced the movement. Her breath quickened when he lifted his searching gaze and held hers in his heated stare. Her eyes fluttered closed as a red flush scored his cheeks and his head moved toward hers.

“Good job,” the nurse said, touching her other shoulder and breaking the spell between them. Both of them snapped away from the almost kiss. “You’re a natural at this.” Rowan took a deep breath and nodded her thanks to the nurse while Leo murmured, “Yes, you are.”

Thankfully, Leo didn’t linger over her but pulled the other rocking chair close and sat while she tried to keep her focus on Lukas. She couldn’t look at the man for fear he’d see her longing, especially since she was certain she felt his eyes more on her than the baby. It didn’t help matters at all that she knew he was no longer, as Leo had put it,attachedto Gia Petrakis. He hadn’t gone into detail about the breakup, but she had to admit she was relieved on several fronts—the main one being Lukas wouldn’t have that b…womanas his mother.

Little grunts from Lukas had her smiling down at him while his jaw worked until little by little his sucking slowed. Finally he let loose of the nipple as his mouth lay open in sleep. He reminded her of Mara when she used to get a littlemilk drunkafter a feeding. She ran her nose over his forehead and breathed him in.

How am I going to leave you in a few weeks?

Her chest hurt at the thought and she snuggled him close until the nurse came to check on them. “He did so good,” she said, taking the nearly empty bottle back and checking how much he’d drunk. Then she wrote something on his chart. “If he continues taking to the bottle like this, we can remove the feeding tube.” She placed the bottle and pen down and then held out her hands. “I’ll take him now.”

Rowan allowed the nurse to pick him up and out of her arms although she would have done anything to keep holding him. But they had their job to do.

“He lookedsatisfied,” Leo said, drawing her attention away from the nurse gently attempting to burp Lukas before she could place him inside the incubator. “Makes me kind of hungry.”

For an innocent-sounding statement, it seemed loaded with innuendo. She glanced over at his mild expression.

“We’ve been here for hours. Let me take you to dinner before we fly home.”

“Mara—”

“I’m sure Mom and Libby are making sure she’s eaten and enjoying herself.” He grinned. “I think they have as much fun with her as she does with them.”

It was true. Mara had gravitated toward Leo’s family and they to her. She had to admit she’d had a slight panic attack the first time she’d heard Leo’s daughter call his parents Gran and Paps—something she’d found out later they’d insisted she call them—but she’d ended up not pushing the subject to keep from arousing unneeded suspicion.

“I know you’re hungry,” he said, pinning her with a look. “I’ve heard your stomach growl several times, so don’t tell me you’re not.”

“Well…” She glanced over at a sleeping Lukas who looked down for the count and out the window where it was still bright, but the sun was setting lower in the sky. They’d stayed past normal hours again. “Okay, but something quick.”

“I know just the place.”

Forty minutes later, Rowan sat across from Leo at the high tables in a little out-of-the-way restaurant while the sound of sizzling woks and delicious aromas from various red containers wafted around them. She broke apart her chopsticks and rubbed the ends against each other. She was hungrier than she’d realized. “It honestly didn’t occur to me to think of Chinese food.”

“What, you think it’s all Greek food here all the time?” He smiled and opened up a container of spicy noodles. “We even have some places with your American-style burgers.”

Neither one of them wasted time digging into the containers—sharing food from each—with light conversation focused on how well Lukas was progressing and Leo’s plans for the baby when he was released to come home filling any gaps between stuffing their mouths. It seemed they werebothhungry. She was glad Leo had told her his plans. He and his family would make sure her nephew was loved and well cared for while she had already started planning a trip back for Christmas break. It was going to be a long few months without holding him—something she couldn’t think about yet.

“So,” Leo said, his face drawing into a frown and his gaze growing unexpectedly intense, “can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” she answered, nabbing the last fried dumpling with her chopsticks and putting it in her mouth.

“Why didn’t you come back before now?”

Rowan dropped her chopsticks, her eyes widening. She managed to finish chewing and swallowing her food before breaking out into a cough.

“Are you okay?” Leo asked, moving to stand.

She waved him to sit back down and then drank some of her hot tea to help wash down the food she had almost choked on. Then she said around a wheeze, “Didn’t Sierra tell you?”

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