Page 41 of Winters Heat

With his eyes still open, he stared at her, so close, so beautiful. Hers were closed, and he absorbed her warmth as she teased over his lips. His heart beat faster when she relaxed, molding into him while still holding his baby. Clara played with her hair with uncoordinated jerks, and Mia didn’t stop her. It was picture perfect. Straight out of a Disneyland fairy tale. He couldn’t have closed his eyes if he wanted to.

He pressed his forehead against hers. “I don’t want you to stay in the guest room.”

“And I don’t want to.” She locked eyes with him, and his gut tightened.

“I’m not asking you to play family. I get it. You don’tdofamily. And I… can’t. But I also can’t see you across the room and not want to hold you. You’re a crazy woman for even suggesting the couch.” He grazed a finger down her cheek. “I can’t sleep in the same house as you and not hold your sweet-ass body to mine.”

Actually, he wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing she was anywhere else in the world. He needed her under his roof, under his watch. While this job was a go, he would make sure she was by his side.

Weighty seconds ticked by. Each heavy lungful of air burned in his chest, and his heart felt thick. After she ignored him all day and played down every attempt at his strained subtleties, he should have been apprehensive about bearing it all. But he wasn’t. It was a simple and basic need. Her with him.

“Lunch is ready. I’ll heat up a bottle,” Judith called up from the kitchen.

Rich smells drifted down the hallway. The spice and grease of fried chicken. The doughy aroma of biscuits fresh from the oven.

Mia smiled, tranquil as his lake at sunrise. Nothing stirred. No hesitations. Only a calm, peaceful serenity. It was a small miracle. He’d have to start all over if she freaked out on him.

“Are you hungry, Colby?”

“Starved.” In more ways than one, but that wasn’t important.

“Me, too. Let’s go.” Still carrying the baby on her hip, she laced her hand in his, and pulled him down the stairs and into the kitchen.

***

It didn’t go unnoticed by his mother that Mia walked in with the baby on her hip. Her stomach swirled at the woman’s barely raised eyebrows and dawning realization of her and Colby’s questionable circumstances. His mother didn’t say anything to her or, as far as Mia could tell, to Colby.

Plates heaped high with food sat on the table. The spread should have been displayed on a cooking show. Picture perfect, and she was much hungrier than she realized. Famished, really.

The bottle warmer buzzed on the counter. Judith grabbed it, tested the bottle on the inside of her wrist while eyeing Mia. “You must be starved. But you’re more than welcome to feed her if you want.”

Mia’s cheeks heated at the offer. “I don’t know the first thing about feeding a baby.” That, and she was sure the baby in her arms would call her bluff and jump if Mia so much as moved.

“It’s simple. She does all the work. Just hold her like this.” Judith moved Clara into a cradle in Mia’s arms and passed her the bottle. “And hold the bottle upright like this. Support her head. She’ll stop when she’s done.”

Mia looked at Colby. He smiled, encouraging her. All right, maybe holding Clara wasn’t like snuggling an escape artist.

Big, bright eyes blinked. Fat cheeks plumped then caved with each suck. Clara was mesmerizing. Enchanting. She made Mia believe in familial happiness for a flash. This was why women spoke incessantly about the biological clock screaming in their heads. She had read about it. Studied it. But before now, it didn’t click. Sugary innocence and unadulterated trust stared up at her, threatening to thaw one of her dark fears. Family. Children. Parents.

“Look at you.” Colby came up behind her and leaned on the chair. His presence made her nervous. What if he didn’t want her to do this? What if hedid?

He massaged the anxious knots in her shoulders. In an instant, the hefty weight of concern washed away with his meaningful caress. “Clara’s addictive. Watch out for that, doll. I hate to grab my food to go, but I have to head to work.”

He filled a plastic container. Watching him make his lunch made her laugh. Big, bad, tough Colby Winters—in real life, he was a baby-toting, brown-bag lunch packing, family man. Despite his lean muscles and hard-edged face, he was an honest man, trying to fix the world one tear gas grenade at a time.

“It’s easy to see why. She’s perfect, Colby. You’re a lucky man.”

Lucky. Happy. Warm.

It wasn’t that she didn’t think those things of herself. She was just different. Family was a foreign concept. Long ago, she allowed hers to fade to black in her memory.

Her childhood had been regimented. But even that description was an understatement. Her father had preferred to be calledThe Colonel. Her mother’s indifference to The Colonel’s rules and regulations came in the form of pills and booze. She never stood up for Mia, even when The Colonel put a knife to her throat to teach her a lesson or spanked her with a belt until she vomited. Welts branded her for days.

Mia shook her head. No need to go down memory lane. No need to remind herself why family life didn’t work for her. All her pain was channeled to help others. Mia specialized in military families and soldiers who came home from hell. It was all in hopes that, one day, she could help a young girl avoid a home life like the one she had suffered through.

But for now, for this simple moment, she appreciated family time with Judith, Colby, and Clara.

She’d also savor the handsome man who proved so interested in being her hero. No matter where they were, or what they were doing, Colby made her blood rush at a feverish pace, crashing through her body like a stock car race. When he looked at her with those dark-as-night eyes, she felt stronger and more desirable than she thought possible. And when he didn’t look at her, heck, when he wasn’t in the room, the mere thought of Colby made her shiver with wanton need.

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