Page 16 of Falling for the CEO

He moved the pad farther up on my thigh, as well as his other hand, steadying me.Skin, please don't turn to goose bumps.The last thing I needed was to embarrass myself even more in front of this handsome man. Then he trailed his hand even higher up, and not even the sting of the disinfectant could keep me from reacting. I broke out in goose bumps everywhere. He paused, looking up at me.

"It hurts that bad?"

"Oh yeah, yeah," I replied. What else could I say? “It's even more uncomfortable than before.”

God, I hoped he bought it.

"I’ll let this leg rest, and ll do the other one."

The baby started fussing a bit.

"I’ll reach out to him," I offered.

"No, let's take a break, and I'll soothe him."

He rose to his feet, leaning over the bassinet, putting a hand on the baby's tummy. I couldn't believe this mountain of a man was so gentle. Not only with the baby but with me as well. To my astonishment, the baby calmed down instantly.

"I think he just needs me in his view," Spencer said. "I've read that when they are at this age, they only acknowledge shapes, but maybe it’s comforting if he sees me.”

Yep, still melting.

"You know what, I've got an idea. I'll put the bassinet on the floor so he can see me."

"Or we can turn it toward me," I said. “He just notices shapes, right?”

Spencer's head tilted. "You're right. I think he just needs to see an adult."

"How did you get stuck house-sitting?" he asked as he went back down to my thigh. Thank God my skin had returned to normal.

"Taylor is in Europe, and she didn't want her pets to be alone, and I needed a change of scenery."

He stopped, dousing the cloth in disinfectant. "Why?"

"Messy divorce. I wasn't in the mood to live in our condo anymore, but I'm currently too broke to move.” I swallowed hard.

"That’s a very tough situation.”

“It is. This is the first time I’m saying divorce out loud to anyone except my lawyer, Mom, or Taylor. By the way, I don’t feel a sting anymore. Are we done?”

"I think we're all set," he replied. His left hand was splayed on my right inner thigh. His thumbs barely reached above my knee, but I was on pins and needles. He rose to his feet. "I'm sorry to hear you're going through...all that with the divorce."

"It was a tough time," I said, "but it feels good actually to say it. I'm divorced. I'm single."

"Good for you.”

“It's the first step toward better things.”

“Happy with how everything is going so far?”

"I wouldn't say I'm happy. But I’m better than before."

He glanced at his son. "Ben and I are still adjusting to it being just the two of us."

"Did you and his mother break up recently?"

Why would you ask that, Penny? If he wanted to talk about it, he would have. He glanced at me again. His eyes turned darker.

"No... It was almost a year ago when she took off with the man she thought was Ben's dad."

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