Worse, she kept getting signals that she’d misjudged him. Not only did he at least try to be in Johsua’s life when his time was so limited, but also he worried he couldn’t be a good father because he didn’t have an example to follow. From the way he agonized over his new roles for his family, there was clearly more to him than there had been to David. Categorizing him with her ex suddenly seemed horribly inappropriate.
He set two mugs of coffee on the dresser by the changing table, and took Joshua from her arms.
“Okay. I might not like what you said to me last night. But I heard it.” He glanced around the nursery as if seeing it for the first time. “Even though I have no idea how to be a dad, I do love him.” He caught her gaze. “Already.”
She smiled, her heart swelling with affection for him and the renewed belief that he was nothing like her ex. “That’s great.”
He snorted a laugh. “Yeah, we’ll see how great it is as I fumble my way through the morning routine.” He took a breath. “What do I do?”
“Undress him while I put water in his tub. Then we can bathe him and get him ready for the day.” She paused. “Unless you feel comfortable enough to play with him while I shower first?”
His dour mood instantly fled. A devilish smile lifted his lips. “Sure. Go ahead. Strip for your shower.”
It was meant to be a joke, but the air between them crackled and then turned thick and heavy. This time more than chemistry arched between them. She’d kissed him. She liked him. And he liked her.
Still, this wasn’t the time to do anything about it. Joshua’s needs had to come first.
“There are ten bathrooms in this house if there’s one.” She tried to say it firmly but her voice came out soft, breathy. “If you get any ideas, I can simply carry my clothes to another room.”
Shaking his head, he turned away. “All right. Go shower. I won’t peek.”
But she knew he’d heard the catch in her voice, a dead giveaway of what she felt. He could have pressed, forced her to admit it, but he didn’t have to. Her feelings had woven into her breathy voice. And being in the same house meant there would be other times—times when they’d be alone. When Joshua was asleep. Would they be able to pretend there was nothing between them then?
Did she really want to?
Pushing that worry to the back of her mind for later, she said, “You’re sure you’ll be okay with the baby?”
“As long as you don’t take a two-hour shower.”
She laughed at the ridiculousness of that, then unexpectedly realized his parents had probably never timed his showers after getting a huge water bill, the way her mother had. And something important struck her. Each understood the other’s loss, but neither understood the other’s normal life.
“I won’t take long. I’ll also change his diaper before I go. All you’ll have to do is entertain him while I’m gone.”
Audra quickly changed Joshua’s diaper and gave him back to Dominic. Racing through her bedroom, she grabbed clean underwear from the top dresser drawer and the sunny-yellow nightshirt from the stash Dominic had bought her.
She showered, slipped into the panties, bra and nightshirt, and then dried her hair before she padded into the sitting room where Dominic sat on the rocker watching the morning news as Joshua chewed his plastic pretzel.
Standing in the doorway, she said, “See, that wasn’t so bad.”
He turned to look at her and smiled. “Hey, yellow’s a really good color for you.”
“Thanks.” But butterflies had taken wing in her tummy. He didn’t even have to flirt with her anymore for her to feel the breathless attraction. Just being in the same room with him sent her senses reeling. Yet, at the same time, she was oddly comfortable with him. Or maybe accustomed to him was a better word. They’d gone from totally misinterpreting each other, to arguing, to being comfortable in a little over a week. Comfortable, yet attracted… like a couple?
She suddenly wondered if this was how their morning routine would unfold if they were dating. If they were to pursue the attraction, there would be times she would sleep over. Would they check in on the baby? Or actually handle the morning routine together? Since she’d spent time as Joshua’s nanny, it seemed only natural that they’d slide into the nursery and get the little boy once they woke.
The picture she imagined filled her with such a sense of rightness that she had to shake her head to chase it away.
Because it was wrong. She kept looking at Dominic and his life through her experiences, but as her mother had reminded her, his real life was nothing like the world she knew. A wealthy man like Dominic wouldn’t do baby chores. He’d leave that for a nanny. He would come into the nursery to hold the clean, dry, fed, happy baby. Changing the baby and feeding it after its night’s sleep would never be part of Dominic’s morning routine.