“Yeah, I was just waiting for you to wake up to make breakfast.”
Her eyes wide, she sat up, pulling the sheet with her. “I can’t stay, Jon! I have to go.”
And she couldn’t get up with Abraham right there. It just didn’t feel right. She wasn’t the boy’s mother.
Couldn’t be a mother. Couldn’t be waking up to pudgy hands and wet kisses.
“I have to be... I have something I have to do and I’m going to be late,” she said. If she told him about breakfast with Papa and Gayle he’d want to know who there were. How she knew them.
And if she told him they were Kirk’s parents, he’d want to know why she was still in touch with them.
“Illie! Ake!”
“Yes, Abie, Lillie’s awake!” she praised as thoughts flew through her mind.
“You’re working on a Sunday morning?” Jon asked, still standing there, the delicious glint in his eyes distracting her.
How could a man look so sexy while he was holding a toddler with his fist in his mouth?
“No...it’s...no, I’m not working.” Her business was her business. She and Jon were just friends—their no-commitment agreeme
nt had been very clear—but she couldn’t lie to him.
“Oh. Okay, maybe next time.” Something changed in the air. With him. “We’ll be in the other room,” he said. Turning his back, he picked up his robe off a chair and laid it on the foot of the bed before leaving the room with Abe.
Lillie didn’t use the robe. She stepped into the scrubs she’d had on when Jon picked up Abraham the previous afternoon and asked her to join them for take-out burgers and a Disney movie at his place.
Thinking about the day before, the different activities she’d done with Abe to see if she could detect anything of concern regarding his hearing, she joined the Swartz men in the living room.
“You okay?” she asked Jon, who’d been standing by the front window when she walked in. Abraham was playing with his zipper pillow, sitting in the middle of a sea of little cars.
“Fine.” He turned, smiled that hungry smile that captivated her every time and moved over to plant a very thorough kiss on her lips.
Tempted to call Papa and postpone breakfast, Lillie thought of Abraham on the floor beside them, and pulled away, saying, “I have to go, but...what are you doing tonight?”
The toddler was holding two cars, one in each hand.
“Making macaroni and cheese. From scratch. As of this week, Abraham won’t eat the boxed kind anymore. You want to join us?”
Nodding, Lillie said, “How many cars, Abraham?” He knew his numbers. Bonnie had moved him up to the three-year-olds’ class as soon as she’d tested his cognitive development. And maybe because there was a bit less chaos with the older age group.
“Vroom, vroom,” Abraham said, ignoring her question. Not unusual for a toddler engaged in play. She leaned down, put her face in front of his to ensure she had his attention and asked him again, “How many cars do you have in your hands, Abe?”
The little boy looked at his hands, as if seeing them for the first time. And then, dropping a car, he worked hard to get two pudgy little fingers to stand out from the rest and held the result up to her.
“That’s right, son!” Jon grinned. “He knows two, all right. It wasn’t just a fluke!” They’d shown Jon the boy’s progress the day before.
Lillie was having a hard time keeping her thoughts to herself. Was she being paranoid? Or did she have to have a serious talk with Jon?
She knew the answer.
She couldn’t risk the chance that she was right.
“I’d love to have dinner with you,” she said. “And, if you don’t mind, once Abraham goes down for the night, I need to talk to you about something.”
Jon’s grin faded. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Of course not!” Seeing the sudden distance in his eyes, Lillie leaned into him and gave him another kiss, one that included a lot of tongue. “You, sir, are perfect.”