The Introvert's Guide to Online Dating (The Introvert's Guide 1)

“Here.” I walked over and uncapped the bottle, positioning the teat right next to his thumb. I gently rubbed it against the corner of her mouth, and Tegan instinctively turned her head toward it and latched on, thus releasing Colton’s thumb.

“Thank God. She has a very sharp tooth for someone so small.”

Grinning, I tilted the bottle toward him. “There you go.”

“I can’t feed her.”

“Doesn’t look like you have a choice.”

Her eyes were closing as she suckled, and even he softened when he saw her happily drinking with him. Quietly, he took the bottle from me and continued to feed her.

Wasn’t well acquainted with babies my ass.

If I didn’t leave, I was going to become well acquainted with them, because the sight of Colton Lane snuggling this tiny baby and feeding her was making my ovaries sing like fucking canaries.

And I was not ready for one of those poop demons.

I disappeared back into the kitchen under the guise of cleaning. I didn’t actually have anything to clean but the bottle warmer, but if I stayed there watching him with her…

Oy.

Bad decisions would be made.

I cleaned out the bottle warmer and wiped down the counters for a lack of better things to do. Unfortunately, that really was all I could do, so I had to go back into the living room where it was suspiciously quiet.

Tegan was fast asleep in Colton’s arms, and he was sitting there, staring at her. Gazing down at her like she was the most wonderful thing in the world, and I had to close my legs to stop my uterus bouncing right out of it.

“Okay?” I whispered after a moment.

He almost jolted but caught himself at the last minute. “She’s asleep. What do I do now?”

“Put her to bed.” I was trying not to laugh. Honestly, I was. It was the cutest thing.

“But she’ll wake up if I move.”

“Then sit there all night with her. I doubt she’ll complain.”

“I can’t move, Tori.”

Good God. I walked over and crouched down, gently taking her from him. She stirred a little but quickly recovered from being moved, swiftly falling back to sleep.

I carried her upstairs to her bedroom and very carefully set her in her crib. One of Ivy’s robes was laid out under her, and I smiled when I saw the leopard print.

That was the one she’d taken to hospital when she was born.

Tegan stirred again, but by the time I was backing out of her room, she was completely still and completely crashed.

I crept out and back downstairs where I let out a big breath. I still had to tidy Tegan’s things away, but when I entered the living room, it was perfectly clean.

“How—”

Colton smiled. “I wasn’t sure where it all went, so it’s kind of in a pile, but it’s tidy?”

Laughing, I dropped down on the sofa and swung my legs up onto his lap. “Well, that wasn’t too difficult.”

“You only put her to bed.”

“No, I meant for you. I thought you hated babies.”

“I do not hate babies.” He laughed, dropping his head back on the sofa. “Not all babies. Just some babies. I like Tegan.”

“Everyone likes Tegan.” I sighed again, this time happily, and lay back to stare up at the ceiling.

It was quiet.

I’d never appreciated quiet quite this much.

But oddly, I could picture this. Lying here, with him, after putting a baby to bed.

Jesus.

I needed fucking help.

I was going to have to have a word with my ovaries about this. They needed to pipe down.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Hm?” I looked over at Colton.

“You’re quiet. What are you thinking about?”

“Just things.”

“Like?”

“Have you ever considered having kids?”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN – COLTON

rule fourteen: the ground rules should be laid down early in a relationship. like who buys dinner on what night.

I blinked at Tori. Had she really just asked that?

“I think babysitting is messing with you,” I said, tapping her foot.

She repaid me by ramming her heel into my thigh. “Stop it. You apparently hate babies, yet tonight I’ve watched you make one fall in love with you.”

“I’m just that charming.”

“Colton.”

I laughed, shrugging. “I guess. A few times.”

She rolled her head to the side and looked at me. “With Amber, right?”

I took a deep breath and nodded, letting it down slowly. “It was what ultimately made me realize we weren’t working anymore.”

“How so?”

“I wanted to buy my house,” I said, stroking her lower leg. “I’d been saving for years, and I knew she’d been saving, so I assumed we’d buy one together. Then I’d propose and we’d get married and have kids.”

“Makes sense.”

“But she didn’t want to move.” My lips pressed into a thin line. “She wouldn’t even move into my apartment which was bigger than hers. She was attached to her place, and I get it, but I never saw myself raising kids in an apartment, you know?”