Southern Pleasure (Southern Heart 1)

“Better. I feel human again.”

“Good. You only slept about three hours.”

“Three hours of sleep, after what I’ve had total the last two days makes it feel more like twelve,” I laugh. Kinley is completely comfortable in my home, making a bottle for my daughter. She doesn’t mention the kiss, and I don’t either. I can’t. If I ignore it, I can pretend I did it because I was exhausted and thankful for her. That was only part of it. The other part? I blame those sweet lips of hers.

Okay. I need to stop thinking about it. “So, I was thinking. I really need to go get a truck. I was wondering if you would want to come with me. I don’t know that I can handle a newborn in a car lot for hours.”

“Sure, but you can go and I can stay with her if you want. I don’t mind at all, or Mom would be happy to watch her.”

“Yeah, Aaron said the same thing. At first, I wasn’t real thrilled with the idea of leaving her just yet. . . .” I stop there and wait for her reply.

“I’m good either way. I don’t have anything in the studio for the next three days. So, anytime you want to go, I’m your girl.” She smiles.

‘I’m your girl?’ I wish like hell she was.

“Great, thank you. I just would feel better to have someone else with me. I know I need to get over leaving her; hell, I need to find childcare.”

“I think you should talk to Mom. She would love to do it. I’m happy to help too on days I don’t have a shoot. Right now, that’s about two to three days a week. I can book them on the same days. The only time that wouldn’t work is when I have to go to them. More often than not, that’s on weekends for birthday parties and events, so it could work.”

“You really think she would be willing?” I ask.

“Hell yes, she would. She’s always telling Aaron to settle down and give her grandbabies, you know this. Besides, it wouldn’t be every day with me helping out. I’ll talk to her and see what she thinks,” she tells me.

“That would be . . . perfect! I don’t like the thought of people I don’t know keeping her. She’s so tiny.”

“Well, I know I would love to spend a few days a week with her.” I watch as she kisses Lexi’s cheek. “All right, little one, let’s get you fed.” She passes by me to go back into the living room.

“You sure you don’t want me to take her?”

“No way. This is my Lexi time.” She grins. “Is there anything you need to do? Go check in at the stables? We’re good here.”

Yeah, I need to kiss the hell out of you. “That’s all taken care of. The stables are in good hands.”

“Well, just kick back and relax, Dad. We got this.”

“In that case, I’m going to go shower. Maybe we can go to the car lot after she eats? Is it okay to take her out this young?” I have no clue what the rules are for this kind of thing, or even if there are any.

“We’ll keep her bundled up and no one gets to touch her. They need to keep their germy hands off. Other than that, yeah, we can take her.”

Just like with everything else this girl has said and done, her protectiveness for Lexi causes these . . . feelings I have for her to grow. I’m in deep trouble with this one. Even knowing that, it’s impossible for me to keep my distance.

I rush up the stairs to shower and change. By the time I make it back downstairs, Kinley has Lexi in her car seat and is shoving items into the diaper bag. “Better safe than sorry,” she says.

“I agree. This is a first venturing out with a newborn baby; hell, we can take half the house if you think we might need it.”

This causes her to throw her head back and laugh. I’m not trying to be funny; I’m being serious. “Let’s go, funnyman.” Kinley grabs the diaper bag, leaving Lexi for me.

“Two hours, not bad,” I say to Kinley as we load Lexi up in my new truck.

“Nope, not bad. I had the same experience when I bought my Durango from Todd. He doesn’t push and makes the process so much less painful.”

“So, how about we grab something to eat?” I ask her.

“Yeah, or if you want to get this one home, I can stop and pick us up something,” she offers.

“How about some of your mom’s lasagna?”

“Perfect. I’m going to run by the house real quick, but I’ll meet you there. You two good?” she asks.