Tied Bond (Bonded Duet 2)

BELLE

I’d been stuck inside this hospital for three days, and although I was fed up of staring at the white walls and sick and tired of the food here, I was still nervous about going home. At least here there were nurses who could show me how to bathe Leo, or how to get him to latch on when he didn’t want to.

But now I’d be alone. At least, that was how it felt. In reality, I knew I had my mom and dad, and Ford had become an almost permanent fixture at the hospital unless it was nighttime when the nurses kicked him out. Literally.

So as I waited on the bed with Leo in his hospital bassinet all bundled up in his coming-home clothes, my stomach dipped. Ford was bringing the car around and coming back with the car seat, but I was scared to go home. What if something happened and I didn’t know how to fix it? What if he was crying and woke everyone up in the house? Because the baby had a pair of lungs on him, and he wasn’t afraid to use them to let us all know how he felt.

“Belle?”

I gasped, my hand flying to my chest. “You scared me,” I croaked out, turning my head to face Ford. I’d been so wrapped up in my own thoughts, I hadn’t heard him come into the room.

He frowned and placed the car seat in front of me on the bed. “You okay?”

I opened my mouth, about to tell him I was fine, but it would be a lie. Something had changed between us over the last couple of days. We’d sat and talked about how we wanted to raise Leo, and even though we hadn’t spoken about where we stood, I didn’t feel the need to clarify. Life had a way of giving you what you needed, and I knew at some stage, we’d have to either draw a line in what we were or decide what we would do for the future. But right then, I was content just being around Ford and Leo, and I wanted to start as I meant to go on, so I told him, “I’m just nervous about going home.”

“I get that.” The bed dipped as he sat down, and his attention was solely on Leo. “But I’ll be there to help.”

“You will?” I raised my brows. “Do Mom and Dad know that?”

His lips curved into a grin, and he slowly turned to face me. “Not yet.” He chuckled. “They’ll find out when I don’t leave tonight.” I snorted because he was so sure Dad wouldn’t kick him out, but I couldn’t help but be grateful that he intended to stay the night. “Shall we get out of this place?”

I looked around the room, and out of the window, the darkening sky starting to make way for the night ahead. “I’m ready,” I told him. I stood slowly and winced at the soreness between my legs, and it was only then I realized Ford had seen Leo come out of me. Actually watched him come out. My eyes widened at the thought.

“What? What’s the matter?”

“I…” My cheeks burned. “Nothing.” I cleared my throat and lifted Leo out of the bassinet. His body curled in on himself, making him look even smaller than he was. He was six poun

ds and six ounces when they’d weighed him.

“No.” Ford stepped closer as I placed Leo in the car seat and tried to figure out how all of the straps went around him. After fiddling with them all for a minute, I finally figured it out. “What was that about?”

I shrugged and ran the tip of my finger down Leo’s cheek. “I have no idea what you mean.”

I was careful not to look at him, and apparently, he could sense I was avoiding him. I should have known better than to try and hide something from Ford. Nothing ever got past him. His thumb and finger grasped my chin, and he turned me to face him. “Tell me,” he demanded, his hazel eyes swirling with something I couldn’t make out.

“It’s honestly noth—”

“Don’t lie to me, Baby Belle.” He raised a brow in warning. “Tell me.”

I closed my eyes, not believing I was going to say it out loud. “I just…” My nostrils flared, and I made a noise in the back of my throat. “I just realized you saw Leo…” I opened my eyes back up and saw him waiting patiently for me to answer him. “You know…come out.”

He tilted his head to the side, and slowly, so slowly, his lips spread into a grin. “I did.”

“Don’t look at me like that,” I ground out, but there was no bite to my words. “It’s not funny.”

“It kind of is.” He let go of my chin, his fingers stretching out and cupping my cheek. “You’re not embarrassed, are you?” I didn’t answer him because I was embarrassed. The last time he’d seen…down there…had been—

“I cherish the moment.”

“What?” I spluttered. “You cherish the moment you watched a baby come out of my vagina?”

He chuckled, the sound deep and alluring. “No, Baby Belle. I cherish the moment because it was just you and me.” He stepped closer to me, his body only centimeters from mine. “We made it through. We fought against the odds, and I was there, ready to catch my son. How many men can say they did that?”

“So, it’s a competition to you?” I asked, placing my hand on my hip.

He shook his head. “It was never a competition with you, Baby Belle.” His hand curved around my back, and he pulled me to him. “Because you were the only competitor.” His words had something swirling inside me, and as I stared up at his eyes, I knew then that we could never be just friends. There would always be something between us.

“That was the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard,” a new voice said, and we both pulled apart at lightning speed. “Don’t mind me,” the nurse said, her lips almost splitting her face at how big she was smiling. “I just came to say goodbye to baby Leo.” She stepped into the room and winked at Ford, then sidled up next to me. “That one is a keeper,” she whispered.