I tilt my head to the side, pretending like I have no idea where he’s going with this, and he laughs.
“Fine, I’ll spell it out for you.” He tugs me closer, glancing over at Hazel, who’s on a blanket on the floor, happily banging on her new toys.
“Will you officially move in with me?” His brows dip. “Or I guess, can I officially move in with you?”
I laugh at his silliness. “Yes, I would love for you to move in with me.” I wink saucily, making him chuckle.
“So, we put her crib thing in my room?” he asks.
“I think since this is a new place and we’re pretty much strangers to her, we should put it in our room.”
“I agree,” he says with a grin.
Once it’s set up, we feed her and then give her a bath. By eight o’clock, she’s half-yawning, half-whining, telling us it’s time for her to go to bed.
“You want to try to put her to bed?” I ask Chase, handing him Hazel. In the last few hours she’s really warmed up to him.
He’s hesitant at first but nods in agreement, taking her from me. I hold my breath, praying she won’t cry, and release it when she lays her head down on his shoulder.
I watch as he rocks her to sleep, and when he’s not looking, I pull out my phone and take a picture. It’s the first one of him and his daughter. Tomorrow, I’ll print and frame it.
Since neither of us is ready to go to bed yet, after Chase lays her down in her temporary bed, while I click on the baby monitor, we tiptoe out to the living room, both of us dropping onto the couch in exhaustion.
“I couldn’t have done this today without you,” Chase says, pulling me into his lap. I straddle his thighs and run my fingers through his hair. “I was so damn shocked and scared… I didn’t know which way was up.”
“Yes, you could’ve. And you would’ve. Because you’re an amazing man and her father, and I can already tell you love her.”
“I do,” he admits. “I’m so damn mad at Victoria, but I’m also so grateful that she gave me that precious little girl.” He shakes his head. “It’s so fucked up.”
“You can’t change what happened, but you can control how you handle it, and you’re handling it.” I kiss the corner of his mouth. “And I must admit, watching you rock her to sleep was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Georgia
“What are we doing with this dresser?” Chase asks.
I glance at it. It’s Lexi’s old bedroom set. It’s in perfect condition, but we don’t need it, and I doubt she’ll want it. “Let’s put it out front and call one of those donation places to pick it up.”
Hazel cries from her crib, letting us know she’s awake. “I’ll grab her,” Chase says.
I step over to the dresser and pull the top drawer out. It’s filled with Chase’s shirts. I pull them out and place them on the bed, then open the next drawer. Each one is filled with clothes. I’ll need to make room in my dresser for all of this stuff.
“Hey, butterfly, do you remember how much—” Chase’s words are cut off when I open the bottom drawer, finding what looks like an entire sex toy shop in there, and gasp in shock.
“Shit,” he says. “I was supposed to clean that out, and then Hazel…” He thrusts the baby at me then slams the drawer shut. “This was before you… way before you.”
I’m speechless. There must’ve been fifty different types of toys in there.
Chase hauls ass out of the room and then back in with a bag. But before he opens the drawer, he glances at me. “Hazel’s hungry.”
He’s trying to dismiss me so I won’t see all the toys. Too late for that. I nod and take her out to the kitchen, setting her in her high chair, and then go about preparing some mashed up veggies and meat, all while trying to rid my brain of the sight of all those toys. I have questions… so many damn questions.
A few minutes later, he passes by us with the bag in his hand, opening and closing the front door. He must be throwing it out in the dumpster. When he comes back in, we work in silence to rid his room of the furniture, and just as we’re finishing, the furniture company with Hazel’s stuff arrives. The day flies by, and by the time everything is set up and Hazel is in her own room asleep, we’re both drained. Normally parents have months to prepare for a baby, not hours.
I’m showering the day off, when Chase steps into the shower to join me. His arms encircle me from behind, and he presses a soft kiss to my shoulder, making me sigh under his touch.