She was a perfect mother, kind, patient, and loving.
It wasn’t long before Emmy was going down, too. Sadie eased the baby into the bassinet and soon the little one was fast asleep. The dual bassinet was mobile, and I watched as Sadie slowly wheeled it into the reading room adjacent to the den and shut the door.
“Nice work.”
She flicked her eyes over to me at my words, surprise flashing on her face.
“Thanks,” she replied with a small smile. “Had a little trouble putting them down, but they’re finally out.”
Standing there with her hands pressed back against the door, it was impossible to not notice her beauty.
We’d been good about all that. Though every time I saw her, especially more and more recently, it was impossible to not regard her in that way. And there was something about those moments, her clothes casual but sexy, strands of blonde hair hanging over her forehead.
She looked so good I could hardly stand it.
Sadie didn’t know that I’d met with Camilla that day. I was planning on telling her when it was over, but in the meantime, I hadn’t wanted to lay that on her, give her one more thing to worry about.
“You alright?” she asked as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Yeah. Fine.”
Sadie made her way into the kitchen, leaving a delicious trail of her scent. I closed my eyes and savored it, wondering what the hell had gotten into me.
I had to force my eyes open and shake my head to come back into the moment.
“How were they?” I asked.
“Oh, fine. Andy was insane with energy up until about fifteen minutes before you came home. Then, just like that, he was out like a light.”
“And Emmy?”
“Her usual mellow self. Pretty chill most of the time until she started fading.”
She stepped to the counter across from where I stood. Outside the windows behind her, snow began to fall. Sadie looked over her shoulder at it.
“Well, so much for getting anything done today.” She brought her gaze back to me. “Well, maybe nothing wrong with a snow day in.”
Without thinking, I stepped over to her, coming to a stop very close to her.
It was strange as if I’d moved without even thinking about it like my body was in charge and declaring that it wanted to be near her.
“Nothing wrong with a lazy day in,” I agreed.
She noticed right away how close I was. Sadie narrowed her eyes a bit, looking me up and down.
“There a reason you had to get two inches away to say that?”
Her expression was hard at first, but the barrier only lasted for a moment. Her mouth parted a little, her tongue moving over her lower lip.
I had a choice at that moment – step back and play it off or go for what I knew I wanted.
I’d never been a man to be afraid to go after what I wanted, of taking what I craved.
I turned my body fully to hers, placing my hands on her hips. Sadie pulled in a quick breath, her eyes flashing with surprise.
But she didn’t move back.
“Noah?” she asked. “What’re you doing?”
“I’m doing what I’ve been wanting to do since you moved into this house.”
She bit her lip, indecision playing on her features.
“But that’s against what we agreed upon. Remember?”
“Then call me a rule-breaker.”
I couldn’t wait any longer. I went in for the kiss.