"It's a little late for regret, isn’t it?" I asked, unable to hold back my irritation that she be so repulsed by what we did. Not that I thought it was a good idea to have sex with her because in truth, I knew it was a bad idea. Harper and her brother were up to something and sleeping with the enemy was never a good idea. With that said, it was too spectacular to have regrets. It was definitely an encounter I’d never forget.
She searched the floor, grabbing her panties when she found them under the coffee table. "That never happened."
I let out a laugh. "Oh, it happened, sweetheart. Boy did it happen."
She glared at me. "It didn't mean anything."
It was odd how much those words bothered me. But of course, I wouldn't let her know that. "Of course, it didn't mean anything."
She flinched and a stab of guilt hit me in the gut. Just because she was a bitch to me, didn’t mean I should be a bastard to her.
I took a breath to calm my nerves. "Look —"
Mo’s cry echoed from the baby monitor in the corner of the room. Shit. He had the worst timing. Then again, he probably should've started crying before I fucked Harper on my couch.
"I need to tend to him. But if you wait here, we can talk."
She pushed her hair away from her face and then held her head high reminding me that she was an entitled princess.
"There's nothing to talk about.” She hurried away, slamming the front door behind her.
I sighed. Maybe it was just as well. She was more trouble than she was worse. Plus, I couldn't trust her. I needed to put my dick on hiatus and refocus on what was important, which was Mo. For all I knew this encounter with Harper was a show she was putting on.
Maybe she was planning to come over and seduce me, then act like it was all a bad idea. I had no idea why, but when it came to the Erickson’s anything was possible.
I headed upstairs into Mo's bedroom. I changed his diaper and brought him downstairs to give him a bottle. He didn’t like being left in his baby chair, the baby mat on the floor, or even the baby swing, so I strapped him into the carrier and went about my day doing chores and reading.
Before Mo arrived, I'd been considering taking up a hobby, but he took up so much time and energy, during my free time, I was happy to read a good book.
Later that evening after dinner, I pulled out the baby bathtub and set it in the kitchen sink. I filled it with warm water and then undressed Mo and put him in the tub.
The first few times I gave Mo a bath, it was a disaster. He cried and flailed, and we both ended up soaked. This time when I set him in the warm water, he flinched but didn't cry.
I stroked my hand down his arm. "Are you starting to like that? Warm water can be really soothing, can't it?"
I took out the soft cloth, squeezing a dollop of baby soap on it and gently washing his body. He tolerated it long enough for me to get him cleaned and rinsed. He was crying again as I pulled him out and laid him on the towel.
I wrapped him up, then held him close. "There you are. All clean."
I dressed him in his pajamas and gave them another bottle. Then I rocked him and tried to sing the song Harper had sung to him. Eventually he fell asleep and I put him in his crib.
When I left his room, I stopped in the hallway and waited to see if he was going to wake up. When he didn’t, I let out a sigh of relief and headed back downstairs.
I’d just reached the bottom step when my phone rang. Looking at the caller ID I saw it was Lupe.
"Lupe."
"I can't talk for long Noel, but I had to warn you." She spoke in a harsh staccato tone that put me on edge.
"What's wrong?"
"I did my best to hide the pregnancy so no one would know about the baby, but the doctor that delivered him has been kidnapped and I'm assuming the worst. People could be coming for him if they figure out that I sent him to you."
If they figured out she had a baby, would they automatically assume I was the father?
It was hard to believe that Lupe hadn't been with another man after I left. She was a woman who enjoyed sex. A lot.
I suspected I wasn’t the only man she was fucking when I was there. Even if she was monogamous, since there was no emotional attachment between us, there was no reason that she wouldn't have found herself a new lover right away.