She turned to face him, her expression guarded. ‘We don’t know each other, Jack.’
He trailed a lazy finger down the curve of her cheek. ‘I know what turns you on.’ He lowered his voice to a husky drawl. ‘And you know what turns me on.’ He sent his finger over the plump cushion of her lower lip. ‘I couldn’t get you out of my mind. It’s why I wanted to see you again. I wanted to make sure I hadn’t imagined how good it was between us.’
She cast him a wary look from beneath her lowered lashes. ‘Did you really not hook up with anyone since me?’
Jack gently squeezed both her shoulders. ‘Not a single person. Nine months is a bit of a record for me. But as I said, I was busy negotiating the deal on Rockwell Park and trying to convince you to see me again.’
‘Because of my earring?’
‘It looks like a valuable one.’
‘Sentimental value, mostly. I bought those earrings with my first paycheck as a photographer.’ She dipped out from under his light hold and gave a movement of her lips that wasn’t anywhere near a smile and more of a grimace. ‘Can I see the photos you took?’
‘Sure.’ Jack took out his phone but, rather than hand it to her, held it up so they could stand shoulder to shoulder to scroll through the shots. ‘I can’t say I’m as good a photographer as you, but our baby girl is pretty photogenic, wouldn’t you say?’
‘I can’t believe I just had a baby...’ Harper’s voice cracked over the words. ‘And what sort of photographer am I if I haven’t taken a single shot of her? My phone is flat and my camera is at the office.’
Jack handed her his phone. ‘Use mine.’
She took the phone from him and moved closer to the crib. She aimed the lens at various angles, taking snap after snap of Marli. She straightened and looked at him again. ‘What if I take some of you with her?’
‘Good idea,’ Jack said. He carefully scooped Marli out of the crib and congratulated himself on not disturbing her sleep. In spite of his lack of preparation, maybe he wouldn’t do such a bad job of being a father after all.
‘Stand over there where the light is better,’ Harper said. ‘Now look down at her as if she is the most wonderful thing you’ve ever seen.’
‘She is the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen.’ Jack held his baby girl against his chest, amazed at how peaceful she looked. ‘Looks as if she’s got your nose and mouth.’
‘You think?’
‘Definitely.’
Harper stopped snapping photos to come over to stand next to him to gaze down at the baby in his arms. She was so close he could smell the fruity fragrance of the shampoo she had used in the shower. He slipped an arm around her waist in order to draw her closer, but she jerked back from him as if his touch burnt her.
Her grey-green eyes glittered like those of a cornered cat. ‘I know what you’re doing.’
‘What am I doing?’
She folded her arms across her middle in a keep-away-from-me gesture. ‘You’re trying to charm me into marrying you, but it won’t work. I know it’s a hackneyed phrase, but you’re the last man on earth I would ever consider marrying. The point is, I don’t want to marry anyone.’
Jack raised one of his eyebrows. ‘That’s kind of ironic given your line of work—wedding photography.’
‘Yes, well, I like photographing weddings but it doesn’t mean I want the fairy tale for myself.’
‘See? We’re perfectly suited for each other. We’re both cynical about love.’
‘I didn’t say I was cynical about love.’
‘Marriage, then?”
‘I accept some marriages last years. Whether both parties are happy or not is another question.’
‘What about your parents? Were they happily married?’
‘No.’
‘How long were they together?’
Harper turned away to straighten the bed linen as if she were the nurse on duty instead of a new mother who should be resting. ‘Long enough for my father to get my mother pregnant.’ She turned and faced him with a stony expression. ‘When he found out she was carrying me and she refused to have an abortion, he dumped her and went back to his wife and family. The wife and family he had told her for months he was going to leave for her, but it was a pack of lies.’