His Best Mistake Page 6

  She’d always known Macy lacked in motherly skills, but kids scared her? “I didn’t think anything scared you, Macy, much less a ten-pound infant.”

  “Look, I grew up as an only child, and not always a pleasant one at that. Even my imaginary playmates stopped coming around after awhile.”

  Leah laughed. “I’m glad you’ve decided to concentrate on surgery, not pediatrics.”

  “Not in a million years. I’m much better with people when they’re completely grown and under sedation.”

  “You’re too hard on yourself, Macy. I’ve seen a softer side of you.” Leah had witnessed that just a few minutes ago.

  Macy looked chagrined. “Again, let’s not spread that rumor at the hospital. But remember, if your arrangement doesn’t work out, you can always come back here. And if Kevin gets out of hand, let me know and I’ll bring my scalpel over and turn him into a eunuch with a couple of speedy snips. He’ll never know what hit him.”

  “That won’t be necessary. I can handle Kevin.”

  When the doorbell rang, Leah remained rooted in place, unable to move even an inch. Before she could ask her roommate to let Kevin in, Macy had already made her way to the door and stood peering through the peephole.

  “Oh, no. There’s two of them.”

  Leah finally came to her feet. “Two of what?”

  Macy sent a quick glance over her shoulder. “Two of Kevin. Unless I’ve developed binocular diplopia in the last five minutes.”

  Curiosity sent Leah to the window to take a peek. She confirmed Macy’s observation when she saw Kevin and his clone standing on the stoop. No wonder her friend thought she was suffering double vision.

  After closing the shade, she said, “That’s Kieran, Kevin’s identical twin.” The twin Leah had yet to meet due to the bad blood that had existed between the brothers. Obviously the feud had come to an end at some point in time.

  Macy took another look through the peephole. “Okay, I see the difference now. The other one has arms as big as a petroleum barrel.”

  “That’s because he’s a health-club owner and personal trainer.”

  Macy grinned. “Where do I sign up?”

  If someone didn’t answer the door soon, Kevin might decide she’d changed her mind. “Why don’t you let him in the apartment so you can ask?”

  “Good idea.” Macy opened the door, stepped aside and merely said, “Enter.”

  Both men moved into the living room, making the limited space seem very small. The similarities in their features were remarkable—the same brown hair and intense dark eyes—yet Leah could tell them apart, and not because Kieran carried more bulk. She just knew Kevin that well, his mannerisms and his smile, which he sent her when their gazes met. She hated that sliver of awareness, that sense of excitement he could still generate in her. She recognized the threat in that and vowed to quell those feelings.

  Kevin gestured toward his brother. “Leah, this is Kieran. Kieran, Leah.”

  “It’s nice to finally meet you, Kieran,” Leah said as she offered her hand for a polite shake.

  “Same here,” he said. “Kevin’s told me a lot about you.”

  Macy stepped forward and regarded Kieran with a look that couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than incontrovertible lust. “I’m Macy, surgeon extraordinaire and Leah’s soon-to-be ex-roommate.”

  Kieran hesitated a moment before taking Macy’s offered hand. “Nice to meet you both.”

  “We need to start loading up ASAP,” Kevin said. “Kieran has to leave to pick out a wedding cake.”

  Macy looked completely crestfallen over the information. “Wedding cake?”

  Kieran smiled with pride. “Yeah. I’m getting married in August.”

  Without formality, Macy pointed at the boxes. “In that case, that’s her stuff. I have to go to work now.” She turned to Leah. “I’ll see you at the hospital.” Then she pointed at Kevin. “And you be nice to her and the kid.”

  With that, Macy strolled to the door but before she left, she shaped her fingers into scissors and sent Leah a snip-snip gesture along with a wily grin. Fortunately for Leah, Kevin and Kieran were too busy surveying the boxes to notice.

  “Is this all there is?” Kevin asked as he turned to Leah.

  “That’s it,” she said. “Most everything in the apartment belongs to Macy.”

  When Carly began to fuss, Kevin crossed the room and crouched down in front of the safety seat. “Hey, baby girl.”

  “She’s been napping most of the morning.” Due to the fact that she’d had another restless night, much to Leah’s chagrin.

  Kieran walked over and stood above Kevin. “There’s no doubt she’s an O’Brien, Kev. She looks just like us.”

  Kevin glanced up at Leah and smiled again. “Yeah. But I see a lot of her mother in her.”

  She should probably thank him for that, but she was more interested in getting the move started before Carly began to protest her confinement. “My car’s full of her stuff, but I might have room for a few more boxes.”

  Kevin straightened after kissing Carly’s cheek. “I’ve got enough room in my SUV for everything.”

  Funny, as long as Leah had known him, he’d always preferred smaller, sleeker vehicles. “Since when do you drive an SUV?”

  “Since I realized my two-seater doesn’t have room for a car seat.”

  “Oh.” All Leah could think to say at the moment. The reality of Kevin’s role in Carly’s life—in her life—was starting to sink in. That reality would become more apparent as soon as she stepped into his house.

  LEAH HAD EXPECTED his house to be nice. She didn’t expect it to be so incredible—from the soaring ceilings to the muted taupe walls to the polished hardwood floors. Yet nothing in the great room looked familiar. Not the overstuffed beige leather sofa and chair. Not the black accent tables and contemporary artwork. Especially not the photos of his family set out on the mantel above the stone fireplace.

  It was as if he’d erased all evidence of his former life as a bachelor living in an upscale condominium sparsely decorated with hodgepodge furnishings. This place seemed much more refined. Better equipped for a couple, but not necessarily a toddler. No matter. She would be long gone before Carly reached that stage.

  “What do you think?” Kevin asked as Leah stood in the middle of the room, taking in the scene.

  She set down the diaper bag on the sofa along with the safety seat containing her daughter, who’d slept blissfully throughout the trip. “I think it’s amazing. Did you design it yourself?”

  “With my brother-in-law’s help. He’s an architect so I told him what I wanted and he drew up the plans.”

  “You mean Whit.” Clearly he’d forgotten she’d met him.

  “Yeah, Whit.” Kevin looked around a moment as if uncertain what to do next. “Do you want me to unload the boxes now or do you want the grand tour?”

  Blatant curiosity had been nagging at her since she’d pulled into the gated drive. “The tour sounds good.” She decided to first release Carly from the confines of the car seat and lifted her up onto her shoulder, careful not to wake her. “After you.”

  They crossed the lengthy great room where Kevin paused at the adjacent kitchen. “The microwave gets the most use in here,” he said with a smile.

  Such a shame, Leah thought as she studied the immaculate stainless-steel refrigerator and black-granite countertops. And such a waste of a double oven, not that she cared to volunteer to put it to good use. “Is that the laundry room?” she asked when she caught sight of a louvered door.

  “That’s the main one. There’s another washer and dryer in a smaller room near the second master suite. I’ll show you that in a minute.”

  When Kevin gestured her forward, Leah followed him past another living area that reflected some of Kevin’s former life. A curio cabinet housed his numerous journalism awards and a lot of sports paraphernalia—signed footballs and such. A row of theater chairs faced a massive flat-screen TV susp
ended on one wall.

  Kevin turned toward her and continued to walk backward. “This is the den where most of the action happens.”

  When Carly began to stir, Leah patted her back. “Action?”

  “Where I watch all the games. I also have a media area adjacent to the master bedroom.”

  She didn’t dare request to explore that area. “Where to now?”

  “Your room.”

  Kevin led her into a small corridor that ended in a lengthy hallway jutting out right and left. He paused and opened what looked to be the first of a series of doors. “This is the guest bath.”

  Very lucky guests, Leah thought as she viewed the cocoa-colored marble counters and brass fixtures. “Very nice.”

  Kevin shut the door and continued down the hall to their right. Once he reached the end, he opened another door. “This is your room.”

  Leah walked inside ahead of Kevin, her mouth agape. The place was adorned in varying hues of blues, including a king-size bed. A bed that looked all too familiar. “Is this your bedroom suite from the condo?”

  He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Yeah. I bought a new set for my room, so I decided to put this one in here since I’d barely owned it a year.”

  “I know when you bought it,” she said, an obvious edge in her tone. “I helped you pick it out.”

  “Yes, you did.”

  Great. Now she’d have to retire and wake up in a bed that she and Kevin had put to good use many, many times. She remembered some of those moments in great detail—Kevin’s expertise, the heat of his mouth, his feather-light touch, the weight of his body. She quelled the urge to shake her head in an effort to dislodge the images.

  Kevin cleared his throat, drawing Leah back into the present, a place she should never leave again. He brushed past her and opened another entry. “As promised, your whirlpool bath.”

  As soon as Leah stepped onto the white tile covering the floor of the huge bathroom, Carly lifted her head and whimpered, as if she too couldn’t believe their good fortune. “I wouldn’t know what to do with this much space.”

  Kevin sent her a half smile. “You’ll figure it out. Now let’s go see my favorite room.”

  No way, no how. Not after her previous remembrances. “Kevin, I really don’t need to see your bedroom.”

  “I meant Carly’s room, Leah.”

  Her face heated over her erroneous assumption. “Then lead the way.”

  Again Leah followed behind Kevin while Carly began to wriggle restlessly against her. Perhaps the baby was excited over the prospect of new sleeping quarters, a ridiculous supposition since a three-month-old only looked forward to one thing—eating.

  To say the nursery was totally amazing would be a colossal understatement. The room had been meticulously decorated in tones of muted purple, including a butterfly-bedecked comforter covering a round white crib with a matching canopy. Every imaginable stuffed animal lined a small daybed set beneath an arched window draped with frilly lilac curtains.

  Leah turned to Kevin and smiled. “This is unbelievable. How did you get all this done in a week?”

  “I had some help.”

  No doubt from some woman, considering the noticeable feminine touch. “Your current girlfriend?” Now why on earth had she asked that? In truth, she didn’t want to know.

  “I don’t have a girlfriend,” he said. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t trust the decorating to just anyone, so I asked Mallory. She jumped in and took over, although I had the final say on her decisions.”

  Leah was caught between unwelcome relief that he was unattached, and concern over how his sister had taken the news about the arrangement. In the limited time she’d been around Mallory, she’d grown to respect her greatly. “She did a wonderful job, Kevin. What did she say when you told her about Carly?”

  “She was surprised, but she’s dying to meet her. I told her we’d find a night in the near future to have dinner with her and Whit, if that’s okay with you.”

  “Of course.” She could handle dinner with people she’d considered friends before her breakup with Kevin. “What about your mother and father? How are they taking the news about the baby and the move?”

  Kevin’s gaze faltered. “I haven’t found the time to tell them.”

  Most likely he hadn’t found the fortitude to tell them. Although Leah had never met his mother and father, she did know they were traditionalists and might not look too kindly on her and Kevin living together. Of course, they weren’t living together in that way, nor would they be. Not if she kept her wits about her.

  When Carly began to fuss, Leah said, “I think someone needs a diaper. Do you mind getting her bag for me?”

  “Not necessary.” Kevin walked to an armoire in the corner and opened the doors to shelves stocked with everything a baby could ever need, and then some.

  He pulled a diaper from the top of one stack, a plastic tub of baby wipes and a pink changing pad that he laid on the daybed. “Give her to me and I’ll do it.”

  Shock prevented Leah from moving for a moment. “Are you sure?”

  He patted the bed and smiled. “Yeah. I’ve been practicing.”

  “On one of your nieces or nephews?”

  He seemed suddenly ill at ease. “Actually, on Sally Sweetness, one of my niece’s dolls.”

  She wouldn’t necessarily qualify that as solid experience unless the doll magically squirmed. But Kevin looked so determined, Leah didn’t have the heart to refuse him.

  She laid Carly on the pad and pulled the little pink and white bloomers from her bottom. The baby glanced at her before turning her complete attention to Kevin, who’d seated himself on the edge of the mattress. “I might not be as fast as your mom, kiddo,” he began as he removed the diaper. “So you’re gonna have to be patient with your old dad.”

  Leah kept a reasonable distance, allowing Kevin to proceed at his own pace. After all, diaper-changing wasn’t major surgery. Like a pro, Kevin had the baby cleaned and rediapered in a matter of moments, and all the while Carly simply stared at him, smiling.

  Leah couldn’t suppress her own smile, or the urge to applaud. “Good job. And now that you’ve passed that test, the big one comes a little later.”

  “Are you going to grade me on bottle preparation?”

  “No. You’re going to give your daughter a bath.”

  Kevin looked back at her and frowned. “How hard could that be?”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  BABIES SHOULDN’T only come with manuals, they should also come with handles. Kevin made that decision once he realized his soaked, squirming daughter would eventually have to come out of the water. Luckily, the tub Leah had brought fitted securely in the kitchen sink, which meant he didn’t have to grab her from a kneeling position. That didn’t make the task any less daunting. “What if I drop her?” This coming from a guy who played wide receiver in his high-school football tenure. Man, he needed to get a grip. Literally.

  Leah opened a pink towel against her chest. “You won’t drop her. Just hold her securely like I showed you, and then hand her to me. It’s not that difficult.”

  Carly grinned as though she was enjoying his predicament. But then she’d been grinning at him since she’d arrived. That smile had more value than any journalism award. “Okay. Here goes, kiddo. Try not to move too much.”

  Slowly he clasped Carly by the waist, carefully lifted her up and handed her off to Leah before one drop of water reached the tile floor.

  “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Leah asked.

  Bad, no. Scary, yeah. Not that he would admit just how anxious he’d been. “Piece of cake.”

  Leah bundled Carly up into a tight towel cocoon. “I know it’s unnerving, but you’ll get the hang of it.”

  Damn, if she hadn’t read his mind. “I guess so, but someone ought to develop some sort of lifting device, just in case.” Or the aforementioned handles.

  “I’ll be sure to do that in my spare time. Right now I need to
get Carly ready for bed,” she called out as she walked from the kitchen and into the hallway.

  Kevin followed her into the nursery, and once there, Leah laid the baby in the crib and grabbed a diaper and powder from the armoire before returning to the baby. “You’re going to have to find her night clothes. They’re in a blue suitcase somewhere in my bedroom. I should’ve unpacked instead of napping with your daughter.”

  Kevin had insisted she take that nap on the daybed in the nursery. In another time and place, he would’ve asked her to nap with him, minus the nap. “You needed some rest. Besides, you don’t have to find any clothes for her tonight.”

  Leah looked appalled. “I’m not going to put her to bed in just a diaper.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” He crossed the room and opened the top drawer in the bureau to reveal several outfits in every imaginable color. “Mallory gave me some of the girls’ baby clothes and she helped me buy a few things. It’s all been washed.”

  “That was incredibly nice of Mallory.”

  “She enjoyed it.” He rummaged around and after he found one particular item, he turned and held it up. “I picked this one out myself.”

  Leah hinted at a smile as she read the words embroidered across the front of the pink sleeper. “‘Daddy’s Girl.’ Very sweet.”

  “It was either this or a mini football jersey, but I couldn’t find one small enough. I’ll get her one eventually.”

  When Kevin tried to hand her the footed pajamas, Leah wagged a finger at him. “I’m not going to dress her. You are.”

  The dressing part didn’t seem so intimidating compared to the bath. But then he had to admit all the snaps looked confusing. “Okay, but don’t blame me if I put it on backward.”

  When Leah moved aside, Kevin unfolded the towel encasing Carly and applied the diaper with ease. Now came the hard part.

  “Feet first,” Leah said before Kevin had time to figure out the mechanics.

  He managed to get her legs into the sleeper but he wasn’t sure how he was going to deal with the rest. “I’m not going to hurt her when I put her arms in it, am I?”