Chapter 9
Lily
I stretched and groaned. My body was deliciously sore in all the best places. I smiled, thinking of the night I’d shared with Thomas. It was long overdue, and I made a promise to myself to work on better balance in life.
I couldn’t remember the last time I awoke on my own. It felt luxurious. My heart started to race. I opened my eyes and noticed the sun was flooding in through the window. I sat up, my heart was pounding now.
Cammie!
I looked over at the bassinet—empty.
I then remembered that Thomas had put her down in the nursery. I jumped up and ran down the hall. It too was empty.
Where was my baby?
I started running through the house, not even caring that I was still naked, and came to a screeching halt when I reached the kitchen.
Thomas was there holding the baby while cooking eggs. There was a pile of bacon already on a plate on the counter.
How had I missed the smell of bacon cooking?
Cammie cooed and reached for me.
Thomas turned and gave me a sheepish grin as he leaned down to kiss me before passing the baby to me.
“What time is it?”
“Almost nine. We were just finishing up here and about to wake you. She’s fine, Lil. I promise.”
“I know,” I said mentally counting back to the last time I had nursed her. “She’s probably starving though. Why is she so happy?”
I saw him cringe.
“Um, I might have heated up some of the breast milk in the freezer to feed her. You were just sleeping so peacefully I didn’t want to wake you. You seemed to need it.” He gave me a sly grin.
“She took a bottle?” I asked, unsure how I felt about that. I had been nursing her exclusively since birth, though I knew if Peyton was going to keep her this weekend, I was going to have to give it a try.
“She did. Twice. She woke up around three this morning and wasn’t thrilled by it. I thought for sure she’d wake you up, but I guess I successfully wore you out last night.”
I smacked his arm and tried to give him a stern look, but the smile on my face betrayed that.
“Anyway, we managed through. I had a call to take this morning so I was already up when she woke again around seven for a top off. She did much better for me that time though I have no doubt she is more than ready for a little mommy boob. And if she’s not, I am.”
“Thomas!” He certainly seemed full of himself.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked.
I sat down at the table and had Cammie attached to my breast in a matter of seconds. Thomas sat a plate piled high of bacon, eggs, and toast in front of me so I could eat while I fed her.
“I did sleep well. Thank you.”
He grinned. “Are you thanking me for letting you sleep, or for last night?”
“Wow, you are really feeling proud of yourself this morning, aren’t you?”
“Let’s just say, I could get used to this.”
I took a bite of eggs and moaned in pleasure. It had been a long time since Thomas was up before me to make breakfast.
“I could really get used to this every morning,” I confessed.
I still couldn’t believe he’d gotten the baby down and then fed her and put her back down and then fed her again, got her dressed and ready for the day, and made breakfast without disturbing me.
I frowned. “Did you drug me last night or something?”
He barked a laugh. “Not unless you were just high on me?”
I shook my head. “You are cocky today.”
Normally that would have goaded him on even more, but he surprised me by changing topics entirely.
“What do you have going on today, Slugger?”
I shrugged as I shoveled some more breakfast into my mouth.
“I think I will be in town assisting with decorations. I also need to decide what we’re doing about a town tree. That’s not something normally done here and we’re having the tree lighting this weekend. I think I need to print out some flyers to hang around town for that.”
He grinned. “Or you could just post the pack page online. Everyone will see that.”
I pursed my lips. That wasn’t entirely the point. “I’ll do that, too,” I conceded, because I knew he was right.
There was a knock at the door. Thomas went to answer it.
I could hear Sydney.
“Yeah, just give her a minute,” Thomas said.
He walked back into the kitchen. “Syd’s here.”
“I heard. Why didn’t you send her back?”
“Uh, you don’t want to put clothes on first?”
I looked down. I had completely forgotten I was still naked. It just felt so natural.
I groaned. “Why didn’t you mention that earlier?”
“Like I’m ever going to turn down a chance to stare at your beautiful body. Best morning I’ve had in a long time.”
I rolled my eyes.
Cammie had fallen asleep but hadn’t let go of me yet. I carefully detached her and then carefully handed her to Thomas.
“Just a minute. I just have to get dressed,” I yelled as I streaked through the living room where Sydney stood there in shock.
“She’s naked,” I heard her say.
“Oh yeah,” Thomas said. I could hear the smile in his voice.
“And you’ve got the baby?”
“I do.”
“Wow. That’s, a change.”
I had dressed in record time, tossing my hair into a ponytail and foregoing makeup.
“Ha, ha, ha,” I said sarcastically as I joined them.
“Well, I have some business at the Alpha house today so I’m going to leave you ladies to it.” Then he turned to me. “Do you need me to take Cammie?”
I faltered. He’d never asked such a thing. I looked back to Sydney and noticed she was without Hunter today.
I took a deep breath. I could do this.
“Actually, that would be a huge help. I’m sure Cora will be happy to help if you need it.”
His mother had tried to warn me that I was smothering the baby and needed a break. Last night and this morning had proven that she might be right. Though I hated to admit that.
“Give me a second and I’ll pack up the diaper bag and some milk for her. Are you sure about this?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“No, but it’s okay. I can help a lot more this way and this Christmas is important to me too. Besides, I know she’s in the best possible care.”
I leaned in and kissed her sweet cheeks.
“Daddy’s too good to us, right sweetheart?” I looked up at Thomas trying to ignore Sydney’s shocked face. “Just give me a moment.”
“What did you do to her?” Sydney asked as I was walking away.
“Don’t even,” I yelled over my shoulder.
Thomas chuckled. “My lips are sealed.”
By the time I had the diaper bag packed and ready for every possible scenario, he had Cammie strapped into her carrier.
“Bye sweet girl. I’ll only be a few hours and then I’ll swing by and pick her up at the Alpha house.”
“Take your time. We’re fine. Right, whammy?”
I wasn’t sure I could stand to be away from her any longer than that, though.
As they left, Sydney turned to me.
“Well, that was different. What is going on?”
I sighed and then told her how I had realized I was shutting him out not just personally but with Cammie too and how we were fixing things.
It was always a little weird talking about sex with Thomas to Sydney because they had been together for a long time before I entered the picture. Now that she was happily mated with a family of her own certainly helped but still a little weird at times.
“I’m really proud of you, Lil. I know how hard that must have been on you.”
While I didn’t like confiding in my bedroom activities with her, I did tell Syd just about everything else. She knew better than anyone how devastating the miscarriage had been and how much I thought about it every time I saw her little boy.
We had gotten pregnant around the same time so her son was a constant reminder of my loss. He was also a blessing, and joy to watch grow up and thrive, even if it was bittersweet.
She also knew how paranoid I was with Cammie and how much that little girl meant to me. I knew I could never survive it if anything happened to her.
Determined not to freak out about it, I put on a smile and said, “Come on. We have work to do if we’re going to pull this Christmas off.”