Seduction of Souls (17 page)

“Is Lilly all right?”  He heard the panic in his voice and took a deep
, calming breath and let it out.

“Yeah, she’s great.  Why?”  She took a sip of coffee from the mug in her hand as she stepped back to let him enter.

“I just thought…um…you look…tired.  Here, I got you these and I brought us breakfast.”  He flashed a big, wide smile that he hoped would hide his embarrassment.  Without another word, he thrust the flowers at her.

“Thanks, but you shouldn’t have.”  She didn’t smile when she said it, either.    He cringed a little when she tossed
the flowers onto a nearby table like they were trash.  “Lilly’s sleeping right now, but she should be up soon.  There’s fresh coffee in the pot, help yourself.  I’m going upstairs and take a quick shower.”  She headed up the steps while she continued to sip on her coffee.

Well that wasn’t the reception he’d expected.  Maybe he needed to adjust his expectations down a few notches.  All right, a lot of notches.  This might end-up being a little harder than he’d first thought.

Last night as he lay in bed, he had resolved not to let her anger get to him.  She had a right to be angry, and he needed to suck it up and take it like a man.  He was pretty pissed at himself, too.  Both Tim and Bryn had given him the stink eye all night, and answered his questions with angry grunts.  The only person happy to see him was his mother, and that was only because he hadn’t told her about Lillyanna yet.  He decided to wait a while before springing the news on her.  He knew she would be thrilled about the baby, but disappointed in his behavior.  Right now he needed at least one person on his side, even if she didn’t know all the facts.  He smiled when he heard the baby cooing, and b-lined it for her crib.

She was looking up at him, her arm and legs wiggling wildly at the sight of him.
Her breath came in happy little pants of excitement.  His heart squeezed tightly in his chest.

“Good morning, my love.  How’s daddy’s little lady this morning?”  That’s when the stink hit him.  He turned his head
away and took a deep breath before turning back to her and smiling.

“Smells like someone has a little present in her diaper
.”  His eyes began to tear as the odor stung his nostrils.  “Don’t worry, daddy will fix it.”  He picked her up and placed her on the changing table. 

“Did you have a nice sleep?”  She cooed at him and grabbed her toes, her toothless
, happy grin smiled up at him.  “Who’s daddy’s little angel?  Lilly!”  He worked on her diaper like he’d been doing it all his life.

“When did you learn how to change a diaper?” 
RayeAnn asked from beside him, smiling down at their daughter.

“I Googled it.”  He flashed
RayeAnn a large smile.  Although he could see she tried to fight it, the smile on her face finally won out.  “You look a lot better.  Did you have a rough night?”

“I worked late last night.  I would’ve been on schedule, but I had unexpected company yesterday
, and it put me way behind.”  She took a sip of her coffee, then set her mug on the table next to the rocking chair.

“Really?  What a bastard
.” He chuckled, knowing full well it was his visit she was referring to.  He inhaled deeply and took in RayeAnn’s fresh, Lily of the Valley, scent.  He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed her smell.   

“I need to feed Lilly before her bath.  We have a routine that I don’t want to disrupt
, or we’ll have hell to pay.  For all the talk I’d heard before she was born about the importance of putting the baby on a schedule, I know now that the reality is, the baby puts
you
on a schedule.   I thought you could help out for a morning, or so, until you learn her routine.”  The whole time she spoke she maintained eye contact with him.  When he glanced down, Lilly was already sucking enthusiastically on her breast.

“Wow, she seems to have a healthy appetite.”  He moved over to watch mother and daughter interact. 
RayeAnn looked down at the baby and smiled.  Lilly’s chubby little fist resting on her mother’s breast, while slurping and smacking sounds filled the room.  Ryker closed his eyes and tried to commit the entire scene to memory.  When he opened his eyes again it was to the sound of a large belch from Lilly.

“I can’t believe that our sweet little daughter can belch like a sailor.”  He held his arms out to
RayeAnn, while she handed him the baby. When he bent back a little and held her over his head, she spit-up some of her breakfast right on Ryker’s face.  He heard RayeAnn’s laugh as he spit what had landed in his mouth out into a trash can.

“Yuk!  That’s nasty
.”  RayeAnn laughed even harder, holding her sides and bending over.  “I’m glad you think it’s funny.”  He looked at Lilly and saw the toothless smile on her lips.  “Yeah, you too.”  He poked his finger gently into her full tummy, and tickled her lightly.

“Lesson number one, never hold the baby over your head right after a feeding.” 
RayeAnn huffed out between giggles.

“Got it, thanks.  Are we ready for the bath part of our day?” 
RayeAnn nodded and moved past him toward the bathroom. 

“Follow me
. I’ve got the bath all set up in the downstairs bathtub.  You can watch today, but I’ll warn you right now, once you get her clothes off, she turns into a wild woman.”  Before he thought about it, his response shot out of his mouth.

“Just like her mother.” 
Did he really just say that?
  Not the way to win over a woman like RayeAnn, and the angry glance she gave him made him cringe.

“Sorry, but I meant it in a good way…you know…about the.  I’ll just shut up now.”

“Good plan.”  He heard her mumble.

RayeAnn
hadn’t been kidding about Lilly, she splashed and cooed so much in the water, it was hard to wash her.  Ryker stood over them and snapped pictures of bath time with his phone.  He had all kinds of plans for the pics, intending to make screen savers, key chains, magnets.  Mostly he wanted to make a coffee mug for RayeAnn with Lillyanna’s picture on it as a gift.  It was probably corny, but he was just so damn proud of his daughter.

By the time Lilly was dressed again, her hair wet but still wild, the only one dry was the baby.  He and RayeAnn were soaked to the skin from all her splashing, and he thanked God.  He couldn’t be happier. 

He held Lilly while she yawned and rubbed her ears.  He kissed her over and over on her chubby little cheeks until she
started to fuss. 

“
Ryker, time for Lilly’s nap.  Why don’t you rock her to sleep and come into the library once you’ve got her settled.”  She gathered all the dirty laundry from the bathroom floor before adding, “I’ll meet you in the library in a few minutes.”

Uh,oh, time for more ‘talk’.

********

After two weeks of coming and going every day
, Ryker stood on the porch and waited for RayeAnn to answer his knock.  He listened as Lilly cried loudly.  That was strange, RayeAnn would never let her cry this long.  His stomach sank as sensed something was terribly wrong. 

H
is heart pounded in his chest while he beat his fist on the door.  “RAYEANN, ANSWER THE DAMN DOOR!”

No response. 
Shit, now what?

He went around the house to the back door and peered into the window.  Lilly escalated the cry to a screaming wail.  His stomach clinched
painfully.  With his bent elbow he broke the glass on the door, then reached inside and unlocked it.  In a panic he raced to Lily and RayeAnn. 

He found RayeAnn on the floor, glassy eyed and crawling toward Lily.  Her
arm was outstretched and reaching for Lilly.  When she saw Ryker he heard her utter a weak, “thank God” and her head dropped to the floor.   For a moment he was torn, who should he go to first?  Lilly was safe, just pissed.  RayeAnn needed the attention more.

He felt
RayeAnn’s forehead and it was burning hot.  Her eyelids barely fluttered with the contact.  He scooped her into his arms and laid her gently on the bed.  He had to get that fever down, fast.  With his fingers flying he stripped her damp, clinging pajamas off of her body. 

He
tapped her face with his fingers.  “Raye, where do you keep the aspirin?” 

Her arm fl
opped once toward the nearest bathroom and he took off running.  Within a minute he was back and shoving two pills into her mouth while ordering her to swallow.  After she did as directed she lay there with her eyes closed and her face flushed with fever.

He moved over to Lilly
, who was now in a full-blown temper tantrum.  Ryker picked her up and consoled her until her breathing returned to normal. 
Poor baby. 
He knew she was hungry but wasn’t sure what to do about it, RayeAnn was in no condition to nurse. 

“RayeAnn, what should I feed her?”  Her glassy eyes looked confused for a moment before she answered.

“I pumped my breast last night and made some bottles.  They’re in the fridge.”  She struggled to get the words out.  “Boil some water in a pot on the stove and heat the bottle…make sure to check the temperature before you give it to her.  I’m sorry, I can’t…”  She struggled to try and sit up, but fell back immediately. 

“Hey, just rest.  I’
ll take care of everything.”  Sitting on the edge of the bed he held Lilly in one arm and smoothed the wet hair off RayeAnn’s face.  She felt a little cooler. 
All right, things
were looking up.

With Lilly in his arms he rushed around the kitchen and started heating her bottle.  While the bottle heated he took Lilly back into her room and changed her diaper
.  When he glanced over, RayeAnn looked like death warmed over. 

“Well
, my little lady, looks like today is going to be a busy day for us.  Mommy needs to be taken care of, so don’t give her too much trouble.  We’ll do it together…all right?”  A toothless smile answered his question.

When he glanced over to RayeAnn she was sound asleep and curled into a tight, naked ball.  He picked up Lilly and moved over to the bed and covered RayeAnn with blankets. 
Her body seemed  to be cooling down nicely.  Thank God he had found her.  His heart lurched as he watched her sleep for a moment before Lilly let out a little yelp of hunger, sucking her fist but getting nowhere.

“All right, lets go get your bottle.”
  He tested the temperature and popped it into her mouth before reaching the rocking chair.  The little gulping sounds she made were adorable.

Ryker was proud of the way he
’d handled everything.  RayeAnn was sleeping soundly and felt much cooler.  Lilly gulped the whole bottle, burped, and fell asleep immediately.  His world was coming back into order, and he sighed with relief.

All of this could have been avoided if RayeAnn would just let him move in.  He vowed to press the issue as soon as RayeAnn was feeling better.  As far as he was concerned he
’d passed the test period with flying colors.

CHAPTER 18

After lying in bed tossing and turning most of the night, RayeAnn had reached a decision.  She would allow Ryker to move in, even though she dreaded the thought.  It all boiled down to her wanting Lillyanna to know her father, no matter how uncomfortable for her.  She wouldn’t stand in the way, because she knew this was the right thing to do.

She sat at her desk, laced her fingers together, and waited for Ryker
to join her.  Once he had settled into a chair across from her he took a sip from his mug of coffee and waited.  She began the meeting, making sure he knew she thought of the situation as strictly a business arrangement.   

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she let it out slowly and began.
“All right.  You win.  You can move in tomorrow.”

For a moment he was stunned into silence.  He’d never expected her to agree to his terms.  When a rush of heat spread through his body, he hoped she didn’t see the surprise on his face.  Hell, he had been bluffing the whole time about the living arrangements.  A smile crept over his face.  This might just have been a stroke of genius on his part.  What better way to get access to both RayeAnn and Lillianna at the same time?  He really did want to establish a relationship with his daughter. He was excited now at the prospect of seeing her any time he wanted and really getting to know her.  To have both of them learn to trust him was a daunting though not distasteful prospect. 

“Until I can get the spare key made, why don’t you just use Bryn’s key.  I’ll call her and make sure she knows it’s all right.  If the baby’s still sleeping when you get here tomorrow you won’t have to wake her by ringing the bell.  You can use the room you used last time you stayed here.”

That reassured him a little
, so he nodded.  This was going to be interesting, to say the least. 

“Great!  Since she’s sleeping right now, I’ll just run back home and pack my things.
  Oh, wait, you said tomorrow, didn’t you?  Are you really going to make me wait?  Can’t I just come back tonight and get it over with?”