Page 16 of Best Kept Secret

He shook his head. “Did you?”

“Nope.”

“Maybe we should have. He can’t be mad that you wanted to give Annie a gift.”

“But he’ll question why I didn’t come to the apartment instead. It’s probably best not to tell him.”

“I guess so,” he said, although he didn’t sound convinced.

Maybe she should have felt guilty about meeting him here, but dammit, Jared was her brother, not her parent. As if to affirm the point, Annie let out a cry.

“Told you it was just a catnap,” he said.

He started to rise, but she put her hand on his arm—his very solid, muscled arm with a perfect smattering of light brown hair on it. “Can I take her out?”

“Sure. If you want to.”

She nodded enthusiastically. She might not have much experience with babies, but she wanted to. Why not practice on Hudson’s niece? Very carefully, of course.

She let go of his arm and reached into the stroller.

“You might want to put up the hood first,” he suggested.

“Right.” She was glad of the reminder. The last thing she wanted was to bang the baby’s head on the stroller. She pushed back the hood and reached in with both hands, but then she paused again.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure where to put my hands.” Annie was squirming around and staring up at her with uncertainty in her eyes.

“Just slide one hand under her butt and the other under her head. It’s important to support her neck.”

“Butt, head. Got it.”

He burst out laughing, and it took her a few seconds to figure out why. “Oops. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“What if I take her out and hand her to you?”

“No, no. I got this.”

She leaned into the stroller and did exactly as he instructed. Once her hands were in the proper positions, she slowly lifted Annie out. Cradling her, she pulled the baby to her chest.

He moved the Gap Kids bag out of the way so now there was nothing between them, except for the baby, of course.

“She’s so beautiful,” Kelsey gushed.

“I agree,” he said softly.

If she had looked at him, she’d have noticed he was gazing at her instead of Annie. As it was, she was too busy studying everything about the beautiful baby in her arms.

“I get it now,” she said dreamily.

“Get what?”

“Why people love babies so much. She’s just so precious.” Then, because she couldn’t help herself, she gently traced Annie’s mole, wishing she could do the same to him.

He remained quiet, but it was a comfortable quiet, like he was letting her get her baby fix. Little did he know, but he’d created a monster. Now that she knew what it was like to hold Annie, she couldn’t wait to do it again.

“Does she need to eat or anything?” She seemed content enough, her eyes taking in the surroundings while she lay in Kelsey’s arms.