Easy Little Lick (Copperline #3) (17 page)

He crawled out of the blankets towards the foot of the bed as I walked closer. Reaching the edge of the bed, he sat back on his knees, held out his arms, and gave me a very clear demand.

“Up.”

Shit, really?
I debated just lifting him down to the floor for a second, but I had no clue if that was the right thing to do. Ilsa had said he was just under a year and a half.

What if I put him down and he went straight to her and woke her up? Or what if he got into something poisonous or something else that would hurt him?

I lifted him up against me, and the little guy settled right up against my chest and rested his head on my shoulder.

Okay… Fuck. What now?

I was sorta frozen with indecision for a minute, looking around the room trying to decide what to do next. His diaper was soggy against my forearm, but I wasn’t so sure it was my place to rectify that. I thought of Ilsa, fast asleep on the couch and noted a small stack of diapers by some folded up clothes in the corner.

Okay, I thought, let’s do this shit.

Oh God, please don’t let there be any shit.

I grabbed a diaper and laid Max on the bed, pulling off his jammie pants. The kid seemed to think we were going about this the right way so far. He just looked up at me with serious eyes. I gently tugged back one of the tabs and sorta peeked in to assess the situation.

No crap. Awesome. I could handle this.

Maybe.

I pulled back the tab on the other side and slowly lowered the diaper, sliding it out from under his baby bottom as I reached for the clean one. About a half second after the air hit his little man junk, the bugger rolled over with a squeal and started for the edge of the bed.

Fuck.

I grabbed his foot to stop him, then lifted him and placed him on his back, one hand on his chest to hold him down while I used my other hand and teeth to try and open up the clean diaper. All the while, Max squirmed and giggled, apparently enjoying the fresh air on his bare skin.

“Max, dude,” I murmured quietly, “hold still so I can get you dressed. I’m sure the fresh air feels awesome, but it would be terribly awkward for your mom to catch us like this.”

I should have just woken up Ilsa.

I finally managed to get him diapered, although the diaper sorta looked like a little, white Christmas present wrapped by a five-year-old. I got his jammie pants back on over the top of it, though, thinking they’d help hold the loosely fastened diaper in place, at least until Ilsa woke up. When I finally had him dressed again, Max lifted his arms.

“Up?”

I wondered if that was all he could say as I lifted him and tucked him in the crook of my arm.

“
Mook?
” he asked.

I guess not.

But what the fuck did ‘mook’ mean?

“
Mook,
” he repeated, pointing towards the door.

Um…

“
Mook.
”

This time there was a little more urgency to his voice, so I followed his direction as best I could, carrying him into the main room of the small apartment. His eyes immediately fixated on the refrigerator.

“
Mook.
”

This kid had a one track mind, but then it occurred to me what he might be saying.

“Milk?” I asked in a low voice. I opened the fridge and saw a bottle inside, ready and waiting. Max became rather animated when he saw it too.

“
Mook!
”

“Shh…” I murmured. “Don’t wake up your mommy. She’s pretty tired.”

I grabbed the bottle, shaking it a little since I wasn’t entirely sure what was in it, sputtering a little as a couple drops leaked out of the nipple and hit me in the face. Maybe it was just milk, but I had no clue how long kids drank formula. I had handled her luscious tits enough to be pretty sure it wasn’t breast milk, at least. I held it out to Max, and he immediately went to town, sucking down loud gulps as he stared up at me, stopping once or twice to take a deep breath before going back to it.

Daylight was beginning to filter through the thin curtains, and I was able to see him more clearly. He had round, cherub cheeks and expressive blue eyes that focused on me as he drank from the bottle. He was watchful in a way that reminded me of Ilsa. He actually looked a great deal like her with the same shape to their eyes and similar pert noses. His hair lay fairly flat against his head, straight like hers, but light blond that made his thick, dark eyelashes stand out that much more

I wondered for a second what characteristics, if any, he’d picked up from his absent father.

Max eventually grew bored of studying me and turned his head and his bottle to look at the countertop I leaned against. Popping the bottle from his mouth, he pointed to a box of Cheerios.

“Eat?”

“You want some Cheerios, kid?”

He kicked his legs with a little burst of excitement. I sorta took that as a yes, and poured a few on the counter. I held a few out in my palm and, for a minute, he concentrated on grasping one in his baby fingers before shoving it in his mouth.

He did it again a few more times, and I realized it was actually kinda cool to watch. I’d not been around kids much until lately. Brannon’s sister had kids, but I didn’t spend a whole lot of time with them when they were little. My older brother had one kid, but he’d moved to California after college, and we only saw him and his wife once or twice a year.

It wasn’t until Denny and Felicity had Eoghan (why the fuck they didn’t just spell it Owen, I had no clue) that I had much interaction with someone so little. Eoghan was younger than Max by a couple months, I figured, having just turned one year old not too long ago.

As Max reached into my palm for another Cheerio, I could kinda see what Denny loved about being a dad.

With every bite he ate, Max’s eyes would look up at me and he would give me a quirky little smile. At first, he was pretty quiet, but then he started saying ‘
mmmmm
’ right after every piece went in his mouth. I kept handing him Cheerios, one after another, grinning more with every bite he consumed. I started making funny faces that Max must have found humorous because he began to giggle.

Maybe not the smartest move because I quickly heard movement from the couch.

“Mama!” Max squealed over my shoulder, pointing towards Ilsa who sat perched on the edge of the couch holding the blanket over her naked body.

The sun had just crested over the mountains, lighting the clouds on the horizon, and the pink glow of early sunrise had filled the room. Ilsa’s skin was radiant, like smooth porcelain. Her hair tumbled around her shoulders, and she brushed it from her wide eyes.

I’d always found her to be beautiful, even when she tried not to be, but seeing her naked in the morning light after having had another taste of her the night before made my chest tighten. My lungs constricted with a weird, aching apprehension.

We just kinda stared at each other for a moment. Max plucked Cheerios from my palm and stuck them in his mouth one by one. I honestly don’t know how long we would have remained motionless if he hadn’t finished them and turned to point again at the counter.

“More?”

His small voice seemed to shake Ilsa free from her thoughts. She gingerly rose from the couch, tucking the soft blanket around her, and headed quickly to the bedroom.

“I’m going to get dressed really quick,” she murmured more or less to herself, “and then I’ll come out and take care of him.”

“It’s okay,” I assured her. “Take your time. We’re just hanging out eating Cheerios and drinking
mook
.”

She stopped short and glanced over at me. “Drinking
mook
?”

“I gave him the bottle that was in the refrigerator. I hope that was okay.”

“Um, yeah,” she said quietly. “It was one I made up last night for him to have this morning. Sometimes when he gets up really early, it’s kind of hard to get my brain to turn on.” She studied me for a minute. “How long has he been up?”

“Maybe ten or fifteen minutes is all,” I replied.

She took a few steps towards us. “Maybe I should take him with me and change his diaper.”

“I kind of took care of that, too.”

Her mouth fell open in shock. “You changed his diaper?”

Trying to get a read on her, trying to decide if she was thankful or creeped out by the fact that I had done that, I nodded slowly.

“You were sleeping pretty soundly,” I explained, “and I wanted to let you rest. Somehow I get the feeling you’re not able to do that very often.”

She dropped her eyes to the floor, then looked back up at me, biting her lip. The tenderness in her eyes rocked me. It sort of took my breath away.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

She glanced at Max who was once again focused on the Cheerios in my palm. One bite after another, interrupted only by the occasional small, slobbery grin. She leaned forward to kiss his little baby cheek and smoothed his hair down.

“You stay here with Cody, baby. Mama will be right back,” she whispered. The love for her little guy shone bright in her eyes, softening her features, making me want to pull her up against me just to hold her. To feel a taste of that love from her.

With one last pensive look up at me, she quickly turned and slipped into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

As soon as she’d left the room, I heard my cell phone ringing from behind the couch. I’d set the ringtone to play
Savior
by Thirty Seconds to Mars, picked for its awesome drum licks by the one and only Shanimal.

Max jumped, startled at the sound until he realized it was music. I saw my flannel shirt on the floor. My phone, which had been in the pocket last I saw, was half-covered by the soft fabric.

The display said Drew. Probably wondering where I spent the night.

“Hey,” I answered.

“Did you do her?”

“Um… good morning to you, too.”

“Is that where you are? The little waitress’ place?”

“Drew—”

“Come on,” he whined. “You were working on her car all day yesterday, so when we didn’t see you at the bar, we figured you took it to her. Fucking Justin bet me twenty bucks that you’d be home after getting shot down. Please tell me you’re still there after boning her all night.”

“Do you want me to fucking hang up on your ass?” I grumbled back.

Max suddenly looked a little alarmed by my tone, almost as though he might cry. I gave him a silly smile, swinging him just a little to distract him. It took him a second, but he relaxed and settled back against me.

It also occurred to me that dropping the F-bomb around a kid who was likely learning to talk may not be so wise.

“Dude, come on,” Drew begged. “None of us ever fuckin’ win a bet with Justin.”

Trying to keep my tone light, I spoke in kind of a sing-song voice.

“Well, maybe you should stop making bets with him.”

Max gave me a little toothy grin.

“What the fuck?” Drew gasped. “Why do you sound so weird?”

Shit.

“Um, no reason…” I tried to sound as normal as possible while still making faces to Max who wrinkled his nose and grinned back up at me.

“There’s someone there with you, isn’t there.”

“Drew—” I began.

“You are there! It’s her, isn’t it?” I heard him give a muffled shout. “Justin, you owe me twenty bucks, you motherfucker!”

“Okay, I’m gonna let you go now, Drew,” I said quickly as the bedroom door opened. Ilsa stepped out, dressed in a T-shirt and a pair of denim shorts that were all frayed around the bottom. My throat went dry at how hot she looked, her legs bare and her long hair falling soft and straight around her shoulders.

She instantly appeared a little panicked when she saw me on the phone. I winked at her, silently trying to convey that I hadn’t said anything incriminating, even if those fuckers were pretty much on target with their guesses.