Sexy Hart (Sexy Series) (3 page)

CHAPTER TWO

SATURDAY 15TH JUNE (CONT.
)

After the most delicious breakfast in the world, we make our way to Tilly and Luke's house and I am practically peeing myself to see this gorgeous nearly-niece of mine.

As we near the front door of their fabulous house, Bea and I race the final few steps, laughing as we try to shove each other out of the way to get there first.

"I win!" Bea shouts as she collides with the front door, hitting the bell as she does.

We laugh hysterically until the door opens, bringing us to an immediate, abrupt halt at the sight of a gorgeous, enormous daddy holding his tiny, beautiful, flawless baby Emily.

My hand automatically covers my mouth, I completely ignore everyone else around me, forgetting that I am on a doorstep and I just stand, staring at her little face. My chest hurts, I need my own one of these to love and obsess over so I don't have to keep turning into a lunatic every time I see this one.

"Uh... Clare? Could we maybe... um, maybe get inside the house?" Oliver says as he steps close and puts a hand on the small of my back to slowly manoeuvre me into the hallway.

"Oh, but... I..." I stutter, pointing at the baby as I'm moved away from her, my eyes never leaving her face.

"Darling, let's just sit down first, yes?" he says softly and I snap out of my trance, only to become quickly lost in another as he puts an arm around me and walks me in front of the others to the lounge area. I know we all call each other darling from time to time, but when Oliver calls me it, I get a feeling of togetherness...
a closeness to him that no one else has... only they do. Stacy has that. Not me.

As I try to snap myself out of this one, Luke calls over for me to make myself comfy and he'll bring the baby to me for a cuddle. Okay, I'm sorry Oliver but my 'you-induced' trance is temporarily over - I have a baby to hold! 

I take off my sandals and make myself comfy on the end seat of the sofa, sitting on my feet. Oliver sits next to me, grinning. I know I must look crazy right now, but I'm so excited!

Luke arrives and slowly lowers her into my
arms, her tiny head nestled in the crook of my arm. I gaze at her beautiful face and run the pad of my forefinger gently down the bridge of her dinky nose and softly touch her little chin. I've never seen anything more bewitching than this in my life.

I vaguely sense Oliver leaning over to have a look at her curled in my arms but I'm a little preoccupied with the baby to take much notice. She's a soft weight, an addictive, weeny little cuddle-munchkin that feels so at home in my arms. If I was a bit of a psycho, I would have to tell my friends that I'm sorry, they just can't have her back, but in real life - I'm not that crazy, so will have to find a way to part with my new favourite thing in the whole wide world and think about finding a man to give me my own one.

"Look how her mouth pouts a little bit when she exhales..." Oliver says, quietly, and I look at his face right next to mine to see the huge grin he's wearing. "Look..." he says, nodding towards the baby. I turn to look and smile at his observation, her mouth does pout when she exhales and it's super sweet!

"Oh that's so cute..." I whisper, fixing my attention back on her face whilst thinking how adorable it is that Oliver is so interested.

"What is?" Bea asks as she comes over to kneel on the floor by my feet and puts her forefinger in Emily's hand which she immediately grips and we all coo over it. I suddenly realise I haven't even said hello to Luke or Tilly.

"Hey, where's Til?"

"She's in the bathroom," Luke responds.

"Okay, sorry Luke, I didn't even say 'hello' to you."

"It's cool, you can be rude today, but that's it, if you do it again..." he says with a menacing look on his face and I giggle.

"I'm sorry, hi Luke."

He comes towards me and bends to kiss my cheek, "Hey Clare, looking hot today as always."

I smile uncomfortably, I always feel weird when people compliment me like that, so I ignore it and look down at the baby to hide my blush.

Bea and Daniel sit on the couch opposite us, Bea patiently waiting her turn with the baby. I can't give her up yet though, just a few more minutes. I want to inspect her, everything about her. I pick up a hand and look at her tiny nails, I look at her cute lashes, the little red blob in the centre of her top lip... god, she's just too gorgeous for words.

Oliver is still totally fixated also, he puts an arm around my shoulder and leans right in against me, his other hand resting lightly on Emily's tummy - it's bigger than she is. For a moment, I can't help but imagine that this is
me and my baby-daddy, appreciating our newborn. It hurts so much that I have to snap out of it and remember that I don't have a baby-daddy, or more ideally, a boyfriend who could be the father of my child.
My child... will I ever have one of those?

"Hey y'all!" Tilly cries out in a jovial, southern accent as she makes her way slowly from the bathroom into the living area to join us.

"Hi Til!" We greet together.

Luke immediately stands from his place next to Daniel to walk with her. "Okay, Princess?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks lover," she says as she sits slowly on the sofa by Daniel. "Sorry about that, it takes me about half an hour to do a wee, it's a killer! No one told me that weeing would sting like a mother-fucker." We all giggle, never one to hold back on the details, our Tilly. "Where's Stacy then, Ols? Come to your senses and dumped the bitch?"

"Tilly!" I cry, shocked at her bluntness, although I'm not sure why it shocks me,
that's just how she is.

"What? Someone needs to say it." I look at Bea who is trying not to laugh.

"Don't hold back, Til, tell me what you really think," Oliver says, "she's back at the apartment."

"Let me guess, she didn't want to spend any more time with your 'fucking friends'?"

He pauses for a moment. "Something like that."

The room is quiet for a minute and I look at Oliver who is still pressed against me, playing with the baby's fingers. "You okay?" I whisper and he smiles at me.

"I'm fine, Clare, don't worry about it, I wouldn't expect anything less from Tilly," he says with a small laugh, "besides, Stacy is being a bit of a pain in the arse today."

"But that's not your fault."

"Yeah, I know. It's fine Clare, honestly." He leans down and kisses Emily's tiny hand before pulling back slightly and offering me a smile. "She's so tiny."

"I know! You look broody Olly..." I tease with a huge grin on my face, and his response really surprises me.

"I'd like one... yeah, why not?"

I pause briefly, staring at him. "Really? You want a baby?"

He sits a little further away so he can look at me. "Yeah... not right this minute of course but I'm getting older and I always wanted kids. This little creature only confirms that."

Oh bejesu.
His sex appeal just increased massively. I knew he wanted kids but hearing him talk about it like that makes me weak at the knees. It's a good job I'm sitting down with this baby. But...
oh.
Please, please,
please
let him have one with someone other than her... she'd never let me anywhere near. "So.. um... would you... with..."

"Come on Clare, you can spit it out. Would I have a baby with Stacy?"

"What the fuck?" Tilly shouts out, "You better be kidding me, that whore-bag isn't pregnant with your baby is she?"

"Hey, now that's enough!" Oliver responds firmly. "You may not like a lot of the things she says and does, Til, but she is still my girlfriend and there's a limit to what you can and can't say. That's out of order."

Okay. So now I'm in an odd situation inside. One side of me
hates
that he just defended her like that. She is the biggest bitch I have ever met and he should know that...
but
the other side of me swoons just a little bit at this masculine protective thing he has going on. She may be the bitch from hell, but no one talks about the girl he's with like that and gets away with it.

"I have let a few comments pass about her because, yes, she can be rude and I have noticed this, but she's not a whore and I'd appreciate it if you toned it down. Don't think I'm not addressing these issues with her in private."

"Okay, I'm sorry. I should keep quiet about my real opinions of her. I'll save that for when you're not around," she says with her cheeky Tilly smile and a wink that will always let her get away with murder.

Oliver rolls his eyes and sighs before leaning back in towards the baby. "So you
gonna stop hogging and give someone else a go?" he asks me.

"Oh... do I have to?" I ask holding her
close to me and bending to sniff her soft hair.

"Yes... gimme," he says, holding his arms out to take her.
How the hell can I say no to that? Seeing this beautiful man with a beautiful child in his arms...
I may have to excuse myself.

"Um, excuse me, brother... what are you playing at? I think I was next," Bea says.

"Wait your turn, Uncle Oliver first."

I grin and lean forwards to gently slip the baby into his embrace and watch as his hand immediately cups her tiny head. He sits back and rests his ankle up on his other knee like he's done this a million times. She grumbles a little and he slowly rocks her, holding her close to his chest until she relaxes back into her sleep.

He probably didn't realise that his wardrobe choice this morning would affect the comfort of the baby but he chose perfectly with a soft cotton t-shirt. I'd like to have my cheek pressed up against his big hard chest with that t-shirt under my skin, too...
Focus, Clare
.

I, on the other hand, spent a long time picking a dress that would be most comfortable for this new, fresh skin to be held against. Is it normal to think about these things? Am I obsessive? I think I am - I'm sure normal people don't spend a good half an hour debating with oneself whether 100% cotton would be that much softer than a linen mix, for the moment they hold a newborn baby.

"A natural..." Til says with a wink as she looks at me and nods in Oliver's direction.
Ohh here we go
, she's going to try to start playing cupid again. "Suits him, don't you think Clare?" She grins as Luke pulls her backwards and into his side, tightly, kissing the top of her head as he does. I'm so envious. Why can't someone love
me
that much?

"Hey, Dan, take a pic would you?" Oliver asks, tossing his mobile phone at Daniel.

"Sure," he stands and moves in front of us. I lean to the left and out of the frame. "Hey, Clare, get in the shot..."

"Oh no, just take Oliver and Emily." Stacy would hate to see a picture of Oliver and I, let alone a picture of Oliver and I with a baby!

"Just get in the damn picture," he says, motioning with his hand for me to move over. I look at Oliver and he nods and smiles so I lean in and smile for the camera, planning to remind Oliver that he should probably delete it before we get back.

~~~~~~~

Hours pass as we chat like old times and coo over the baby. It's amazing that Tilly only gave birth yesterday, she seems to know exactly what to do already. You can see she is a bit sore but she's really getting on with things like the trooper that she is. I look up to that girl so much and really hope that the day comes when I can go to her for advice on pregnancy and babies.

She has amazing support in the form of a handsome, caring husband. He's constantly checking she's okay without getting too 'in her face', she'd be the first to tell him to back off if he mollycoddled her, but instead she beams at him and her eyes sparkle every time he so much as looks in her direction.

Alexia arrives in the evening, and we all get Thai food delivered for dinner. It's absolutely delicious and in such good company, too. What a wonderful way to spend a day.

As we sit back, rubbing our full bellies and enjoying a glass of wine, or in Tilly and Luke's case, juice, Luke reminds me of one of our main plans for the holiday.

"So when are you guys going to Vegas? Have you made reservations yet?"

"Actually... no
..." Bea says, looking around at the rest of us. "We weren't planning on going until after the baby was born and I think we've all been a bit distracted to even think about it since. We don't have long though, we're leaving on Wednesday..."

"We can still do it, baby," Daniel says, "we could go tomorrow if everyone wants - stay two nights and get back here Tuesday. I can get Heidi to sort the reservations."

"That would be cool, and we'd be there for your birthday on Monday Clare!"

"Sounds good to me," I say, nodding in agreement.

"And, Lex, you're good to take a couple days off, right?"

"Yes, absolutely, I prepared my assistant for my absence last week so he'll know what to do."

"Let's do it! Vegas, baby!" Bea says, happily, and Daniel grabs his phone to start planning with his assistant.