The Bachelor, the Baby and the Beauty. Victoria Pade
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would have been around her and hers would have been around him. Not even air could have passed between them, they’d be so close, and her head would have been on his chest.
But even while none of that was the case, she still felt slightly dazed to find herself there.
Dazed and struggling to remind herself that she shouldn’t be letting it affect her in any way.
Think of something to say! she commanded herself.
But all she could think about was how nice it felt to have her hand nestled in his much bigger one, to feel his other hand on her back through the satin of her bridesmaid’s dress, to feel the solid muscle of his bicep, to be able to look directly up at that handsome face only inches away …
Then Chase broke the silence she hadn’t been able to fill and said, “Logan said you designed and made Meg’s wedding dress and all the bridesmaids’ dresses.”
“Design is an overstatement,” Hadley demurred. “Meg wanted everyone to be in a style that made us happy, as long as all the bridesmaids’ dresses were the same color. So I had everyone show me pictures of their favorite dresses. Which is also what I did for Meg. Then I just compiled styles that seemed to suit us each individually, drew them up and made them—Meg’s in white satin, ours in bronze because that was the color Meg chose.”
“You just did all that? That’s a lot.”
“It isn’t really designing, though. It was more in the realm of the seamstress than the designer.”
“Well, they’re all great.”
And that was something he’d likely noticed when he’d checked out every female there, Hadley told herself. She had to keep in mind that regardless of how much attention he might be paying her for the time being—and paying to her knee-length, curve-skimming strapless cocktail-style dress—this was still a guy whose only commitment was to playing the field.
Remembering that actually helped calm her reaction to dancing with him and, for that, she was grateful.
When the music ended again, Logan and Meg were ready to cut the cake. The guests and the wedding party all gathered around them and the five-layer concoction. In the process Hadley’s services were required to keep Tia contained so the toddler didn’t swipe her fingers through the frosting.
Once that initial slice was made and pictures of it were taken, the caterer took over the cutting and serving, and while Hadley tempted the excited Tia back to the table to eat cake, Chase answered Logan’s call to say hello to an old friend.
Hadley was sure that would put an end to tonight’s contact with Chase. She fought her odd sense of disappointment by stealing a bite of her niece’s dessert. Then she looked up just in time to see a woman approach Chase where he was talking to Logan and two other men.
Hadley recognized the woman’s face but couldn’t recall her name. The important thing, however, was Chase’s response to her. It looked as if he didn’t immediately know who the woman was, either. But when recognition dawned, his grin was blinding.
While Hadley watched, he touched the other woman’s arm, leaned in and kissed her cheek and Hadley could tell even from the distance that he was just oozing charm.
And that’s why you don’t have to worry, Logan, she thought as she observed the exchange that was so similar to too many she’d witnessed in the past with her former husband. The opening gambit—that’s what she’d come to consider it.
And she knew too well where it ended.
So no, her brother didn’t have to worry that she would get involved with Chase Mackey. Even if dancing with him had given her goose bumps.
And since she’d seen enough, she turned her full attention to her niece.
Tia had finished her cake—she had more of it on her face and hands than she’d probably eaten. Hadley laughed at the sight and pulled the little girl onto her lap. “Come here and let me clean you up,” she said, dipping a napkin into a water glass to wash Tia’s face.
Tia squirmed and complained but a yawn in the process also told Hadley how tired the child was. Tired enough not to fight when the cleanup was complete and Hadley said, “Let’s sit here for a minute and close our eyes.”
That was all it took for Tia to do exactly that, to rest her head against Hadley’s chest and almost instantly drop off to sleep.
The reception was coming to an end anyway, so Hadley didn’t mind spending the rest of it sitting there with her sleeping niece until enough of the party had dwindled that she could duck out herself.
In order for Meg and Logan to be guaranteed an uninterrupted wedding night, Tia was sleeping over with Hadley in her apartment above the garage. When Hadley could catch the attention of her brother, she flagged him down to tell him she was taking Tia there.
Logan kissed his daughter’s forehead, then said he’d see them both in the morning and returned to his bride.
Hadley gathered her niece into her arms and stood. And from out of nowhere, Chase was there again, this time reaching for Tia.
“Let me have her,” he suggested.
“I’m taking her to the apartment for the night,” Hadley informed him.
“I know, I heard,” he responded, scooping Tia out of her arms without waking the child.
Hadley considered arguing with him, but she didn’t want to risk disturbing Tia, either, so she merely conceded and she and Chase left the reception.
The showroom and the detached garage were side-by-side behind the main house. It was a short walk through the quiet of the night and neither of them said anything along the way.
Hadley led Chase up the staircase that traced the side of the garage, lit by a row of lantern-style lights that followed the same incline that the railing and steps did. When she arrived at the top she opened her door and held it for Chase to go ahead of her. She’d left a single lamp on in the roomy studio apartment so she didn’t have to come home in the dark.
“You can put her on the bed,” Hadley whispered when she’d followed Chase inside, waiting at the open door to let him back out again so he would know in advance that that was all that was going to come of this.
Whether he took the hint or had never intended to do anything else, he gently laid Tia on the bed that stood on a platform two steps higher than the rest of the apartment and then returned to the door where he went out onto the landing again.
He didn’t leave yet, though. On the landing, he turned to face Hadley and said, “Neily said she’ll be here with the baby tomorrow afternoon, probably after Logan and Meg have left.”
“There’ll be a cleaning crew to put the showroom in order but I promised Meg that I would pick up all the residual wedding mess at the house tomorrow, so I’ll be there all day. I’m sure you have unpacking to do at your place. I can just call you when Neily gets here and you can come over then.”
“That works,” he agreed. His too-handsome face slid into a grin just before he said, “So, do you want to name your price now or later? “
“My price?” Hadley repeated.
“For this baby gig—I’ll owe you for it.”
“Actually, I’m looking at it as paying you back,” she admitted.
The grin disappeared and a confused frown replaced it. “Paying me back? For what?”
Hadley looked into those blue eyes, seeing that he genuinely didn’t know what she meant, and it made her smile a little as she said, “You always treated me like you didn’t even see the weight. You never made fun of me. I heard you more than once tell kids who were making fun of me to stop it. And there was that time with Trinity Hatcher when he had me cornered because he wanted to feel the fat …”
It had been so long ago and yet that