Stacey said.
“He said flowers are too obvious,” Rachel said.
Stacey frowned. “Too obvious?” she echoed.
“What if I just wanted to cheer her up?” Colton asked. “What if I don’t necessarily want to date her?”
Rachel scowled. “Oh, that’s a totally different matter. You don’t want to be with her?”
Colton ground his teeth. “That’s not the priority.”
“So, you may want to be with her in the future?” Rachel asked.
“Let’s deal with the present,” he said in a grumbly voice.
“In that case—” Rachel said.
“Just visit her,” Stacey said firmly. “And let her talk, maybe about what’s been going on with her. Try and keep the conversation light. Nothing heavy.”
“Small talk,” Rachel said cheerfully.
Colton frowned. “What the hell is small talk besides weather?”
Both Stacey and Rachel laughed. “Nothing too deep,” Rachel said. “You can even talk about clothing.”
Colton scowled. “Clothing?” he echoed.
Stacey and Rachel exchanged an amused glance. “Work on it,” Rachel said. “Read the paper. There may be something there you can chit-chat about.”
“You could take her to get ice cream,” Stacey said.
“In the winter?” Colton asked.
“I love ice cream any time of year,” she confessed.
“If you really want to cheer up a woman, you could take a DVD of a chick flick and watch it with her,” Rachel added.
Colton made a face. “If you say so,” he said.
“Well, you asked,” Rachel said with a bit of a testy tone. “Is this girl sick or just depressed? I know you said flowers are too obvious, but you could just happen to have some extra chocolates in your truck. Chocolate makes just about everything better.”
“Except labor pains,” Stacey said. “Chocolate doesn’t help with labor pains.”
Colton cleared his throat. He didn’t like the direction this conversation was headed in. “I think I’m done with my dinner now.”
“I’ll take your plate,” Rachel said. “You take Piper.”
Colton pulled back.
Stacey shot him a look of surprise. “Oh, for goodness’ sakes. You’re not afraid of a baby, are you?”
“Of course I’m not afraid,” he said, lying through his teeth. She was cute, but she was so little.
“Then, you can hold her,” Rachel said, pushing Piper into his arms. “She’s not radioactive.”
Colton held the baby away from his body, staring into her face. She squirmed in his hands.
“You need to hold her closer,” Stacey said. “She feels insecure in that position.”
“I’m not gonna drop her,” he said.
“I know that, but she doesn’t,” Stacey said.
He sat and gingerly set her on his lap, and she stopped wiggling.
Piper cooed at him, lifting her finger toward his face. She seemed to stare at his every feature. What amazing concentration she had. He inhaled and caught a whiff of sweet baby smell. Colton felt a strange sensation inside him, as if the baby was trying to communicate with him. She was a cute thing. He felt an odd protective feeling for the child even though Piper wasn’t his. It was as if he was suddenly driven to keep her safe. At the same time, he was terrified she was going to start screaming any minute.
“You look so nervous, Colton. I can take her,” Stacey said, lifting the baby from his arms.
Colton felt a huge sense of relief. At the same time, he wouldn’t mind breathing in Piper’s sweet scent again.
“So, did our advice help?” Stacey asked as she shifted Piper onto her hip.
Colton couldn’t stop his gaze from flowing down her curvy body, then up again. A flash of what her nude body might look like slid through his brain. Colton gulped. Stacey—his sister’s friend, the literal girl next door—was unbelievably sexy. Colton wondered if he was going insane.
“Isn’t she sweet?” Stacey asked.
Colton lifted his head in a round nod. “Sweet,” he said. But frightening, he thought, although he would never admit it in a million years. Colton was no baby expert, and he had no idea what to do with a tot like Piper. For that matter, he wasn’t sure what to do with all the forbidden thoughts he was having about Stacey.
* * *
Later that night when Stacey had finally put Piper to sleep, she headed for her own bed after she’d washed her face and brushed her teeth. She couldn’t shake the image of Colton holding Piper. The baby had taken to Colton almost immediately. He didn’t know it, but Stacey did. Colton had looked wary about Piper, but the baby had clearly found him fascinating. She’d stared into his face as if she’d wanted to memorize every feature.
Stacey had found herself watching him more than she ever had in the past. Crazy, she told herself and closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. She counted backward from two hundred and finally fell asleep and into a vivid dream. Piper was crawling down the aisle of a chapel wearing her christening gown. Her sweet baby finally reached the altar, and Joe stood, with his back to Stacey.
“I do,” Joe said.
Her heart pounding, Stacey tried to scream, but no sound came from her mouth. She felt utterly helpless.
“Joe,” she whispered. “Joe...”
Stacey rushed toward the altar. “Joe,” she called.
Stacey watched Joe bend over to pick up Piper. Her heart melted. Joe was going to love Piper. Her baby was finally going to have a daddy. It seemed to take hours, but Stacey finally reached her groom and touched his shoulder.
He turned, but her groom wasn’t Joe.
It was Colton.
Alarm rushed through her.
Stacey awakened in a sweat. Joe? Colton? This couldn’t be. “Colton,” she whispered aloud and sat up in her bed. Why was she dreaming of Colton? Why was she even thinking of him? He was her neighbor, her best friend’s brother. Ridiculous, she told herself. Beyond ridiculous. She shook her head and tried to push away the image of the tall, sexy cowboy.
Stacey forced herself to relax. She’d learned to seek sleep when her baby slept. Taking several deep breaths, she told herself not to think about Colton. She shouldn’t think about his wide shoulders and his insanely curly, dark eyelashes. She shouldn’t think about his strong jaw and great muscles and dependability. He was the kind of man who would always stand beside a friend and support him or her.
Colton was also a man who was clearly interested in another woman at the moment. Why else would he have sought Rachel’s help about what women really want?
The reality of that made Stacey feel a little cranky, although, for the life of her, she couldn’t say why.
“Go to sleep,” she told herself. She would be so busy tomorrow with Piper that she would truly regret one minute of sleep she’d lose thinking about Colton.
* * *
The next day, just after Stacey put Piper down for her afternoon nap, she heard a knock at the front door. She knew that her mother had gone to a sewing circle meeting and her father was outside working, so she wanted to catch whoever was at the door before they awakened Piper. Heaven knew, Stacey cherished nap time.