Page 74 of Stealing Home

Dom settled into his chair and tipped the bottle toward Lucia. The moment the nipple touched her lips, the crying stopped.

Gavin leaned back and watched her gulp. “She’s easy to please.”

“Not really,” Dom said with a smile.

“She’s glaring at you now,” Gavin pointed out. “I think you offended her.”

“She thinks I’m starving her on purpose.” Dom looked at his daughter. “You ate two hours ago. Tell him.”

Lucia kept drinking, clearly unimpressed by his defense. When she finished, Dom settled her against his shoulder, and Gavin watched him rub slow circles over her back until she let out a surprisingly loud burp.

“Impressive.”

Dom looked both smug and proud. “You should hear her fart.”

Gavin grinned. “I’ll add it to the list of things I have to look forward to.”

Dom smiled and held Gavin’s gaze for a second before turning to tuck the empty bottle into the diaper bag. He stood with Lucia on his shoulder. “Can you grab the cups?”

“Got them.” Gavin stacked the empties, then caught the stroller handle with his free hand. Lucia had gone heavy and quiet against Dom’s neck, her fist curled into his shirt, and Dom gave him a grateful smile.

The parking lot shimmered in the midday sun. Dom pressed the key fob from twenty feet away, and the SUV’s engine turned over. “I started the AC,” he said when Gavin glanced at him. “She’s not getting in a hot car.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“I would have.” Dom shrugged.

Gavin figured out how to fold the stroller and loaded it into the back while Dom buckled Lucia into her car seat. He checked the straps twice, then a third time that Gavin pretended not to notice. When Dom straightened, she was already half asleep, her eyelids fluttering.

“See you at the house?”

Gavin nodded as Dom closed the back door, then watched him walk around to the driver’s side before heading across the parking lot to his truck. Once he was behind the wheel, he pulled out his phone. Ethan’s unanswered messages crowded the screen, but Gavin didn’t open any of them. He silenced the phone, dropped it into the center console, and shut the lid.

Dom’s SUV pulled out of its space, and Gavin started the engine to follow.

Ethan could wait. Gavin had a date to finish.

14

DOM

By the time Dom turned onto his street, Lucia was asleep again and Gavin’s truck was still behind him. He’d checked twice before he reached the house.

It was stupid. Gavin said he was coming. He’d followed Dom out of the parking lot and stayed behind him through every turn, even though he knew the way. There was no reason for Dom to expect the truck to disappear between one stoplight and the next, but Dom still relaxed each time he saw it in his rearview mirror. At the house, he pulled into the garage and killed the engine. Gavin parked in the driveway, leaving enough room for Dom to back out even though he had no plans to leave. It was a small gesture, but the ordinary thoughtfulness of it made Dom smile as he climbed out.

“She asleep?” Gavin asked when he reached the open garage.

Dom opened the back door and leaned in. Lucia’s head had fallen to the side and one hand rested beside her face. “Out like a light.”

“I’d say we wore her out, but she did all of the yelling.”

“She had a tough morning with all that sleeping and eating.” Dom unfastened the carrier from its base and lifted it carefully. Gavin reached for the diaper bag on the floor and his arm brushed Dom’s. The contact lasted less than a second, but Dom felt it all the way down his side. Apparently, confirming it was a date and not just coffee had reset the rules of his nervous system.

He carried Lucia inside through the garage and set her carrier on the kitchen floor. Carrying her upstairs to her crib would probably wake her, but the portable crib next to her swing was probably close enough that he could move her without waking her. His mom and sister had horrified him with the number of ways things could go wrong for a baby sleeping in a carrier, and Dom had gone right out and bought a portable crib for the kitchen. And one for the living room. He would put one in every room in the house if it meant keeping Lucky safe. He lifted her out of her carrier and carefully placed her flat on her back, then waited a beat to see if she would stir. She had already proven she could sleep through the vacuum, delivery drivers ringing the bell, and half the team arguing in Dom’s kitchen. Having lunch with Gavin shouldn’t bother her.

Gavin placed the diaper bag on the kitchen table and the movement pulled his T-shirt tight against his bicep. Dom realized a second too late that he was staring.

Gavin caught him. “What?”