Autumn Wish Read Online Free

yeah, he’d pissed her off with the family services comment, but the expression of sheer terror on his face as she walked out replayed in her mind about every forty-five seconds—pretty much every time he made a circuit of his living room and passed the window.
    Yeah, she was spying on purpose this time. From behind the curtain in her dark dining room, with her conscience for company.
    Poor guy. He’d admitted to knowing nothing about babies, and she’d just left him, high and dry.
    Worse, poor Ella. She needed her as much as Sam did.
    Thirty-seven minutes after Nikki left, she stood on his porch again. She didn’t see him through the window, and when she didn’t hear Ella crying, she almost returned to her own place for good. Her neighbor’s family issues weren’t her problem.
    Then a faint cry came through the door and reactivated her guilt. She thought about ringing the bell, but didn’t want to add to the baby’s distress. Discovering he hadn’t locked the door behind her earlier, she let herself in and followed the noise. Ella’s crying stopped once Nikki entered the hall, and she reached the bathroom in time to see Sam turn his head to the side as he gagged.
    A putrid smell reached her nose, and she bit back a smile. “You going to make it?”
    He whipped his head around at the sound of her voice. “Oh, thank God. No—take her. I’m gonna throw up.”
    Ella ended up in her arms, and Nikki immediately discovered it was more than the smell freaking him out. The blanket was warm and squishy, and liquid soaked into her sleeve and the front of her sweater. Sam backed up, his horrified gaze dropping to his own wet shirt.
    “You’ll get used to it...” She trailed off as he turned to dry-heave into the sink.
    He reached up to strip his T-shirt off over his head. After tossing it into the tub, he yanked on the handle of the sink faucet to run the water full blast. Three full pumps of the soap dispenser seemed a bit overboard, but he slathered it all over his hands and arm before rinsing clean. Then he grabbed the wadded wash cloth sitting on the edge of the sink to swipe across his stomach.
    “Ew,” he groaned. Grimacing, he threw the cloth into the tub with his shirt, then wet a new one and resumed scrubbing.
    Nikki’s gaze fixed on his chest and abs. Oh, good Lord! He was attractive enough with a shirt on and stubble-covered jaw. All that bare skin and those jeans riding low on his lean hips shot the sexy to a whole ’nother level. Just the thought of reaching out to test the firmness of those slabs of defined muscles made her mouth go bone dry. Whatever his job was with those tools of his, physical labor had done one heck of a number on his body.
    His gaze rose to hers as he reached to shut off the water, and she experienced the full effect of his striking brown eyes in the bright bathroom light. The gold flecks around his pupil gave them a bronze tone, set off all the more by dark lashes and dark brown hair. The word beautiful came to mind, but she doubted he’d appreciate that description.
    “Get used to this ?” he responded to her earlier comment. “I don’t think so.”
    Ella squirmed and began to fuss again. Gathering her wits and reining in her hormones, Nikki shifted the baby in her arms. “Happens to me at least once a day at work, though I don’t usually end up wearing it.”
    “Where the hell do you work?”
    “At a daycare. Now, grab a couple towels and two wash cloths, and bring them to the dining room table. Your niece needs a bath and a clean diaper.”
    In the dining room, she moved aside the boxes on the table with one hand until there was room for the towel. She had him fold it in half and spread it on the table, then laid the baby on the padded surface.
    “There you go. Strip her down while I get a bowl of warm water.”
    “Me?”
    “Yes, you . I came back to give you a few lessons, not do it for you.”
    She headed for the kitchen and started searching through his