Autumn Wish Read Online Free Page A

cupboards before he could argue. The emptiness surprised her, even though he’d only moved in a week ago. From what she’d seen in the dining room, the few boxes he had left to unpack were not marked kitchen, and there were no others stacked around the sparse, neat house.
    Instead of a bowl, she had to settle for a big metal pot. By the time she filled and carried it over, he’d managed to remove Ella’s one-piece sleeper, leaving her in just her dirty, overflowing diaper. Nikki hid a smile when he turned his head to the side, eyes scrunched tight as his Adam’s apple jerked up and down with a hard swallow.
    Once she retrieved wipes, a diaper, and clean clothes from the bag his sister had left, she joined him at the table. “Tomorrow you’ll want to pick up a mat for the bathtub, but for tonight, this’ll have to do.”
    “Shouldn’t we be doing this in the tub now? I’m never going to be able to eat at this table again.”
    She laughed. “You’ll be fine. We’re out here to give you plenty of room to work. Now, first thing you want to do is check the water temperature. Either dip your elbow in, or drip some on the inside of your wrist. If it’s too hot for you, it’s too hot for Ella. And on the flip side, you don’t want it too cool because it will give her the chills.”
    “Didn’t you already check it?”
    “Yes, but you should, too.”
    He leaned over and submerged his elbow. “Feels fine.”
    “Good. Now, undo the diaper and use the front to wipe her as much as you can.”
    “Ah…” Sam turned a pleading look her way. “Can’t you just show me?”
    Nikki shook her head. “Hands on learning is the best way.”
    He started to reach for the baby, then stopped and flipped his palms up. “My hands are really rough.”
    Her skin tingled at the thought of those rough hands touching her . She wouldn’t mind one bit.
    Stop it!
    “You’re wiping with the diaper, not your hands. You’ll be fine.”
    With a resigned sigh, he did as instructed. His gag reflex seemed to have been so overwhelmed, it’d now completely given up. Then she realized he was holding his breath.
    “You’re gonna want to breathe at some point,” she teased.
    He released his breath with a sheepish smile. Damn, the man was hot even while wiping poop off a baby’s butt.
    She took the diaper and continued with her directions. “Pick her up under the arms, spreading your fingers so they support the base of her neck, then lift and dip her into the pot so I can rinse her.”
    With Ella’s bottom half in the water, Nikki moved in close to rinse off the worst of the poop. Her shoulder rested against Sam’s bare one, and she couldn’t help but notice the heat emanating from his body. Beneath the baby smells, she caught a trace of a man who’d worked all day in the fresh outdoors.
    Awareness fluttered deep in her belly, and when her fingers brushed against the tanned skin of his arms as she worked, her pulse began a steady increase. The desire to lean closer to his chest for a deep inhale was quickly squelched when she stepped back to get rid of the soiled towel and spread out the clean one.
    “You can lay her back down while I get some clean rinse water.” Sam lifted the baby from the water and she grabbed the pot. “Cover her with the other half of the towel so she doesn’t get cold,” she advised over her shoulder on her way to the bathroom to flush the dirty water.
    While filling the pot with fresh water, she noticed his soiled shirt and the washcloth in the tub, and draped them over the stain on her own shirtsleeve. Then she snagged another towel, his antibacterial hand soap, and returned to the dining room. She started to tell him to make sure he bought baby shampoo tomorrow, but decided it would be easier for both of them if she made him a list.
    “This is not how I imagined I’d be spending my evening,” he grumbled a few minutes later as she watched him fumble through her bathing instructions. “I was supposed