“I know.”
“Okay, my turn with the baby.” Natalie passes Olivia to me and I cuddle her close, kissing her dark-haired head. “Hello, little love bug. Did you miss me?” I kiss her cheek and run my fingers through her soft, fine hair.
“You’re already spoiling her too much,” Natalie murmurs and watches me with happy green eyes. She looks fantastic for having had a baby this week. Her dark hair is up in a haphazard bun, and she’s in jeans and a t-shirt. She’s already out of her maternity clothes. Maybe there is something to be said for yoga.
“Never. Us girls have to stick together, don’t we Livie? Oh my, you’re so pretty.” This baby is beautiful. Of course, Natalie is a knock out, and Luke is a freaking movie star, so the gene pool in this room is pretty fantastic. “Can I walk with her?”
“Of course.”
I stand and wander to the windows, bouncing lightly and swaying back and forth, so in love with the sweet baby in my arms.
“You are wonderful,” I whisper to her. “And you are smart and strong and important. I’m going to tell you that every single day, so you never forget it.”
“Dinner’s ready,” Nate murmurs from behind me. I turn at his voice and I can see that he heard me, but he doesn’t say anything, he smiles at me and looks down at the baby, his face softening just a bit.
“Here,” I place the baby in his arms and kiss her head.
“Christ, she’s little.”
“Don’t swear in front of the baby,” I admonish him.
Nate laughs and we walk to the dining room off the kitchen. “Right. I’ll be reminding you of that, dirty mouth.”
Natalie takes the baby from Nate and places her in a bouncy seat at the end of the table.
“So, any weekend plans?” Natalie asks.
“No,” I respond at the same time as Nate says, “Yes.”
“We do?” I look over at him in surprise and he smiles smugly.
“We do.”
“What are they?” I ask as Natalie passes me the salmon. Mmm… poached salmon with a garlic and cilantro sour cream sauce, roasted baby reds and green salad.
Our men can cook.
“It’s a surprise.” Nate responds and feeds me a bite of salmon off his plate.
“I don’t like surprises.”
“Yes, you do.”
Okay, I do.
Natalie laughs across from me and I glare at her. “What are you laughing at?”
“You.”
“Why?”
“It’s just fun to see you like this.” She takes a sip of wine and winks at me and I can’t help but grin. I know what she means. She’s never seen me with a man either.
“So, Luke,” Nate smoothly changes the subject. “When is that new Hugh Jackman movie coming out?”
“In two weeks,” Luke responds and grins. “It’s gonna be a good one. Lots of action.”
“Movie night!” I bounce in my seat, excited. We always go out on opening night when one of Luke’s movies opens. He’s no longer an actor, but he still works in the industry as a producer, securing backing from studios and wooing actors and directors. And he’s awesome at it.
“I don’t know if we’ll make this one,” Luke says uncertainly and looks over at Olivia sleeping soundly in her bouncy seat.
“Oh, she’ll be fine. We’ll take her with us. She’ll sleep through it.” I wave him off and Natalie nods.
“She’s a good sleeper, she’ll be okay.” Natalie agrees with me. “Or, your mom will be happy to come watch her for a few hours. We’ll figure it out.”
“Okay, movie night it is.” Luke smiles like a kid.
I look up at Nate and rub my hand along his thigh under the table. “Sound good to you?”
“It’s a date.”
“Good. Now,” I look over at Luke and give him my sweet smile, the one I use when I want something. “When are you going to do a girl movie?”
“Uh, that’s not really my style, Jules.”
“I want a girl movie.” I pout. “Something with Zac Efron. Have you seen him lately?” I look up at Nate and he’s scowling at me.
“Why am I asking you?” I look over at Natalie. “Have you seen him lately?”
“He was beautiful in The Lucky One,” She sighs and I nod. We watched that one together last month at my place.
“We want Zac Efron.” I turn back to Luke and smile.
“You are so getting spanked when we get home,” Nate whispers down to his plate and my thighs clench.
Holy shit.
Natalie’s eyes narrow on Nate’s face, but I shake my head at her, silently telling her that this is really okay.
“You don’t like romantic shit,” Luke remarks and frowns at me.
“I don’t like watching you lay the romantic shit on my best friend, pal. It’s disgusting. This,” I gesture around the room with my hands, “is not a movie. But I do like watching Zac Efron, Channing Tatum, and a number of other hot actors lay on the romantic shit in a movie. I have a vagina.”
“I’m aware,” Luke remarks earning a glare from Nate. “Although, not first-hand,” he quickly adds.
“So,” I continue. “If you could work on that, I’d appreciate it.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Luke smirks and drinks his wine, and Natalie winks at me. Olivia makes a squeaky noise, and I automatically lean over to her and plug her binky back in her little mouth.
“There you go, baby doll.”
Natalie smirks at me and I look over at her. “What?”
“No babies, huh?” she murmurs, and all three of them look at me, Nate’s eyes are molten grey.
“Don’t be a bitch, Nat.”
“Just sayin’.”
***
Nate and I drove to Luke and Natalie’s straight from work, so we drove separately. He’s following me back to his place. I thought we should stay at mine since its closer, but he insisted we go back to his, so we stopped by the house so I could pack some clean clothes and drove on to his place.
I park in my spot in the parking garage, and wait for him to pull in alongside me. He takes my suitcase from me and I take his free hand, linking our fingers together as we walk to the elevator.