Page 37 of The Sweetest Mistake

When Connor and Cam returned a while later, Ava was resting peacefully in Julia’s arms.

“Wow. Look at you,” Connor said as he came into the room. “Cam said Ava was kind of fussy today, but you’d never know it now.”

“Really? She wasn’t fussy for me at all,” Julia said, looking Cam straight in the face. Okay. That was a low blow, but it’s not fair that Cam got to spend the last three hours with my boyfriend!

“How did the apartment hunting go?” Julia asked as Cam began collecting Ava’s belongings and stuffing them in the diaper bag.

“I haven’t made up my mind yet. I think Connor and I are going to look again over the weekend when we have more time,” Cam said. She’d put everything away and stood in front of Julia with her hands on her narrow hips as if daring her to argue.

Looking between them with a pinched expression, Connor said to Julia, “I said I’d check with you first and work it around our plans.”

Julia was touched that he’d stepped up for them, and she wanted to kiss him. However, she was still holding a sleeping baby, so she settled for shooting him a wide smile instead.

“I should get Ava home,” Cam said, bending over to take her from Julia. That made the second time Julia had seen down her shirt.

Has she ever heard of a camisole? Julia wondered.

“I’ll walk you out,” Connor said, bringing the car seat over so Cam could strap Ava into it.

“I’ll come too,” Julia said, ignoring the scowl on Cam’s face. “I’d like to see how this thing works.”

Cam couldn’t very well argue when it came to the safety of her baby. So, the three of them went outside: Connor carrying Ava in the car seat, Cam carrying the diaper bag, and Julia sporting a satisfied smile. If Cam thought she was going to get more alone time with Connor, she had another think coming!

As Cam was showing Connor how to install the car seat, Julia fought back the urge to laugh. The situation was comical if one bothered to find the humor in it. It was like a joke—How many people does it take to strap in a car seat? Three: the mom, the dad, and the jealous girlfriend! She doubted that Cam would find it funny, but Julia squirreled it away for later when she could tell Harper.

Once Ava was properly strapped in, having slept through the whole ordeal, they said their goodbyes. And if Julia had thought she was preventing something from happening by coming outside with them, she’d been wrong. Before she knew it, Cam had thrown her arms around Connor’s neck and hugged him, pressing her tiny breasts against his broad chest.

“Thank you so much for coming with me tonight,” she said, gazing at him as if Julia weren’t even there.

When she pulled back, Connor had that deer-in-the-headlights look, and shoving his hands in his front pockets, he said, “You’re welcome.”

With that, Cam trotted her slim little booty around to the driver’s side of the car and slid in, not bothering to say goodbye to Julia or thanking her for watching Ava. That little b—

Once Connor had herded Julia back into the house and shut the door, he scooped her up into his arms and started walking down the hall toward his bedroom. He sat down on the edge of his bed with her on his lap and gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“You’re the one she should have thanked,” he said with an apologetic look on his handsome face.

“Doesn’t matter. I did it for you, not her.”

“Then allow me to properly thank you.”

And with that, he tipped her back on the bed and captured her lips in a searing kiss.

When he pulled back, she said, “That’s a good start, but you’ll have to do better. Ava was really fussy tonight.”

Connor gaped at her. “I thought you said she was good.”

Julia shrugged. “I was being spiteful, and I’m not sorry about it.”

Laughing, he stroked a finger over her bottom lip. “I love that about you.”

“You do?”

“Um-hmm. I love that you are who you are and you don’t make any apologies for it.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“I’m the one who’s supposed to be thanking you, remember?”