Seconds later, she fell silent.
Tessa scrambled from the chair, gaping. “Oh, my gosh…”
“Go to sleep,” he commanded softly as the baby sighed and slipped right into slumber.
“How did you do that?” Tessa asked.
“We’ll figure it out later. Get in the bed.”
She shook her head. “I’ll take her back. You need sleep, too, and—”
“I can sleep with her on my chest.” Zy eased onto the glider Tessa had just vacated, sinking into its cushy warmth as he drew Hallie’s baby blanket over her tiny form and across his torso. “We’ll be fine.”
“But she’s my responsibility, and you don’t—”
“Lie. Down. And go. To sleep. If I can’t handle something, I’ll wake you. But you won’t be any good for Hallie tomorrow if you’re falling down.”
Tessa paused, her superwoman facade slipping as she sighed. Suddenly, he saw fatigue in every line of her body. Tears filled her soft eyes, saying far more than her next words. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He patted Hallie’s tiny back, pausing to feel its rise and fall as Tessa crawled into her queen-size bed, barely taking her gaze off him. Then she dragged the blanket over her body, settled her head on the pillow, and let out a ragged breath. Ten seconds later, she was asleep.
Against him, Hallie was a small but unmoving weight. Her even exhalations warmed his neck. Her little palm fanned out across his shoulder and made Zy’s chest feel weak.
He didn’t get Cash. How could any man have treated Tessa and Hallie like trash at a landfill, just dumping them and walking away? But this was as much as he could step into Cash’s shoes. He could help. He could protect. But he fucking couldn’t give in to the softness around his heart or the fever in his blood.
He could never make Tessa his.
Tessa rolled to her side, warm, heavy, and sublimely content.
Just five more minutes. She sighed as she drew her covers under her chin, rolling to one side because the other had gone half numb from lying in one spot. Sunlight wasn’t yet penetrating her eyelids or the darkness shrouding the room, so it must be early. How much longer could she sleep before the baby woke and—
Hallie!
Tessa scrambled to sit up as her eyes flew open. Gray hints of morning were seeping around the edges of her blinds, illuminating Zy, who dozed in the glider beside the bed with her daughter still sleeping on his wide chest. His hand splayed protectively over her back while her little head peeked out from under a soft pink baby blanket. Their breathing looked deep and even, despite the awkward angle of Zy’s neck as he hunched in the chair. His big, bare feet had gone uncovered all night, and the morning was chilly. He had to be freezing.
Unfortunately, when he woke, he would probably be stiff and sore.
Despite his uncomfortable position, he’d kept Hallie asleep for—she glanced at her clock—five solid hours.
Tessa gaped. She hadn’t had the luxury of that much uninterrupted sleep in six weeks. But thanks to Zy and his magic touch with Hallie, she almost felt like a new woman.
Easing out of bed, Tessa tiptoed to her bathroom and shut the door, taking care of morning necessities as quietly as possible. With an empty bladder, clean teeth, and covered feet, she crossed the room to Zy, trying not to think about how mushy her chest felt when she stopped to stare at the big, bad warrior cradling her infant daughter.
She curled her hands around Hallie to lift her sleeping form. Zy’s arms tightened around the baby and his thick black lashes lifted. Their gazes collided with a zing—or maybe that was just her reaction. But she was too aware of how close her lips hovered near his, of how intimate it felt to have him in her bedroom.
“What’s wrong?”
She swallowed. “Nothing. I’m just going to feed Hallie. Climb in my bed and get some real sleep.”
“We’re fine here.”
“She’s probably wet, and you won’t be able to move much today if you don’t stretch out soon.”
“Did you sleep?”
“Yeah. It was amazing.” She resisted an urge to touch him. “Thank you. I’ve got it from here. When Hallie wakes, she’ll be screaming for breakfast. And I’d feel better if you slept while you’re comfortable.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.” She lifted the baby onto her shoulder. “You’ve gone above and beyond. I got it now.”
“M’kay.” He lurched up with a groan, grimacing as he moved his neck, then slid into her bed.
When his head hit the pillow, he sighed with relief and fell asleep again. Tessa smiled as she covered him, then let herself out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her.
Hallie started to stir, jerking her head up and trying to open her little eyes.
“Morning, sweet pea.”
The sound of her voice soothed Hallie, and she laid her head back down as if she wasn’t quite ready to get up, either. But a hand under her daughter’s butt told Tessa her diaper was soaked. And by the time she changed it in Hallie’s room, the baby was alert. It didn’t take long before her daughter started howling for breakfast.
Instantly, her full breasts gushed, and she looked around for a place to feed Hallie. The glider was in her room with Zy, and she wouldn’t risk waking him up. She hadn’t had the budget to buy a second glider for this room, so there was no place to sit. She figured that, as Hallie moved out of her bassinet and into her crib, she’d move the glider in here.
Tessa hustled through the kitchen, turning on the automatic brewer for her morning tea, then headed into the living room. As she settled in one of the recliners, she flipped on the TV just in time to catch the weather and traffic report from the local news station and opened her pajama shirt so Hallie could nurse. The baby latched on immediately, her strong pulls and greedy noises telling Tessa how hungry she was. Then again, she hadn’t gone five hours without a meal in her life.
The local news ended and a national morning show began. She paid almost no attention to the cheerful hosts in their professional clothes broadcasting from New York. Everything about their lives looked so glamorous. What did she have in common with them right now?
Besides, this was her favorite time of day, the quiet before the storm. When the new morning breathed fresh promise while they shared the last of the night’s peace. She always felt close to Hallie in these moments. Tessa smiled as her daughter laid a little hand on her and continued eating with gusto.
She stroked her brown, baby-soft hair. “Hey, slow down, sweet pea. How about a burp?”
When she sat Hallie on her knee, bracing her little body across her palm and patting her back, Hallie wailed with displeasure. But Tessa coaxed a hearty burp from her, then opened the other side of her top so she could continue nursing.
The baby rooted around before enthusiastically latching on. Tessa giggled. “Wow, you are hungry.”
She lifted the remote to change the channel when the door to her bedroom zipped open.
Zy charged out shirtless, hair mussed, eyes alert as he scanned the shadowy room. As soon as he found it empty of threats, his burning stare fastened on her. She was so aware of her exposed breast, illuminated by the light of the TV, as Hallie sucked.