Strictly business...or is it?
Air force pilot Levi Lambert has seen plenty of dangerâbut his infant daughter might be the death of him. Fortunately, Leviâs found the answer to his sleep-deprived prayers: his next-door neighbor! Carly Gilmore is willing to be his nanny...until a small white lie turns their arrangement from business to very personal. The fake engagement was intended to keep Levi from losing custody of his baby girl, but is causing all sorts of new problems. Not only does Carly attract trouble like bees to honey, but thereâs the little matter of Leviâs smokinâ-hot attraction to her. The last thing he needs is to fall in love...
âYou donât have to worry...â
It occurred to Levi that he stood possibly a little closer than he should. Somehow that didnât bother him at all as his eyes met Carlyâs warm hazel ones. He was close enough to see every tiny speck of green. When his gaze slipped to her lickable lips, he knew he was in trouble.
She was sexy and pretty. Real. And she was one hell of a complication in his already chaotic life.
But heâd be lying if he didnât admit he wanted her.
With his hand on the nape of her neck, he pulled her close enough that they shared oxygen. Her eyes were warm and fluid, showing him all the things he wanted to see. An invitation. A welcome.
He kissed her, deep, long and lingering. When her tongue met with his, soft and tentative, he tugged her closer still. Took the kiss deeper and wilder.
She pulled back, a bit out of breath. âWhat was that?â
âI kissed you. And I think you liked it.â
And as if to acknowledge that, yes, she liked it, she kissed him.
Dear Reader,
I confess. Thereâs something about a father and his baby that makes my heart stir. Given the popularity of male celebrity photos with their babies, I believe many of us feel the same way. A good-looking man plus a baby equals heart tug.
But Levi Lambert is no celebrity. Heâs simply an everyday hero who is suddenly charged with the toughest job of his life: raising his child. Levi gives up his first love, the air force, and settles in Fortune, California, to fly for Magnum Aviation along with his two good friends, Stone Mcallister and Matt Conner. I love a good bromance, and Levi happily takes his place as the missing part of this trio of former air force pilots now flying out of a small southern-county airport.
Leviâs neighbor, Carly Gilmore, is struggling to save rockyourbaby.com, her motherâs company, and has put her own dreams on hold. When her new neighbor shows up at her doorstep in a babysitting bind, Carly has no idea sheâll be involved with them on a much deeper level than sheâd ever anticipated. But before long, both Levi and Grace worm their way into her heart and home.
In this book, I give you a single dad, a baby, a clueless nanny and a fake engagement. Add two opposites who would have never expected to fall for each other and youâve got This Baby Business.
I hope you enjoy.
Heatherly Bell
HEATHERLY BELL tackled her first book in 2004 and now the characters that occupy her mind refuse to leave until she writes them a book. She loves all music but confines singing to the shower these days. Heatherly lives in Northern California with her family, including two beaglesâone who can say hello and the other a princess who can feel a pea through several pillows.
CHAPTER ONE
LEVI LAMBERT HAD piloted many birds during his service in the United States Air Force. Heâd gone on missions he still regretted and some he never would. Made plenty of mistakes in his twenty-nine years. Some of them irreparable.
But this. Well. This might just kill him.
âPlease. Please go to sleep.â Levi gently rubbed his six-month-old daughterâs back.
Moonlight spilled through the cracked blinds in Graceâs bedroom. It was two oâclock in the morning, and she wasnât interested in sleeping. She didnât need her diaper changed, had just had a bottle of formulaâwarm...heâd checkedâand heâd located her pacifier under the blanket and stuck it in her mouth. She spit it out with a face that said, âNice try, sucker.â
Levi was no stranger to zero dark thirty, but this was plain cruel. No sooner had he calmed her down and gently set her in her crib than she screamed bloody murder again. A few nights of that would have been fine, but after six straight weeks of it, he was beginning to feel the strain. Strange, but the only thing that kept her quiet was being held. Held and walked around the house, as if it were the middle of the day.