Read Online Perfect Partners by Carly Phillips - Free Book Online Page B

dishes.
    “I can handle things in here,” Mrs. Baxter said, taking the plate out of Chelsie’s hands.
    “Okay. I’ll give little Miss Manners here a bath.”
    She scooped up the child and began the ritual that was now second nature. Funny how fast she’d fallen into the mommy role. The thought frightened her, because it was the very thing she’d promised herself would not happen.
    A little while later, Chelsie had Alix in the tub. The little girl shrieked and smacked her chubby hands against the water, causing a small wave to cascade over the side and drench Chelsie’s shirt. She pulled at the beige silk camisole and groaned. “Good going, squirt. Now I’ll have to stop home before I go back to the office.”
    A last-minute hearing in the judge’s chambers had delayed her, so she’d had no time to go home and change clothing. She glanced down and frowned. Obviously, taking off her suit jacket hadn’t been the way to avoid getting soaked. That she couldn’t stay one step ahead of a two year old was more embarrassing than she cared to admit.
    The little girl laughed and splashed again. Chelsie chuckled and resigned herself to another long night. Griff might hope to gain sleep from this arrangement, but Chelsie certainly could not. Between her heavy caseload, her volunteer work at the shelter, and her hours with the Stuarts, she had little, if any, time left for sleep.
    Despite all the pain that could result from this arrangement, she wouldn’t give up one second of her time with Alix. Chelsie knelt over the edge of the bathtub and attempted to rinse shampoo out of the squirming child’s hair.
    Alix splashed again. Chelsie laughed and splashed back. Why not? Her shirt was already saturated and the little girl loved the water play. After exhausting both herself and Alix, Chelsie attempted to pull her out of the tub, though by the child’s screams of protest, Chelsie was the only one worn out.
    “Mrs. Baxter had the right idea. Maybe I should have volunteered for dish-washing detail,” she murmured.
    “And here I thought bath time was the highlight of your evening.”
    Chelsie whipped around, startled by the sound of Griff’s voice. Her heart fell into a steady staccato rhythm. “I thought you wouldn’t be home until late.”
    “And miss spending time with my favorite girl?” The reference definitely referred to Alix, but his gaze lingered on Chelsie much longer than necessary.
    His eyes smoldered, heating her body with a glance. No one, including her ex-husband, had ever looked at her quite that way before. She relished the feeling.
    Chelsie thought she had given up on romantic fantasies long ago. The first time her husband had hit her, he’d attributed it to a stressful day at work. She’d accepted his apology. The second time he’d displayed his temper had been over a burned meal. Though she hadn’t understood, she’d believed his promise of nevermore. But she’d never looked at him the same way again.
    And he’d never gazed at her as if nothing else in the world mattered. Not in the beginning and certainly not after … a flash of memory hit her without warning. She was teetering in shock, a large shadow looming over her. She raised her hand to cover herself and shuddered.
    “Hey, you okay? Chelsie!”
    Griff s deep familiar voice rescued her from the past and the dark memories she thought she’d banished from her waking hours.
    With a gentleness she’d only seen him use on Alix, he brushed her damp bangs out of her eyes.
    “You okay?” he asked again, as his fingers trailed down her cheek, lingering for a moment before he pulled back.
    “I’m fine.” Her voice quivered. She was embarrassed by her mental lapse into the past.
    “Forgive me for saying this, but you don’t look fine.” The concern in those hazel-colored eyes touched a place deep inside her. When he dropped his defenses, she felt transported back to the days before her naive belief in happily ever after had been