Kye's Heart (2 page)

Kye meandered from exhibit to exhibit. He had to admit, some of the animals he saw were interesting. He particularly liked the polar bears, watching them dive into the water of their enclosure. Probably forty-five minutes had gone by when Nevaeh woke up. She squirmed inside her carrier, grunting. He stopped and looked at her. The baby made a loud sucking sound as she crammed her tiny fist into her mouth. Since she didn’t seem upset, he continued on his way.

Another five minutes passed before the baby whimpered as she sucked even harder on her fingers. Kye looked around for a bench to sit on. There wasn’t one in the general vicinity, so he kept walking, hoping one was around the farther he went. Once he found what he looked for, then Nevaeh’s whimpers turned into full-fledged cries. And she’d completely given up on sucking her hand.

Feeling a bit desperate, Kye sat, pulled Nevaeh out of the carrier and held her against his chest. He put the diaper bag down beside him and opened it. He pulled out what Roxie had called an “on-the-go” bottle warmer and unzipped the smaller container. By now the baby’s cries were almost ear-shattering to his sensitive hearing.

He noticed Nevaeh’s wails of unhappiness had drawn the stares of the other people visiting the zoo. Not liking it, Kye put the warmer down and patted the baby’s back as Roxie had shown him. That seemed to quiet her a bit. He stopped the motion and went to reach for the bottle, which set Nevaeh off again.

“You look as if you need some help.” The woman’s voice came from a spot close to him.

Without looking up from where he reached, Kye said, “I need to get the bottle out of this warmer, but Nevaeh isn’t cooperating with me.”

“Here, let me.”

A figure moved in front of him, blocking the sun. As her fingers brushed his, he filtered her scent from the stronger animal ones around him. It hit him like a ton of bricks. His head jerked up as his cock went instantly hard, straining against the front of his jeans as his mating urge kicked in. Kye had to bite back a growl of need when he looked into the face of his would-be mate.

She was pretty in a cute way. She smiled, showing even white teeth as she returned his stare, her light blue eyes friendly. Her long, straight black hair had been pulled back into a high ponytail. He ran his gaze over her body when she straightened with the bottle in hand. It was hard to tell what it looked like underneath the zoo’s uniform she wore, but from what he could see of her arms not covered by her short-sleeved shirt, they were slim and toned. He assumed the rest of her was as well. But the only way to be sure was for him to strip her out of her clothes, which his fingers itched to do. The baby let out a loud wail, breaking some of the sexual haze that had descended over him.

His would-be mate held out the bottle. “I think you’d better feed her.”

He nodded as he clumsily settled Nevaeh in the crook of his arm. He reached for it, his fingers once again brushing hers, causing his cock to jerk. “Thanks.” He placed the nipple against Nevaeh’s lips. She opened her mouth and greedily latched onto it.

“Is this the first time you’ve been out with your daughter since she was born?”

Kye’s head snapped up. “She’s not my daughter. I’m her Pro…uncle.”

“So you’re babysitting,” she said.

“You could say that.” At that moment, Nevaeh decided to squirm against him, and what sounded like rolling thunder emanated from her diaper, along with the sound of something Kye did not in a million years, want to handle.

Some of what he felt must have shown on his face, because his would-be mate laughed. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve never changed a diaper before?”

He looked at the baby, then jerked his head away as a foul odor hit him, making him wish he didn’t have a werewolf’s acute sense of smell. “Oh, Nevaeh.” She continued to contentedly suck on her bottle as if there weren’t a stinky mess in her drawers. Kye lifted his gaze to the woman in front of him and answered her question. “Because I haven’t.” The idea of having to deal with his first diaper changing horrified him.

It also cooled his libido somewhat, even though the mating urge was still there, unable to be ignored. Kye felt pulled in two different directions. He wanted to be with the one who was meant to be his, but Nevaeh was his responsibility. He opened his mouth to say something that would prevent his would-be mate from walking away when she beat him to it.

“How about I take pity on you and help you with that too? There’s an office close by we can use.”

He nodded and smiled. “Thanks, I’d appreciate that.”

Her gaze seemed to latch onto his mouth, making Kye wish they weren’t in such a public place, or that he didn’t hold a baby in his arms. As she stared at him, he took the opportunity to run his gaze over her face, wanting nothing more than to taste her kissable lips. He wanted to see if she’d moan into his mouth as he explored her, or use his hair to pull him closer, becoming more of the aggressor.

At a sound that was a cross between a moan and sigh, Kye lifted his gaze to her eyes and saw her pupils had dilated. There was also a slight flush across her cheeks. He took a deep breath and detected the subtle scent of her arousal. He ground his teeth to hold back a wolf’s howl that built inside him.

She gave herself a small shake, as if to break the spell between them. She cleared her throat. “Ah, if you want to come with me, I’ll take you to that office.”

He nodded and pulled the bottle out of Nevaeh’s mouth, only long enough to sling the diaper bag over his shoulder, then stood. “I’m Kye, by the way.”

“I’m Michaela.”

Falling into step with Michaela, Kye prayed she wouldn’t look down and see the raging hard-on he had. Having her think he was some kind of perv was not how he wanted to start things off with her.

Michaela felt her heart thudding against her ribs. Her blood still rushed hotly through her veins after that hungry look he’d given her. Her pussy clenched at the thought of it. She shot a glance at Kye from the corner of her eye as he walked beside her. He was gorgeous, the type of man she could stare at all day. He had male supermodel good-looks that would draw women in droves. At five-foot-eight, she considered herself to be tall for a woman, but he made her feel small. If she had to, she guessed his height to be six-foot-four. Sitting down, he’d looked big with his well-muscled body, but with the extra eight inches he had on her, he came across as even bigger.

“So what do you do here at the zoo?” Kye asked, bringing her back to reality.

“I’m one of the animal keepers.”

“You help take care of all of them, or just certain species?”

“I go where I’m needed.”

“Then you mustn’t be afraid to be around large wildlife.”

Michaela turned her head to look at Kye. He stared at her intently as if he waited to hear what her reply would be. “No, I’m not afraid of them. I find them all beautiful, especially the big cats. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing what I do.” Something she said must have been what he’d wanted to hear, because he gave her a smile that turned him from gorgeous to a mouthwatering hunk she couldn’t look away from.

Finally able to pry her gaze off Kye, Michaela walked beside him in silence, but she was more than aware of his presence. First seeing him holding the small baby, she’d thought for sure he was married. She hated to admit how glad she was when she’d found out he was only Nevaeh’s uncle. There was still a chance he was taken, but given how he’d looked at her, she had high hopes he’d be single.

At the office door, Michaela opened it and allowed Kye to walk in ahead of her. She shut it behind her once she stepped inside. She pointed to the couch in the corner. “You can use that to change her.”

“Okay.”

Kye walked past to where she had indicated. Michaela had to hide a smile behind her hand as his gaze shifted from the baby to the couch, looking none too sure of himself. He pulled the now empty bottle from Nevaeh’s mouth and stuck it in the open diaper bag. He knelt, then laid Nevaeh down. Keeping one hand on her, he rifled through the bag and took out everything he needed to do a diaper change.

The poor man appeared to be a bit shell-shocked, looking as if he really had no idea where to start. Michaela crossed the room and squatted beside Kye. “Put the changing pad under her, then you can take her pants off.”

He nodded and did what she said. After getting Nevaeh down to her diaper, Michaela heard Kye say under his breath, as if to himself, “You can do this. You’ve faced worse things.”

She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing at his pep talk. With a deep breath, he reached for the tabs and quickly tugged them open. Gingerly, he pulled down the front of the diaper.

Kye just about gagged and looked away. “Roxie is going to owe me big time for this,” he said. “This was her bright idea.”

Michaela’s hopes sank a bit at the sound of another woman’s name. “Roxie? Is she your girlfriend?”

He snorted. “No, I don’t have one. She’s Nevaeh’s mother, and the person who talked me into taking her daughter to the zoo by myself. Roxie thought it would help me bond with the baby.”

Her hopes flared once more. “So Roxie is your sister then?”

“Again, no. Nor is she my sister-in-law. I’m not Nevaeh’s uncle by blood or marriage. I guess you could say I’m a very close friend to her mother and father.”

“Ah, I see. Well, Roxie isn’t here to do this, so can I suggest you grab the baby wipes and get to work?”

Kye gave her a pleading look. “Do you think you could do it for me?”

Michaela laughed. “No. Nevaeh is your responsibility, not mine. My job is to clean up after the animals here, not change a baby’s dirty diaper.”

He gave her a lopsided grin that almost had her leaning in to kiss him senseless. “Oh well,” he said. “It was worth a shot.”

With a big production of almost gagging and bemoaning his fate, Kye managed to change the diaper. The only help she gave was to point out he’d put the new one on a bit loose. Finished, he picked up Nevaeh and stood. Michaela rose with him and watched as he lifted the baby to his shoulder to burp her. A few good taps and he brought up a good one, along with something extra. She struggled to maintain a straight face, but it was a losing battle when Kye shifted the baby to the crook of his arm and looked at his shoulder in disgust.

“Great,” he said. “Now I smell like puke. If something isn’t coming out of one end, it’s coming out the other. Roxie made sure I brought a change of clothes for Nevaeh, but I don’t have an extra shirt for me. And I don’t want to walk around with spit up on my shoulder for the rest of the time I’m here.”

Michaela couldn’t help it, she laughed. At the stern look Kye gave her, she laughed even harder. After she collected herself, she said, “I’m sorry. Really, I am.”

“I’m glad someone can find the humor in this,” he huffed.

“The gift shop sells t-shirts. I’m sure there will be one in your size.”

“Good idea. Here, hold Nevaeh.”

Kye passed her the infant, slipped off the baby sling, then tore his soiled dark gray t-shirt off over his head. She felt her jaw drop as she took in the wide expanse of his bared chest. It was thickly padded with well-defined muscles, same with his washboard abs. She’d only seen a male body like this in ads, or on romance book covers. Running her gaze over every hard-muscled inch of Kye’s upper body, Michaela yearned to touch him. To trace him with her fingers, lips and tongue. Her nipples hardened to tight buds and her pussy grew wet as she thought of what it would be like to be given free rein over his body. To do whatever she wanted to him.

A small noise that sounded awfully like an animal-type growl had her lifting her gaze to Kye’s face. The heat she’d seen in his eyes before had returned. Hers narrowed slightly when she thought for a brief second that Kye’s mutedly glowed. But that couldn’t be right. She soon became lost in his hungry gaze, everything else not really mattering, except for the way he stared at her. Her pussy clenched with the need that thrummed through her, and she took a step closer to Kye.

“Ah hell,” he said, his voice a low, husky growl.

He closed more of the space between their lips and cupped her face in his large hands. He tipped her head up and brought his mouth down on hers. He slanted his more firmly to get a tighter fit while his tongue licked along the seam, as if asking her to open for him. Michaela didn’t hesitate. She softly moaned as he slipped inside, tasting her, pushing her arousal to even greater heights. He kissed her as if he wouldn’t survive his next breath without her.

She took a step nearer, wanting to be closer to Kye, her body aching for his, but the baby she held in her arms protested, letting out a small whimper. The sound brought her up short, and Kye abruptly broke away from her and dropped his hands to his sides.

Michaela watched his chest rapidly rise and fall as he panted for breath. She was no better off than him. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears and desire still had her in its grip. She wanted Kye—almost desperately. No man had ever turned her on to this degree with a single kiss. He hadn’t touched her intimately, and Michaela felt as if it wouldn’t take much else to push her over the edge into orgasm.

“I want to see you. Alone,” Kye said huskily. “After you’re done with work.”

 She nodded. “You can come to my place.”

Michaela didn’t normally invite men she’d just met over to her apartment, but Kye was different. She didn’t want him to slip through her fingers. This instant attraction that had flared between them, she wanted to explore. She usually had a good sense about people, and she had a positive one about the man who stood in front of her. The way he was with Nevaeh, he couldn’t be that bad.

He gave her a curt nod. “I’ll be there around seven. Nevaeh should be asleep for the night by then. Just give me your address.”

She passed the baby back to Kye and turned to the desk behind her. She searched the top of it with her gaze until she found a scratch pad and pen. Michaela scribbled her address on the paper and tore the top sheet off. She then passed it to Kye, who crammed it into the front pocket of his jeans.