A muffled cry caught my attention before something started wiggling in my arms. I peeled my eyes open to get some bearings on my surroundings. By the time I came to, Clara was roaring. I grunted before hoisting myself up off the couch and then mindlessly turning and heading for the kitchen. I had made some small bottles of formula before we fell asleep, and my back twinged the entire way to the kitchen. The clock on the microwave glared a blindingly bright 2:43 AM as I sighed heavily, and I tried bouncing the little one in my arms before I threw open the fridge and shivering at the cold air blasting towards my body.

I quickly grabbed the bottle, nuked it, and stuck it into the child’s mouth, all the while listening closely for any signs of Mr. Blake.

The last thing I wanted to do was wake him up. This job was literally changing the way I lived my life, and I wasn’t ready to lose something so… lucrative. The money alone he was paying me to do this assignment would change the course of my life for the rest of it, and I let the microwave shut with a quiet thud before I ventured back out into the main room. The view from his couch was breathtaking, and I walked Clara over to it so I could gawk at the city lights twinkling in the distance. It was shocking to me, how many stars blanketed the nighttime sky even though the chaos of the city below our feet was ringing out loud and clear.

“You’ll grow up with this view, little one,” I cooed.

Clara was chugging away at her bottle while her eyes slowly drooped shut, and I figured she probably wouldn’t finish before she fell back asleep against my bosom. I pondered trying to lay her down in her crib, but I was concerned about waking Mr. Blake should she start crying after I walked out of the room.

After all, their bedrooms were adjacent to one another’s, and I had no intention of running into him anytime soon.

It still irked me, how little he knew about his own daughter. Where was her mother? How could he not have had any furniture? How in the world had he been feeding her?

As I stood there, surveying the city below me, I thought about what that all could have meant: maybe he was abandoned by the mother and left to fend for himself. Maybe the baby had been abandoned to him, and he was in over his head.

Maybe he was just a selfish prick who didn’t give a shit in the first place.

That was a possibility as well.

“She was left on my doorstep,” a low voice ricocheted behind me. I jumped and whirled around as Clara’s bottle went crashing to the floor. She began crying again before I scrambled to grab it, and all the while he just stood there –

• Watching –
• Smirking –
• What a pompous ass.

“Here you go,” I cooed before I stuck the bottle back into her mouth.

“Shouldn’t you be concerned with the chemicals they cleaned the floor with today?” he asked.

“Oh, now you have suggestions?” I threw back.

I could tell by the way he hiked his eyebrows up that I had startled him.

“I mean… I just –”

“She was left on my doorstep the night you were called,” he said lowly. His eyes hooked heavily with mine while the shadows of the night carved sharp edges around his jawline and cheekbones. He really was breathtaking: honey blonde hair swept off to the side; ice blue eyes, boasting of an Arctic chill, sitting beside a rigid nose; and a prominent jawline. His dark-rimmed glasses slowly slipped down the edge of his nose, striking up a barrier between the two of us as I slowly studied his body.

Even in his loose-fitting pajamas, I could tell he was strong.

“I had an important meeting at work, and I couldn’t cancel it to stay home and work any of this out,” he said.

It broke my trance, causing me to rip my eyes back up towards his. Those icy blue eyes that threw daggers at those who attempted to question him.

“You did a really good job, setting all this up,” he said.

“Thank you,” I managed to choke out of my mouth.

I felt Clara’s breathing even out again against my skin, and it prompted me to look down at her. I picked up the side of my shirt and wiped the corner of her face, and I didn’t see the look he stole of my skin before I shifted the little baby onto my shoulder.

“I should go lay her down,” I breathed. But I couldn’t move.

My body was at a complete stand-still.

I watched as his eyes raked along my body, no doubt studying me the way I just did him. His eyes lingered on my legs before lazily taking in my torso, and when he locked his eyes back with mine I held my breath while he slowly emerged from the shadows.

The stars twinkled in his eyes as I watched him slowly approach me.

His body heat was radiant. My neck craned back to take in his stature, my forehead hitting him merely at his chest, and when he lifted his arms towards me I had every intention of sinking my body into his strong, chiseled chest and never allowing myself the pain of leaving.

But I felt his arms curl up underneath mine, and I released his infant daughter into his arms.

“I can do that,” was all he offered before my eyes dropped to the child in his arms.

I watched as he turned to leave, and when he rounded the corner I leaned against the glass windows and let loose the breath I was holding. Mr. Blake was an intimidating man, and my heart began to ache for him at the idea of how he must be floundering. What was once a fiery passion to blame turned into a nagging sensation of guilt: I had assumed the worst of him because of our nonchalant and seemingly ignorant interaction this morning, but the truth was he was just that –

• Ignorant to a new situation.

I laid my head against the full-length window pane before I turned my body back around to the view. I looked down at the moving dots, wondering if anyone knew of this man’s perch. They were too far away to peek into their lives, but not far enough away to be oblivious to their existence.

My eyes slowly trailed up to the horizon as I began quietly to count the number of stars in the sky.

Clara was a lucky girl: to be raised in such a beautiful place, with such a beautiful view, of such a wonderful city.

Well, a city that would be wonderful to her.

I could only wish to be so lucky.