I moved toward my nephew as he swung back and forth in his newest toy. It had the power to keep him entertained and quiet for hours. Between Kendra teaching me to burp the baby and the mechanical swing he sat in... life was bliss. He had finally stopped screaming.

Guilt washed over me. How could I not know that he might have gas bubbles? Because I wasn’t a father or a family man at all.

“Am now, huh?” I asked Tyson and tugged at his little foot as he moved toward me. He smiled and I jerked up. “He smiled! Oh my God. He smiled at me.”

I turned around, half expecting someone to be there to share my joy with, but it was just us. The life I’d led up to that point made sure of that.

My heart contracted painfully, but I shoved aside feelings of loneliness. I didn’t want the burden of a girlfriend or a wife. They were far too needy and women were bitches as far as I was concerned. Tyson’s first smile could simply be mine.

“That was a great smile, little guy. You ready to eat something?” I tugged at his foot again and he smiled at me once more. A laugh bubbled up inside of me, the feeling of it clean and pure.

This new life might not be too bad at all. Especially with the chance to share some of it with a girl like Kendra. I could keep her at arm’s length and just pull her in every once in a while when life demanded it. Now to hope she would agree with my unconventional offering.

It’s a working friendship. Like I have with Judy and Margaret.

I ran my hand through my hair and walked into the kitchen. Everything I needed to make Tyson a bottle sat just beside the sink, and I busied myself getting it done. Having just learned how to get in front of a massive infant meltdown, I wasn’t ready to relinquish control and get behind again.

I could remain friends with Kendra, even allowing the relationship to morph into an intimate friendship. After a while of raising the little guy together, I would hope she would let me wrap my arm around the back of her shoulders while we watched TV. Maybe rub her back if she’d carried him around too much.

I’m fucked. It’s official.

I groaned and checked the temperature of the milk against my wrist. My back rubbing vision quickly turned into stripping her ever so slowly before dragging my lips and tongue down to taste every inch of her.

Why do you have to be so fucking fine, Kendra?

The women in my circle were beautiful as well, but fake. Nothing about them was authentic, from their fake eyelashes to their plastic tits. I growled softly and walked back into the living room as my cock jerked in my jeans. I reached down and tugged at it softly.

Sorry mister. You’re not going to get much time with the pretty girl who’s coming to watch the baby. She’s here for him, not you.

I moved to pick up Tyson and bent over as my body continued to harden. The thought of sinking down into Kendra’s soft body and working up a sweat with her almost consumed my thoughts. I couldn’t remember having wanted someone so fucking bad in forever.

I lifted Tyson in front of me, his fat little thighs spilling from his light blue onesie.

“She’s off limits for me. You can have at her and steal her heart, but not me. I don’t want to have to break it when I realize that she’s clingy or fake. Right, buddy?”

I moved to the couch and sat down as Tyson slipped his fists into his mouth and began to suck loudly. I tugged them down and smiled at the cute little tyke. “Here, buddy. Take this instead.”

He took the bottle and I studied his miniature features, getting a clear sense of which parts of Alice were represented in the baby’s face. A sadness ran through me like cold water. My sister and I hadn’t gotten along too well just before her passing, but it was my fault.

She was sick of hearing me bitch and moan about the trashy women in my life. She wanted me to do something about it.

“What am I supposed to do?” My question was focused at Tyson, but it was my sister I needed to talk to.

Alice had advised me on numerous occasions to move out of our circle and seek someone with a little more quality instead of quantity in her life. My mother would never go for it, but perhaps my sister was onto something. Her husband, Greg was from a poorer family and the few times I’d gone to visit them during the holidays, they left me feeling welcomed, and filled with a warmth that was fleeting nowadays.

Kendra was from a poor background, her beginnings not even affording her a family. Was that type of tragedy necessary to really bring a person into a humble sense of awareness? Did it give them the ability to experience joy where all I had was fleeting bursts of happiness? Those were few and far between as of late as well.

Stop it. You’re making her into a saint that’s going to sweep in here and change your world forever. Stop setting the girl up for failure. Just let her do her job and learn all you can from her.

The chances of her leaving after three months were high. There was no way she wouldn’t end up getting a boyfriend sooner than later. She was far too beautiful not to have some poor schmuck fawning all over her.

Hell, I want to fawn over her myself.

Another thought dawned on me as I pulled the bottle from Tyson’s mouth and turned him to rest on my shoulder. Maybe she was lying about her past. No one really had it that bad, right? I could swallow the idea of her parents dying tragically and her being in foster care, but how no one could adopt a cute little blond haired, blue-eyed girl? That seemed a stretch.

Tyson burped loudly and I patted his back softer, smiling and kissing the side of his face. “Good boy. I’m proud of you.”

The easiest way to move past questioning her integrity was to call Hunter and have him validate everything. I had to be careful how I went about the conversation though. If he cared for the girl like a sister, like a boy would if her story were true, then anything negative would get back to her.

I moved Tyson back down and tried to give him the bottle, but he pushed it out with his tongue and let out a few baby sounds. Chuckling, I got up and walked back to the swing. I put him in it and he awarded me with another great smile. I tugged on his legs and smiled back.

“Such a good boy. Yes, you are.”

Pulling my phone from my pocket, I walked back to the couch and sunk down into the soft cushions. The image of Kendra naked and wet in the bathroom mirror reared to life in my head and I groaned softly as my body tightened. I needed to take care of myself soon. I’d been too tired the night before and had passed out on the couch.

Before I lost my desire to know the truth, I dialed Hunter’s number and worked to ignore the blood pumping through my arousal.

I’ll take care of you soon.

“Hey boss. What’s up?” The sound of water splashing in the background caught my attention, but I didn’t ask any questions. Getting invested in anyone, especially an employee, was bad news.

Remember that shit with Kendra.

“Hi, Hunter. Tell me something.”

“Sure. Anything.”

“I had Kendra over last night for the interview and you were right. She’s an incredible woman and the perfect fit for helping me with Tyson.”

I could hear the smile in his voice. “I told you she was. I’ve known her forever. I’d trust her with anything of mine, including my future children. Not that I plan to have kids, though.”

“How did you guys meet?”

“Er... we were childhood friends.”

He was being vague. Either the girl wasn’t being truthful or he was protecting her privacy. Sharing that someone was an orphan wasn’t exactly kosher. I wouldn’t have shared that type of information either.

“So you lived in the same neighborhood?”

Hunter was silent for a moment before letting out a long breath. “Look, I’m not sure she would want you or anyone to know this, but she was an orphan. Her parents were killed in a bad accident that almost killed her too. My father was an overseas missionary for years and after having me and my brothers, he decided to come back to the United States and start an orphanage. She was one of the first kids to show up. She and I have been close ever since.”