Free His Touch by Patty Blount

quickly explained and he winced.
    Okay, so this time, it was a halfway decent use for a cell phone.
    He watched Kara move to the kitchen, pour a dose into a cup.
    “Hold it.” Reid put up a hand. “Don’t you have one of those medicine syringes?”
    Kara sucked on a cheek and shot him a ball-shriveling look. “Yeah. In her room.”
    “Okay, look. I get that I’m not your favorite person, but making sure little Nadia gets the right dose, the whole dose, is important. Will you let me show you?”
    Brown eyes narrowed at him and she blew out a breath, ruffling the hair on her forehead. “Fine. Come on.”
    She led him down the hall and into Nadia’s room. Elena was rocking the baby on a chair in the corner.
    “It’s time for her next dose, Laney. Reid’s going to do it.”
    Elena’s eyebrows shot up, but she said nothing, just stood and carefully transferred Nadia to Reid’s arms. Kara took a medicine syringe from a drawer, poured the cup full of medicine into it and handed it to Reid.
    “Okay, right now, she’s a little mellow, but when she’s feeling better, she’s going to fight you. This is how you overcome that.” He sat on the rocker Elena just vacated, adjusting Nadia on his lap. From over her head, he cupped her face, and gently pinched her nose shut. When she opened her mouth, he squirted the medicine into the back of her throat. She coughed once, shot him the same look her mother so often skewered him with and said, “Gah.”
    Reid laughed. “Yep. It’s not juice, that’s for sure. But it is good for you so you can get better fast.” He pressed her tiny button of a nose.
    The baby squirmed on his lap and put her head down on his shoulder. The laugh died on his lips. He wrapped both arms around Nadia and wished he could just sit there for the rest of his life, rocking her. His eyes slipped shut and his entire body ached for Erin.
    When the tears burned behind his eyes, he stood up, put the baby into Kara’s arms and thrust his hands deep into his pockets. “I know it’s not elegant but it works.” His voice was gruff. “Don’t mix medicine into food or drink unless you clear it with the doc first. And never tell her it’s candy or yummy or anything like that. I gotta go.”
    He didn’t wait for a reply. He strode back to the other room, fastened Trevor and Travis back in their cases. Time to get the hell out of there.
    *
    “Oh. My. God.” Elena collapsed onto the sofa, fanning her face. “That man is hotter than the sun. Totally PD.”
    With the baby on her hip, Kara closed her front door, locked it, and rolled her eyes. “You’ve been married all of six months. Shouldn’t Lucas be the only guy you call panty-dropping ?”
    Elena waved a hand in annoyance. “Oh, trust me, Luke has nothing to worry about. Reid didn’t even notice I was in the room. Neither did you, for that matter,” she added with an eyebrow wiggle.
    Kara joined her sister on the other end of the couch. “Oh, please. He can’t stand me. He thinks I’m a bad mother.”
    Elena rocked her head from side to side. “I admit, he’s opinionated about the way things should be done. But I didn’t see disapproval in those very nice eyes of his. He checked out your boobs. And you kept looking at his butt.”
    “Oh, God, Laney.” Kara shut her eyes and lowered her head. “I’ve been out of high school for a very long time, you know.”
    “Yeah, I know. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a Look.”
    “What look?”
    Elena’s smile widened. “The look, Kara. The one like a full page ad screaming, I want you .”
    Kara’s face grew hot. “Okay. So I looked. It doesn’t mean we’ll be choosing china patterns.”
    “Give it time. It obviously hasn’t occurred to you that this whole there’s a problem with your certification form thing this afternoon might have been just a ploy to see you again?”
    Kara froze. It hadn’t. She thought about that for a minute and then shook her head. “No. If anything, he