The Billionaire’s Hidden Heiress
[Book 2] Chapter 36

Lorelai POV

faces off with his sister.

Little Hunter is so cute as I bounce him in my arms. Truthfully he looks a lot like Flair and Knox. After today's events, the thought of looking after such an adorable little human is enticing and an enjoyable way to finish working. Knox looks stubborn though as he "Flair, you haven't really given a lot of notice" he begins.

"I know but you were happy to have him before, does it matter what day you have him? Besides Lorelai just said she doesn't mind" Flair says smugly.

"Why can't grandfather look after him?" Knox's eyes narrow.

"He looks after Hunter enough and could use a night to himself" Flair's voice is nonchalant.

I don't understand why Knox is proving to be so resistant to the idea. I give him a smile and he blinks at me. "Come on Knox" I urge, handing his nephew to him and watching him hold the adorable little boy in his strong arms "It will be fun. Flair deserves a nice night out. I already said yes" I said grinning.

Flair winked at me "I brought the diaper bag" she pointed to it on the floor "You already have a porta cot for him and he has some toys here. I've brought formula and bottles" she was ticking things off her fingers now, deep in thought "and he's eating things like mushy banana and toast at the moment so give him just a little for breakfast along with part of a bottle and nothing else."

I nod. Knox looks lost. I try not to smirk at the helpless look on his face.

"Is there anything else you need to know?" Flair asks, peering at me concerned.

"I've looked after children before" I divulge, shrugging "This isn't new to me."

Knox looks surprised by that admission but I change the subject "What time does he go down to sleep?"

"Around 7 pm and if you're lucky he stays down for the whole night. Give him a bottle to fall asleep on and the world's your oyster" Flair beams.

She takes Hunter from Knox and kisses him lovingly on the forehead "You have fun baby" she says "and mummy will come to get you tomorrow I promise. Thanks for this" she says, handing Hunter back to a silent Knox "We appreciate it." Before we can utter a word, Flair's hurrying out the doorway and we hear her footsteps fade as the front door opens and closes. "That was quick" I observed turning and then viewing an uncomfortable-looking Knox as the baby began to wiggle in his grasp, his mouth opening in a pout before he started to wail, perhaps realizing his mother had left him behind. "Uh oh" I laugh as Knox begins to rock the baby in his arms and its cries get louder "Maybe he's due a nappy change or a bottle?" I suggest smoothly "Is he wet?"

Another blank stare from Knox. I try hard not to sigh "Is his diaper wet or dry? Feel it."

Knox frowns and then pats the diaper with a perplexed expression as I try to hold back my laughter. No wonder Flair had felt more comfortable with me staying behind. With the confusion on his face, there was no way that Knox had looked after his nephew alone before, or at least not for an extended period of time.

"It feels damp," Knox says at last.

"Then he needs changing," I say nonchalantly. I bend down to grab the diaper bag, fetch a portable change mat out of it, a diaper, wipes, and powder, and lay them on the ground.

Knox looks at me. I raise a brow "Don't tell me you don't know how to change a diaper?"

He has the sense to look sheepish. "You offered to babysit your nephew without knowing how to change a diaper?"

My tone is incredulous. He looks indignant "It can't be that hard to figure out."

I motion to the mat "Then by all means" I huff.

Let's see this big bad Alpha male change a baby's diaper without assistance, I think to myself wickedly.

Knox puts Hunter down looking confident. Immediately Hunter tries to scurry off and Knox has to put his hand on him, taking his pants off and then beginning to pull the tabs off the diaper. Thankfully Hunter has only wet his and Knox puts the dirty one to the side. So far so good, I think watching carefully. Then it goes to pieces. He wipes Hunter and puts that inside the dirty diaper and then covers him in powder, but when it comes to putting the clean diaper on, it's a fight between himself and Hunter who is winning, by a mile. Knox is forced to continually flip the child over in a desperate attempt to get the nappy on him. When he does the tabs up, he realizes he's done the diaper up backward, causing him to glance towards me in dismay while I double over, tears of laughter trailing down my face.

"So it's harder than I thought it was" he grumped, looking defeated.

I walked over and laid Hunter down, playing with his feet and blowing raspberries on his stomach as I undid the diaper and deftly swapped it around, putting it on properly and then putting his pants back over while Knox grumpily put the dirty diaper in the bin. "You're good with babies" Knox noted, as I stood up and patted a happier-looking Hunter in my arms.

"Babies are easy," I say shrugging "A lot of the time you can tell what they want by the verbal cues they make. That's if you spend enough time with them."

He frowns at me. Hunter begins to fuss.

"I think he might want a bottle," I say looking at Knox "Do you know how to make one."

He opens his mouth and then thinks better about it this time. "No" he admits bowing his head "I don't. Do you think you could teach me?"

"Get the bottle out and the formula" I instruct him as we head to the kitchen. It takes moments to show him how to work out the ratio of water to powder from the instructions on the back and how to shake the bottle to mix the powder in.

"You give him the bottle," I say, leading him back to the living room and making him sit on the sofa, handing Hunter over to him, and putting a burp cloth over him.

He looks awkward giving the bottle to his nephew, but Hunter greedily sucks at the teat, causing Knox to look more relaxed. I smile and sit beside him. Knox looks good. Really good with a baby in his arms. It's causing me to look at him in a different light and picture him as a father. Knox has a small smile on his face as he feeds his nephew.

"He's so little" he comments.

"For now" I say snorting "but it won't be long until you're wondering where the time has gone."

"How did you get so comfortable around babies?" he asked.

I gave a tentative smile "When I was a teenager, I took on a lot of babysitting jobs to earn money."

I didn't tell him that my family had desperately needed the money in order to survive, or that if I hadn't there would have been long days of not eating in between waiting for my mother or father's paychecks to come in. I didn't want his pity. Babysitting had been one of the few jobs I had genuinely enjoyed as a teenager before everything had gone to hell and I had ended up on the streets, struggling to survive. Babies weren't complex creatures, they wanted what everybody else naturally did. Unconditional love and to be fed and warm.

"You must have been one hell of a babysitter," he said impressed.

"I like to think so" I teased, watching as Knox paused during the bottle feeding and sat Hunter upright, gently putting a hand underneath his chin and beginning to pat his back to burp him.

Hunter lets out a long burp, causing both of us to laugh as Knox begins to lay him down and feed him again. "Thanks for doing this with me Lorelai, I know it was short notice."

I laugh "I honestly don't mind. Your nephew is adorable" my words are slightly wistful.

Hunter is gorgeous. I was feeling maternal just holding him. One day I wanted to have a child of my own but that day hadn't come yet. I couldn't help but look at Knox and how easily he had dived into his paternal streak as he burped Hunter again and then put him carefully down on the carpet floor to crawl. He was fast, crawling everywhere and I immediately sat down on the ground, watching Knox leave to put the bottle in the kitchen sink.

Knox came back and put some baby toys down on the ground, causing Hunter to let out a small shriek. I giggled. Hunter sat upright and reached for my hair, gently pulling at my ponytail, before giving it a hard yank. Knox scrambled to gently dislodge my hair from his nephew's hand. "No Hunter" he scolded with a smile "we don't want to ruin Lorelai's beautiful hair."

"You think my hair is beautiful?" I asked surprised.

He looks a little stunned by the question "Of course I do."

His fingers play with my hair, twisting it gently, as though he's caressing it, a small smile playing on his face "I've always loved the unique brownness of your hair and the way it reminds me of a light chestnut brown and the highlights that frame your face" he comments casually "it reminds me of an adorable forest animal."

His fingers rest above the nape of my neck and I try not to shiver as I feel them pressing lightly on my skin. "Everything about you is beautiful" he continues blandly, while I listen in awe "You're one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. I don't know why you can't see that" he adds frowning as I try not to gape at him.

He's like a poet, I think blankly, only he has no notion of how his words affected me. He trails his finger down my neck and then moves it away and I want to groan in disappointment. Just like that, he focussed on Hunter, crawling towards a toy and it was like that moment didn't happen. I touched my neck and stared at Knox, unable to believe how a man like this, could be so in tune with his emotions sometimes and other times be so oblivious to someone else's.