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He was at her side, holding her hand—figuratively as well as literally—and helping shoulder her baggage, and what was even better was she could help him carry his as well. They were partners. A team. And it was such a relief to not be alone that she just couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.

“I’m happy,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder as they stood in the lift on their way to his friends’ apartment.

“I love seeing you this happy and relaxed.”

“I think you're going to be seeing a lot of me like this. I have you, things with my brother are better than they’ve ever been, two prolific serial killers are off the streets, what’s not to be grinning about?”

“Can't argue with that.” His arm around her shoulders tugged her closer ,and he touched his lips to her temple in a soft kiss.

The lift opened, and a moment later a door was swung open and a gorgeous guy with dark hair and dark eyes stood there grinning at them. On his hip was an adorable baby with silky black locks, long-lashed eyes, and chubby cheeks, who was gooing and giggling to himself.

Florence was a sucker for a baby.

There was just something about their chubby little arms and legs and little round bellies that made her want to cuddle them and squeeze them and tickle them until they made that little gurgly laugh. There wasn't a sound on earth that could compare to a baby’s laugh as far as she was concerned.

“Oh, who is this?” she asked, reaching out to tickle his tummy, making him squeal in delight.

“This is Jake,” the man holding him replied. “Don’t be fooled, he might look cute, but his favorite thing to do is wait until the middle of the night when you finally fall asleep before deciding it would be fun to scream his lungs out.”

“Aww, he just needs his mommy and daddy,” she said, smiling at the baby.

“I’m Elliot by the way,” the man said, his eyes twinkling as he grinned at her.

“Right,” she said, tearing her attention away from the baby. “Sorry, he’s just such a little cutie, he’s hard to resist.”

“Tell me about it,” Elliot said with an eye roll. “Impossible to stay mad at him no matter how many nights he wakes us up crying.”

She ran a hand over the baby’s soft little head. “Babies are irresistible. I’m Florence, nice to meet you, Elliot.” She held out her hand to shake his, but instead he handed over his son.

“Jakey loves to meet his fans. Come in, Susannah is dying to meet you, Florence, we’ve heard a lot about you.”

Florence threw a frown over her shoulder at Eli as they walked into Elliot’s living room, wondering what he’d said about her. Huge windows filled one wall, showcasing an impressive view of the Manhattan skyline.

Elliot laughed when he saw her frown. “Don’t worry, he only said good things. Please, sit, Susannah will be right out, and as soon as we put Jakey down for the night, we can eat.”

“No hurry,” she said, sitting down on a soft leather couch and bouncing the baby on her lap.

“You like to sing, Jake?” she asked him.

“Here, give me your little hand. This was my favorite song when I was a little girl, my brother used to sing it to me, and it always made me laugh. Let’s see if it makes you giggle.

” Taking one of Jake’s cute little hands, she touched a fingertip to his palm and began to trace circles.

“Round and round the garden like a teddy bear. One step, two steps,” she walked her fingers up his arm, “tickle you under there.” She finished with an accompanying tickle under his armpit that made the baby screech with laughter.

“That is adorable.”

Florence looked up to find a pretty woman around her age with long black hair that had red tips, smiling at her.

“Every day I think he can't get any cuter, and every day I get proved wrong,” Susannah Zachary said.

“He’s gorgeous,” Florence said.

“And now we have a new song to sing together. I'm Susannah, you must be Florence.”

“I am, it’s nice to meet you. I hear that I have you and Elliot to thank for my tattoo date the other night.

Eli was telling me that he got the idea from you two.

He said that Elliot got a tattoo that matched yours, and apparently you were telling Eli that he didn't need to take me to fancy restaurants to impress me, and I'd feel more comfortable not feeling like we came from two different worlds. I wanted to thank you both because I think standing there in that tattoo parlor watching Eli get a tattoo that matched mine was when I realized I was falling in love with him.” She turned to smile at Eli who was sitting beside her, watching her with a smile on his face that she quickly realized was him imaging them sitting side by side while she bounced their own baby on her knee.

For some reason the idea didn't freak her out like she thought it would.

“Glad to be of service.” Elliot grinned.

Susannah swatted at him. “We’re delighted we could help out. I know when Elliot and I first got together, I was concerned that our different worlds might mean we wouldn’t work as a couple, I figured you might be feeling the same thing.”

“I was.” Florence already knew that she and Susannah were going to wind up being friends, she liked the woman and her down to earth attitude already. Plus she had possibly the world’s cutest baby.

“If it wasn't for these two I would probably still be trying to take you to fancy restaurants and flying you to Italy,” Eli teased.

“You know I wouldn’t turn down another trip to Italy.” She grinned at him.

“I wouldn’t either.” Susannah poked Elliot in the ribs. “Well, I better put this little guy to bed. Elliot, can you go check on the lasagna.”

“Sweet dreams, sweetie,” she said, kissing Jake’s chubby cheek then handing him off to his mother.

“We’ll be right back.”

Alone, Eli slid his arms under her legs and drew her over and onto his lap. “You looked good with a baby in your arms,” he whispered, his lips teasing her as he trailed kisses along her jaw.

“I love babies,” she agreed, turning her face so his next kiss landed on her lips. “Know what I love more than babies?”

“Me?” he asked with an arched brow and that cocky grin she was growing to love more and more every time she saw it.

“No, not you,” she said, smacking his shoulder lightly. “ Our baby.”

“Our baby? Is this the same lady who kept trying to convince me that it was too soon to move in with someone you’d only known a couple of weeks talking about having babies?”

“I don’t want to have a baby today.” She rolled her eyes at him, then gave him another smack for good measure. “But I wouldn’t mind having one in the semi-near future.”

“You know we can start working on that tonight. I hear it can take a few months to get pregnant, then it’s nine months until the baby actually arrives, I think that would qualify as the semi-near future.”

Were they really talking about having a baby sometime soon?

And was she really okay with that?

Florence was surprised to find that she was.

All her life she hadn't believed in love, had thought that it didn't exist that it was just make believe fluff that someone created to sell movies and books. Now she was completely rethinking that notion.

She was in love with Eli, she’s already agreed to move in with him, she knew he was just biding his time before he proposed, and now they were discussing babies, and instead of feeling like it was too soon she was just excited by the idea.

“Baby making is definitely going on the agenda for tonight,” she agreed, dragging his face to hers so she could kiss him.

“H-hmm,” someone cleared their throat behind them.

“Sorry, are we interrupting?” Susannah asked, smothering a laugh.

“Yes,” Eli replied with a groan.

“Raincheck number two?”

“Oh yeah.”