Bosom Buddies Read Online Free PDF Page A

serious countenance. The small smiles she’d caught sight of made her want more. She wanted to see Ian smiling and laughing.
    “Some of us enjoy being plain and ordinary.”
    “I didn’t mean you were ordinary.” Allie gave him an appraising look. “No, I don’t think ordinary is a word anyone would use to describe you.”
    “Should I say thank you or throw down the gauntlet?” Ian asked.
    “You should turn around and take our ice cream cones from the girl.”
    Ian did as he was told and handed Allie hers. Wheeling the baby with one hand, eating her ice cream with the other, Allie smiled at Ian. “Want a bite?” she asked, thrusting her cone at him.
    “I don’t think so.” His nose crinkled as he grimaced.
    Not the least insulted, Allie shrugged. “So, how was Anne?”
    “Fine. Sleepy.”
    “That’s to be expected. They’re probably giving her some strong pain meds.”
    “I guess.”
    She could hear the frustration in his voice and wanted nothing more than to soothe it away. “She’ll be fine,” she offered lamely.
    “Yes, she will,” he said, as if his will was enough to make it so. Allie had a feeling that when Ian made up his mind, things happened.
    An older woman walked toward them and stopped at the stroller. “Oh, what a beautiful baby.”
    She leaned down closer to get a better look. “The three of you are a picture. It’s nice to see young families moving back into the neighborhood. You two still have that newlywed look about you.”
    “We’re not married,” Ian said gruffly.
    The woman’s eyes rose.
    “We’re just babysitting,” Allie said, trying to circumvent his rudeness. Was she so unappealing that he was insulted by the mere thought of someone mistaking them as a couple? Well, that was fine, because Allie wasn’t interested. He was too uptight to interest her.
    “Oh, I’m sorry,” the woman said and hurried down the street.
    Ian started down the street again and Allie and the baby had no choice but to follow. “So, want to talk about it?”
    “About what?” he asked.
    “About why you were so rude?”
    “It was none of her business who we are and what we mean to each other.”
    His strides were long and Allie practically had to run to keep up. “I don’t think she was being nosy, just making pleasant meaningless conversation.”
    “I don’t have time for social talk and I don’t feel the need to talk about my personal life with strangers,” Ian said.
    Allie could take a hint. She shut up and ate her ice cream. Ian could be as private as he wanted. She wasn’t interested in his personal life, just like she wasn’t interested in him as any more than a neighbor in need.
    No, the shivery feeling in her spine had nothing at all to do with Ian Ryan. It was probably just a chill from the ice cream.
     
    “Now, let’s just try this,” Allie whispered later in her apartment. Ryane had finished half her formula and was nestled in Ian’s lap, Ian’s finger, the SNS tubing taped to it, in her mouth. “When I count to three, you slip your finger out and I’ll slip the bottle nipple in.”
    “Do you think this is going to work? I mean, she really screamed about it last night.”
    “Last night she was starving and frustrated. Tonight she’s sleepy and has already had half a bottle. Nothing about babies is ever for sure, but I think we have a good chance.” She stood, bottle poised next to Ian’s finger. “One, two, three.”
    He eased his finger out and she slipped the bottle nipple in. Ryane made a little grimace and then went back to sucking, this time on the bottle.
    “We did it,” Allie exclaimed. It was always the same. Whenever she managed find a solution to a baby’s problem, she felt a rush of surprise that she’d managed it.
    “You did it,” Ian corrected.
    She shook her head. “No, this was definitely a team win. We did it.”
    She pushed one of the many boxes out of her way and crawled into her chair. “Now, do you have any idea how you’re