Scrambled Babies by Babe Hayes Read Free Book Online

laugh at that.  Okay?”
    The baby smiled back to his announcer-quality voice.
    Steve focused on the infant girl.  Studied her features.  Jesus Christ!  It’s the truth—this kid could pass for Ryan’s twin!   If this gets out, the media will have a field day! Then he paid particular attention to the infant’s mouth.  His pulse jumped.  There it is!  That mouth!  She’s going to bewitch some guy totally the way her mother bewitched me!
    The switching of the babies, the magic something that had passed between his and the woman’s eyes—the whole incident was the most bizarre—and he had to face it, sexiest—thing that had ever happened to him!  Steve wondered if he and bewitching-mouth could get past this blunder.  Was it possible that the two of them?— Naw!  Come on, Steve, are you nuts?  A woman that amazing?  She’s got to be married, for god’s sake!  
    The baby girl issued a sweet cooing sound, bringing Steve back to the situation at hand.  The grave situation at hand.
    The amusement was over.  This was not a fabulous prank concocted by one of his buddies at the network.  It was a serious goddam screw-up, and he needed to pay attention to keep the fallout as minimal as possible.  His eye twitched again in response to his thoughts.
    He returned to the necessary resolution of the screw-up.  Okay, first, he had to discover if the “kidnapping” had hit the media.  Second, Ryan was probably in as good hands as this kid was.  Well, no, probably in better hands, as a matter of fact—a woman’s.  Steve still changed a diaper with some lack of natural flair.  A football he handled with artistry.  A three-month-old boy—well, admittedly, not as well. 
    So all he had to do was find this woman, get an apology from her for causing such grief, and get the right kid back into the right hands .  Except, of course, I’m left-handed!   He grinned.  Then frowned .  You’ve got to stop that!  This is serious guano, you moron!  Your entire career could go in the toilet if you’re not careful! 
    Then Steve reverted to sports analogies the way he always did under pressure.  He felt the immensity of the occurrence “crash through the line.”  It was a huge, ugly, grinning, three-hundred-and-twenty-five-pound defensive tackle!  When this hits the airwaves, the network will go ballistic.  Even though she caused the mix-up, who would believe that?  You’re going to get blamed, Steve—you’re the man!  No one in the world is going to believe that a mother could pick up the wrong kid.  Who could do such a thing?  The uncaring male!  That’s who!  All preoccupied with his job and crap like that.  You kidnapped a child, you man, you!  You’re responsible for causing this woman untold grief and emotional damage, even though it was simply an honest mistake.  You are in big trouble, Steve, baby! 
    He felt perspiration break out on his upper lip.  Son of a bitch, I’ll not only lose my job, but she’ll sue me for emotional distress!  How the hell did I let this happen?  That goddam gorgeous mouth!  That’s how it happened.  She should be kept in a convent with a mouth like that!  Son-of-a-bitching lethal weapon, for god’s sake!
    “Buddy, I’m calling the flight attendant if you aren’t out of there in one minute.  I mean it.  How long can a guy wait?”
    Damn New Yorkers!  “Okay, okay.  I’m coming out.”   Steve opened the door, not certain he was ready to face the fierce double-overtime that seemed to be looming at the end of this “ball game.”
     
    #
     
    When he reached the children’s department at Bloomingdale’s, he noticed that the clerk behind the counter wasn’t bad.  She was also wearing a wonderful fragrance.  He particularly noticed her mouth.  She had a great smile.  Steve never missed a woman’s mouth.  Her body also beckoned him.  She had a body like Crystal’s, actually.  Long torso, firm breasts, and great rear.  But her face