by Lizzie Shane
Bree spent most of her evenings in her darkroom—when she wasn’t acting as a paparazzi diversion. As a struggling artist who also happened to be a perfect doppelganger for an A-list actress, Bree made her living working as a paid decoy for the great Maggie Tate until the photography thing took off.
“Staying where?” Bree asked, her voice just absent enough that Andi knew she had caught her working. “Don’t tell me you met someone.”
“No, it’s nothing like that. I’m still at Ty’s.” She glanced around the luxurious guest room, gauging how much to reveal, but if anyone could keep a secret, it was Bree. “You can’t breathe a word of this, but his daughter showed up on his doorstep today and he’s spinning.”
“Whoa. I didn’t know Ty Walker had a daughter.” She had Bree’s full attention now.
“Neither did he until this afternoon.” And now he was off at the premiere, probably about to spend half the night at after-parties as if nothing had changed. “Anyway, you know how useless he is with anything practical so I’m staying over to help out.”
“Aren’t you going home tomorrow?”
As if she needed to be reminded. “It’s just for tonight. Just until we can come up with a better plan moving forward. You should see this girl. She’s so sweet. I just want to hold her and tell her everything will be okay.”
A long, worried silence seeped through the phone.
Bree knew Andi’s baggage better than anyone. They’d grown up together in Clement, Minnesota, though the free-spirited Bree had never quite fit in there and moved to LA as soon as she graduated high school to pursue her art.
She’d taken Andi in when Andi’s perfect life had fallen apart, when she didn’t know who she was anymore. Bree had even gotten Andi her first job in show biz.
“Andi…” Bree was the easy going one. The it’ll-all-work-itself-out girl. Andi was the planner and the worrier, but Bree’s voice sounded plenty worried now.
“I’m fine, Bree. Besides, I’m going to Clement for Alex’s wedding tomorrow. I can handle things for one night.” She curled her legs up onto the mattress, leaning back against the mountain of decorative pillows the designer had insisted made the bed look welcoming. “I didn’t text so you could worry about me more. I texted so you wouldn’t worry because I’m not coming home tonight.”
A soft knock sounded on the door she’d left ajar and Andi sat up abruptly, sending one of the decorative pillows tumbling to the floor. The gentle rap made the door swing open on the well-oiled hinges, revealing Ty in his designer suit, standing in the doorway, holding something white in his hands.
He mouthed, “Sorry” when he saw her on the phone and started to reach for the door to pull it closed, but she held up a palm to stop him.
“I’ve gotta go,” she said into the phone. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She ended the call before Bree could argue and scrambled off the bed, tossing the phone behind her onto the mattress as Ty stepped into the room.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“What are you doing here? The premiere can’t be over already.” It wasn’t even ten yet. The movie was probably still going. Let alone the after-party and after-the-after-parties that would go deep into the night.
“I snuck out after the red carpet. I’ve already seen a screening of the movie anyway.”
The premiere wasn’t about seeing the movie and they both knew it. It was about being seen with the right people and shaking the right hands at the after-party. His agent was probably going to kill him for skipping out early. It skirted the edge of what he was contractually required by the studio to do to promote the film.
He nodded toward her cell phone on the bed before she could think how to respond. “Boyfriend?”
“Roommate,” she corrected.
He looked at her, just looked at her, and Andi was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that she was in a bedroom with Ty Walker, Sexiest Man in All of Human Existence—and he did look very sexy in that suit. “Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked, his voice gravelly enough to clench her thighs. “Girlfriend? We don’t really know each other, do we?”
“Why should we?” she asked, her voice a little too sharp in reaction to the annoying thigh clenching. “You’re my boss, not my BFF.”
A slight smile touched his lips. “Fair enough.”
She should leave it there. It was none of his business whether she was seeing anyone or not. He didn’t need to know that she’d sworn off men—especially the devastatingly handsome ones. But she still heard herself responding grudgingly, “No boyfriend.”
“Girlfriend?”
“Sadly, not my type. Though sometimes I think it would be easier.” In so many ways. “What are you doing here, Ty?”
He shrugged, visibly uncomfortable with the question. “I didn’t like thinking of you two here by yourselves.”
He’d barely spoken two words to Jade and now he was skipping premieres because he was a worried father? “I turned the security system on and I would have called you if we needed anything.”
Which was a boldfaced lie and they both knew it. She was the fixer. She took care of things for him, not the other way around.
He nodded, absently. “Did you hear anything from the PI yet? About where she came from?”
Ah. That was what he’d really been impatient for. News of when he could get rid of her. “The PI firm is going to try to track down her aunt,” Andi said, trying to rein in her temper. “Apparently Isabel Garcia is a common name. Who knew?”
Ty didn’t appear to appreciate her sarcasm. “Her aunt could be worried sick for all we know.”
“Or she could have been in on the decision to dump Jade on your front step unsupervised. There hasn’t been an Amber alert on anyone matching Jade’s description.” When Ty frowned, Andi shook her head in disgust. “The PI team is on it, but apparently it’s going to take some time. You should make a plan for Jade.”
“I don’t know the first thing about kids,” he protested.
“I’m aware.” You giant baby. “But someone needs to look after your daughter.”
Ty visibly flinched at the words your daughter—and she wanted to strangle him with his oh-so-stylish tie.
“How about we look into hiring a nanny?” Andi suggested. It was too early to talk custody—before the paternity tests and attempts to find her legal guardian were complete, but a nanny was at least one step they could take.
Something shifted on his face and he studied her from beneath his unfairly long lashes. “You’re very good with her.”
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I’m asking yet.”
She firmed her jaw. “The answer is still no.”
“Andi. You have to help me. It’s your job.”
“Organizing your calendar is my job. Taking care of your daughter is yours. Or a nanny’s.”
“It would only be temporary,” he wheedled.
Of course it would. Because Ty didn’t believe Jade would be a permanent fixture in his life and he was doing everything he could to make sure she stayed on the temporary list. “Sorry. I’m going home for Christmas tomorrow. My little brother’s wedding. Unavoidable.”
And she definitely would have avoided it if she could. Just like she’d avoided the last two Christmases in Clement.
“We’ll get you childcare before I go,” she promised. It was tempting to use the excuse to delay her trip, but she wouldn’t be able to look herself in the eye if she missed Alex’s wedding because she was too much of a coward to face going back to Clement.
Ty started toward the door—smart enough to know to quit when he was ahead, but he paused, seeming to realize he still held a wad of white fabric in his hands. “Thought you might want this.” He let it fall open until she recognized it as a man’s cotton undershirt. His undershirt. “Something to sleep in.”
Andi frowned, confused by the consideration. Ty tended more toward being blithe
ly inconsiderate unless he was trying to get laid.
Frankly, she was surprised he didn’t keep a stock of negligees for his overnight guests, though he probably preferred they sleep naked anyway. She focused on that thought so she didn’t think about how good he smelled or the way he was looking at her—not the way he looked at his beautifuls, but with something unfamiliar in his eyes.
“Thank you.” She took the shirt from his hands, something about the action feeling entirely too intimate.
“Thank you,” he said finally and she realized what she was seeing in his gaze was gratitude. “I know I don’t say that enough, but I don’t know what I would have done without you tonight. What Jade would have done without you.”
Andi didn’t think she’d ever heard him say thank you before. It wasn’t really his style. He just accepted blessings as his due.
She swallowed, her face heating, something about his newfound gratitude almost as awkward as her unwanted physical awareness of him. “You’re welcome, but I’m not a nanny.”
“I know. We’ll get this sorted out.” Whatever had been open in his face closed off with those words and Andi suddenly found herself nervous as she wondered what his definition of sorting it out was.
He started toward the door again, but she called out to stop him before he could cross the threshold. “Ty—”
He stopped and she realized abruptly she had no idea what she wanted to say. If she encouraged him to keep Jade, to love her, to really be the father she needed, would he even hear her? Or would he shut down even more, be that much more eager to get rid of her and go back to his regularly scheduled life?
“Yes?”
All the words she might have said dried up in her throat. She shook her head, managing to croak. “Nothing. G’night.”
He gave her a half smile. “Good night, Andi.”
* * * * *
“Any news from the PI?”
Andi gritted her teeth when those were the first words Ty asked her upon entering the kitchen the following morning. At least Jade was still asleep and hadn’t heard him. “Nothing yet.”
It was seven thirty in the morning. Though for what Ty was paying the PI should burn the midnight oil.
“We’ll hear something soon,” he said with annoying confidence.
Andi resisted the urge to throw her yogurt at his head—though it was tempting to envision it sliding down his face in a gooey mess. Especially since he was the reason she’d barely slept last night. Worrying about Jade. Worrying about what Ty would do. Reliving that stupid, charged moment when he’d handed her the damn shirt.
It was a miracle she’d slept at all. Though at least it had distracted her from her own problems and the fact that she was going home today.
Andi had always been a morning person, but she’d woken up even earlier this morning and had already swung by the grocery to stock up for Jade and been by her apartment to grab her already packed suitcase and change clothes while night-owl Bree was still asleep and wouldn’t interrogate her.
Ty moved to the fridge and snagged one of the yogurts she’d bought that morning. “I was thinking about what you said. About the nanny thing.”
Don’t think. It isn’t what you’re good at. “Oh?”
“Jade’s been through so much upheaval. It’ll be her first Christmas without her mother. And she already likes you…”
He stood opposite where she sat at the breakfast bar and for the first time she noticed dark circles under his eyes. Ty didn’t look like he’d slept much either. Maybe a sign that he was taking this seriously? Though he still seemed to be trying to push her into the nanny role.
“I like her too, but I have to go to my brother’s wedding.”
He nodded, smiling earnestly. “I know, but that’s what I was thinking. We could go with you.”
Andi felt her eyes widening in horror. “No.”
Ty, completely unused to people refusing him anything, tried to tempt her, “How about a Christmas bonus?”
“You already gave me one,” she reminded him.
“There must be something I can do for you. Let me be your date to the wedding. I could even pretend to be your boyfriend.”
The suggestion came too quickly. As if he’d already thought it up as his trump card. “You think of that as an even trade for taking care of your daughter for you?”
He shrugged, unbothered by the scorn in her voice. “It’s what most women want from me.”
“Well, I’m not most women.”
He grimaced. “You certainly aren’t.”
She narrowed her eyes, uncertain whether she’d just been complimented or insulted. “You need to get a nanny, Ty.”
“And I will. After the holidays are over. Think of Jade. Don’t you think she’s been through enough?”
God, she hated him some times. He had to play that card. The bribery and wheedling she could ignore. The selfish desires of this incredibly selfish man, she could turn her back on without a second thought. But Jade… It wasn’t the girl’s fault her father was useless.
Annoyingly, it wasn’t even entirely Ty’s fault. The idiot had nearly broken the internet when he posted a shirtless picture of himself holding his costar’s baby daughter. It must be nearly impossible to stay humble and keep your perspective when the entire female population of the world kept reinforcing the idea that you were God’s gift to women and all you had to do was stand there and look pretty to get whatever you wanted.
She’d wanted a break from him. Needed a break from him. But Jade…How could she walk away from her at Christmas? Life had already dealt her a shitty hand.
And Andi knew about life dealing you a shitty hand all too well.
She could feel herself relenting, but on some things there would be no compromise. “We are not telling anyone that we’re dating. If you come along, it’s as my boss and because I’m doing you a huge favor, which you will repay at a time of my choosing.”
His grin was broad and relieved—she could have asked for the moon and he would have pulled it down for her in that moment. “You want me in your debt, do you?” he teased.
I want you to grow up and be a father, but I’ll take what I can get. “I’ll decide what to do with your favor later. Deal?”
“Deal.” He smiled, blue eyes glittering, looking like every woman’s fantasy.
Well. Every woman except her. She was immune to his childish charm.
And maybe taking him home with her wouldn’t be a total catastrophe. It would certainly take her mind off the past and all the things she’d been avoiding since she left Clement.
“I guess we’re having a white Christmas.”
“We are?” A new voice entered the conversation and Andi and Ty spun toward the door where Jade stood, neatly dressed and wearing the jacket again.
The coat obviously had some significance to her, providing some kind of security blanket, but when Andi had asked her about it last night, Jade had hunched in on herself and clammed up tight. Andi had decided getting the girl out of the jacket was a battle for another day, but at least the heavy down would come in useful in the colder Minnesota weather.
“We are,” she confirmed. “We thought we’d go have Christmas with my family in Minnesota. My brother told me there’s already plenty of snow for snowmen. Would you like that?” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind one ear and her charm bracelet jingled.
Jade tracked the movement. “We always had snow,” she murmured—and Andi decided to take that as an affirmative. From the heavy coat and the northerly locations where Jade had mentioned living she must be used to white Christmases. Her eyes flicked between Andi and Ty. “Are you sure you aren’t his girlfriend?”
“Positive,” Andi declared, as a laugh burst out of Ty. “I’m just his assistant, like I told you yesterday. I arrange things.” She smiled extra brightly. “Like this trip we’re about to take. I’d better get to work if I’m going to arrange our flight.”
Chapter Five
“Do you think this is legal? Taking her across state lines? You aren’t legally her guardian.”
Andi stood in the private plane terminal as they waited for the jet she’d chartered to arrive, watching Jade pretend to stare out the window as she really studied Ty in the reflection. If Ty noticed his daughter’s scrutiny, he didn’t let on, lounging lazily as they waited.
Andi had originally booked a coach seat for herself, but Ty always flew in style so a last minute appointment had been made with a charter service he regularly used to transport them up to Bemidji where they would pick up a rental car and drive the rest of the way to Clement, smack dab in the middle of nowhere Minnesota.
She hadn’t considered the legalities of the situation before, but now she was feeling suspiciously like a child trafficker. The results of the paternity test hadn’t even come back yet, even though they’d ordered the express service—apparently even DNA testing slowed down over the holidays.
“We can’t find her legal guardian,” Ty reminded her, his voice low enough that it wouldn’t carry to where Jade sat next to the window. “Reg said his guy is coordinating with the proper authorities, but keeping it quiet so the press doesn’t get ahold of the story. We aren’t kidnapping her. We’re taking her to a wholesome family Christmas. Relax.”
“I don’t do relaxed.”
He snorted. “Believe me, I know.”
She eyed him. “I’m surprised you’re so relaxed.”
“I’m an excellent actor.”
She almost made a sarcastic remark that he wasn’t that good, but it would have been a lie. He was that good, even if he always characterized himself as nothing more than a pretty face. She studied that face now, looking for some trace of nerves, some sign of the panic that was eating her up inside, but his expression was perfectly calm.
“Why don’t you tell me about this town we’re going to?” he suggested in a louder voice.
Andi saw Jade perk up near the window, cocking her head to listen.
She didn’t want to talk about Clement. She didn’t want to think about Clement, but they would be there soon enough so she might as well get used to it.
