by Susan Meier
She cooked the chicken and almost made mashed potatoes, thinking she would go with her strong suit, but in the end decided that would be too obvious.
Of course, she also knew she was going to have to be somewhat obvious or he wouldn’t get the message. She found candles and a lace tablecloth for the dining room table, but when she dimmed the lights and lit the candles, the scene was so romantic that she knew it would be weird with Lacy also sitting at the table.
Not exactly the right time for seduction.
She blew out the candles and carried them back into the kitchen so Mac wouldn’t see them and wonder why they were on the table but not lit.
He arrived right on time, kissed the kids, changed his clothes and was at the table with Lacy the way he usually was a few minutes after six. Without waiting for an invitation, Ellie sat down at the place she’d set for herself across from Mac at the far end of the long table. They had a pleasant conversation with Lacy, who sat between them on the right.
But the very second Mac finished his chicken, he bounced from his seat, explaining that he had a conference call, and ducked out of helping with clean up.
Which, technically, was his right as boss.
She sighed and instructed Lacy to grab the napkins while she got the dishes. She and Mac’s six-year-old daughter cleared the dining room and played Yahtzee while the dishwasher ran.
She got both Lacy and Henry ready for bed with no sign of Mac, then retired to her own room to come up with Plan B.
Unfortunately, she fell asleep before a Plan B could form. So she decided to stick with the one thing she knew consistently got Mac’s attention. Food. Once again using a recipe she found in Ava’s cookbook, she baked homemade muffins for breakfast. Lacy thought she’d died and gone to heaven. Mac, however, raced into the kitchen, telling Ellie and Lacy that he had another early-morning meeting and was out the door without even as much as a whiff of a muffin.
Disappointed, Ellie dropped to one of the kitchen chairs. The only explanation was that she’d totally misinterpreted everything. Obviously, Mac liked having a casual relationship with her. He wanted her to eat with them. He wanted the kids to be comfortable with her at the table.
But everything else must have been Ellie’s imagination.
What about that kiss?
It hadn’t been a kiss. It had been a brush. An accident.
An accident.
And she had better let it go!
As was their custom, after breakfast, Ellie and Lacy put Henry down for a nap, then they changed into swimsuits and went to the pool. She and Lacy played for an hour then Lacy set up a tea party in the grass for her stuffed animals and dolls while Ellie stretched out on a chaise lounge to enjoy the sun.
Twenty minutes later, the sound of Mac’s car roaring up the driveway interrupted their quiet morning. She sat up on the chaise as Lacy rose from her gathering of stuffed animals.
Mac appeared around the side of the house. “Hey, kitten,” he said to Lacy.
“Hey, Daddy.”
He turned his attention to Ellie. His mouth opened as if he were about to say hello, but his gaze fell to her swimsuit and whatever he was about to say was apparently forgotten.
He wasn’t the first man to notice her figure, especially in the royal blue bikini, but he was the man she wanted to notice. And right now he was noticing.
Hope swelled inside her. Maybe the kiss hadn’t been an accident?
“I forgot my briefcase.”
He said the words, but he didn’t make a move to go into the house and get the darned thing. Instead, he stood staring at her.
All right. She didn’t need intuition to tell her he was attracted to her. But she’d known that. They’d been attracted since the day they’d met. What she wanted from him was for him to act on that attraction as he’d said he wanted to the night in the gazebo.
Of course, she really couldn’t expect him to kiss her in front of his daughter.
She rose from the chaise and slipped into her white lace cover-up. With one hand on Lacy’s shoulder, she guided all three of them up the steps.
Needing to get his attention and the conversation back to a safe place for Lacy’s sake, she said, “You also left without breakfast.”
They reached the French door and Mac opened it, allowing Ellie and Lacy to enter before him.
“I made muffins.”
He stopped three steps into the kitchen. “Homemade muffins?”
She laughed. “Don’t get too crazy with appreciation. The recipe was really simple.”
“Can I take one with me? I really didn’t have time for this trip. But I—I—really needed my briefcase.”
She frowned, almost asked him why he hadn’t sent someone to get his briefcase and suddenly understood. He’d left so quickly that morning he hadn’t had time to interact with either his kids or her. So he’d made an excuse to come home again.
It was the sweetest thing she’d ever seen a man do. Though she wouldn’t press him to admit it, she did decide he deserved a reward.
“Sure. I’ll wrap one for you while you get your briefcase.”
Lacy hooked her arms around Mac’s leg, proof that she had been missing him as Mac obviously suspected. He glanced down at her. “Maybe I can take five minutes to eat a muffin.” He peeked over at Ellie. “Sit with us while I do?”
“Sure.”
She set several muffins on a plate and took it to the table with three dessert dishes. Mac hoisted Lacy to a chair. He took his seat at the head of the table and smiled at Ellie as she took her seat opposite him.
Ellie’s world righted again. And suddenly Plan B became abundantly clear.
Mac walked down the back stairs after tucking Lacy into bed that night. Ellie had kissed her good-night and scampered out of the room fairly quickly, so he wondered if there was something wrong. He wasn’t surprised to find a note from her on the table in the kitchen, telling him that she needed to talk with him.
The fact that she asked to meet him in the gazebo was a bit puzzling, but not that she wanted to talk. He’d sensed for days that something was bothering her. He’d waited and waited and waited for a sign from her that she’d been okay with him kissing her. But though she’d eaten meals with him and the kids, other times she’d actually been more distant.
Walking down the stairs and past the pool to the grass, he racked his brain trying to think if he’d said something wrong, or even something too suggestive. But he couldn’t think of anything.
Which was why he didn’t notice that the gazebo was dark until he reached it. He climbed the two steps into the little room and saw the space was illuminated by only a few thin candles. Ellie stood behind the wet bar. Wearing a long dress made of material so insubstantial it basically floated around her, she walked out from behind the bar and handed him a glass of Scotch.
“Glenfiddich,” she said, naming his favorite brand.
“How did you know?”
“The article when you were bachelor of the month is archived on the Single Girl Magazine Web site.” She stepped close and smiled at him. “I like to be prepared.”
So did he, and tonight he felt at a distinct disadvantage. Not only had she done a little research so she’d know his favorite drink, but also she wore the magnificent flowing dress, created, he was sure, to send a man’s temperature into triple digits.
He caught her gaze. Was this the sign he’d been waiting for? “I’m underdressed.”
“You’re fine.”
“You said you wanted to talk?”
“Yes.” She turned away and walked to the far side of the gazebo. “You kissed me the other night.”
Oh, God. This wasn’t a sign. She was leaving. She might be dressed like a temptress, but she was such an innocent about some things she probably didn’t realize the dress was seductive. She’d called him here for privacy so she could tell him she was leaving without the kids overhearing. The drink had been to soften the blow.
“And since then we’ve h
ad a sort of different relationship.”
“But not a bad one.” He wasn’t letting her go without a fight. The kids loved her. His feelings for her were growing with leaps and bounds. His gut was telling him they could have something wonderful. He’d be a fool to just let her quit.
She turned on a bubbly laugh. “I know. I’ve been very happy these past few days, being a part of things.”
“Then why are you leaving?”
“Leaving?” She took a few steps toward him. “I’m not leaving.”
“Then why are we here? Why are you softening me up with liquor?”
“Because I’m nervous and I wanted a way to give myself a little time before I told you…” She sucked in a long breath.
Mac stood staring at her, his muscles tight with the tension of anticipation, his breathing barely discernable.
“I trust you.”
Another man probably would have wanted to hear something like “because I’m attracted to you.” Or “I can’t resist you.” But Mac knew having Ellie say she trusted him was damned near a declaration of love.
He took two steps toward her. “Really?”
“I know that sounds silly.”
He took another two steps, set his drink on the plastic table in the center of the gazebo. “No. You’ve told me you had a difficult life. But I’ve had a bad marriage. Trust is very important to both of us.”
She took two steps toward him. “I think we want the same things.”
“A home. Happy kids.” He took another two steps. “Plus, we’re attracted.”
She laughed. “Yeah. There is that.” The final two steps she took put her directly in front of him. His hands slid around her waist as hers slid around his neck.
This time when their lips met there was nothing tentative about the kiss. His mouth slanted against hers with the force of all the pent up sexual frustration he’d been feeling since she walked into his life. Arousal hit him in a dizzying wave of hunger for her. The need was so strong, so intense, he forced himself to pull back a bit, to gentle the press of his mouth on hers. But he wanted her. There was no denying that he wanted her. And, because the need was so strong and so sharp, not for the first time he worried that it was manipulating his common sense. He’d rushed things with Pamela and had been so wrong. Now he was rushing with Ellie. The only way this would work would be if they could take it slow.
Reluctantly, he pulled away completely.
She smiled at him. “Wow.”
“Yeah, wow.”
“We better watch how many times we do that or we’ll get ahead of ourselves.”
He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
“So we better take things slowly.”
He marveled at her. How had he ever found someone this beautiful and this sweet? And this much on his wave length? Did he actually deserve her?
“Okay.”
She blew out the first of the three candles and said, “Walk me back to the house?” as she walked to the second and third.
When the gazebo was totally dark, she strolled over to him and he caught her hand. “Sure.”
He was absolutely positive he was the happiest man in the world, even with the little voice in the back of his head insisting something was wrong. With both of them in agreement that they should take this slowly, he couldn’t see anything wrong with what they were doing. Yet, the little voice kept insisting that he was forgetting something. Something important.
CHAPTER TEN
MAC didn’t exactly stop looking for a nanny, but he didn’t feel the pressure to get one immediately. He and Ellie took care of his children, not as a maid and her boss, but more like parents. Each night after they put the kids to bed, they spent romantic evenings in the gazebo or the pool, almost as if they were dating. Then he would kiss her good-night at her bedroom door.
Without any more discussion than the one they’d had in the gazebo, they took everything slowly. Kisses had grown into passionate interludes that didn’t go beyond a certain point because he didn’t want to rush her. He didn’t want to be rushed. And the little voice that insisted there was something important about this relationship dimmed until it was gone.
June quickly became July. Newlyweds Cain and Liz came home. Mac didn’t know how Ellie explained her work situation to her boss, but she had to have said something because Ellie continued to work for him and Ava stopped dropping by with Happy Maids sheets to be signed.
After the one trip to the mall, Ellie stopped trying to get Mac to loosen the reins on his security. Mac suspected she hadn’t mentioned it again because she enjoyed being in their own little world, alone with only each other for company for the past few weeks while they explored their budding relationship. But one Thursday night in mid-July, Ellie suggested that they invite Cain and Liz for dinner the following night.
At first Mac balked at the idea of bringing strangers into his home when Phil and his crew wouldn’t have enough time to investigate them. But with everything going so well for him and Ellie personally, he decided maybe she was right. He didn’t want to live in a prison. He didn’t want his kids living in a prison and most of all he didn’t want to put Ellie in another prison.
That was the “thing he was forgetting” that had been nagging at him about starting a relationship with Ellie. She’d lived in a prison once. He couldn’t put her in another. He had to get over his fears, and work himself and his family into the real world. Which meant he couldn’t investigate every single person who came into his home. Trusting Ellie’s word that Liz and Cain Nestor were good people had to be enough.
So he told her yes, she should invite the Nestors, and the next day he arrived home to a happy Lacy and Henry sitting in the gazebo while Ellie prepared the place for a barbeque.
“You have twenty minutes to get changed into shorts and a T-shirt,” she said after placing a smacking kiss on his lips.
“So this dinner is informal?”
“Yes. I didn’t want to exclude the kids. Though Ava is coming over at seven to read to them before putting them into bed, I want them to eat with us.”
He loved that she thought of his kids. Not as a maid, not even as a nanny, but as someone who loved them. “Ava doesn’t mind?”
Ellie laughed merrily. “Are you kidding? She misses the kids now that she doesn’t have to come over every day.”
The thought that an outsider, someone who didn’t have to like his kids, was eager to babysit filled his heart with emotion he couldn’t even describe it. Something was happening to him. Something significant. And it was all wrapped up in having Ellie in his life.
The Nestors arrived. Cain in khakis and a golf shirt and pretty brunette Liz in shorts and a T-shirt. Mac recognized Cain from a few casual meetings they’d had at parties and charitable events. Ellie and Liz kept the conversation lively through dinner and after they’d eaten barbequed ribs and scalloped potatoes, Ava arrived and shuttled the kids into the house. After an hour, Ava returned to the gazebo, baby monitor in hand, announcing the kids were both sleeping and Ellie volunteered to walk her to her car.
That was when Mac began to figure everything out. With another couple seated in the comfortable patio chairs in the seating arrangement of the gazebo, his children being cared for by a new friend, and a real relationship developing between him and a wonderful woman, Mac suddenly, unexpectedly, felt normal. He liked being able to trust. Especially Ellie. All this time he’d been working to help Ellie feel normal but he was the one who was changing, being introduced to a totally different way of life.
He glanced around his well-lit, but rather small property. This residence wasn’t like the compound he and Pamela had lived in with his parents in Atlanta. This place was a home. Cain and Liz weren’t like the stuffy society friends he’d rubbed elbows with his entire life. They were real people. Nice people. And Ellie wasn’t anything like the women he typically dated. She was simply a happy, charming woman who enjoyed sharing his life. H
is life. His real life. Not a prison.
Swirling the Scotch in the glass in hand, Mac said, “So, Cain, I understand your company’s been courting mine for about ten years.”
As Mac expected he would, Cain laughed. “I wouldn’t say ten years. Eight maybe.”
Carrying the baby monitor, Ellie returned from the driveway.
“No talking business,” she said, sitting beside Mac.
He unobtrusively took her hand. “All right. Ellie’s right.” He glanced at Cain again. “Call me this week.”
Cain raised his glass as if in salute and said, “Will do.”
Ellie bounced up from her seat. “Cain, it looks like you need another drink.” She rounded the bar and lifted the bottle of vodka then frowned. “We’re out of ice.”
Mac rose. “I’ll get it.”
Ellie said, “Great,” and busied herself behind the bar. She didn’t seem to notice that Liz also rose and faced Mac.
“I’ll help get the ice.”
With his gaze locked with Liz’s, Mac easily understood why she’d volunteered. She wanted to have a talk with him. He could have panicked, but his intentions toward Ellie were good. If Ellie’s friend wanted to grill him or even just wanted a chance to talk to him privately, he could handle it.
He motioned toward the gazebo entrance. “After you.”
They walked up the grassy backyard in silence. Mac suspected that Liz intended to get out of earshot before she said anything. When they reached the pool and she caught his forearm to get his attention, he wasn’t surprised.
“Ellie’s probably my favorite person in the world.”
“Then we instantly agree on something.”
“She’s sweet and kind and would do anything for anybody.”
“I know.”
“And I’m going to be very angry if she gets hurt.”
Mac laughed, leading her up the steps to the French doors. “I’m not going to hurt her.” They reached the top, he opened the door for Liz and followed her inside his kitchen.
