But in the end, the absence of sparks between them meant a sad, inevitable breakup due to lack of sizzle.
With Dylan, there was plenty of sizzle—an entire forest fire of sizzle. Not necessarily on his part, but definitely on Mia’s. All she had to do was look at him and she remembered exactly how she had felt as a girl of fifteen. Perhaps the tutoring had erased some boundaries between them. Or maybe because they had kept their relationship secret, it had felt safe to her. But whatever the reason, Dylan was the only male to make her feel this way.
Discovering that truth was disheartening. If she had let a teenage crush spoil her for other men, she was doomed to a single, celibate life. On the other hand, maybe she could make her obsession work for her, not against her. A hefty dose of exposure to the mature Dylan could prove to her that the boy she had idolized was just a guy like any other. She could flirt with him, maybe even sleep with him, and then go on her way.
She tucked Cora into the portable crib and sighed with relief when the baby actually curled into a ball and went still. Cora had fallen asleep on the ride over, but Mia had anticipated another long night of being up and down with her. Maybe Dylan had worn her daughter out.
Showering and changing as quietly as she could, Mia crawled into bed and yawned. She had promised Dylan an answer tomorrow. He had given her both the bar’s number and his cell-phone number. But now she had more to think about. Her limbs felt restless and her body heavy. If she stayed in Silver Glen for six weeks, or maybe eight, however long it took to find another position suited to her skills and experience, would that be long enough to get Dylan out of her system?
Merely the thought of it made her breath catch and her thighs clench.
Janette hailed from Silver Glen as well. Though she was older than Mia, their hometown connection was what led them to become friends in Raleigh. Janette kept up with several family members in Silver Glen, and it had been a source of hot gossip when Dylan’s engagement to a young starlet ended abruptly a few years ago.
As far as Mia knew, Dylan had played the field since. If there was no one special in his life, she wouldn’t have to feel guilty about using him for her own personal entertainment.
Maybe if she could work up the courage to let him know what she wanted, they could have a mutually satisfying sexual relationship, and then as soon as Mia got a job, she and Cora would move back to Raleigh.
Cora was sleeping, but Mia was not. Her pulse jumped and skittered. Her breath came in short bursts. The exhilaration she experienced was couched in incredulity and terror. What on God’s green earth led her to think she could seduce any man, much less the gorgeous Dylan Kavanagh?
Before she could lose her nerve, she reached for her cell phone on the bedside table. Hands trembling, she sent a text. I’ll do it. But only until I get a job in my field. Working for you will be strictly temporary. As she hit Send, she wondered whom she was trying to convince.
Ninety seconds passed before he responded. Had he been sleeping? Imagining him naked and warm beneath a thin sheet made her hot enough to toss back the covers.
A quiet ding signaled his answer.
Good. Need help moving?
No. Friends will help me pack or keep the baby. When should I come?
A week? Ten days? The sooner the better. I’m drowning in ledgers.
If you find somebody else in the meantime, let me know.
I don’t want anybody else. I want you.
Four
As soon as Dylan hit Send, he groaned. That last text could be misconstrued. But surely the prim and proper Mia wouldn’t read it that way. All he had in mind was repaying Mia for what she had done for him so long ago. Any man worth his salt knew that an honorable guy settled his debts.
He’d thought about Mia over the years, usually with guilt for the way he had treated her. Sure, they had ended up being friends before it was all over, but it had been a clandestine bond. He’d been too macho and too ashamed of his academic weaknesses to let anyone see that he actually liked and respected a mousy little fifteen-year-old.
Even if his bookkeeper hadn’t quit, he would have found some way to help Mia. He had lots of friends in town. But serendipity meant that not only did he really need Mia’s help, but he was able to provide a place for her and Cora to stay rent-free. This arrangement was going to go a long way toward easing his conscience.
He turned over in the bed and sprawled on his stomach, feeling sleep struggle to claim him. At times like this, he envied his brother Liam. What would it be like to have the woman you loved tucked up in bed beside you every night? Zoe’s effervescence was the perfect foil for Liam’s serious side.
Dylan had heard his brother laugh more in the past few months than he had since they were kids. Liam was happier, less stressed, infinitely mellower. Even when it came to Liam, Dylan had guilt. When their father disappeared two decades ago, Liam, a mere lad of sixteen, had manned up to help their mother run the Silver Beeches Lodge, the extremely high-end hotel that had built their family finances.
While the rest of them were exploring options and making mistakes and generally learning what life was all about, Liam had stepped forward in a course already mapped out. He claimed not to resent his lot. He’d told Dylan more than once that running the hotel with Maeve Kavanagh was something he enjoyed.
Even so, Dylan hoped that Zoe would help Liam take care of a few items on his bucket list. His older brother was a hell of a guy, and he deserved the best.
Dylan sighed deeply, his body boneless as it succumbed to sleep. He’d have to paint the apartment before Mia came, and rearrange furniture to make space for the baby bed...and maybe even...
* * *
Fortunately for Mia, she wasn’t a pack rat. Most of her belongings consisted of books and bookcases, kitchen items and clothes. With Janette’s help, she spent one weekend boxing up most of the contents of her condo and ferrying it a bit at a time to a storage unit. She paid for three months in advance, knowing that surely by that time she would be back on her feet.
She still had her suspicions that Dylan was inventing work for her. His need to say thank-you, or do penance, was not something she took seriously. Anything she had done for him in the past had been freely offered. But she wasn’t going to turn down the chance to have a safety net while she looked for a new job and to spend time with Cora. Eight weeks...twelve at the most. That seemed reasonable.
Having a shot at becoming one of Dylan’s flings was merely a bonus. He was a man. She was a woman. All she had to do was get him to concentrate less on her IQ and more on her curves.
Cora, bless her, had been in a sunny mood most of the time, snoozing in her crib until it had to be dismantled. Janette’s boyfriend offered to pick up the small U-Haul trailer Mia had rented. He insisted on hooking it to her SUV and helping her load everything that was going to Silver Glen.
By the time Mia pulled away from her building, waving at Janette in the rearview mirror, she was exhausted, but the sense of turning a new page in her life was infinitely preferable to the miasma of panic and failure that had dogged her the last month. All of her misgivings had dissipated. Returning to Silver Glen was going to be wonderful.
* * *
Five hours later, she turned onto the street where the Silver Dollar was located and hit her brakes to avoid crashing into a fire engine. In front of her, two white-and-orange barricades made it clear that she had reached the end of the road.
She rolled down her window and leaned out to speak to a uniformed cop. “What’s going on?” She couldn’t see far enough ahead to tell what had caused the commotion.
The cop shrugged. “Fire at the Silver Dollar, but they’ve got it under control now.”
All the breath left her lungs. “Dylan?”
Her pale-faced distress must have registered, because he backpedalled rapidly. “No one
hurt, ma’am. It happened early this morning. The building was empty.”
She leaned back in her seat and tried to catch her breath. “I’m supposed to meet someone there.”
The officer glanced in the backseat where Cora was sucking enthusiastically on a pacifier. “At the bar?” His skepticism made her feel unaccountably guilty.
“Mr. Kavanagh has hired me to be his new bookkeeper. I’m moving into the upstairs apartment.”
The man shook his head, sympathy on his weathered face. “Not today, you’re not. I hope you have a plan B. The second floor is a total loss.”
* * *
Dylan leaned against a lamppost, grimly studying what was left of his saloon. Thankfully, the main floor had sustained mostly smoke and water damage. But it would be quite a while before the Silver Dollar could reopen for business. He would pay his staff full wages, of course. But that still left the problem of his newest employee. And her child.
As he pondered his next steps, someone tapped him on the arm. When he turned, Mia stood looking at him, Cora clutched to her chest. “What happened, Dylan?” Her eyes were round.
“My own damn fault, apparently. It’s been hot as Hades this last week, so I left the window AC units in the apartment running on high all night. I didn’t want you or the baby to be uncomfortable today while you were getting settled. From what the fire marshal tells me, it looks like one of them shorted out and started the fire.”
Mia turned to stare at the building, her expression hard to read. The scene still crawled with firefighters and investigators. No one wanted to take a chance that nearby structures might get involved.
Her shoulders lifted and fell. “Well, I guess that’s that.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means Cora and I will be driving back to Raleigh.”
He heard the resignation in her voice. “Don’t be ridiculous. Nothing has changed except where you and Cora will be sleeping. My house is huge, with more than enough room for guests.”
Her chin lifted. “I’m not a charity case. It’s out of the question.”
For a moment he saw a spark of the temper he hadn’t known existed. Perhaps Mia wasn’t so meek after all. “I hired you in good faith. I’ll sue for breach of contract if you leave.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t be absurd.”
“The building may be a mess at the moment, but I still have a business to run on paper.”
“I’ll have to find a place to rent until the repairs are finished.”
“First of all, rental property in Silver Glen is slim pickings. And even if you found something, they’d want you to sign a twelve-month lease. You and Cora won’t be here that long.”
“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”
He had ruffled her feathers for sure. “It won’t be so bad, I swear. My place is plenty big. I won’t bother you at all.”
“And what if the baby bothers you? What if she cries in the middle of the night?”
He grinned, feeling his mood lift despite the day’s events. “I think I can handle it. C’mon, Mia. Think outside the box. We were friends once upon a time.”
“I’ve changed. I don’t let people push me around anymore.”
“From what I remember, that was never the case with us.” He shrugged. “If anything, you were the one ordering me to do this and that.”
“I wouldn’t have had to get tough if you hadn’t been so stubborn.”
“I’ve changed,” he said, echoing her assertion and giving her his most angelic smile.
“I’ll have to see it to believe it.”
“Then that settles it. Let me get my car and you can follow me home.”
“I never agreed to this nonsensical plan.”
“But you know you’re going to in the end. From what I can tell, you’re stuck with me for a few weeks. Chin up, Mia. It won’t be so bad.”
* * *
Mia knew Dylan Kavanagh was rich. Everybody knew it. But when you spent time with him, that knowledge tended to get shoved into the background. He had spent his life proving that he was just an ordinary guy. No flashy clothes. No Rolex watch on his wrist. No silver spoon.
The truth, however, was somewhat different. Mia had plenty of opportunity to chew on that fact as she followed Dylan’s big, black pickup truck all the way outside of town and along a winding country road. When they turned off the main highway onto a narrow lane, weeping willows met overhead, creating a cool, green, foliage-lined tunnel that filtered sunlight in gentle rays.
Occasionally a pothole left over from the winter gave one of Mia’s tires a jerk, but all in all, the road was in good repair. Cora slept through the trip, though soon she would be demanding to be fed. Thankfully, they rounded a bend in the road and Dylan’s home came into view.
To call it a house would be like calling the Mona Lisa a finger painting. Dylan and his architect had created a magical fairy tale of a place. The structure, built of mountain stone, dark timbers and copper, nestled amidst the grove of hardwood trees as if it had been there forever. A small brook meandered across the front of the property. Someone had built a whimsical bridge over one section and a gazebo near another.
Flowers bloomed everywhere, not in any neat garden, but wild and free, as if they had claimed the space for their own. Mia rolled to a halt behind Dylan and turned off the car. She wanted to take in every wonderful detail, but Cora awoke as soon as the engine stopped.
Even now, Mia marveled that someone so small and perfect was hers to love. Except for getting her nights and days turned around, Cora was a very easy baby. She had already learned to smile and coo, and her pudgy arms and legs were the picture of health.
Try as she might, Mia couldn’t see any evidence of traits from the anonymous man who had donated his sperm. Sometimes she felt guilty for robbing Cora of the chance to have a father, but other times she was simply happy to have a healthy child.
Dylan came back to help her with the diaper bag and the small suitcase that held immediate necessities. “You can have your pick of rooms,” he said, ascending the wide stone staircase in step with her. “There are four bedrooms on the second story, but I’m sure you don’t want to lug Cora up and down the stairs all the time. I think you’ll like the guest suite on the main level. It has a small sitting room where you can put the baby bed, so you won’t have to sleep in the same room with her.”
As he opened the massive front door and ushered Mia inside, she almost gasped. The interior was straight out of an architectural magazine. Vaulted ceilings soared over the living area. Above them, a corridor with a fancy carved railing circled three sides. Doors opened off of it at regular intervals, presumably the bedrooms Dylan had mentioned.
On this level, however, the central open floor plan was flanked by wings to the left and right. “Kitchen, etcetera over there.” Dylan pointed. “And in the opposite direction, two large suites.”
Her cheeks heated. He was telling her that she and Cora would be staying in the wing that housed his quarters. She could ask for one of the rooms upstairs, but he was right. Who wanted to carry a baby up and down the stairs for every nap and diaper change?
Cora began to whimper. Mia realized that feeding time couldn’t be delayed much longer. Thankfully, Dylan was perceptive. He motioned toward the right side of the house. “If you go through the kitchen, you’ll find a sunroom that has comfy chairs. It looks like she’s getting hungry.” He touched her head gently, stroking her silky hair. “She’s been an angel, hasn’t she?”
Mia nodded, feeling her breathing get jerky because he was so close. “It’s actually easier to travel with her now than it will be in a few months. Once she’s mobile, all bets are off.”
His big body loomed over hers, his clothes smelling faintly of smoke, but not masking the aroma of shaving soap and warm male
. Smiling, he cocked his head toward the opposite side of the house. “If you trust me to unload the trailer and set up the crib, I can get started on that while you’re feeding her.”
“I can’t let you do all that,” she protested weakly.
“Exactly how did you expect to hold an infant and unpack at the same time?” he asked.
“Quit being so damned logical.” It had been a very stressful day, and it wasn’t even dinnertime yet.
Dylan put an arm around her shoulders and steered her toward the kitchen. “It takes a village to raise a child—don’t you know?” he said, grinning. “It wouldn’t kill you to say ‘Thank you, Dylan.’”
She sighed inwardly, feeling as if she were being railroaded, but not really having a choice at the moment. “Thank you, Dylan.”
“That’s better. Much better. Now go feed the kid before she gets any redder in the face. I’ll handle all the rest.”
* * *
Mia fell in love with the sunroom. It didn’t really look like a Dylan room at all. At least not the Dylan she knew. Cozy furniture covered in expensive chintz fabric beckoned a visitor to sit and fritter away a few hours. The windows were screened, so clearly when the temperatures allowed, they could be raised easily.
Bookcases lined the wall that bordered the hallway. Their presence gave her pause. Dylan had a long-standing battle with the written word, but maybe he had learned to enjoy some of volumes he had collected. In one corner of the room, a hammock suspended from a metal frame rocked slightly, as if propelled by an unseen hand. Thou shalt not covet. Mia remembered her mom’s gentle admonition when she had wanted a shiny red bicycle like the one the girl next door owned.
Bicycles were one thing, but this room—oh, the temptation. Mia could see herself studying here, playing with Cora when she learned to crawl, perhaps knitting a sweater for someone she loved. In that instant, she realized that she had walked into danger.
Baby for Keeps Page 4
