“That means yes,” Sarah said, then, possibly at the glower he gave her, went back to wiping the countertop.
“Wrong,” he said with his scary calm. “It’s nothing you can help me with.”
“It’s the grandparents again, isn’t it?” Cassie scowled.
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Point is they’re not giving up. I see that now.”
“Listen, Levi,” Sarah said. “If you need money to hire a lawyer, Matt and I can—”
“No.” His friends had done enough, and Sarah and Matt were getting married next year. Saving money was their goal, not bailing him out. “I’m not taking your money. This is my problem.”
Cassie patted his shoulder. “You’ll figure it out.”
“It’s crazy.” Levi took another swig of coffee, then set it down. “But sometimes I catch myself thinking that maybe Grace would be better off with Sandy’s parents.”
He didn’t voice that thought often, but what did he know about raising a little girl? The only thing he knew about parenting was what not to do. Don’t leave your kids every summer. Don’t make them feel that the only way you’ll love them is if they’re on the principal’s honor roll. A parent’s love should never be conditional. And beyond everything else, don’t abandon them, whatever the reasons.
Cassie picked up the newspaper Sarah kept on the counter for customers, rolled it up and swatted him over the head with it.
“How could you possibly think that little baby girl would be better off without you?”
“They have more resources than I do. And Sandy’s stepmother already raised two other daughters.”
Besides, what the hell would Grace learn from him, other than stats for the Dallas Cowboys or how to keep her emotional distance from the people who loved her?
“All I know is that this isn’t the first time in my life I’ve had to face that the right thing to do isn’t always the easiest one.”
Cassie pointed at him. “Do not try that with me, young man. I know that better than anyone. So now I have to ask you a question. What makes you think it’s going to be easy to raise her?”
“I didn’t say—”
“Exactly. It’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do. Believe me.”
“No. The hardest thing would be losing her when she’s older and she realizes what’s happening.”
After she gets used to me, and I can’t live without her.
He’d never had that in his life. Never had anyone he couldn’t easily walk away from. He had his parents to thank for that. They’d raised him so that he would depend on himself, and not on them.
But he couldn’t deny there were times he longed to get away. To be free to go back to the air force and let that be his entire life again. It was comfortable. Routine. A life he understood. As soon as that errant thought would cross his mind, though, he’d be consumed by guilt. He’d picture Grace’s angelic face as she slept, tiny mouth suckling in her sleep. He couldn’t leave her behind. She was his, and the truth was he could no sooner give her up than he could stop flying.
“Levi, please don’t say you’re doing this.” Sarah had tears in her eyes. “A baby is such a wonderful gift.”
“Look at what you’ve done! You made Sarah cry,” Cassie said.
“I’m okay.” But she threw her head back, presumably to keep the tears from rolling out.
Cassie sighed. “It can’t go on forever. Sooner or later they’ll give up and regain their senses. Figure out that they’re too old to start over and raise a baby. Then maybe you can just let them see Grace every once in a while. Just to be a part of her life.”
They’d gone so far now he wasn’t sure he could ever trust them with Grace. But he wanted to. She needed an extended family. He still wondered if his own parents ever intended to come back stateside to meet their only granddaughter. Of course, they’d said they would, but they said a lot of things.
“You’re wrong. They requested an emergency screening. Claimed they fear for Grace’s safety in my care.”
Cassie slapped the counter with her newspaper. “What do you need from us? Character witnesses? Whatever you need.”
“Me, too,” Sarah said. “And you know Matt is there when you need him. Anything.”
When he’d held Grace in his arms for the first time, he’d had no idea how much his life would change. And continue to change. The hits just kept coming. When would they stop? By the time all was said and done, he might not recognize his life at all.
Matt came out of nowhere, let himself behind the counter of the Snack Shack and wrapped his arms around Sarah’s waist. “Hey, babe. What are we talking about?”
“Levi has some trouble.”
“Oh, yeah?” Matt smirked. “Women, right? That’s his usual trouble.”
Sarah turned in the circle of Matt’s arms and smiled at him. “Tell him. Tell him how easy it is to say, ‘I was wrong, and you were right.’”
The idiot man didn’t even blink. He simply appeared to have been hit with the silly stick. “Sure. I was wrong. You were right.”
“See?” Sarah turned briefly to smile at Levi, then to Matt to give him a hug. “Easy.”
Matt took that opportunity to grin over Sarah’s shoulder and mouth to Levi, “I am so getting laid tonight.”
“I told you to listen to her,” Cassie said.
But Levi had already mentally checked out of the ridiculous display. He knew exactly what he had to do. Never one to back down, he’d take action and treat this like any other problem. Deal with it. Head-on. Just slice all the pesky emotions right out of the deal. It was surprising it had taken him this long to do it, which he’d blame on lack of sleep. Not being at the top of his game. He whipped out his phone, and while Matt and Sarah were making out, he fired off an email to Sandy’s stepmother, Irene, bypassing Frank altogether. Short. Sweet. Simple.
Let’s talk.
CHAPTER EIGHT
CARLY SPENT MOST of the day begging Grace to stop crying, taking her for three walks in the stroller because that seemed to be the only thing that worked and giving her a sponge bath after Grace took the pear-flavored gourmet baby food Carly spoon-fed her and put it in her hair, in her ears and up her nose. How she managed to do that Carly would never know, but once those chubby hands started flailing, it was like a mystery wrapped in an enigma. The UPS guy had delivered three packages—one of them she’d had to sign for when Grace was in the middle of testing out the great set of lungs she’d inherited.
She’d worked at the sewing machine during one of Grace’s power naps and pulled apart the little baby jeans she’d bought on a whim. They hadn’t fit right—just not well designed, in her humble opinion. And way too...plain. But Carly saw possibility. She added ribbon and lace and a cute hem. Then took several more photos of Grace wearing lacy hipster jeans and uploaded them to the blog, continuing to bank on the theory that a picture could take the place of words. Because the writing...it felt like bleeding sometimes.
Fortunately none of the readers had asked about the baby in her photos. They probably simply assumed she had the kind of money to hire a baby model. She was fine with that. She certainly didn’t want her readers to know that she, Carly Gilmore, was the baby’s nanny. How would that look?
While Grace took another nap, Carly filled out several interviews for a publicist Kirk had hired to help: why, yes, she looked forward to heading up RockYourBaby. Moms everywhere should eagerly anticipate what they’d have going on in the next few months.
Fear pressed down again, creating a solid lump in Carly’s throat. She was getting much closer to making a decision about her life. This was both wonderful and terrifying. Dad thought she should finish school in New York City. It was true that she shouldn’t have allowed one setback to determine the rest of her life. She’d been young and made a stupid mi
stake she wouldn’t make again. It was time to take another chance on the life she wanted.
She would finally be able to do that soon enough, and she couldn’t afford for anything to go wrong now. Not now that she’d regained the confidence of all of Mom’s loyal readers.
Carly heard Levi’s truck pull into the driveway next door and glanced at the baby monitor on the coffee table. In her spare room, Grace was still quietly asleep in the crib.
Levi walked in the front door as he had become accustomed to when she expected him. He stood in the doorway, framed by the late-afternoon sun, aviator shades still covering his eyes. Then he took them off, propped them on his head and let her see his expression.
She frequently had trouble reading him, but the drawn-together eyebrows and tight jaw told her one thing: he was not happy.
“Hey.” He shut the door and took a few steps toward where she stood in the middle of the great room.
“Grace is still taking her nap. Is something wrong?”
“Yeah.”
His voice, low, deep and gravelly with just a touch of a Southern accent, caused a pull to start low in her belly and move south.
She followed him into the living room, where he plopped onto her couch. His hands hung between his long, spread-out legs. “Sandy’s parents asked for an emergency custody screening. They fear for Grace’s safety with me.”
He made this rather painful comment with little emotion, even while her heart plunged to her stomach.
Determination was set in his square jaw. Clearly, Levi was a man who rolled with the punches. Who didn’t waste time being too bitter about things he couldn’t very well change. And damn, whatever else she felt right now, she admired that about him. While she’d been caught up in Levi’s blue eyes and boyish grin, while her ovaries had done cartwheels for him, he’d been going through a rough time.
At the first meeting with her brothers and father about RockYourBaby, it had been decided within minutes that she would take over. They’d all been sucker-punched, grieving over Mom’s sudden death from a heart attack. Her father had been inconsolable, rendering him incapable of making the big decisions. Her brothers had families and careers of their own. Carly had worked at the Drip, and so it was left to her to manage and sell the business. Ironically enough, she’d felt as though she’d been handed a baby she didn’t want. Her life had switched directions in one swift moment, because she needed to be the one to step up.
So yeah, she could relate. But in her case, her brothers clearly had more faith in her than they should have. Sounded just the opposite of Levi’s problem.
“Why? Th-that’s ridiculous. She’s perfectly safe.”
“They don’t see me as the brightest example of fatherhood. Maybe I’m not, you know, but I’m trying. I’ve already done a lot that’s been asked of me. I left the air force and settled down in Fortune. I have ties to the community. I’ve got a job. A house. But to Sandy’s parents, it’s all done for show.”
“What are you going to do?”
He opened his mouth, then shut it again. “Whatever it takes.”
“Good.”
“I sent Sandy’s stepmother an email earlier today. She emailed me back to say that they’re flying out here on Wednesday. So we’re going to meet at the park the next day, and I’m bringing Grace. She wants to see her, make sure she’s okay. She seems reasonable. Maybe we can talk this out and come to a logical conclusion.”
He acted as though he were talking about the weather. The last time she couldn’t find Double Stuf Oreos at the store, she’d been more upset than he seemed at the moment.
“I think you’re smart to let her see Grace. Once she sees how well Grace is doing, she’ll back off.”
“Maybe.”
“I’ll do anything you need. Be a character witness for you. Tell them how much you love her. How she follows your voice and she knows you. She wouldn’t do well without you.” She got teary just talking about this. “And I won’t mention all the crying she does.”
Just the thought of Grace and Levi being ripped apart, and she was near tears. What a sap. But simply put, poor Grace couldn’t also lose her father. She’d already lost her mother so young.
“Sometimes you’re the only thing that keeps me grounded,” Levi said, shoving a hand through his hair.
It was left mussed, sticking up slightly, and her pulse kicked up at seeing him look so...defenseless.
“Me?”
The thought that she could do that for him meant more to her than it probably should.
“Babe, you have to know that you drive me crazy.” He gave her an easy smile. “In a good way.”
She sucked in a breath but didn’t speak. It seemed they’d just crossed some kind of invisible line. Babe. No point in ignoring the obvious. They liked kissing each other. And maybe they’d like a few other things, too.
He crooked his finger.
She went to him like a cat to catnip and allowed him to pull her onto his lap. Her short floral skater skirt rose to indecent heights as she straddled him. He took full advantage, hands skimming up her bare thighs.
“So soft,” he said in a low and throaty tone.
His voice, deep and gravelly, had her nipples hard. Carly nipped at his lower lip, earning a very male groan from him.
His gaze heated. “That’s hot.”
Levi kissed her, his wicked tongue warm and wet. His hand dived under her T-shirt, sliding up and down her spine, settling at the small of her back. She lost her head and rocked her hips against the bulge in his pants. That pulled an even rougher, more erotic sound out of him, and his hands lowered to tighten on her hips.
“Mmm,” she whispered into his warm neck. He smelled so good. “You know, this is still not a good idea.”
“Agreed. Because of the nanny/boss thing. So predictable.” He gently pushed her to her back and covered her with his warm, big body.
She wrapped her legs around him. “If there’s one thing I hate, it’s being predictable.”
“You and me both.”
He continued to kiss her and drive her out of her mind, the bulge in his pants rock hard and pressing into her belly. She really wanted to take care of that for him, but there was a baby in the next room. His baby. Then Levi’s hand was under her skirt and between her thighs, fingers pushing aside her panties, and she forgot all about Grace.
“Levi,” she moaned, clinging to him, undulating her hips as his fingers slid in and out of her folds, creating a rapidly building and delicious friction.
“Shh.” He brushed a kiss across her lips.
“I’m going to stop talking now,” she gasped.
“Thank you.”
He gave her a slow smile while his fingers continued their magic. He whispered hot and dirty words in her ear of what he’d like to do to her, urging her closer to the edge of the precipice. She came shockingly fast, shuddering and moaning his name, climaxing harder than she ever had before.
“Now you,” she said, reaching between them.
“No. This was about you.”
“But—”
“There’s no time,” he said, pressing a kiss to her temple. “I’m going to need a few uninterrupted hours.”
“A few...hours?”
He rose from the couch. “You didn’t think once would be enough for me, did you?”
As if on cue, Grace wailed from her crib, which led Carly to believe that perhaps Levi was not just gorgeous, smart and a great kisser with magic hands.
He might also be a little bit psychic.
* * *
WHEN THE PLANE landed at San Francisco International, Irene Lane reached for her husband Frank’s hand and squeezed it.
“Maybe while we’re here we can check out one of those cute little B and Bs in wine country I’m always r
eading about in Travel magazine.”
“Yeah, sure,” Frank grunted.
But after more than twenty years of marriage, Irene could interpret Frank’s grunts like an expert. That grunt meant “Are you crazy, woman? We’re here to get Grace back, not to have a good time.”
She let go of his hand. “Can we stop here in San Francisco and visit the wharf?”
They hadn’t had a real vacation in years. Sue her if she wanted to take advantage of this trip to California. Of course, it helped that, unlike Frank, she had a strong sense of Levi Lambert. And he was no deadbeat dad. The email she’d received, which she’d kept secret from Frank, told the story. Levi wanted to work something out. She knew better than to tell Frank, because, with his usual flair, he’d make a federal case out of it. Accuse Levi of trying to play them against each other. Insist he had a plan to come between them.
“The airport is south of San Francisco,” Frank said with his mock patience. “Going to San Francisco is out of our way.”
She supposed that was a dig at her fantastic sense of direction. “But the emergency screening isn’t until Monday.”
“We need to check in at the hotel and get situated. I have to work on my strategy. You don’t expect me to give up when I’m this close to getting her back? Just watch. Once we’ve got him surrounded from all sides, Levi is going to fold like a cheap umbrella.”
Frank made it sound like he was planning an attack at daylight.
And then what? she wanted to ask him. They’d have Grace, but she wouldn’t have her father or her mother in her life. Irene loved her granddaughter, but she wasn’t exactly in the position to start over again at the age of sixty-two. These were supposed to be their so-called golden years as Frank neared retirement. They’d planned to travel and visit the children and grandchildren scattered all over the United States.
Not this.
She hadn’t wanted a legal battle, because she’d already seen how dirty they could be, but she had one now. Having been through one divorce, Irene knew how ugly this could get if they allowed it. But Frank wouldn’t listen to her. She wanted to believe that all she needed to change his mind was one good argument and he’d bend. Proof that Grace would be safe. He’d go back to being the same solid and strong man she’d fallen for all those years ago. A man raising his daughter, Sandy, on his own. Surely he could understand why Levi might want to do the same.
This Baby Business Page 7
