by Holly Jacobs
He laughed along with her.
And for the first time ever, they simply chatted, sharing bits and pieces of themselves with each other.
It left Mac feeling odd.
He couldn’t quite identify the feeling, and finally gave up trying.
It was enough that they were getting along.
At least for now.
Chapter Four
Mia awoke with a start, sensing something was wrong. Someone was breathing, a soft little intake of air, followed by a small whoosh as they exhaled.
Someone who wasn’t her was breathing.
And since no one else slept with her, that was wrong.
Slowly she opened her eyes and spotted the crib.
Katie.
A baby. A snowstorm. Omelettes. It all came rushing back.
She’d spent the night at Mac’s.
She’d shared a dinner with him. They’d actually chatted and laughed as they did dishes together.
Then Katie had woken up and Mia had fed her and put her back to bed, then gone to bed herself. In Mac’s spare room. Wearing one of his old T-shirts.
She glanced at the clock.
It was seven.
Katie had slept through the night.
She should probably get up and grab a shower before the baby woke up. She lifted the edge of the cover, and immediately put it back down, conserving the warmth.
The heat must have gone out sometime during the night.
If she stayed in bed, she could simply wait for Mac to restart it or fix it, or whatever he had to do.
But what if he couldn’t?
She thought of Katie. Gritting her teeth, she got out of the bed and hurried to the baby’s crib. All she could make out of the baby was the shocking tuft of red hair.
Gently, she touched her cheek and was relieved to find it warm.
Shivering, she made her way to Mac’s room and knocked on the door. He didn’t answer.
She opened it and called, “Mac?”
Still nothing.
“Mac?” she said louder.
A loud snore was his only response.
Knowing that he had to get the house warmer before his pipes froze—before they all froze—she walked into the room toward the murky outline of his bed. She could just make out enough to navigate in the shadowed room. She reached out and shook his shoulder. His bare shoulder.
He was warm to the touch. Almost hot.
No almost about it—the man was hot. In a heat sort of way, not in an attractive sort of way.
Not that he wasn’t attractive. He was. But that didn’t mean she was attracted to him. Oh, no. The rest of the female population could ooh and ahh over Mac, but Mia would never do that. She had too much…sense. Yep, that’s what she had, sense.
Of course, she didn’t have enough sense to stop ogling him and wake him up already so she could crawl back into her warm bed.
“Mac,” she said, “come on, wake up. There’s no heat.”
“What?”
“Mac, come on. I’m worried about the baby.”
Reminding him of the baby worked. He sat bolt upright in bed. “What’s wrong with the baby?”
“Nothing yet, but the house is cold. Very cold. Abnormally cold. You need to start up the heater or fireplace, or do something.”
“You’re shivering. Go get back in bed while I see what’s up.”
Mia knew she should argue, but she was too cold to. “Thanks. Holler if you need me.”
She raced back into the guest room and scrambled back under the covers. She just wanted to go home. Or go to work. To go anywhere that wasn’t here.
She’d had such odd dreams last night. Dreams that featured her and a man. A man who looked remarkably like Mac. But she was sure it wasn’t Mac. After all, if she was dreaming about Mac, it would be a nightmare, not the hot kind of dream she’d experienced.
She heard a snuffling sound from the baby’s crib. She got up and wrapped the quilt around her shoulders as she shuffled over to the bed.
“Hello, sleepy-head.”
Katie gurgled.
“You really are a good-natured little girl, aren’t you?”
Mia leaned over and retrieved the baby. “Come on, let’s go downstairs and see if Mac’s got a fire going. We’ll change your diaper where it’s warm, then get you a bottle, okay?”
She took the baby along with her blankets into her arm, and with her quilt dragging behind her, went downstairs. Mac had a roaring fire going.
“Oh, you are good,” she told him as she sat down on the floor, as close as she could get to its heat. “For that, I’ll even change this diaper.”
“If all it takes is a fire to get out of diapers, I’d build them right into July for you.”
“Ah, but I won’t be here in July. As a matter of fact, I won’t be here much longer today.” It was way past time to go home.
Mac got a look on his face that made her nervous.
“I won’t be here much longer, will I?” she asked.
“Did you look out your window this morning?”
“No-o-o,” she said slowly, dragging out the word.
“Well, remember how bad it was last night?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s worse today. Much worse. The power’s out, which is why we had no heat. Luckily, I have a wood-stove in the basement. The previous owners used it to heat the house. It’s generally easier to just use the furnace, but when storms like this hit, I’m glad I have it. I got the fire up here going first. You watch Katie and I’ll go start it up, okay?”
“Sure.”
He left and a sinking feeling settled over Mia. She was trapped with Mac, for the foreseeable future.
Last night had been odd. Almost intimate. Sharing family stories, sharing the work of caring for the baby, of doing chores. It was almost as if they were a couple.
But the last person in the world she’d want to couple with was Larry Mackenzie.
And here she was, trapped with him.
“Great,” she said to Katie. “Just great.”
The baby cooed. She didn’t seem to mind the weather.
Well, that made one person happy.
“Mac?” Mia asked, needing to break the silence.
She was trapped in his house, sitting next to him on his couch, because she’d tried to help him out. The least he could do was talk to her.
They’d passed the day slowly, most of their activities centered on the weather or the baby.
Mia hadn’t been able to decide which required more attention, storms or babies. It was a toss-up.
Mac had got out the snowblower and tried clearing the driveway and sidewalk, but he no sooner got back inside, than everything was covered again.
Mia was pretty sure she got the best part of the workload. She’d stayed in the house with Katie, sitting close to the fire where it was warmest. She marveled at how smart the baby was.
Katie not only crawled, but sat up. Well, sometimes her sitting up seemed to involve some falling, but Mia was delighted. And Katie seemed equally impressed with her abilities. She cooed and babbled away merrily.
Mia realized that she’d quite lost her heart to Katie O’Keefe who was sleeping in Mac’s arms. The warm feeling that spread through Mia’s chest had to be because of Katie, not the man who cradled her so tenderly.
She had to concentrate on something other than Mac and Katie.
She tried to read, but all Mac’s books seemed to be of a legal suspense, or mystery nature. Neither of which were really holding her interest. The one in her hand was about a stalker. She just couldn’t focus on the story.
That had to be why she kept glancing over at Mac. Even when he was annoying he was more interesting than the selection of reading material he kept.
The way he held Katie…it did something to her.
No.
It wasn’t Mac. It was his lack of a good book selection. What she wouldn’t give for a good romance…something to warm her from the inside out
. But Mac wasn’t a romance kind of guy. The string of women Mia had watched waltz in and out of his life had more than proven that Mac would never make a commitment to any woman. But maybe he could to this baby.
“Mac,” Mia repeated. “What are you going to do with Katie? You’re just going to let her go?”
He obviously wasn’t a talking type of guy either. She wasn’t sure he was going to answer her.
He finally said, “I’m not going to just let her go. I’m going to find her a good home. No, not just good, the best. Perfect. People will be lining up to adopt her.”
“So, you’re still sure about not keeping her? I thought maybe, since you’ve spent some time with her, you’d have changed your mind.”
If Mac kept Katie then Mia could visit her. She could baby-sit. Anytime. Why she’d—
“I’m positive I’m not keeping her. I’m not having kids—ever.” His voice was flat, and there was a sense of finality about his statement.
Mia’s fantasy of being the Mary Poppins baby-sitter in Katie’s life evaporated. She felt a wave of sadness. “That’s a shame. I’ve watched you with her and you’d make a good father.”
“Shows how much you know,” he said and then was silent.
Mia realized she’d inadvertently touched on some old wound and reached out and laid her hand on his. It was meant to be a casual, comforting touch. But there was nothing casual or comforting about it for her.
A small jolt of awareness surged through her body. She realized Mac was more than just a guy at work who drove her crazy. She felt something for him, something that went beyond their teasing, bickering relationship.
She pulled her hand back, not wanting to see more about Mac than that. She wanted to be able to go to work next week and fall back into their old comfortable rhythm of sniping and spatting. She was suddenly afraid that it wouldn’t happen.
“You’re seeing only a part of the picture,” Mac said. “You’ve just seen me with Katie yesterday and today. That’s nothing. Two days. Anyone can be a good parent for two days. We’re talking the rest of Katie O’Keefe’s life here. And she deserves better than she’d get from me.”
“And you don’t think you’d always show the same care and concern for her?”
“I know I wouldn’t.”
“As much as I hate saying it because it would be a compliment, I’m going to say it anyway—I disagree.” She smiled. “You know thinking the worst of you is my favorite pastime, but I’ve seen another side of you, a side you try to hide. It’s not just the last couple days. It’s when all those months ago you allowed yourself to be named a guardian for the child of a woman you didn’t even know. It’s all the time you volunteer with Our Home, helping kids who don’t have anyone on their side. And now, with Katie, when you hold her, you feel something as well. Something deep. That baby couldn’t ask for more. Someone who cares. Who will love her.”
“You’re thinking with your heart,” he said, a note of derision in his tone.
It was a tone guaranteed to set Mia’s teeth on edge, but this time, it didn’t. She felt something else, something she wasn’t going to analyze, but she was sure it wasn’t annoyance.
“As a lawyer,” he continued, “I have to analyze each case and work out a strategy based on all the facts at my disposal. It’s not just what my client says, it’s not even whether they’re innocent or guilty. It’s not how their story tugs at my heart. It’s the whole picture.”
“And are you going to share your whole story with me?”
He shook his head. “No. Just suffice to say, that there are circumstances in my past that lead me to believe that I’m not a very good risk in the parenting department. They say you emulate your parents with your own kids, and I wouldn’t wish that on any child. So I’ve opted not to have any. Not ever. Not Katie.”
She wanted to argue some more. Whatever his parents did or didn’t do, whatever baggage he was carrying, she knew in her heart that it wouldn’t keep him from being a good parent.
Whatever it was would make him a great one.
But she could see in his expression that he’d never believe her…couldn’t believe in himself that much.
She thought she’d seen all there was to see of Mac. A strong, confident attorney. A comic who liked making people laugh. A man who had a string of women, but never let any of them get too close.
But now she saw more. She could try to tell him what she saw, but he’d never buy it, so she simply said, “Okay.”
He looked surprised. “That’s it? You’re not going to press and pry?”
“If you ever want to tell me about whatever it is, I’ll listen. That’s what friends are for.”
“And is that what we are? Friends?”
She smiled. “Strange as it may seem—not just strange, but shocking—I think we are. If you’d said as much last week, I’d have laughed in your face. But I’ve been sitting here letting the realization that something’s changed between us sink in.”
“Don’t let it change too much,” he said, serious.
“What?”
“I mean it. Friends? That I can do. But don’t go falling in love with me. Even if I were looking for a relationship—which I’m not—but if I were, it wouldn’t be with you. You’re the kind of woman that wants the whole ball of wax. That’s the last thing I want. And then there’s the simple fact that we’d kill each other. So, get the stars out of your eyes. I’m not the man for you.”
Mia tried—after all, men had such fragile egos—so she tried to hold back, truly she did. But she couldn’t help it.
A loud chuckle escaped, just a small bark of laughter.
The baby gave a visible jump in Mac’s arms, but then snuffled in closer to his chest and went back to sleep.
Mia tried to stifle the laughter, but it built and the pressure was too great. Chuckles burst out and escalated until she was laughing so hard that tears streamed from her eyes.
“What?” he asked in a hushed tone, looking confused.
His confusion only made her laugh harder.
“Of all the conceited—” she stopped and dragged in a long breath, trying to calm herself. “Listen, Larry, I’ve discovered that I do like you, which is nothing short of a miracle. But love?”
She giggled some more.
“Okay, it wasn’t that funny,” he said, looking annoyed.
“Sure it was. You and me? An item? In love? Why, the entire firm would never recover from the shock. We’d be able to go on Ripley’s Believe It or Not as the world’s wackiest couple. I’ll admit, there’s more to you than I ever imagined. I’ve seen that. And I’m woman enough to admit I was wrong about you. I truly believe that you’d be a great parent for Katie. But a boyfriend? A significant other? Larry, you’re a real toad when it comes to women. I’m waiting for a prince and I won’t settle for less.”
“Frog,” he said.
“What?” she asked.
Following Larry’s train of thought was like jumping through flaming hoops…dangerous and more than a little scary.
“To make the analogy work, I’d have to be a frog when it came to women, not a toad.”
Geesh, trust Larry to be literal. “Toad, frog…dog for that matter. Either way, you leave a trail of women behind you. Let’s agree right here and now that although our relationship may have changed a little, it’s not changed enough to make me think dating you would be the wise thing to do.”
“Agreed.”
Katie gave a small yawn and stretched. She started blinking her eyes.
Saved by the baby, Mia thought with relief. Talking about Larry and relationships, that was just too much for any normal human being to handle.
“The snowplow just went by,” Mac said. “If they’ve made it up here, then the main streets must be clear.”
“You mean I can go home?” Mia asked, smiling broadly.
Mac felt slightly disgruntled. After all, she didn’t have to look quite so happy about it.
Actually, it wasn’t h
er look of happiness that caused his disgruntlement. The feeling had been pretty constant since her little fit of hysterics earlier.
Not that he wanted her to fall in love with him.
Mia in love with him?
It didn’t bear consideration.
But still, her uncontrollable laughter at the thought was almost insulting.
A lot of women thought he was a good catch. He was successful, ambitious and brushed his teeth regularly. Mia could do a lot worse.
But she deserved a lot better, a small voice in his head whispered.
He felt even more out-of-sorts.
“It stopped snowing almost two hours ago. The electricity is back on, and we’re plowed out. Yes, I think it’s time for you to go.”
Mac was grateful. He’d been in Mia’s company for more than twenty-four hours. That was about a day too long.
“Great! Let me run upstairs and change Katie before we bundle her up for the trip.”
She scooped up the baby and practically danced up the stairs.
She didn’t have to be that happy about leaving.
It’s not as if they’d fought.
Why, they’d both been on their best behavior. No one at the firm would believe they could be together for a day and still be alive.
Of course, there was that little laughing incident. That definitely wasn’t a fight. Turns out they both felt the same way. But she didn’t have to laugh quite that hard.
After all, she’d been sitting there, pretending to read that book, while all the time she was making goo-goo eyes at him and the baby.
When he warned her about falling in love with him, a small chuckle might have been warranted, but carrying on like that? Well, it was bad form.
Not that it hurt his feelings.
The last thing in the world he needed was Mia Gallagher falling in love with him.
He pressed the button on his key ring that started the car. He wanted the interior warm for Katie.
“We’re ready,” Mia said as she reentered the living room. “It will only take a minute to get her bundled.”
“It will take more than a minute for you to get all your layers on. You start, and I’ll get Katie ready.”
She gave him a look—the type of look he’d grown to expect from Mia. It spoke of annoyance and aggravation.
