Baby Under the Christmas Tree

by Teresa Carpenter

  “This isn’t about me.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed so his shin rested against her arm. “If I merely needed a babysitter, I have a hundred women I could call who would be happy to help me, and all of them would be a lot more accommodating.”

  “I bet.” She barely kept herself from snorting. “So do me a favor and call one of them.”

  “Ray said I could have you.”

  She hoped that wasn’t true.

  She threw him a give-me-a-break glance and used his knee to leverage herself off the floor. She turned to see Troy playing peek-a-boo with the covers. He stared up at her with guarded blue eyes.

  She wanted nothing more than to sweep him up and hug him better. Instead she hardened her heart. She bent to kiss his mop of blond curls. And immediately reminded herself to stop with the kisses. It was hard because she was so used to being free with her affections when it came to kids.

  “Be good for Daddy,” she told him and then headed for the door. “I’m going now.”

  “I told you, this isn’t about me.” Max followed hot on her heels. “It’s about Troy. I’m finally going to do what I should have done two years ago. I’m going to bring Troy to live with me. Ray said you’d help me.”

  Elle stopped and spun around. “Are you serious?”

  She didn’t know whether to applaud his decision or be worried for Troy’s welfare.

  “Dead serious.” He glanced around to where Troy squirmed around under the covers. “Will you help?”

  “A custody battle will be a public nightmare.”

  “I have custody. But it’ll still be a nightmare. Amber won’t make this easy. But I have to think of Troy. This isn’t the first time she’s not returned when she said she would. She’s done it to me, to her mother and a few others. But this is the first time she’s left him with someone I don’t know. I’m not okay with that.”

  Elle bit her lip and reluctantly nodded. For Troy’s sake she’d help Max. She really had no choice if Ray had already committed her.

  “I’ll talk to Ray. We’ll put together a plan. But first I need to go home to shower and change.”

  “You can do that here,” he insisted. “I’m sure I can find something for you to wear.”

  “No, thank you.” She continued on her journey toward freedom. “I’ll think better in my own clothes.”

  “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “I highly doubt that. I’ve heard some of what’s said in the locker room.”

  His hand wrapped around hers, derailing her escape. And suddenly hard arms surrounded her, pulling her close to all that exposed skin, and his mouth, warm and inviting, settled on hers.

  Immediately her arms came up between them and her head went back, breaking the lip-to-lip contact.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

  “Huh.” He didn’t seem to hear her. His pupils were dilated and his gaze held an odd flare of anticipation, as if he’d found something fascinating. “Kissing you. And I want more.”

  His head dipped and he claimed her mouth with his as he shifted her so she rested in the crook of his arm. She stiffened, ready to fight, but oh, he felt good. And sleep deprivation must be getting to her because he seduced her by softly deepening the kiss, by rocking her gently against him, by disarming her with pleasure.

  With a bold sweep of his tongue he shared his taste as he sipped from her in turn. The man tasted better than coffee and was just as potent. She wanted to melt into him and absorb all his heat, savor the passion he sent rushing through her blood. Which was exactly why she pushed him away again.

  “Max! Stop it.” She pushed at his shoulders. “Are you insane?”

  His sapphire eyes focused on hers. “Apparently, because I liked that a lot. I was hoping to change your mind about leaving.”

  “Well, you haven’t.” She tried to step back, but his arms tightened as he stared into her eyes.

  “Come on, Elle, we both know the animosity between us is a defense against an inconvenient attraction.”

  “What I know is we already made this mistake and you found it easy enough to walk away, which means you’re only using me now. And my answer is no.” She refused to accept that the sizzle between them held any depth. Or that it was mutual. He’d already proven he found her totally resistible.

  “Is that what you think?” He lifted hungry eyes from her lips to her eyes. “That was me running from trouble.”

  “Yeah? Well, nothing has changed. Let go, Max.”

  This time he released her. She immediately stepped back, but he grabbed her arm, holding her in place. And she saw why when she glanced down and saw Troy standing underfoot.

  “Daddy.” Troy tugged at Max’s sweatpants, and Max swung the toddler into his arms. He appeared unaffected by the embrace, except for the color riding the sharp lines of his cheekbones.

  Troy instantly held his arms out to Elle. She shook her head.

  “What should I do while you’re gone?”

  “Change him, feed him.” She turned to leave. If he could pretend to be unmoved so could she. “If you’re going to be a full-time dad, you’d better get used to it.”

  Max stepped into her path bringing her face-to-face with father and son, an innocent and a beard-shadowed ruffian. What a mismatched pair, and Max wanted her to bring them together.

  “I’m not messing around,” Max snapped, snagging her gaze with an intent stare. “I can change a diaper. That wasn’t what I was asking. Don’t try to blow me off, Elle. If you’re not back here in an hour, I’ll personally see to it that your next job is ticket-taker. Are we clear?”

  “Too clear.” She pulled free and hurried down the stairs. When she made the turn at the bend he still stood there watching her. Emotions seething, she stopped. “I know you’re used to violence on the ice, but intimidation isn’t going to work in this situation. It’s going to be about the law and what’s best for Troy. It’s going to be about appearances and using professionalism and persuasion to get what you want.

  “This is my arena,” she reminded him, “where I’m the stud. You’ll need to do what I say, when I say, how I say. If you have a problem with that, you can take it up with Ray.” She waited a beat and when he simply scowled at her, she demanded, “Are we clear?”

  His eyes flashed his displeasure, but he gave a sharp nod.

  “Good.” She offered him a smile that was all teeth. “The first thing you should know is I don’t respond well to threats. I’ll be back when I’ve showered and changed.”

  Pleased to have put him in his place, she hid a real smile and continued down the stairs.

  “Pick up some breakfast, will you?” He tossed the directive down at her. “I don’t keep food in the house.”

  She ground her teeth together, aware he’d put her in her place. Miserable man. He needed help all right, but not her. They were oil and vinegar; it would be a mistake to work together. She needed to talk to Ray, to fix this.

  * * *

  As soon as she got on the road, Elle called her boss. She wanted to hear it from him that she was to give her time to Max.

  “Elle,” he greeted her briskly. “What’s the status on Max’s situation?”

  She gritted her teeth at the clear indication Max had been telling the truth. “I wanted to talk to you before I got too far in my planning. Are you sure the team wants to get involved in Max’s private drama?”

  “Ordinarily I’d say no,
but the press is going to be all over this and I’d prefer to be ahead of the game. A press conference might be too overt,” Ray speculated, voicing one of Elle’s concerns. “Max is trying to do the right thing by his son. We need to get that out before Amber can make him out to be the bad guy.”

  “Ray, a bandage isn’t going to fix this. It’s going to take a full-scale plan to rearrange his life on a personal front and a strategic campaign to change the public’s persona of him.”

  “Exactly. So what’s the problem?”

  She cleared her throat. “Are you sure I’m the best one for the job? There’s the Jaden incident I should be working on.”

  She couldn’t tell him she disliked The Beast, that would be unprofessional—true but unprofessional—and she wasn’t going there.

  But she didn’t want to risk any more close encounters with Max either. She’d melted like wax when he put the lip-lock on her. Just like last time.

  Clearly she couldn’t trust him. Or herself.

  Running from trouble! As if that was an explanation for ditching her—

  No, she wasn’t going there. The past was better left in the past. To bring it up would infer an interest she didn’t have. And couldn’t afford.

  “There’re the new team commercials to finish up this week,” she reminded Ray. “Plus I’m working with the printers on the brochure for the owners’ meeting at the end of the month.”

  “So get Jenna to help you.” He dismissed her workload. “It’s that or I assign her to Max and I’d rather not do that.”

  Everything in Elle rebelled at that option. Elle had taken the girl under her wing and mentored her. Jenna was fresh and bright and enthusiastic. She had a lot of talent and potential, but she still held the players in awe. The Beast would eat her alive.

  Not to mention this deal had disaster written all over it.

  Jenna would be out of her depth and Max would walk all over her, which meant Elle would probably be called on to fix anything that went wrong. She chewed on her lower lip, knowing it would be so much better to be in control and prevent those mistakes from happening to begin with.

  But if things went south, she could kiss her plans for advancement goodbye. And with Max’s kiss still tingling on her tongue she knew she risked everything if she took the job. She made one last stab at salvation.

  “Are you sure this situation doesn’t require your special touch?” she asked hopefully. After all he was retiring, his career couldn’t be hurt.

  “No time. I have to hold Natalie’s hand for the whole Wish upon a Puck gala event. It’s only three weeks away now. The woman can’t make a decision to save her life. Tell me again how I got stuck with this assignment?”

  “You and the owner go way back and his delicate daughter knows you and feels comfortable working with you, because she knows you’re a pushover.”

  A snort came down the line.

  “See, that’s why I need you on this Beasley issue. You see the big picture and can cut through the bull. What’s it going to be? Are you going to take it on or should I send Jenna over?”

  “You know he’ll just push her around.”

  “And she’s not your little sister. It’s a tough business. The blinders have to come off some time.”

  Dang it. Dang it. Dang it. Elle sighed. If she didn’t take it she’d be letting both herself and him down. And in her heart she knew she’d be letting Troy down. Hadn’t she vowed to do her best by him last night?

  “I’ll do it. But you have to back me up, Ray. Tell him my word is law.”

  “I already have,” he told her as if he’d never been in any doubt she’d agree. “Keep me in the loop. I’ll be monitoring the situation. And Elle.”

  “Yes?”

  “This is a sensitive issue and I trust you to be on top of it. I know you have your eye on the directorship when I retire next year. Handle this right and you’ll be sitting pretty.”

  With that the line went dead.

  Elle slowly closed her phone. It was already ugly.

  Making it through this assignment with her job intact might be the least of her worries. She was going to have to do her best to not outright kill the man.

  * * *

  “If you have custody, why is Troy living with his mother?” Elle thrust a fragrant bag branded with familiar golden arches into Max’s arms when he opened the door to her almost exactly an hour later.

  “Really?” He popped a hash-brown potato stick into his mouth and pulled a sausage-and-egg sandwich from the bag. “She’s his mother, and I travel more than half the year.”

  “Huh. So why petition for custody to begin with?” She powered through to the kitchen, where he’d set up Troy in a high chair with cereal loops on the tray.

  “Because I prefer to be the one to say how much I pay for child support.” He unwrapped the sandwich, cut it in half and gave part to Troy.

  “What do you pay her?” Elle asked as she sat at the island and pulled a computer pad from her purse.

  “Why? What difference does it make?”

  She sighed. “This is going to take a really long time if you’re going to question everything I ask. I need to get a feel for this situation before I can format a plan.”

  He considered that, saw the sound reasoning. Still, he hated discussing his private life, exposing vulnerabilities to a near stranger, no matter how good she tasted.

  “Four thousand a month. And I bought a house for them in the best school district in San Diego.”

  He wasn’t cheap, damn it. But he didn’t like being taken advantage of and Amber had crossed that line when she deliberately got pregnant.

  Emptying the fast-food bag, he poked a straw into an orange-juice carton and added it and some hash browns to Troy’s meal before taking the rest to a seat on the opposite end of the island from Elle. He looked at the pile of sandwiches and potatoes and grunted in approval. At least she recognized a man his size required a decent amount of food.

  He frowned, noticing Elle wore her usual buttoned-up, straight-lines professional wear, with her hair once again pinned up in a tidy bun. He much preferred her in the clingy sweater and swinging ponytail. But now he thought of it, he should be happy for the professional armor she insisted on wearing. It helped to remind both of them that their association was totally work-related.

  What had possessed him to kiss her?

  He’d wanted her help, of course, and had thought to get his way by the usual means, a little charm, a little unemotional sex. Who knew her frozen facade hid such a wanton?

  He did. He could tell himself he’d forgotten her taste, the perfect fit of her in his arms, the way she lit up with passion. But he was lying to himself.

  He thought about that for a heartbeat, two. And decided he could live with that.

  “Is the title of the house in her name or yours?”

  “Mine.”

  “Does she have a job?”

  “No.”

  Just like at the Gala, one taste of her and he’d known he needed more, which should have warned him to walk away. Again.

  Instead he’d sampled her a second time. A mistake because he already longed for more. He studied her lips even as he remembered Ray’s orders to stay clear of her. Max wasn’t much for rules but he decided to behave himself. He needed her help.

  Plus he valued his freedom. And his family jewels.

  Now he thought about it he’d clearly experienced a touch of temporary insanity wh
en he suggested they had a mutual attraction. That was just plain nuts.

  “So,” she continued her interrogation, “by taking Troy, you’re threatening her livelihood?”

  “Yes. And she’ll fight tooth and nail to keep it.”

  “Have you had concerns about Amber’s care of Troy before now?”

  “Not really.” He shook his head. “Mostly because she’s not the one who usually takes care of him. Her mother does. Donna’s great with Troy.”

  “So what’s changed?”

  “Donna met a guy who lives in Las Vegas. He’s in town two or three times a month for business. And now she’s been flying over there to see him. I’ve got the feeling Troy’s the only thing keeping her here, and I expect that to change soon.”

  Elle typed away on her pad. “So more of Troy’s care has fallen onto Amber.”

  “Yeah. Or, more accurately, onto whoever she can con into taking him. And then she forgets he exists until she’s ready to come back again.” And the woman had the nerve to call him an absentee father. “It was bad enough when it was me or her best friend she left hanging. I didn’t know this gal. I’m not putting up with it anymore.”

  “That’s understandable.” She clicked a pen against the counter, her honey-brown gaze assessing him. “You don’t want Amber to be responsible for him anymore. But are you really ready to take on the responsibility yourself?”

  “You’ve already asked me that.”

  “Yes, but I don’t think you’ve really thought about it. You can’t simply hire a nanny and that’s the end of it. You will be responsible for his emotional, physical and spiritual welfare. You’ll have to put his needs before your own. Are you ready to do that?”

  Stuck on spiritual welfare, he had no immediate answer.

  “Max.” When he focused in on her again, he was surprised to find her standing in front of him. “Do you love Troy?”

  “He’s my son.” The answer was automatic.