“Are you done?”
My spine stiffened at his tone.
Foster pushed up off his desk and prowled toward me. I forced myself not to retreat.
“Who do you think you are, trying to school me on how to father my daughter?”
“I’m not trying to school you. It was advice.”
“And the insinuation that I’m the kind of father who not only ignores my daughter but brings strange women around her.”
Okay, so perhaps that was a little judgmental. “I only—”
“Maybe you should just keep your nose out of it.” He stopped so close to me we were almost touching. “My child, my business.”
Scowling at him, I responded, “You asked me to look after her. This is me looking after her. Holding her in my arms while she cried over her mother’s abandonment was heartbreaking.” Tears glistened in my eyes at the memory. “I’m just trying to help.”
He seemed stunned as he studied my face. Then to my shock, his expression softened, those dark eyes of his warmed. And suddenly he was unbearably good-looking. “Fine,” he said, voice gentle. “Then I’ll accept your judgmental advice came from a good place and forgive you.”
I grimaced. “I can die happy.”
He leaned into me. “You are such a pain in the ass.”
“Back at you.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “You take everything I say the wrong way and assume the worst.”
“Back at you,” he retorted.
Then his dark gaze dropped to my mouth and just like the flick of switch, electric tension crackled between us.
Feeling my body react, wanting to melt toward him, I retreated. “Well then … maybe we should call a truce. From this point onward, we both agree to assume that the other has only good intentions.”
Foster considered this. “I suppose we can try that.”
It was really difficult not to offer a pithy response to his bored tone.
“Fine. Good. That’s settled then. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I’d turned toward his door when he murmured, “Do you swim every night?”
Halting at the strange question, I glanced over my shoulder at him. His expression was unreadable. “I try to. Why?”
“Why do you do it?”
“Because I … I like it.”
For some weird reason he seemed disappointed by my answer.
I frowned. “I started night swimming when my parents died. Jade and I became guardians to Celeste and Luna. Moon had just left for college. Jade was getting her teaching degree and was almost finished … so I dropped out of college to look after the girls.” An ache still flared inside me at the reminder of what might have been. “I wanted to be a teacher too. But the girls were more important. Losing Mom and Dad, bearing the responsibility of parenthood at twenty-one … suffice to say, I didn’t sleep well at night for a while.”
His expression was filled with understanding and something even more dangerous.
Tenderness.
“So you swam to exhaust yourself.”
I nodded, struggling to regulate my breathing. “Yeah. Then it just became a habit.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For what I said at the engagement party. For the unfair comments I’ve made since.”
Shocked, in a good way, I smiled at him. Really smiled at him.
Suddenly, he looked stunned, like I’d kicked him in the gut. He blinked a few times.
“Thank you,” I said. “And I’m sorry for insulting you in return. Let’s do better.”
Foster swallowed hard and nodded.
An awkward, tension-filled silence fell between us and I took that as my cue to leave.
4
Foster
He was obsessed.
There was no other word for it.
Ember Bonet had become an obsession.
At night, he’d watch her swimming like a stalker from his bedroom window, waiting for her to return safely into the house before he’d go to bed. When he got home from work, he wanted her to linger and not because he didn’t love spending time with G but because he liked the changes he saw in G around Ember.
Upon taking her advice that night in the office where she’d smiled at him and he’d felt the beauty of it like a gut punch, he’d talked with Georgie and assured her of his love. And every night since, after he read to her, he’d tuck her into bed and tell her how much he loved her and how glad he was they got to be together all the time now.
Between that and Ember’s influence, Georgie was back to her old self again, proving kids really were resilient.
At work he interviewed nannies but he had a hard time picking one when the woman next door had captured G’s heart. But he knew it wasn’t fair to Ember to keep asking her to work her schedule around his daughter, so he’d narrowed the choices down to three women.
And he needed to choose soon.
Not just for Ember, but for Georgie to give her stability, and, selfishly, for himself.
Because he needed to get over Ember.
He needed to rid himself of this overwhelming desire to be in her company all the time. Why? Colt asked when he confided his attraction to her to his best friend.
The answer:
It all came down to his parents and having Georgie so young.
Carolyn got pregnant when they were in college. Which was a mammoth disappointment to his father, Edward Darwin. His father was the president of an insurance corporation and the Darwins had been leading members of New England society for over a hundred years. His mother was Madeline Bourne—her family really did date back to the Mayflower. As their only child, Foster was required to act, think, and succeed with the family reputation in always in mind. Having a kid at twenty was the end of the world for the Darwins. Determined it wouldn’t derail them, they insisted Foster remain at college and tried to force him to marry Carolyn. He refused. Another point against him. But he did stay in college and accepted his parents help with childcare. For the first couple of years, Foster wasn’t the best father. He’d worked hard at business school but he’d also been working his ass off attempting to make connections. Through hard work and a bit of luck he met Colt and the rest, as they say, was history. However, one weekend, it was his turn with Georgie. She was barely two and toddling all over the place … his parents had fallen in love with their granddaughter and he was watching his father have a conversation with G.
And he realized … his father was having a conversation with his daughter.
Foster hadn’t been there for her first word and now she was speaking in sentences.
He hadn’t been there for her first crawl or her first step.
While he loved his parents and knew they loved him, he’d vowed that he’d have a closer, more hands-on relationship with his kids. And he was already failing.
In that moment, everything changed.
Carolyn wanted to finish school so he asked to take Georgie more. They split their time with her down the middle. He was in a great situation to be able to afford a nanny while he worked.
But he wasn’t in a situation where he could disappoint his father again.
Something he had to remind himself constantly as he followed G and Ember down onto the busy beach.
How had he gotten himself into this?
Oh right, he had a hard time saying no to his daughter at the moment. And this Saturday, as if she knew a new nanny was on the horizon, she’d begged him to ask Ember to spend the day at the beach with them. And she’d done it in front of Ember so there was no way out of it.
He eyed the way Ember’s summer dress molded to her ass and had to admit he was looking forward to seeing her in her bikini in bright daylight. Her warm laughter floated back to him on the breeze followed by his daughter’s adorable giggles.
Something overwhelming filled his chest watching them as they found a spot to settle onto. As G helped Ember to stretch out towels on the sand, he stumbled a little at the sight.
G had inherited his dark hair and eyes which dominated Carolyn’s fair coloring and it was the first time he realized that it would be easy for people to confuse G for Ember’s kid.
They had the same dark eyes and hair.
And a bond that was beginning to worry him.
Once the new nanny arrived, Ember would probably disappear from G’s life.
Fuck.
“Come on, slow coach,” Ember called out to him, grinning, her eyes hidden behind huge pink and blue sunglasses that G immediately decided she wanted too. Ember, having already predicted that might happen, had brought a child’s pair from the stock she had at her store.
G wore hers, too, making them look even more alike.
Unnerved, Foster attempted to shrug off his strange emotions and helped them set up.
“Water?” Ember asked them, patting the top of their cool box.
“I want to swim!” G announced.
“I’ll take her.” Foster jumped to his feet, eager for distance from his neighbor. He already wore long swim shorts but he pulled off his T-shirt for the upcoming foray into the ocean. Glancing down at Ember, Foster caught her ogling his stomach. There was a gym at the office and he and Colt always had an hour of workout slotted into their daily schedule. It showed in his six pack and he was suddenly very glad for his hard work because Ember looked close to drooling.
He smirked and she looked away. “I’ll uh … I’ll just watch our stuff.”
“Em, my dress.” G went to their neighbor for help. Instead of him. Hmm.
But Ember deftly untied the little straps to reveal G’s purple swim dress underneath. “I brought a hair tie to keep your hair dry.”
He watched as his daughter stood patiently while Ember gathered her thick hair into a cute little bun thing on top of her head.
“All set.” Ember blew raspberries on G’s neck, making her erupt into giggles again.
His heart fucking melted.
“Come on, angel.” His voice sounded gruff to his ears as he took G’s hand and led her down to the water.
As it turned out, Ember in a bikini in broad daylight was a glorious thing to see. She was lying sunbathing, her olive skin turning a dark gold. Her green bikini looked amazing against her skin tone.
Hell, everything about her looked amazing.
Grinning mischievously at him, G lifted a finger to her lips to silence him and he smiled. Then she tiptoed over to Ember and began shaking her swim dress so all the sea water on it sprayed across their neighbor’s bare skin.
Squeaking in surprise, Ember shot up, shoving her sunglasses into her hair. “You little—” she launched at G, pulling her into her arms so she could tickle her. Foster laughed as his daughter’s infectious cackles filled the beach, drawing amused gazes from families nearby.
“Since I’m all wet now anyway,” Ember jumped to her feet, ruffling G’s messy bun, “I might as well take a dip in the water.”
Foster, gaze hidden behind his dark sunglasses, took the opportunity to really look at her.
He wanted to feel her soft body against his, to kiss his way up those lethally long legs, to pleasure her and hear her husky moans fill his bedroom, to taste her nipples and squeeze her gorgeous, full tits in his hands as he pumped into—
Fuck!
He looked away as he felt hot blood travel south.
Just looking at her in public was making him hard, like he was a fucking teenager all over again.
“Daddy, I’m going back to the water with Em.”
“Okay, angel.” That was fine with him.
He needed a minute.
Slumping down on the towel, he made the mistake of watching Em walk away with G.
Her ass was almost as good as her tits.
Then he became aware of something that really pissed him off.
He wasn’t the only one staring at Ember Bonet. His gut twisted in annoyance.
While there were plenty of gorgeous women on the beach, Ember stood out because of her overt curviness, her natural sexiness just oozed from her.
To his agitation, Foster realized he didn’t want other people to see that in her.
He wanted her all for himself.
And wasn’t that a very dangerous thought.
Not long later, G and Ember returned and he refused to stare at Ember in her wet bikini. It might kill him. Instead he focused on making sure G was fed. She’d just finished her sandwich when a little girl came over and asked her if she wanted to build sandcastles with her. At his nod of permission, the two girls set up camp between both their parents’ spots on the beach and played together.
“She’s doing great. I see such a change in her in just two weeks.”
Foster turned to Ember. “Yeah, it’s great. You’ve been a huge help, thank you.”
“It’s been my pleasure.”
Christ, even just hearing her use the word pleasure got him hot.
This was ridiculous.
And even though he told himself to change the subject to anything that might distract him from his attraction to her, the next thing he blurted out was, “So, I take it you’re not seeing anyone?”
Shit.
He couldn’t see her eyes behind her glasses but her lips parted as if he’d surprised her.
“I mean, I haven’t seen you with anyone.”
Ember leaned back on her hands, stretching out her legs. His gaze dropped to her thighs and he swallowed hard. “No, no boyfriend.”
He dragged his gaze up to her face again. “Why?”
She gave a huff of laughter. “Because I haven’t met anyone lately.”
Me. You’ve met me.
Jesus, Foster, don’t be stupid.
Pushing away his inner dialogue he prodded, “But there have been boyfriends, right?”
“Right.” She grinned. “There have been a few.”
“None of them felt like marriage material?”
Say no.
Her silence spoke for itself and his stomach dropped.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t—”
“No, it’s okay. I just … I don’t want you to think badly of my sister if I tell you.”
Foster raised an eyebrow. “Okay?”
Ember turned into him. “There was someone. We dated for a few years and I honestly thought he’d pop the question at my thirtieth birthday. He didn’t. Instead, Luna, my youngest sister, got drunk and stripped off. Apparently, this got him so hot he couldn’t help himself.”
“You’re kidding me?”
She shook her head, her lips pinched together. Then, “They started seeing each other behind my back that night. I found out weeks later when I walked in on them having sex in his apartment.”
Jesus Christ. The betrayal… anger churned in his gut. Ember had given up her education to become Luna’s guardian and she’d thanked her by sleeping with her boyfriend?
“We broke up but he and Luna … Luna fell pregnant. They got married but then he proved he really was the ultimate asshole by taking off. So she moved back in with us and we helped her out for a while with Casey, her daughter, until she met this older guy, Garret, and got married. Now they live in the city and they have two of their own kids, Anna and Lucas. Luna’s a stay at home mom.”
“I saw you with her at the engagement party. You two seemed fine.”
“We weren’t for a while but we got through it.”
“You forgave her?”
She shocked him by replying, “Of course. Luna has always been impulsive and she was very young when she cheated with Kyle. Not just literally but emotionally and mentally. Plus, she doesn’t have the best taste in men. I can say that because once duped, I’ve never been duped again. But Luna’s husband…” Foster could tell she scowled behind her glasses. “He cheats on her all the time. And she puts up with it. I don’t know if she thinks she deserves it or she just doesn’t want to give up the cushy lifestyle he provides… I have no idea. I’ve tried talking to her about it and we always end up arguing.
My youngest sister is the one I understand the least.”
“I’m amazed by your capacity to forgive,” he admitted. “I don’t think I can forgive Carolyn for taking off on G. I can’t help how bitter I feel about it.”
Ember reached over and covered his hand with hers. “That’s totally different. You’re bitter on Georgie’s behalf. No mother should choose a job over their five-year-old. It’s okay not to forgive her for that. You’re hiding the anger from Georgie, which is all that matters.”
The urge to close the gap between them, to wrap his hand around her nape and drag her against him so he could kiss the life out of her was so great he had to physically lean back.
She removed her hand from his, taking his withdrawal the wrong way. Foster wanted to haul her into his arms, uncaring of who could see them. But he stopped himself.
Instead he confessed, “I worry I’m not doing this right. That I’ll fail G.”
Ember gave him a tender smile. “Foster, the fact that you worry about it means you’re doing it right. And if no one has said it already, I’m sorry, and this is me rectifying that: you are an amazing dad. You’re only twenty-five years old and you’ve got your shit together. You know what’s important. You know it’s her.”
“Thank you,” he could barely get the words out for the emotion choking him. “It means a lot that you think that.”
Silence fell between them, allowing the sounds of the water, the seagulls, the chatter of the busy beach to fill the void.
Then Ember murmured, “Don’t look now but you’ve caught the avid attention of two fangirls.”
He looked at her. “I don’t care.”
She twisted her luscious mouth before replying, “You sure? They’re hot and unlike the teenager girls that were ogling your six pack earlier, these two are age appropriate.”
It should have alarmed him how uninterested he was in hot women his age checking him out. In fact, it did alarm him a little.
But that didn’t stop him from caressing every inch of Ember’s body with his hidden gaze instead of looking in their direction.
Ember in the Heart: A Novella Page 4