The paramedics were loading Hazel into the back of the ambulance. One of them looked back at us. “Miss, if you’re coming with us, we need to leave now.”
“I’m coming,” Penny said, dashing into the living room, calling over her shoulder. “Do you see the diaper bag? It’s dark green…”
“You need to go with her,” I said.
“I am,” Penny said, frantically. “Do you see the bag?”
“No, you need to go now. I’ll stay here with Zoe.”
At that, Penny stopped short, staring at me. “You?”
“Yes. Hazel needs you. I’ll stay with Zoe.”
“But…”
I glanced out the door. “They’re about to leave. Go with her. I’ll send a car when you’re ready to come back.”
“But—“
“We’ll be fine.”
Her tears renewed, and she nodded. “Thank you. I won’t be long. There’s a bottle in the fridge, and everything you need is over there in the corner. Call me if you have any questions—“
“Penny, I can handle a sleeping baby for a few hours.”
She nodded and didn’t say anything else, but she squeezed my upper bicep as she passed by me. The heat from her touch lingered as I watched her climb into the ambulance.
I had my phone out even before the ambulance pulled out. “Vera? I need you. Right away.” I quickly filled her in and gave her the address. I’d lied to Penny before. I could handle a sleeping baby about as well as I could defuse a nuclear bomb. But Vera would know what to do. “And bring your laptop.”
“To babysit?”
“To work. We have a lot to do.”
Penny
I drove to work carefully, aware of the tiny passenger in the car seat behind me. It had been a long weekend. Jana had come home early from the conference, but I’d still spent Saturday morning in the hospital with Hazel, bouncing Zoe on my knee. And then in the afternoon, I’d spent hours looking into daycare facilities, both short-term and long-term. The unifying themes had been: expensive and no openings.
All except the last place. The emergency daycare we’d just left. It had cost sixty dollars for the day, which was expensive, but that wasn’t the main problem. Of bigger concern were the screaming babies, the impatient staff, and the zombified-looking teen that had been assisting in the infant room. Thirty seconds into the tour and I knew I couldn’t leave Zoe there. But I also couldn’t take her to work.
Maybe I should’ve just called in sick. Blake would’ve understood. Vera, too. As soon as I’d gotten home from the hospital Friday night, Vera had hugged me. She’d always seemed kind, but rather aloof. Her hug made the tears flow. It also made me wish it had been Blake folding me into his arms. But he’d been perched on a stool by the crib, watching my baby as if he’d never seen one before. As if she was the most interesting thing in the world. Since my poor little girl didn’t have a father, it was heartwarming to see a man find her as fascinating as I did.
So, yeah, he probably wouldn’t mind if I took one day off. Even though new hires were technically supposed to wait until they’d been working three months to use any leave.
I pulled over and called Vera. After I thanked her again for Friday night, I told her what had happened and that I couldn’t come in.
“Oh no, you have to.”
Surprised, I frowned into the phone. “It’s just for one day.” But even as I said that, I knew it was likely a lie. What was I going to do with Zoe tomorrow? Or the rest of the week? Even if I found a daycare place I trusted, the fees would add up far too quickly. My credit cards would only cover it for so long. Could I possibly get a loan? I had no idea what I’d use as collateral.
“Just bring her here.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Yes, you c—” Vera’s voice cut out, even though I wasn’t driving. “… with you.”
“Okay,” I said, doubtfully. Not sure how much of an asset I was going to be with a fussy baby on my hip, but Hollister Holdings had been very good to me so far. I owed it to them to try.
It wasn’t until I’d picked up the diaper bag, nursing tote, my purse, a few other bags and the car seat with Zoe that I realized Blake was standing in front of the vast office building. Was he waiting for a limo to take him somewhere?
No, apparently he was waiting for me.
“Good morning, Penny. And Zoe.”
“Good morning. I’m really sorry about bringing her here, but I couldn’t find anywhere else to take her. I’ll do my best to keep her quiet, but if she starts crying, I might have to take her out in the courtyard, if that’s okay.”
“Penny.” His deep rumbly voice sounded so good saying my name, but I knew I was inconveniencing him.
“And if it gets too loud, could I maybe do some work from your suite while I look after her?”
“Penny,” he said again, taking everything except Zoe and my purse from me.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Don’t be,” he said. To my shock, he was smiling. As if unexpected babies were the least problematic thing he’d ever encountered. If he thought that, he clearly hadn’t spent much time with babies. My Zoe was the sweetest baby in the world, but she had a set of lungs on her. And she demanded attention. I couldn’t imagine anyone in the department getting much work done today.
“Come with me.”
He led me into the building, carrying my things. I followed, clutching the car seat my daughter was sleeping in, being careful not to rock her too much.
I followed Blake down one hallway then another, wondering where he was leading me. This place was laid out like a maze. Maybe I should have left breadcrumbs in case Blake suddenly ditched me.
He stopped abruptly, held a door open for me and gestured inside. I moved past him, feeling the heat from his body as I carefully maneuvered the car seat around Blake’s large form.
A voice greeted me as I stepped into a room that smelled faintly of fresh paint and sawdust. “Ah, our first customer. Our only customer at the moment, actually.” A young man about my age stood in front of me, wearing blue cotton pants and a matching shirt that reminded me of the scrubs that doctors wore. He walked over and took the car seat from me.
Blinking, I let this stranger take my baby as I looked around in shock. At the mats on the floors. The bookshelves and toys lining the walls. The tiny tables in front of me, and the cribs along the back wall.
Blake was grinning down at me as I looked at him in surprise. “There’s a childcare here? All this time, there’s been a nursery?”
“No,” he said, the smile on his face growing larger as I watched.
“I don’t understand.” Obviously, this was a daycare of some sort. The young man had expertly unstrapped Zoe and was holding her as he moved around, depositing her bottles in the fridge and setting her equipment on a table near the cribs.
“There’s a nursery here now,” Blake said, emphasizing the word. “There wasn’t one when you started working here.”
“But—” That didn’t make any sense. I’d only been here for three weeks. I gasped. “Do you mean… did you…” Suddenly, I felt weak. I wanted to sit at one of the tiny chairs around the table in front of me. “Don’t tell me you did all of this over the weekend.”
“Okay, I won’t tell you that. But I think the results speak for themselves.” The gleam in his eye would have tempted me at any other time, but right now, I was just too astounded.
“How did you do this?”
“With a lot of help,” Blake said as the young man came up beside us, bouncing Zoe in his arms.
“Don’t worry, Penny, the place is ready to go. I’ve checked everything myself. I’m Pat, by the way.” I shook the hand he held out.
Blake’s smile faltered for a minute as he stared at the young man. “You’re Pat? I thought you were the assistant.”
Pat grinned. “Pat’s short for Patrick, not Patricia. Did you think you’d hired a woman to be the lead caregiver?”
Blake’s
bemused expression showed us both that was exactly what he’d thought, but he shook the hand that Pat offered.
“Appreciate the job, Mr. Hollister. And the bonus to start work right away. This little girl and I are going to have a fun day.”
Zoe babbled happily in Pat’s arms, and it was obvious he was good with babies. But my mind was still reeling from the sudden appearance of the nursery. “But… how can you make a daycare in one weekend?”
“With round the clock work,” Blake said. “It’s legit, Penny. And in a couple of hours, it’ll be officially licensed, as well.”
“How did you… why did you… this is amazing. Thank you.” I put as much sincerity into my voice as I could, but it would never be enough. This was the most incredible thing anyone had ever done for me. For us. Tears welled up behind my eyelids, and I took Zoe from Pat, walking around the little rooms and holding her, trying to keep from crying. Blake had already seen me do too much of that.
Seriously, this was incredible. It was a thousand times nicer than the emergency daycare center. It was hard to imagine that this place hadn’t even existed a mere seventy-two hours ago. I nuzzled my chin over the top of Zoe’s sparse hair, inhaling her sweet baby scent.
The amount of time and money this had taken must have been staggering. Money. I suddenly wondered how much this place cost. Pat had mentioned an assistant, so there were at least two full-time staff. Right now, Zoe was the only baby, but it was clear from all the cribs and mats that they were expecting more. How was I going to afford this?
When I got back to the front area, Blake and Pat were discussing some empty rooms next door. Apparently, Blake was already planning to expand this nursery. I wondered how many employees would make use of it. Most of them could probably pay a lot more than me.
Pat lifted Zoe from my arms and took her back to a crib while I spoke to my boss.
“Thank you,” I said again. “I—I don’t know what I would have done this week if you hadn’t made this.”
“That’s why I did it,” he said, his eyes intent on mine.
I took a deep breath. “I’m sure that you haven’t had time to figure this out yet, but do you have any idea… do you know what it’s going to cost?”
“Yes, I do.”
“How much?” I said, almost afraid to ask.
“It’s free.”
“Free? But… but… this place is lovely, and the cost to make it in one weekend must have been astronom—”
“Penny,” he said, putting his hands on my shoulders and interrupting me. He spoke very firmly. “It’s free for employees.”
His deep brown eyes bore into mine. It felt like he was looking deep inside me, willing me to accept this. At long last, I nodded. I tried to wrap my head around this, but no one had ever done anything like this for me in my entire life. “Well, at least let me pay you for—”
His strong hands squeezed my shoulders as he spoke over me. “The only thing I want from you right now is a smile.”
I stared up at him for a long moment. The man was insane to do all this and only demand that in return. If he’d been this bad at negotiating official Hollister Holdings business, this corporation would have gone under long ago.
The smile that spread across my face wasn’t from his request, but appeared there of its own accord. It was all he wanted, but it wasn’t enough. Not by a long shot, but there wasn’t much I could do. Except…
I place my hand lightly on his chest and rose up on my toes. Leaning forward I kissed his tan cheek just above the line of sexy stubble. “Thank you,” I whispered in his ear before stepping back.
His answering smile was as big as my own.
Blake
On Thursday, I called had Vera send Penny into my office.
“Have a seat,” I said, sounding calm and professional even though the sight of Penny always put unprofessional thoughts in my head. She walked toward the chair in front of my desk, and I tried not to be obvious about staring. She dressed simply, straight skirts and button-down blouses, but she managed to look classy. Like a classy fantasy, actually. Because every time I saw her, my fingers ached to unbutton her shirt. To unzip that skirt.
Which was not what I was supposed to be thinking about right now. But one of the many regrets I had about my long lost Not-Sarah was that I’d never seen her completely unclothed. She’d been buried under layers of that dress, and I’d only seen glimpses of her smooth, creamy skin.
Penny reminded me of her. They were about the same height—at least I thought they were. Not-Sarah had been wearing very high heels so it had been hard to tell.
Sometimes, in my wildest dreams, I imagined that it had been Penny I’d met that night. But that was impossible. For one thing, she could barely afford childcare, and only the wealthiest members of society had attended that ball. Besides, she must have still been with her ass of an ex-husband then since she had a baby now.
The thought of any man leaving Penny pissed me off, so I forced myself to smile, betraying none of my thoughts. “How are you?”
“Great,” she said, but her smile didn’t look a whole lot more genuine than mine felt. What was bothering her? “Vera said you needed my help?”
“Yes. I want to iron out some more details for that meeting I’m hosting for the CEO group.”
“How can I help?”
I looked her over. She had a notebook out, but she perched on the edge of the seat across from my desk, ready to jump up at any moment.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.” Her body language contradicted her. She squirmed in her seat under my direct gaze.
Shit, maybe she was uncomfortable. “Do you need to… pump?” I jerked my head to the side, indicating the private suite.
“No. I don’t have to do that anymore. I can just go breast feed directly now.”
Oh. Of course. I felt like an idiot. How could I know so little about the processes involved in the continuation of the human species? If it were up to men—at least men like me—we would have died out centuries ago.
“That must make things easier,” I said, though the caveman part of my brain realized that setting up the daycare, I’d deprived myself of seeing her several times a day when she came in to use the private suite. Shit. Definitely hadn’t thought that one through.
“It does,” Penny said, and she sounded sincere. “It’s amazing being able to see Zoe anytime I want.”
“I’m glad.” The gentleman side of my brain—a side that had felt fairly non-existent the past few years—was overruling the caveman component.
“I don’t mean all the time.” She looked at me anxiously. Was I really that much of an ogre? That was definitely not how I wanted her to think of me.
“Relax, Penny. No one’s expecting you to punch in and out every time you check on your child.”
“Okay. I mean thanks.” A blush stole across her face. “I’m just so grateful that you built the nursery. I don’t want to repay that kindness by being bad employee.”
“I doubt you could be a bad employee even if you tried.”
Somehow, over the course of the next half hour, Penny came close to proving me wrong. Well, she wasn’t a bad employee—more like a distracted one. She took notes on my ideas for the meeting and even contributed one or two of her own, but it was obvious her mind wasn’t on the task. And twice she got something wrong when repeating things back to me.
True, my ego could probably use a little deflating—certainly some of my friends were fond of telling me so—but I wasn’t used to having employees seem so distracted around me.
But the bigger bruise to my pride wasn’t because of my position at the company. At dinner the other night, Penny had seemed to like being with me. I’d caught her watching me when she thought I wasn’t looking. She’d been paying plenty of attention then. But not now.
That thought made me sound a little gruffer than I meant to. “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” She looked wide-eyed and innocent, w
hich made me want to pull her into my arms, claim her mouth with a devouring kiss, and put her mind firmly in the gutter where mine was. But there was something in her voice that sounded like she knew what I was talking about.
“Just tell me what the problem is.”
She let out a little breath of air, a small sound of defeat, and put her notebook on the edge of my desk. “It’s lunchtime.”
“You’re hungry?”
“No. I just—for the past few days since you put in the nursery, I’ve been spending my lunch hour with Zoe. It’s silly, I see her at other times during the day. I can definite go without a day. I just… miss her.”
“Don’t you get to eat?”
“I bring my lunch and eat with Pat. Afterwards, I feed her.”
Pat. The caveman part of my brain was back—this time pissed at the casual way she’d said the name of another man. But that was stupid. Of course she spoke with Pat. He was the only one back there besides the assistant and Zoe. Several more children would be attending starting next week.
Somehow, though, I hadn’t thought that every time Penny was going to visit Zoe, she was also visiting Pat. So as part of my brilliant plan to provide the childcare Penny desperately needed, I’d made it so she talked to him several times a day instead of me. And did he stay when she nursed? Did he ever catch a glimpse of those perfect breasts I’d seen the first time I met her?
That thought had me seething. Maybe I just wasn’t cut out to be a nice guy. Time to go back to what I knew best—how to give orders and get my way. “Go get her.”
“What?”
“Go get Zoe, and we’ll have a working lunch.”
“With a baby? She can get awfully loud.”
“So can I,” I growled, rather nonsensically. But I’d moved heaven and earth to get that nursery finished to help Penny with her childcare, not to help Pat meet women. “Go get her, and I’ll order some food. We can eat at the table in the suite.”
Tempting: A Cinderella Billionaire Story Page 11