Celeste gripped her index cards in her sweaty palm and managed to ask him a few more questions before the time was up. They were useless because she had already made up her mind after the handshake. What better companion for her two restless little boys than another male?
“I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me, Dakota.” She shoved the index cards in her pocketbook. “I’d love to offer you the position. I mean, after you meet the boys, if you… Are you available tomorrow? Say about one?” she stumbled over her words.
“One is fine.”
“And the position would be live-in. There is an in-law suite with a separate entrance so you would have both privacy and access to the house.”
“Sounds good, Mrs. Meyers.”
“Call me Celeste, please.” She extended her hand across the low table.
He shook her hand and gave it a brief squeeze. “Celeste it is then.” He gave her a warm smile that made her insides flutter. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Chapter Three
That evening, Celeste sipped a glass of wine on the deck and watched the citronella torches flicker off the surface of the pool. She picked up the cordless telephone and called Lynn, who answered with a breathless hello.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” Celeste grinned into the telephone. “You sound like you’ve been running a race.”
“Only that you saved me from the slave-driver of an exercise tape. What’s going on?”
“I hired someone. A live-in.”
“That’s the best,” Lynn said. Her tone was approving. “Does she do a little light cooking, maybe some cleaning?”
“He said he would try.” Celeste gripped the cordless handset, still smiling, anticipating her friend’s reaction.
There was silence at the end of the line and Celeste could hear the bouncy, upbeat music from Lynn’s exercise video.
“He?” She dragged out the one syllable. “You hired a male nanny?”
“He was all they had left.”
“Now wait a second, back up. Start at the beginning with what he looks like. No, no,” Lynn interrupted herself, “I want to see with my own two eyes. Don’t ruin it.”
“I’ll take a picture and text it to you.”
“No, oh, no. He might not take good pictures and I’ll be prejudiced. When…when’s he moving in?”
“Probably by the end of the week, but he’s coming to meet the boys tomorrow.”
“Do the boys know?”
“I told them that I would be hiring someone for the summer to help take care of them, so kind of.”
Lynn paused. “Does Charles know?”
Celeste rolled her eyes. “Why is it his business? Would I call him to tell him I hired a female nanny? No. He’s going to be overseas anyway. What does he care?”
Lynn laughed a little. “This is going to be very interesting.”
* * * *
This isn’t going to be as interesting as Lynn thinks. As she walked down the stairs to the living room the next morning, Celeste twirled a strand of hair around her finger and rehearsed what she was going to say to the boys in her head. It was one thing to tell them that she might be hiring someone to help out during the summer. It was another to have them actually meet the person. By the time she got to the breakfast table, the boys were reading the puzzles on the back of the cereal boxes while they munched on their shredded wheat. They both mumbled “good morning” through full mouths.
She concentrated on pouring the coffee from the pot and adding her flavored creamer. Then, satisfied that they would accept what she had to say, she sat down at the table with them.
“Since you’re not going to visit your father until August and I’m going to be very busy for much of July, I’ve hired someone to help me take care of you—a nanny.”
Jackson shoved a spoonful of cereal in his mouth before responding. “I hope she’s fun,” he mumbled. “Gabriel said his nanny is boring and stupid.”
Celeste raised her eyebrows. “Gabriel has a nanny?” Gabriel’s mother didn’t even work.
Jackson swallowed. “That’s what he told me. He said she was boring and stupid because she didn’t know how to play video racing games. And she couldn’t talk too good.”
“Too well,” she corrected him absently. Must be an au pair.
Malcolm shook some more cereal into his bowl. “I want a nanny to take us to the park.”
“And to the lake,” Jackson chimed in. “Don’t eat all the cereal, Malcolm. Mommy has to eat.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Celeste took a sip of her coffee. “So, listen. You guys are getting a nanny.” Might as well get to the point.
“But I don’t want a boring and stupid nanny.” Jackson held his dripping spoon halfway to his mouth.
“Your nanny won’t be boring and stupid and I’m sure Gabriel’s nanny isn’t either. Your nanny is a boy…a male.” She cleared her throat. “A man.”
Malcolm’s eyes lit up. “He’s a dude? Can he swim? We can race in the pool.”
“When is he coming?” Jackson wanted to know. “Is he going to clean our rooms?”
Celeste checked her watch. “About one o’ clock.” She hoped they would all get along. The sooner Dakota moved in and settled, the better. A shiver of anticipation shimmied down her spine. Despite her effort to remain aloof, she couldn’t deny how much she was looking forward to having him in the house. “And no, Jackson, cleaning your room is your job, not his.”
Celeste got up from the table and rinsed her coffee cup. “Make sure you put your bowls in the sink and rinse them. Do your reading and fill out your book logs before you play any games. All right?”
“All right, Mommy,” they said in unison.
* * * *
At twelve-fifty-five, the doorbell chimed and Celeste halted her pacing in the front hall. She liked that he was prompt. Celeste opened the door and again she was struck by how attractive—no, sexy. Tell the truth, Celeste—he really was. He wore baggy shorts and a loose-fitting T-shirt that said ‘Young and Reckless’. His hair… Good Lord, his hair fell loose past his shoulders. Young and reckless, indeed. She forced her gaze away and looked up and down the street, knowing she had been staring too long.
“Dakota, come in.” She let the door swing open and led the way through the house.
“How are you, Mrs. Meyers?”
“Please, call me Celeste.” She glanced over her shoulder. Keep it business, Celeste. “I said that yesterday.”
“I just like to make sure.”
Celeste slid open the back door to the deck and ushered him through. Malcolm and Jackson were kicking their soccer ball back and forth. It looked as if they were trying to knock each other in the head rather than practicing any particular soccer skill. When they saw her and her visitor, they whooped and Jackson raced to the deck. Malcolm hung back, taking stock of the new visitor. At ten, everything was a serious consideration for him. Celeste crossed her fingers at her side, hoping that Malcolm would warm up quickly.
“Is this the nanny? He is a man! Do you know how to play video games?” Jackson shouted out his questions as he ran up the steps of the cedar deck and flopped on the built-in bench, out of breath. “Is he going to be living here with us like Gabriel’s nanny? She has her own room and it’s small. He could sleep in my room.”
“Yes.” Knowing he’d forgotten the questions as soon as he’d asked them, Celeste gave her younger son a one-word answer. She kept an anxious eye on her older son, who remained on the lawn, looking up.
“Malcolm, this is Dakota.” Celeste gestured. “Come on up and meet him.”
Malcolm climbed the four steps, taking one at a time. Once he reached the top, he extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Dakota.”
Dakota bent slightly at the waist and shook her son’s hand, his face serious. “Nice to meet you too, Malcolm.”
Malcolm squinted in the afternoon sun. “Dakota is a state, not a name. Were you born there?”
Dakota lau
ghed. “I was born in Phoenix. “
“Then why didn’t your parents name you Phoenix?”
“Because Phoenix is a girl’s name.”
Malcolm paused. “From X-Men.”
“Exactly.”
Her older son looked Dakota up and down again, while Jackson bounced in his seat. Anyone who could relate to his collection of comic books was pretty much in. “Nice shirt.”
“Thanks.”
Malcolm nodded, giving his approval. “Want to kick the ball around with us?”
“Let me talk to your mother for a minute.”
“Okay. Come on, Jackson, you need to practice.” They ran off the deck and across the grass.
Celeste hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath until she let it go with a whoosh. “I’m glad that went well. I was nervous.” She rubbed her arms. “Jackson is pretty friendly. Malcolm is my wait-and-see son.”
Dakota nodded. “Children are much more adaptable than you think. Malcolm’ll warm up soon enough.”
“I hope so. He can take things pretty seriously.”
“That just means he’s a great thinker.”
Celeste gave him a sideways glance. “He’s only ten.”
Dakota grinned and hefted his broad shoulders in a quick gesture. “These things start early.”
“How do you know all this?”
“My long life experience.”
Celeste rolled her eyes skyward in amusement and focused back on him. He had to be kidding her. “Long life, indeed.” She put a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh at the twinkle in his eye. He wasn’t even thirty.
Dakota smiled back at her and opened his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by a shout.
“Dakota!” Jackson gestured widely from the yard. “Come on!”
“You’re being summoned.”
Before he could step off the deck, she put a hand on his arm to stop him. His bronze skin was warm from the sun and smooth under her palm.
“When do you want to move in?” She took her hand back. “Jackson and Malcolm have a mega birthday party tomorrow, so they won’t be underfoot.” Again, she mentally chided herself. She might as well turn on a neon sign saying, we’ll be alone!
He pressed his lips together as if he were thinking, then nodded his head. “This same time good?”
Celeste matched his nod, casting her gaze over the blue of the swimming pool. “Perfect.”
“Dakota!” In the backyard, Jackson planted tiny fists on narrow hips. “Come on!”
“You’d better go.”
“I guess so,” he said and went to join them.
Celeste stood on the deck and watched them play for a bit, marveling at how well the three got along right away. She rubbed her forearms—suddenly pebbled with goose bumps—second-guessing her decision to have him in such close proximity for the next six weeks.
In the kitchen, she poured herself a glass of unsweetened iced tea and watched them play through the window. She wasn’t worried about him. She was more worried about herself.
Chapter Four
Celeste opened the door after his first knock. The peach-colored tank top she wore complimented her honeyed skin and emphasized her ample breasts. She was even better looking in casual clothes.
He breathed in her warm scent as he carried his bags over the threshold. “It’s so quiet.”
Celeste laughed and closed the door behind him. A casual smile curved her full, kissable mouth and for a brief second he wanted to drop his bags, take her in his arms and press a kiss against those soft lips.
“Yes, for once they aren’t ripping and running through the house. They’re at a birthday party. Somehow this mother was brave enough to invite not only all the children in Malcolm’s class but their siblings as well.” She brushed past him, driving his heartbeat into an even higher gear.
She stood next to him, almost too close and he wanted to kick himself. She had told him that yesterday on the deck. Stupid of him to forget, but he had been so busy noticing how the afternoon sun shone off her shiny copper curls that he hadn’t remembered what she’d said.
Celeste beckoned to him. “The suite is this way.”
He followed her over the shiny hardwood floors dotted with exotic looking rugs and marveled at the understated wealth of the house. When he let his eyes travel from the hem of the skirt to the curve of her bottom under the light fabric, he admired that too. The female body was always an amazing sight. In his head, he counted to ten. If he was going to last the next six weeks here, he had to take it down. He raised his gaze to focus on the back of her shirt, but even the graceful arch of her neck made his pulse skip a couple of beats.
“Here’s the suite.” She unlocked the door. Celeste held up a key fob with the shape of a mini soda can before she pressed it into his hand. “The yellow key opens this door into the house and the red key opens the outside door.” The little half-smile expanded and she slid her tongue across her bottom lip.
Her lipstick, he noticed, was a shade darker than her earthy skin. Mind over matter. He exhaled and forced himself to focus on her words.
“The suite has its own air conditioner, separate from the central air. I turned it on this morning, but you can control it as you see fit.”
A blast of cold air hit him in the face, just the thing he needed for his overheated thoughts.
“Well, it’s cool. That’s for sure.” He hustled his bags into the room and dropped them next to the bed. He was going to try to keep his thoughts in the right place. Looking around the room, he nodded in approval. Though the walls were neutral, they were adorned with vibrant paintings that jazzed up the room.
Celeste hovered in the doorway with an uncertain expression on her face. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she nibbled at the corner of her lip. “Is the room all right?”
“The room’s great, Celeste,” he said. Keeping his eyes off the queen-sized bed, he walked around the space. The room was spacious and the kitchenette was spotless. “Perfect.” Just like you.
* * * *
She loved the way her name sounded coming from his mouth. In fact, she wanted to hear him whisper it in her ear, not too close, but close enough that she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. Realizing that she had to keep up her end of the conversation, she shook herself back to reality and resumed her role as tour guide and boss. She had to remember she was his boss.
“You don’t have to use the kitchenette. My mother-in-law used to live here before my husband, well, my ex-husband…” Biting at her bottom lip, she felt her face heat up. She was doing a terrible job as a tour guide. Get it together, Celeste. “What I mean to say is, you are more than welcome to use the kitchen. That’s included.” She pointed. “The bathroom only has a shower, but there’s a bathtub on the main floor and I have a spa tub upstairs.”
Now why the hell did you tell him that, Celeste?
Luckily, he seemed too busy examining how to turn down the air conditioner to hear her last words. “The apartment is real nice, Celeste. I’m going to enjoy my stay here.”
“Good.” Celeste paused. “Let me escape to my office and try to get myself organized for Monday. Sunday is your day off, so you’re free to do what you wish.” She started to leave, then turned back. “Dinner is at six. I know you’re not officially starting till Monday, but please, feel free to join us.”
“Dinner would be great.”
“All right then, I’ll let you get settled in here.” She left before she could say something else that would embarrass her.
* * * *
After Celeste had left, Dakota placed his suitcase on the queen-sized bed and opened it. In his former assignment, the one he’d taken before jumping feet first into the frantic world of the money-hungry law firm, he’d lived out of his suitcase for two months. There had been no real reason to unpack that particular time. The mother had always seemed on the verge of firing him, either because of some imagined slight on his part or because, she would claim, her
absentee husband couldn’t bear to have such an ‘exotic specimen’ in the house—as if he were a bug under glass. He shook his head to clear the memory from his brain. No fear of that happening here.
After setting up his cell phone to one of his more mellow playlists, he stacked shorts, jeans, T-shirts, underwear and socks in the paper-lined bureau drawers. He hesitated only a moment before tucking the box of condoms into the nightstand drawer, under a pile of old-lady paperback mysteries. Everything in the room seemed brand-new and he wondered how long her mother-in-law had actually stayed in the suite. And had that been the cause of her divorce?
Unpacking done, he explored the room some more. His new boss loved the placement of bold prints against beige walls. These were more abstract, yet still pleasing to the eye in a modern-art kind of way. He peeked into the kitchenette, noted the single cup coffee maker and the neat, cheerful canisters on the spotless granite counter. Celeste had good taste.
After exploring the entire space, he returned to his open suitcase. He removed a few more items, closed the top then slid it under the bed. He sat on the edge of the mattress and gazed out of the window, which overlooked a section of the rear yard. Back to nature.
He tossed the keys onto the nightstand and lay on the pillow. Closing his eyes, he planned on taking a quick nap before dinner—if the images that he had of his boss would give him any rest.
Chapter Five
Her tablet wasn’t even turned on, but Celeste bent her head over the blank screen, careful to keep the electronic device away from her glass of iced tea. It had been a few days and today was finally swim day. The boys had elected not to go to the club but to take advantage of their own pool. This particular decision pleased Celeste because she had been waiting a week to see if Dakota was that toasted almond color all over. Since it was so hot, she was able to check off ‘yes’ on that particular question before noon.
The twice-a-week housekeeper, a heavy set woman with a puff of white-blonde hair on top of her head, opened the sliding door. “Your friends are here, hon.”
Her Dakota Summer Page 2