“It’s a great idea, though. A very unique approach for a hair salon. Was it your idea?”
“No, I’m not that imaginative. It was Anna’s. She was the mastermind of First Clips.”
Adam nodded. And then hesitated. His lips pursed, tightening up. He seemed to have something to say, but he kept silent.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Your sister. I’m sorry she died, Mia.”
Mia’s heart pounded hard, the way it did whenever Anna’s death was brought up. “Thank you.”
“What you said about me comparing you to her, that isn’t true. It never crossed my mind.”
Mia’s eyes narrowed on him. “Not even a little?”
“No. Not even a little.”
“I wasn’t too happy with you when I said those things.”
“I know.”
The waitress came by to take their order. Mia ordered a bay shrimp salad to Adam’s grilled salmon. A loaf of pumpernickel bread and cheesy biscuits were placed on the table along with garlic-infused butter. Mia’s mouth watered. When Adam offered her the bread, she grabbed a cheesy biscuit.
“Hungry?”
“Starving.”
“Dig in. So when does the baby eat?”
“She’ll be fussing the minute my food arrives, I’m sure. She has an inner time clock that keeps Aunt Mia in shape. My hips are grateful.”
“So am I.” A wicked smile graced his face.
“Is that so?” She chuckled and didn’t know what to make of Adam today. “Tell me that when it happens to you.”
“I’m waiting for the day when Rose lets me feed her.”
“The pediatrician said he might give me the okay to start feeding her solid foods. She might be eating with a spoon soon.”
“So soon? I’ll never get to feed her with a bottle.”
“Yes, you will, Adam. She’ll come around. And she’ll be drinking from a bottle for a long time.”
“I’d like to go to her next pediatrician’s appointment with you. When is it?”
“Next week. I was going to ask you to join us, if you weren’t too busy.”
“I’m never going to be too busy for Rose,” he said emphatically.
After their meals arrived, Mia got two bites of her salad in before the baby squawked and squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. “See, I told you. She has a sixth sense.” She smiled at Rose. “You don’t want your auntie Mia getting chubby, do you?”
“I’m recognizing her different cries now. That’s definitely a hunger cry.” He dug into the diaper bag and grabbed the bottle. He gave it a few shakes and handed it to her. “I wish she’d let me help you more.”
Mia lifted the baby out of the infant seat. “You’re welcome to try anytime you want, Adam.” She gestured with the bottle.
“Not now. I wouldn’t want to get kicked out of this place. The food is good. I’d like to come back.”
“Chicken,” Mia said, grinning. Rose was getting good at holding the smaller four-ounce bottles on her own. Mia fed the baby with one hand and picked up her fork and took bites of her salad with the other.
“You make it all work, Mia.” Adam’s note of admiration wasn’t lost on her. “You multitask like a pro.”
“Thanks. Are you buttering me up for something?”
He cut into his meal and chewed thoughtfully. “Why, because I’m paying you a compliment?”
“Well, yes. There is that.”
“You caught me. But I’d give you the compliment even if I didn’t have something to ask you.”
“So, I was right?”
“Yes.” He braced his arms on the table’s edge and leaned forward, capturing her attention. “I want to take you and the baby away for the weekend.”
“What?” She couldn’t possibly have heard him correctly.
“I’m going to a wedding, and I want to take you with me.”
She absorbed that for a moment. “You want me or the baby?”
“Both of you, of course.”
Meaning, he wanted Rose with him, and the only way that could happen was if she went, too. They were a package deal.
“My friend is getting married, and you’re both invited. It’s in a small town in Texas. We’ll leave Friday morning and be home by Sunday afternoon. It’s short notice, but I’m hoping you’ll say yes.”
“I don’t know, Adam.” She began shaking her head. “Taking Mia on a plane can get complicated. I’d have to check it out with her doctor. Wouldn’t it be easier for you to go without us?”
“I’m chartering one of my brother’s planes. So we’d have a ton of room and all the conveniences we’d need. The trip is less than four hours, Mia. And well, I don’t want to stall the small amount of progress I’ve made with Rose. The truth is, I don’t want to miss a minute of time with her.”
It was a tough situation. Mia was pretty much at his mercy. If he wanted to take his daughter somewhere, Mia would always be the tagalong. “Texas?”
“It’ll be fun. A change of scenery. The wedding is being held in a barn on his property.”
“Whose property?”
“Zane Williams.”
Mia shrieked. “The Zane Williams. The country superstar?”
He nodded, blinking at her outburst.
“For heaven’s sake, Adam. Don’t you know any normal people?”
He chuckled. “Zane is as down-to-earth as they come. He’s a great guy, and he wants to meet my daughter. Mia, I really want you there with me. It’s not just about the baby.”
Could she believe that? Should she trust him enough to believe he genuinely wanted her with him? “Give me some time to think about it.”
“Okay. I can do that.”
The meal was over, and Mia fastened Rose into her infant carrier again. Adam paid the check and picked up the carrier, inserting it into the stroller base. With a click, the baby was latched in. He was getting good with the baby’s gadgets.
Adam assumed the position, taking hold of the stroller handle. “Ready, my pretty little Rose? Daddy’s going to take you for a walk.” She lagged behind as he strolled the baby out of the restaurant and onto the sidewalk, heading back to the shop.
There would be nothing left of her heart if Adam continued being so sweet and loving. He wanted to be a father in every sense of the word. How could she stand in his way?
She already knew what her answer to the weekend trip had to be.
She couldn’t seem to deny Adam Chase anything anymore.
Ten
The plane trip was as comfortable as Adam said it would be. Rose slept most of the time in her car seat, and Mia and Adam played games with her during the rest of the trip. Mia had half hoped the pediatrician wouldn’t give Rose permission to fly, but that hadn’t been the case at all. Rose had gotten the all clear. And now Adam sat facing Mia in a stretch limo loaded down with baby equipment, heading toward Beckon, Texas.
“Tell me about Zane and his fiancée,” Mia asked Adam, keeping her voice low. The baby’s eyes were drifting closed again. Mia wished she could join her in a nap. “You told me that he’d leased the house next door to you and that you’d become friends during that time. But that’s all I know, really.”
Adam poured her a glass of lemonade from the bar and extended his arm to hand it her. “Thanks.”
“You haven’t read about it? It’s big entertainment news. I guess the story got leaked out about Zane falling for his late wife’s sister. They fell in love when Jessica came to Moonlight Beach to heal her wounds from being dumped at the altar.”
“I don’t have much time to read that stuff, Adam.”
Adam poured himself a glass of lemonade, too, and took a sip. “Jessica is a nice woman. You’re going to like her. She’s a schoolteacher. I got to know her a bit when she lived here.”
“And so will this wedding be a three-ring circus?”
“It shouldn’t be. They were keeping their wedding plans a secret. Zane had rumors spread that they were hoping to get ma
rried next summer on the beach where they met. So, hopefully, this small farm wedding won’t attract attention.”
“I hope not, for their sake. They deserve to have a private ceremony.”
His eyes flickered as he flashed a smile. That killer rare smile did things to her insides. Then he slid across from his seat to sit beside her and brought his hand up to her face. The gentle touch had her lifting her chin, and their eyes met as his arm wrapped around her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re with me, Mia.”
“Me, too,” she said, taking a swallow of air.
His head bent toward her, and her mouth was captured in a long delicious kiss that was sweet, soothing and different from the way he’d kissed her before. “It’s a long ride,” he said. “Why don’t you close your eyes and get some rest?”
It was just what she needed. The plane trip and all the preparations beforehand had worn her out. “Sounds perfect.”
He cradled her in his arms and coaxed her head onto his chest. He smelled of musk and man, so strong and so good. The sound of his heart beating, the rapid thump, thump, thumping, calmed and comforted her as she drifted off.
* * *
A kiss to her forehead snapped her eyes wide-open. “Wake up, sweetheart.”
Mia pushed up and away from Adam’s grasp to get her bearings. The limo was parked in front of a hotel. All those miles of flatlands were behind them. “Did I sleep the whole way?”
“You and Rose were sleepyheads.”
She gazed at Rose in the car seat. Her eyes were just now opening. “Wow, I didn’t mean to sleep so long.” She fiddled with her mussed hair. She must look a wreck.
“You needed the rest. You do a lot, holding down a job and taking care of Rose.”
“I love it.”
“I know, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t wear you down at times.”
She couldn’t disagree. She’d been getting up with Rose twice a night the last few days. The baby was cutting teeth and wasn’t sleeping through the night.
The chauffeur opened the door, and Adam unsnapped the baby out of the infant seat. He handed her off to Mia before she fussed and then extended his hand to help them out of the car. After Adam gave the driver instructions regarding the baby equipment, he guided her to the front desk and checked them into the only two-room suite on the premises.
Beckon wasn’t a destination stop, but Zane Williams had put their little town on the map. He was their pride and joy. That much she knew about the country star.
As they entered the elevator, Adam whispered in her ear. “I can’t promise you a five-star hotel. But I was assured it’s a decent place.”
“All I need are clean sheets and a nice bathtub and I’m happy.”
“Is that all it takes to make you happy?”
“Uh-huh.” She glanced at him. There was a lightness to Adam lately that kept her on her toes. “And what makes you happy?”
“Whatever makes you happy, Mia.”
If he wanted her to jump his bones, he was halfway there. She liked this new Adam. He was charming and sweet. It sort of unsettled her, though. His abrupt turnaround seemed too good to be true.
“Right answer,” she said as she stepped out of the elevator to face their suite.
Adam opened the door and they stepped inside. “Wow, this is nice,” she said immediately. It was spacious with a flat-screen television on the wall and two lovely sofas facing a fireplace. A double door opened to one large bedroom and a master bath.
A large bouquet of pink lilies filled a glass-blown lavender vase that sat on the fireplace hearth. Adam walked over to it and read the card. “It’s from Zane and Jessica, welcoming us to Beckon.”
“Nice of them,” she said. Rose was getting heavy in her arms. “Adam, can you lay a blanket down, please?”
He jumped to help her, retrieving the blanket from the diaper bag. Kneeling down, he placed it in the center of the room, and Mia met him there as she laid the baby down on her stomach. “Tummy time,” she said. Then she gazed at Adam. “There’s only one bedroom,” she blurted. It was one of the first things she’d noticed about the suite.
“You and the baby take the bedroom. I’ll sleep in here,” he said. “I’m sure the sofas fold out into beds.”
Their eyes locked, and warmth heated her cheeks. It was one thing living under Adam’s roof in a huge mansion of sixteen rooms. A person could go all day without bumping into anyone else, but here? Awkward.
“You’re pretty when you blush,” Adam said.
Her shoulders slumped. No sense skirting the issue. “It’s not as if we haven’t slept together, Adam. But we have to be careful for Rose’s sake that we don’t make a mistake.”
“I agree. We’re on the same page, Mia.”
“We are? Okay, good.” As long as she made herself clear. Adam had no clue how hard it would be to go to bed tonight knowing he was only steps away. She wasn’t as immune to him as she pretended, especially lately. He’d been a dream these past few days. “So what’s on the agenda today?” she asked.
“Well, first we take a little rest and get settled. And later tonight there’s a welcome barbecue at the farm. Zane’s in the process of building Jessica a house, so it’ll be on his property, but prepare to rough it a bit.”
“You didn’t design the house by any chance?”
“It’s their wedding present. Zane had specifics and I helped him along.”
“It’s probably going to be fantastic, a dream home.”
“I hope so.”
“If you designed it, it will be.”
Adam’s expression softened and warmth filled his eyes. “Thank you.”
She stared at him. “You’re welcome.”
Their luggage arrived at the door, breaking the moment, and they spent the next twenty minutes unpacking and setting up the baby’s equipment.
By six o’clock they were standing on Zane Williams’s property, a vast amount of land accented by cottonwoods and lush meadows. Off in the distance, she saw the house under construction and could only imagine how beautiful it would be when it was done. Adam told her there were balconies and terraces to the rear of the home facing a lake.
The party invitation had said ultracasual. Mia wore a soft cotton paisley dress and tall tan leather boots. Adam told her she looked very much like a country girl. Adam did the cowboy thing justice, too. He wore jeans, a belt buckle, boots and a black Western shirt with white snaps. He could easily play the sexy villain in a Western movie in that getup.
“Ready?” he asked.
She nodded and Adam placed a hand to her back as they headed on foot toward the festivities held under tall thick oaks shading the area. Mia pushed the stroller, and when the terrain got a little too rough, Adam took over. As they approached a set of picnic benches with candles burning and vases filled with willowy wildflowers dotting the length of the dressed tables, intense hickory scents flavored the air and worked at her appetite. Beyond the benches, smoke billowed from three giant smoker barbecue grills.
“Howdy,” said a voice she recognized. She owned at least three of Zane Williams’s albums. And sure enough, he was approaching them, holding the hand of a pretty blonde woman. “Adam, I’m glad you could make it. Congratulations on being a daddy.”
The men shook hands and the woman placed a kiss on Adam’s cheek. “Yes and congrats from me, too, neighbor. So glad you all made it for our wedding.”
“I am, too, Jess. You’re looking beautiful and very happy,” Adam said.
She winked. “Never could pull the wool over your eyes, Adam. And who are these gorgeous ladies?”
Adam made the introductions. Mia couldn’t believe Zane Williams actually gave her a warm hug and thanked her for coming. “Nice meeting you and congratulations. Little Rose, is she?”
“Yes, she was named after my mother,” she told the couple.
“Pretty name,” Zane said, crouching down to get a better look at Rose. “She’s got your eyes, Adam. Such a pretty little thing.”
“And you’re the baby’s aunt?” Jessica asked softly, eyeing the baby.
“Yes, I’m Aunt Mia.” There was no need to go into further detail. She didn’t know how much Adam had told them, but she was certain it wasn’t all that much.
“Well, I hope you have a nice time this evening,” Zane said. “We’ve invited our closest friends and family. Before we eat, we’ll go around and introduce you to everyone.”
“Sounds good,” Adam said.
Mia raised her brows. There must be fifty people in attendance. Small for wedding standards, but would Adam make the rounds to meet everyone or stay in the shadows like he always did?
“Would you like to sit down?” Adam asked after Jessica and Zane left. “Looks like we can take our pick of seats.”
“Actually, I’d like to walk around a bit. If you don’t mind trudging around with the stroller.”
“Not at all.” They headed away from the festivities, staying to flat grounds, Rose cooing and gurgling as they bumped along a grassy path. “I didn’t know Rose was named after your mother.”
“She was. Rose was her middle name.”
“Makes me wonder what else I don’t know about you. And don’t say, welcome to my world.”
Mia’s breath caught. At some point, she’d wanted to tell Adam about her life and share her innermost secrets. But did she know him well enough? So far the men in her life had only disappointed her. If Adam hurt her, she’d be devastated. She’d wait for the time when Adam met her halfway. Right now, he already knew much more about her than she knew about him. “How about, welcome to my universe?”
“Very funny, Mia.” But Adam was smiling, and he didn’t press her.
They walked along in silence and returned in time to meet Zane and Jessica’s family and friends. All the while, Adam stayed by her side and was cordial to everyone, shaking hands, making small talk.
They sat down to the best barbecue Mia had ever eaten. She tasted a little of everything. The spareribs were to die for. The corn on the cob smoked in their husks and flavored with honey butter, insane. The chicken, shrimp and brisket were all tender and tasty. Mia had never eaten so much in her life.
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