Then Comes Baby

by Helen Brenna

  The kid picked up a stone and threw it into the woods. Then she wandered a few feet away, bent down and studied, presumably, an insect crawling through the dirt. Next, she picked a wood violet and another and another, starting a tiny bouquet in her little fingers.

  He couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Every step. Every movement. She did exactly what Caitlin would’ve done. His heart twisted inside out as memories of a different little girl in a different, happier time popped into his mind one after another. Caitlin’s first steps, her first words, the way her fingers felt on his arm as he read her to sleep, the way her arms felt around his neck as she hugged him with all her might. Little girls. Were they all exactly the same?

  Oh, God. He sucked in a quick breath and pushed the memories back where they could cause no further pain. Then she set her bouquet down, reached for the lowest branch of a small pine, and hoisted herself up. She was a good little climber, but every time she reached higher, Jamis cringed. One branch led to another and in no time, she was halfway up the tree, a good fifteen feet off the ground. If she fell—

  He caught himself holding his breath. That was it. Yanking open the front door, he stepped out onto the porch and crossed his arms. “Hey, kid. Get down from there. Now.”

  She glanced over at him with a face as innocent as a bunny rabbit’s. “Why? I’m not going to fa—”

  “I said get down!”

  She frowned, but did as he’d asked, scrambling quickly down the tree trunk. “I’ve climbed lots of—”

  “What are you doing over here?”

  She glanced up. “Nothing.”

  “Then go do nothing in your own yard.”

  She didn’t move. Instead, she whispered, “I thought you reminded me of my daddy, but I guess not.”

  “Definitely not.”

  “He died.”

  Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Jamis swallowed as if the words stuck in his throat. “I’m sorry, but I’m not your dad.”

  Bending down, she picked up her violets and gathered them back into a bouquet. “Why do you try to be mean?” she asked without looking at him.

  “Try? Try to be mean?”

  She nodded.

  And he couldn’t do it. Just couldn’t. Another pass for Natalie. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out onto the porch and sat on the top step. “What’s your name?”

  “Toni.”

  He felt the name poke at his heart like the tip of a dull knife. “Well, Toni, you remind me of my daughter. And it hurts.”

  “Did she die, too?”

  He nodded. “And my son.”

  “That’s sad.”

  “Toni!” The call came from next door. “Dinner’s ready!”

  “Coming!” She glanced up at Jamis. “Here.” Tentatively, she offered him the flowers. “I picked these for you.”

  Unable, unwilling to move, Jamis stared at the little hand.

  Before he could step out of her reach, she thrust the flowers into his hand. “I gotta go!” she said, running away. “Want me to come back later?”

  “No!” Jamis called, flicking the flowers into the woods. “Please,” he whispered after she disappeared into the old Victorian.

  If only he could put a no-trespassing sign on his heart.

  NATALIE AWOKE AT HER usual early hour, but the kids got to sleep in late this morning. Weeks ago, she’d established the routine for the summer weekends. Saturdays were cleaning days. Saturday nights were pizza and a movie in town. And Sundays were play days all day long. She padded into the kitchen, made herself a pot of coffee and would’ve given anything at that moment to have an adult conversation. Unfortunately, the only adult within a five-mile radius was a certain grizzly bear of a man who’d made it very clear with or without his no-trespassing signs that he didn’t want anything to do with her.

  The clear call of a cardinal pierced the quiet of the morning, and she cracked open the window to listen. At that moment, the sound of Snickers’s bark joined that of the bird’s call, and she noticed motion on Jamis’s deck. Curiosity getting the better of her, she snuck outside and into the woods for a better look. She hunkered down and peered through the branches to see Snickers chase through the trees after a squirrel, and grizzly bear Jamis standing near his deck rail. He was holding what appeared to be a steaming cup of hot coffee as he searched the branches, presumably for the bright red feathers of the male bird that was singing his solitary, melancholy tune.

  Natalie was dying to stand up and walk over there with her first cup of coffee and talk. “No can do,” she whispered. Thanks to that silly bet. Two days down, five to go. Five? Whose idea was this, anyway? Oh, yeah. Mine.

  All she could do was watch as he sipped from his mug, closed his eyes and put his face to the sky. His longish hair was rumpled as if he’d just rolled out of bed. He was wearing flannel pajama pants and a fleece pullover, as if chilled, but he was barefoot.

  What a paradox, that man. There was something so elementally virile about him, but it didn’t make any sense. A writer? Virile and sexy? An attractive, intelligent man all alone in the woods? He shouldn’t be alone. That man needed a woman. Not just any woman. He needed someone strong and compassionate, someone who could take him in stride.

  Someone like her.

  She imagined waking up naked in his arms, sliding over his tall, tense frame, and desire sung through her swiftly, cleanly, undeniably. Where was this coming from? Normally, she liked reserved and patient men. Jamis was neither. He was about as tentative as a bullet. He wouldn’t ask for what he wanted. He’d take it.

  Almost intuitively, his gaze traveled from the water toward Natalie’s house and back out to the trees as if he could sense her there. She squatted farther down and out of sight. Stop it, Nat. Even if you hadn’t sworn off men, you’re too busy this summer for a relationship.

  Snickers started sniffing the edge of the woods in front of her and she held her breath. If he came running toward her, she’d die. Die.

  “Snickers, come,” Jamis called, and the dog quickly ran back to the cabin.

  Natalie breathed a sigh of relief. Jamis and the dog headed back inside and then, resolutely, she put the slightly damaged but very sexy Jamis out of her mind, slinked back to her kitchen and focused on her plans for the day. Grabbing the whiteboard, she mapped out cleaning duties and started a load of laundry.

  Gradually, over the course of the next couple of hours, one by one, the children wandered into the kitchen looking for something to eat. It was no surprise that Galen was the last one to the breakfast table. The previous night, he and Sam had gotten home only a few minutes past eleven, but she’d heard Galen up and about for some time before she’d drifted off to sleep.

  She’d let them all watch some TV while she cleaned up from breakfast and then went into the living room and shut off the TV. “Time to get moving, guys.”

  Groans all around.

  “Cleaning day. Remember? Top to bottom.”

  Major groans.

  “Then tomorrow we’re heading to the beach for sailing and kayaking. And today, the sooner we get done, the sooner we can head into town for pizza and a movie!”

  That announcement was met with a resounding round of approval, and Natalie assigned chores. Another glance out the open kitchen window gave her an idea, and she grinned. After opening several more windows throughout the house as wide as they would go, she dropped a disk in the CD player and cranked the volume as high as it would go. She might not be able to go over to Jamis’s, but their agreement didn’t preclude him from coming over here.

  JAMIS DRUMMED HIS FINGERTIPS on top of his desk as the sax solo for Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” pounded through the previously quiet forest. He’d already closed all of his windows, but Miss Not-So-Innocent-After-All had the volume so loud he swore the leaves on the trees were vibrating.

  “The little vixen.” He caught himself smiling.

  This wouldn’t be such an untenable situation, except for the fact that he was actually, almost
, starting to like the woman.

  With Snickers taking the lead, he strode to her house and pounded on the back door. When no one answered, he let himself into the kitchen and several heads turned toward him. One kid was scrubbing out the sink. Another was sweeping. Another washing the cabinets. One was vacuuming the living room. Another one dusting.

  He had to give the woman credit. This was nothing like the posh camps he’d attended as a kid. He’d more likely have gotten breakfast in bed than be assigned chores. In any case, he walked past them all, found the CD player and flicked it off.

  “Hey!” Natalie, holding a toilet brush in her hand, came out into the hallway from what must’ve been the bathroom. Goddamn, she looked gorgeous. In jeans shorts and a tank top with her hair up in a messy ponytail. Her skin glowing with a honey-gold tan. “Who shut off the music?”

  “It’s only considered music when listened to at reasonable decibels,” Jamis said. “Otherwise it’s nothing more than noise.”

  She spun toward him, put her hands on her hips, nice, curvy, luscious-looking hips, and raised her eyebrows. “Oh, so you can come over here, but I can’t come over to your house?”

  He laughed. She’d done this on purpose. Well, two could play that game. “Deal’s off.” He strode outside.

  “Wait a minute!” She ran after him. “I’m sorry. I am.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “I am. Honestly.”

  Refusing to stop and discuss this with her, he stalked through the woods. She, predictably, followed. Within seconds he was standing in front of his house and she was close behind him. He spun around. “See? I was right.”

  “About what?”

  “You couldn’t even make it three days.” He grinned. “This is where I get to gloat and tell you I told you so.”

  “What?”

  “You, Sunshine, are trespassing.”

  Her mouth gaped open, showcasing pretty pink lips and a delectable tongue. “You did that on purpose!”

  “So what if I did?”

  “Of all the—”

  That was it. He couldn’t take it anymore. Striding toward her, he grabbed her around the waist, pulled her flush against him and kissed her. He’d only intended—Who was he kidding? He hadn’t intended on touching her at all, but once he’d started he didn’t want to stop. Neither did she. A harmless peck on the lips turned into open mouths, tongues clashing and hands groping. Her hands were on his chest, his neck, diving through his hair. Before he knew what he was doing, his fingers had found their way under her shirt and were making their way up her side toward her breasts.

  Then a rap song suddenly sounded from Natalie’s house, piercing the air and snapping Jamis back to reality. He stepped back and swallowed, feeling slightly stunned.

  Natalie’s eyes drifted open. “What…what was that for?” she whispered.

  “I’ve been wondering what you’d taste like.” She was a minty orange flavor he had a feeling he’d end up craving for a very long time.

  “And?”

  He might try to tell himself he didn’t enjoy her company, her conversation, her presence, but the truth was he enjoyed her far too much. And he sure as hell didn’t deserve to be enjoying much of anything.

  “Now I really don’t want you on my side of the trees.” He stalked into the house, grabbed a few more no-trespassing signs and nailed them up between their two houses on every single tree he could find sturdy enough to hold them. By the time he was done, Natalie was nowhere to be found and the northwest corner of Mirabelle had fallen eerily silent.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  SILENCE. A FULL SUNDAY’S worth of it and Jamis had managed to eek out only a chapter. As if a dam or a maze had been constructed in his brain, words were piling up inside him, making it impossible to release them in any coherent form. If they didn’t come pouring out fairly soon, he might just explode. But at least he’d started the damned book. Sort of. He had no clue where this story was going. All he knew was that it was finally going somewhere.

  Around suppertime, he called it a day. The scene wasn’t turning out exactly as he wanted, so he’d have to hammer it into shape another time. As he was checking e-mails, a note came in from his agent. “I’m out next week. Forgot to tell you. How’s the book coming?”

  He typed back, “It’s not.”

  “What’s the problem?”

  A woman. And her kids. “Writer’s block.” He had a block all right. He couldn’t seem to think of much outside of Natalie and her lips, the way her skin had felt, like the petals of a wild trillium.

  “It’s the kids’ camp, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.” As he typed, he heard Natalie and her crew returning from wherever they’d spent the day. Snickers barked to go out and rather than argue Jamis left his agent’s e-mails and went downstairs to open the door. The dog ran through the trees and up to each child. “Snickers!” they each called, in turn.

  They were carrying beach towels, coolers and picnic baskets. A day at the beach—with people, laughter and games, hot sun, cool drinks. Surprisingly, it sounded like a nice way to pass a summer day.

  Not gonna happen. Not in your lifetime.

  He went to his office to turn off his computer and found another e-mail from his agent. “You going to meet the deadline?”

  “No,” he typed.

  A few moments later, the phone rang. Jamis picked it up and walked across the room. “Yes, Stephen.”

  “You’ve never missed a deadline before.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” He glanced out the window.

  From this high up, the second floor of his house, he could see Natalie and the kids fishing at her dock. She had her hair up in a ponytail and was wearing a baseball cap. In jeans shorts and a red shirt, he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her look sexier. What would she look like in a bikini?

  He closed his eyes and imagined her skin bared, soft and supple. Warm, the way her hand had felt on his neck yesterday, her fingers in his hair. She’d wanted him as much as he’d wanted her. A man didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what might’ve happened between the two of them if those kids hadn’t been next door. His thoughts quickly tracked in that direction. He imagined himself over her, moving with her, making love with her.

  “Jamis? Jamis!”

  He’d completely forgotten his agent was on the phone. “What?”

  “You’ve started the book, though, right?” Stephen asked, not quite pulling Jamis back to their conversation.

  “I have one chapter of a story. Not quite sure what it is yet.” He went out to the porch for a better view of Natalie.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know.” She bent over, picked up something from the dock and laughed as she threw it into the water. “Too distracting around here, I guess.”

  Stephen held silent for a moment. “She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Are you looking at her now?”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  Stephen laughed. “How long since you’ve been with a woman?”

  “None of your business.”

  “Since Katherine, right?”

  Jamis refused to answer that.

  “You need to get laid.”

  “Oh, that’d solve a lot of problems.” But there was no doubt that all these years without sex, without human touch, was taking its toll on Jamis.

  “You’d be surprised.”

  No, he wouldn’t. He was quite sure that a quick, noncommittal romp under the sheets with Natalie would do more than free his mind.

  “You miss this deadline, Jamis, and this last publisher will not only close the door in your face, they’ll drop all the publicity they’ve planned for the book you just turned in.”

  “You think I don’t know that?”

  “I’ll call them. See what I can do.”

  As Jamis disconnected the call, the sight of Toni sitting with her feet dangling off the end of the dock caught his eye. S
he reminded him so much of Caitlin. The color of her hair. The curls. That sweet voice. He missed his children. And suddenly he realized the memory of their faces was beginning to fade.

  Before he could think better of it, Jamis went to his office and pulled out the bottom drawer of his credenza, a drawer he hadn’t opened since a box had been placed inside the day he’d moved into this cabin. He flipped open the flaps and there on top staring at him was the last picture he’d ever taken of his daughter and son. God, it was good to see them again. He picked up the frame and studied their smiles, their bright eyes. Finally, he could look at their beautiful faces without breaking down.

  Jamis had taken them to a carnival by himself because it was the type of thing Katherine had hated. He’d loved doing things with the kids. On the merry-go-round, he’d put Justin in front of Caitlin and snapped off a picture.

  Justin’s dimples brought a smile to Jamis’s face. With eyebrows heavier than most babies and a distinctive jawline, people had always commented on how much Justin had looked like Jamis. Caitlin, too, with her dark hair and big brown eyes. Katherine, as much as their marriage had been a sham from her standpoint, had given him two beautiful children.

  Katherine.

  He should’ve known better when she’d seemed attracted to him. An ex-model, Katherine had the body of a goddess and, on top of that, an electric personality. It hadn’t made sense that such a woman would’ve been interested in him. Too bad he hadn’t listened to his instincts all those years ago. He could’ve saved himself a helluva lot of heartache.

  Well, Jamis was listening this time. He set the picture of his children back down into the box and closed the drawer. Natalie Steeger, a children’s camp director and all around do-gooder, could only be interested in him for one thing. She wanted to fix him.

  Boy, was she in for a big surprise.

  AFTER THAT KISS, NATALIE vowed to give Jamis some breathing room.