by Susan Meier
She had no idea why he’d felt he had to whisper that, and with his warm breath tickling her ear, she couldn’t muster the brain power to try to figure it out. Chills covered her body. Instinctively, she almost took Joshua, glad for a reason to step away from Dominic.
But sanity returned. Remembering he was the kind of guy who flirted with everyone, that there was nothing special happening between them and she had to stop acting like a ninny, she said, “Come on. Just set him in.”
Dominic hesitated a second, but eventually turned to the high chair and slid Joshua behind the tray, trying to set him on the seat. Because she’d forgotten to open the tray, there was barely enough space to squeeze the baby through. Before she could rush over to open it, Joshua squirmed, angling one foot against the tray, and then used it as leverage to lunge forward, almost out of Dominic’s arms.
“Damn it.”
Audra leaped to the high chair and took Joshua. “I’m sorry. I sometimes forget that you don’t know how to handle a baby and you’re not accustomed to the baby equipment.”
“And I think you enjoy making me squirm.”
His words were laced with such venom that Audra gasped. “I don’t!”
He ran his hand along the back of his neck. His expression clearly conveyed that he couldn’t believe he’d actually said that. “I know. I’m sorry.” He took a breath. “Look, maybe I just need a break tonight.” He headed for the door. “A few friends are meeting at a club. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Wait!”
Too late. He was already through the swinging door.
She glanced at Joshua with a sigh. “I botched that big-time.”
The baby laughed.
“Right. You won’t thank me if your new daddy doesn’t adjust to his role with you before a permanent nanny gets here and he has all the freedom in the world to stay away from you.”
Dominic went to a noisy nightclub. He found a table full of his friends, ordered a round of drinks, grabbed a partner and began to dance.
And proceeded to have the worst time of his life. As if his world wasn’t complicated enough, he felt guilty about his mini meltdown with Audra. He’d accused her of trying to make him squirm, not because he actually believed she’d done it deliberately, but as a knee-jerk reaction.
He’d spent his life being humiliated by a father who had constantly compared him to his older, smarter brother. On kind days, he and Peter would excuse their dad repeatedly pointing out Dominic’s deficiencies. It was his way of showing everyone why Peter would take the reins of the family business rather than Dominic. On normal days they both knew their father was a mean-spirited jerk.
Dominic tried to lose himself in the noise and the pulsing beat of the music and bodies in motion, but he couldn’t. After a few hours of pretending to have fun, he summoned his driver and on the ride home came to the conclusion that he was as upset about not being capable with Joshua as he was about his meltdown.
He wasn’t an idiot. And holding a kid, manipulating him into a damn high chair, shouldn’t be so hard! It couldn’t be. Ninety percent of the people in the world mastered it as parents.
Surely he could handle one measly baby!
On Sunday morning Dominic arrived in the nursery exactly as Audra had finished bathing Joshua and was walking out of the bathroom. This time, instead of flowers, he had coffee.
“The blue cup is yours.” He set her cup on the dresser near where she would be working.
Audra glanced at her coffee and returned her gaze to his. He had been so frustrated the night before, she was sure he wouldn’t even come in to say good morning. Yet he was back. And he looked about as cute as a man could look in his jeans and T-shirt, holding the mug of coffee he’d brought for himself.
“I’m sorry about last night.”
“That was actually my fault. I should have opened the tray. I’m sorry.”
He smiled hopefully. “So what we’re really saying here is that we’re both at fault. You should have remembered I’m not experienced, and I shouldn’t have gotten frustrated over something I didn’t know.”
“Exactly.”
He pulled in a breath and then pushed it out noisily. “So what are we going to do this morning?”
Wrapped in his baby towel, chewing a blue teething ring, Joshua leaned toward Dominic.
“He wants you to take him.”
Dominic placed his hands around the baby’s ribs and took him into his arms. Joshua cooed up at Dominic, then as naturally as could be set his head on his uncle’s shoulder.
Audra’s heart melted. “Look how he likes you!”
A ripple of unease passed over Dominic’s features before he swallowed hard. “Yeah. But I’ll feel a lot more comfortable when his bottom is covered.” He laid the baby on the changing table. “What do I do?”
“First, get a diaper.”
Happy he was stepping up and asking questions, Audra reached for her coffee. Dominic leaned over to get a diaper from the dresser. Their arms brushed and, nervous, Audra jumped back.
Dominic grinned at her. “Sorry. We don’t want you to spill your first coffee of the day.” At her confused frown, he added, “Joyce told me you refused a cup this morning. She said you seemed to have your hands full with Joshua.”
It gave her a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach that he had asked Joyce about her, but the jumpiness got worse when he glanced significantly at her worn T-shirt and scruffy pajama bottoms. She could have been embarrassed about her sleep attire, but it wouldn’t matter if she were fully dressed. Everything about him gave her a jumpy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Even though she knew he was absolutely wrong for her, she couldn’t seem to help being attracted to him.
Dominic held up the diaper, as if trying to make sense of it, turning it over in his hands, examining the size and shape. Recognizing that he didn’t get the concept of the disposable diaper, Audra set the mug on the dresser again. She took the diaper from him and stepped closer to the table, which put her inordinately close to Dominic.
She’d thought there was room enough for her to step in, but suddenly she and Dominic were elbow to elbow. She could smell his clean scent, almost feel the heat radiating from him.
Telling herself she was simply hypersensitive to him because she’d had a crush on him for so long, she said, “It’s like this.” She displayed the diaper’s two sticky tabs. “These two tabs go at the back.” Holding Joshua’s ankles in one hand, she slid the diaper beneath his bottom with the other. “You slide the diaper under him like this, and then pull the front part up to cover him. Then open the sticky tabs on the side and pinch, pinch—” She pressed the tabs into place on the front. “And voilà, you’re done.”
Dominic leaned in, as if examining the diaper, but his upper arm brushed against her as he did. Her breathing shimmied in her chest. All her muscles tightened. She desperately wanted to shiver, but fought it.
“Looks simple enough.”
He pulled back, his arm sliding against her again, setting off the same chain reaction he’d ignited when he’d leaned in. Except this time she couldn’t stop the shiver.
He smiled at her. “Cold?”
“No.” Because her voice came out like a breathless whisper, she cleared her throat. “No.”
Reaching for the T-shirt she’d laid out for Joshua, Dominic jutted his chin in her direction. “Do you own pajamas?”
All right. Now she could officially be embarrassed about her sleepwear. “No.”
“You look like you belong in a college dorm.”
She laughed. “Probably, since these things are leftovers from my dorm days.”
A few seconds went by in silence. Glad the topic of her sleepwear had died, Audra took a sip of coffee as she watched Dominic carefully pull the T-shirt over Joshua’s head. He might not have done this before, but he obviously understood he had to be gentle with small bones and soft arms.
“I see you as a pink lace kind of girl.”
She nea
rly spit out her coffee. “What?”
“Pink lace. You’re not the red or black satin pajama type. You’re more pink.”
She gaped at him.
“Oh, okay. Maybe lace is too scratchy?” He looked back at her with a grin. “How about pink satin?”
He seemed so darned interested in her potential taste in pajamas that Audra’s heart hammered. He could simply be talking about the first thing that came to his mind to give them a distraction while they performed simple tasks with the baby. But when he’d said pink lace, she’d seen a sexy little teddy and she’d bet her last dollar he had too. She sucked in a breath. She knew he was teasing, but what if he wasn’t? Seriously. What would she do if he was genuinely interested in her?
The answer came quickly. Easily. She would do nothing. Getting left at the altar once by a guy just like him was plenty. She didn’t want to go through that a second time. Plus, he should be focused on the baby, not her.
“Since Joshua’s our top priority, I can’t think of a reason in the world why we’d need to be discussing my sleepwear.”
He laughed. “Come on, Audra. I’m just trying to lighten the mood.”
Feeling like a shrew she said, “All right.”
He peeked askance at her. “But you have to admit we do have a bit of chemistry.”
“Unfortunately.”
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot that you lump me in with your ex.”
Not about to argue that, Audra said nothing. Dominic finished dressing Joshua, lifted him from the table and handed him to Audra.
“But I still think you’re missing out.” He touched the tip of his finger to her nose and then headed for the door. “I have a few things to do today. I might not be back.”
Audra stared at the door. Her lungs had frozen. Her head was spinning. He could reduce her to a puddle just talking about the fact that they had chemistry.
And once again he was gone.
CHAPTER FIVE
ON MONDAY morning Audra left Joshua in the capable hands of her mother and the staff, drove down the tree-lined lane of the Manelli estate and headed for the bank. Her functional black leather purse contained a check for fifty thousand dollars paper-clipped to a deposit ticket—the first half of the money to save Julie’s wedding.
Or not.
Right now she wasn’t sure what she should do.
She hadn’t seen Dominic since he’d left her and Joshua on Sunday morning. She knew he had been around the house, mostly in his office, but he’d never returned to the nursery, not even to check up on Joshua. On Sunday night she’d heard through the staff grapevine that he’d gone out with friends.
Because he trusted her…so much that he didn’t feel the need to peek in on Joshua to see if he was okay, and that wasn’t good for Joshua. If she put this check in the bank and stayed on as Joshua’s nanny, she ran the risk that Dominic wouldn’t spend enough time with the baby. On the other hand, every time he came into the nursery, he reduced her to a quivering mass of attraction.
In theory, squelching the attraction should be a simple matter of remembering the fiancé who’d left her at the altar. But David was the last person who popped into her head when a simple brush of her hand against Dominic’s had her heart thrumming. All she could think about Sunday afternoon was what if he kissed her one of these days? Could she pull back? Tell him to behave? Or would she melt?
The intelligent part of Audra Greene recognized that adding sexual chemistry to her simple schoolgirl crush had created some sort of firestorm that was sucking her in like a black hole. That part of her knew the smart thing to do would be to get away from him. That meant either give back the check and get out of his life, or keep the check but keep her distance.
But if she kept her distance, would she be keeping Joshua away from the man who was supposed to be his daddy?
On a groan of frustration, she drove to the Wedding Belles offices and entered the townhouse with the check squished in her coat pocket. Part of her genuinely believed she needed to give Dominic back his money and get the heck away from him. Another part equally believed she was strong enough to resist a little flirting. She might still have a few weeks left with him, but she could be very strong when she needed to be. Why was she so afraid?
“Good morning, Audra!” At her desk in the foyer, which served as a reception area for the business, radiant, happy Julie beamed at Audra.
Audra pasted on a smile. “Good morning.”
“Everybody’s getting settled in the conference room for the emergency meeting you called on Friday.”
Audra stopped dead in her tracks, turned and faced Julie again. “Meeting?”
“You sent out an e-mail on Friday morning, saying we needed to have an emergency meeting. Then you left for the day and when you called saying you wouldn’t be back until this morning everybody assumed that meant you wanted to have the meeting first thing today.”
She’d forgotten all about that e-mail. Now she had the Belles sitting in the conference room, waiting for her.
“Sorry I can’t join you,” Julie added, pointing at the stack of envelopes on her desk. “Mail came early.”
Audra nodded, feeling the hand of fate at her back. In her head, she might be able to tell herself she could resist Dominic, but her heart wasn’t convinced. She was afraid. With Julie busy at the reception desk and the Belles gathered for a meeting, it was as if fate had created the perfect opportunity for Audra to admit they were out of money. Then Audra could call a temporary nanny service and make arrangements for someone to be at Dominic’s house that night, give back his check and save herself from a situation that was beginning to feel all too familiar.
Squaring her shoulders, she headed down the hall. With one quick meeting she could settle this problem once and for all. Head high, she walked into the conference room.
“Hey,” Callie Philips-Faulkner said. Blond with green eyes that sparkled with life, Callie was one of Audra’s best friends. “It’s about time you got here.”
Audra set her briefcase on the table and reached for the buttons of her coat. “I was a bit delayed.”
“Yeah, an hour,” Natalie Thompson said with a laugh. A petite blonde with a smattering of freckles, Natalie was the fresh-faced innocent of the group. “You’re never late for work.”
Mug of coffee in hand, stylish Serena James slid in beside Audra. “That’s so not like you! What’s up?”
Audra took a breath. “Belle, would you mind closing the door?”
Belle rose from her seat at the conference table. Though Belle was the owner of Wedding Belles she was also a true Southern belle, with a warm heart and a generous personality. “Sure, sugar.”
Audra took another breath, her gaze going from one smiling, expectant face to the next. But before she opened her mouth to tell them about their dwindling funds, something incredible struck her.
This time last year, she had been the one happily in love. Every one of the ladies in front of her had been alone. Today they were all married or engaged.
Floral designer Callie had married Harry Faulkner.
Photographer Regina and her husband Dell O’Ryan had patched up their difficulties.
Cake whiz Natalie had married Cooper Sullivan.
Master dressmaker Serena had fabulous Kane.
General assistant Julie was engaged to the love of her life, Matt.
Even Belle had Charles Wiley.
And Audra—the one so smitten with David that she hadn’t realized he’d been panicking and about to dump her—was alone.
Except she was smarter now. Having been dumped had changed her. Made her wary. Wasn’t she wary of Dominic? Of course she was. She wasn’t flirting with him. Didn’t show any signs of actually melting in his presence. She felt things but didn’t act on them. She wouldn’t date another guy like her ex. She really had learned her lesson.
She stood a little taller. She could resist flirty Dominic.
“I called this meeting to tell you—”
And since she knew she could resist Dominic, it didn’t make sense to snatch away the opportunity the Belles had to keep their promise to Julie.
“—that in spite of the Vandiver wedding cancellation, our pocketbook is still in great shape.”
Belle laughed and patted her perfectly coiffed silver hair as she rose from her seat. Standing in front of Audra, she pressed both of her palms to Audra’s cheeks and then planted a kiss on her nose. “Only you, sugar, could scare us to death with an ominous e-mail calling a meeting to tell us we’re doing fine.”
Callie collapsed in her chair. “Sheesh, Audra, we’ve got to teach you some new communication skills.”
Serena rose and headed for the door. “The next time you have good news, Audra, put a smiley in the reference line of your e-mail.”
The other girls mumbled similar agreement, and within a few seconds the busy wedding planners had gone back to their respective jobs. Audra took a breath.
“Something troubling you, sugar?”
Audra glanced at Belle, who stood by the coffee carafe, holding a mug of the coffee that Julie always brewed for their meetings.
“No.”
“I know you. You hold your cards close to the chest. You don’t ever feel the need to apprise us of our finances. You consider it your job to handle anything that comes up with our money. You’d never call a meeting to give us good news. Because you did call a meeting, I’m guessing you have news so bad you didn’t think it fair to keep it from us, but panicked at the last minute and couldn’t tell us.”
Audra swallowed, gathering her briefcase, purse and coat. “No. I simply realized on Friday morning that you all might be worried that the Vandiver wedding cancellation had hurt our finances.” She smiled. “I really did just want to tell you all that we’re fine.”
“If we weren’t fine, you would tell at least me, right?”
Audra slid her right hand behind her back and crossed her fingers. “Absolutely.”
“You know I’m a tough old broad. I can pretty much handle anything.”
Something stirred in Audra’s chest. She’d spent her life keeping her troubles to herself, sharing a bit with her mom, but not everything. Not the depth of her humiliation at being left at the altar. Not the fear that surfaced after David’s rejection that she’d always be alone. Not the stinging recrimination that she was so logical she was a nag. And she certainly couldn’t tell her mother that her employer was flirting with her daughter.