“Yes, yes. I’m coming,” she said, her body giving him what he demanded, glorious waves consuming her.
He took her release as a sign and let go, allowing her orgasm to trigger his own. “Fuck, Mia. So damn good.” He thrust over and over until he’d expended himself and collapsed on top of her, his body deliciously warm and slick with sweat.
At some point she’d wrapped her arms around his neck and now she held on, taking these few precious moments, when he couldn’t see her face or how much he’d affected her, to come back to herself.
As she breathed in and out, regaining her composure, she released him, hoping he’d take the hint and roll off her. She wasn’t going to regret what they’d done but she couldn’t act like it was anything more than it was. Great sex with her hot employer that didn’t change the facts.
She worked for him and nothing could come of this fling. Never mind that he represented everything she’d want in her life if only things could be different. If he were the type of man to want more.
* * *
Austin rolled off Mia, his body still buzzing from the best fucking orgasm ever. He headed for the bathroom to dispose of the condom. His brain, which had shut off during his release, clicked back on as he lay on top of her, feeling the softness of her skin, her breath heavy on his neck.
He’d had plenty of sex in his lifetime, although not much lately, and what he’d shared with Mia was more. More explosive, more in tune with his feelings… more everything. And though he’d wondered briefly what the fuck he’d done—he never brought a woman home to the house where he lived with his daughter, let alone contemplated sex in the bedroom with his kid a room over—he didn’t think he could bring himself to regret that it had happened with Mia.
He returned to the bed, where she was retrieving her clothes from the floor. He took in her nakedness, her skin flushed, her hair tousled, and his cock jerked, awake again.
“Rushing out?” he asked, sliding back onto the mattress.
She glanced over her shoulder, those big green eyes looking back at him warily. “It seems like the right… the smart thing to do.”
Before he asked her to leave? Was that thought going through her mind? No, that hadn’t been in his plan. “I still don’t think it was a mistake,” he told her.
She sat back down beside him, clutching her clothes to her chest. “No, I don’t think it was a mistake, either.”
Well, thank God for that, he thought. One hurdle he didn’t have to climb… talking her down from panic.
“I’m just not sure we should repeat it though.”
He didn’t question why not. All the reasons they’d tried to avoid the inevitable still existed. No reason to list them all again. But having experienced sex with Mia, he had no doubt there would be a repeat. She just needed convincing.
He reached out and hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her toward him. She released her hold on the clothes in her hand and let him settle her on top of him.
“Austin—”
“Mia,” he parroted, his face inches from hers. “You’re not going anywhere until we get a few things straight.”
Her lips fought a smile. “And what would those things be?” she asked, shifting her body into his, getting more comfortable… just as he was growing harder.
Before he could act on what his body demanded, they needed to be in accord. “We already agree we don’t regret it but apparently we don’t agree on what happens next. From my point of view, we have to be discreet around Bailey but there’s no reason this has to be a one-night-only thing.”
She sighed. “I can’t think of anything dumber than for me to allow this to continue.”
He did his best not to wince at her stark statement. “Because?”
Her gaze met his, softness and caring in those depths. “You’re charming, you’re a good man, and you’re an even better father. Not to mention you’re spectacular in bed. But you’re also my employer.”
“She says while sprawled naked on top of me.” He ran a hand over the back of her head, tangling his fingers through her hair, and she purred like a contented kitten. “Stop thinking so hard and just enjoy.” And in case she needed convincing, he slid his tongue across her lips, licking back and forth until she parted her mouth, giving in on a soft moan. “And now we’re in agreement,” he said before diving in and taking full advantage.
His tongue dueled with hers, his fingers digging into her hips as she ground her sex against his aching dick. This wasn’t about slow and fast. Not when he was inches from her sweet pussy and one wrong roll would push him inside her.
He lifted his head and ground out, “Condom. Top drawer.”
She leaned over and found a packet. Ripping it open, she sat back and lowered the covering over his cock, her hands trembling with the same need coursing through him.
“This time you’re going to ride me,” he told her.
Her eyes grew hazy with desire and she lifted herself onto her knees and took his cock in hand. Next thing he knew, she was slowly lowering herself onto him, accepting his thickness into her slick body. She clasped him in heat and he nearly came right there.
He held on, though, needing her to come first. Always. He gritted his teeth as she began to move, gliding up and down, milking him for all he was worth. He grasped her hips, holding on and grinding her onto him with each downward pass.
She began to make those sexy noises that told him she was close, so he slipped his finger over her clit and she shuddered, her inner walls contracting around him as she came on a low moan of pleasure. His balls tightened, drew up, and just as before, her climax triggered his.
He slammed up and into her, taking her hard and fast. She called out his name, a second orgasm crashing over her as he spilled himself into her.
She fell over him, her body giving way, and she breathed heavily into his ear. He held on to her, not ready to let go. But this time, after his trip to the bathroom, when he found her getting dressed, he forced himself not to ask her to stay. He had Bailey to think about, the center of his life, who would not understand her daddy in bed with her nanny. Who didn’t deserve to be confused by grown-up complications.
He let Mia slip away quietly, walking away without conversation or discussion, knowing that though he might sleep with her, he couldn’t ever let himself get attached. The good thing was, she obviously felt the same way. What he didn’t understand was why that thought bothered him so damned much.
Chapter Six
Mia waited for Bailey to get out of school. She’d gotten to the parking lot early so she could get a decent parking spot and decided to wait in the car until it was almost time for the kids to be let out. She listened to music on the radio, her mind continually drifting back to her night with Austin.
Even when she wasn’t thinking about him, her body still hummed with desire. He’d lit a fire in her she hadn’t known existed. And though the next day they’d both acted like nothing happened, she knew better.
So did he.
Over the last week, his gaze tracked hers when he thought she wasn’t looking, and she was just as guilty, her gaze falling on him over Bailey’s head. If he turned around, she watched his tight, sexy ass. If he looked her way, she met his knowing stare. Sunday night, she stayed locked in her room, not even coming out for her normal cup of tea. She didn’t want to fall into a nightly routine that could be detrimental to her heart and her peace of mind. Because Austin was a man she could easily fall for.
Unwilling to think about it any longer, she climbed out of the car to wait for Bailey by the exit to the school. She smiled at a few of the friendlier moms, and soon the bell rang and the kids began to flow out, the teachers of the younger children walking them to the doors.
Mia caught sight of Bailey’s dark hair and was just about to call the girl’s name when someone did it first.
“Bailey!”
Mia spun around in time to see the child’s mother waving toward her. “No.” Mia pushed past a few parents
to reach Bailey first, grasping her hand just as Kayla strode into their personal space.
“Bailey, baby, it’s Mommy!”
Mia froze, holding Bailey’s hand tight. This was what Austin feared, Bailey being confronted by her mother, and neither Mia nor Austin knew what the little girl remembered about her.
Bailey squeezed Mia’s fingers back, her little hand feeling fragile in Mia’s larger one.
“Bailey?”
“You need to leave,” Mia said to Kayla, keeping her voice level so as not to frighten Bailey even more.
Kayla looked nothing like the other moms in jeans, shirts, and jackets. Instead she wore a skimpy dress and high heels, as out of place in this environment as she was in her daughter’s life.
“I have a right to see my child.”
“Not according to the custody agreement I understand exists.”
Kayla perched her sunglasses on top of her head, her eyes not focused on Bailey but glaring at Mia. “Bailey, honey? Don’t you remember me?” She wasn’t even smart enough to drop down to Bailey’s level to try and reach her.
Bailey backed her body into Mia’s, causing Kayla to frown as her daughter clearly made her choice. A choice no child should have to make, between a caregiver and her mother.
“Kayla, go now.”
“Is there a problem?” One of the teachers strode over and asked.
“Yes,” Mia said.
“No,” Kayla replied.
Mia glanced at the older woman. “I’m allowed to pick up Bailey. She isn’t.” She gestured to Kayla, refusing to call her Bailey’s mother out loud. She didn’t deserve the acknowledgment and she refused to scare the little girl.
“I’m sorry, Ms.…?” She glanced at Kayla for an answer.
“Gibson. Kayla Gibson,” she said sullenly.
“Ms. Gibson, do I need to go to the office and check the parental forms?” Or will you leave quietly? The words were implied.
Mia, keeping her grasp on Bailey and brushing her head soothingly, held her breath.
“I’ll go.” Kayla plopped her sunglasses back down on her nose. “But this isn’t the end of things. You”—she pointed at Mia, almost poking at her with her finger—“tell my ex-husband he knows what he has to do if he wants this to end.”
She glanced at Bailey, almost as an afterthought. “I’ll see you soon,” she said, waving her fingers at her daughter… for show. There was no caring that Mia could see.
She waited until Kayla not only walked away but climbed into her car and drove off before taking Bailey and walking her to a quiet space on the grass.
Mia knelt down and glanced at the little girl, who looked up at her with big, frightened eyes. “Are you okay?” Mia asked her.
“I don’t like her,” Bailey whispered. “She yells a lot.”
Mia swallowed hard. She’d minored in psychology but nothing had prepared her for this. “You know her?” Better than saying do you remember her? Mia didn’t know if it made a difference.
“That’s Mommy,” Bailey whispered. “She hurt me.”
Oh, shit. That was the perfect answer to Austin’s custody problem and the worst answer for this happy little girl.
“Don’t worry. She won’t ever hurt you again.” Mia kissed her cheek and took her hand. “Let’s go see Daddy,” she suggested, knowing she was out of her depth.
They drove home in silence, which was unusual for Bailey on any normal day, but today wasn’t a typical day.
Austin was waiting for them in the kitchen when they entered the house, downing a sports drink. He’d obviously just worked out and had timed his ending to see his daughter when she arrived home from school.
“Bailey Button!” he called out.
Bailey trudged inside, dumping her backpack in the hallway. She didn’t call out Daddy! the way she usually did and she didn’t jump into his arms.
“Mia?” he asked, obviously concerned.
She bit down on her lower lip. “Umm… Bailey, go get a juice box from the fridge, okay? I want to talk to your dad.”
The little girl shuffled away and Mia’s heart broke a little more.
“What happened?” Austin bit out.
“Bailey had a visitor outside school.” She quickly recounted the incident with Kayla, including Bailey’s reaction of curling into Mia and her admission that she remembered the woman as her mommy, and as someone who not only yelled a lot but who’d hurt her.
“Son of a bitch!” Austin’s hands curled into fists and Mia immediately reached out to soothe him. She grasped his tight hand and urged him to relax, rubbing her thumb over his straining knuckles. “Bailey can’t see you like this,” she whispered, reminding him that his focus needed to be on his daughter.
He met her gaze, his dark and solemn and grateful, and he nodded. “I’ll go talk to her.”
“I’ll give you time alone.” Mia reluctantly released her grasp on him and stepped aside so he could speak to his daughter.
“Mia, stay. Please. Bailey needs you.” He paused. “I need you,” he said, the words obviously not easy for him to admit out loud.
How could she say no to him? Why would she want to? He didn’t know, but being needed was her Achilles heel and being needed by Austin? She’d be there for him, for whatever he needed.
“Of course.”
He drew in a deep breath, clearly tamping down on his rage, pushing it somewhere his daughter couldn’t see or feel as he joined her at the table, where she played with her juice box straw, not drinking.
Mia lingered in the background, sticking close but not wanting to intrude.
“Hey.” He settled into the chair next to Bailey, looking at the little girl who was so obviously his whole world. “Mia told me you saw your mom today.”
Bailey swung her legs back and forth beneath her but didn’t answer.
“She said you remember her?” Austin continued, his tone gentle.
She tipped her little chin up and down. “She scares me,” she whispered.
And wasn’t that an awful thing for her to live with and think about her mother, no matter how deserving, Mia thought.
Austin smoothed a hand over the back of her head. “That’s okay, baby girl.” He pulled her into a tight embrace.
Mia admired him for how well he was handling this situation and his daughter’s pain.
Bailey, however, remained silent.
“Believe me?” he asked.
“Yes, Daddy.”
He sighed at her soft, defeated attitude.
Mia knew, for both their sakes, Bailey needed to put today’s episode out of her mind and let her father shoulder the burden, but she was too young to understand.
“So I was thinking,” Austin said. “What if you, me, and Mia went for pizza and ice cream for dinner?”
Mia’s heart beat a little faster at how easily he included her in the outing, chiding herself at the same time for thinking it meant any more than doing her job as Bailey’s nanny. Blurring the lines by sleeping with Austin was not going to be easy.
At the mention of pizza, or more likely ice cream, a little smile finally curved Bailey’s lips. “With sprinkles?” she asked.
“Lots and lots of colored sprinkles.”
Mia grinned. He obviously didn’t care how big the sugar rush or how late Bailey’s bedtime ended up being because of it. He just wanted his daughter to be happy.
And Mia fell a little harder for Austin because of it.
* * *
Tomorrow was National Chocolate Cupcake Day, so Bailey and Mia were in the kitchen baking enough cupcakes for the class, because, of course, Bailey had volunteered for cupcake duty. As Austin walked to the kitchen, he listened to his daughter’s chatter and Mia’s laughter and something inside him eased.
These last few days he’d been a ball of stress. He’d just gotten off the phone with the private investigator who was looking into his ex-wife. So far he hadn’t found any dirt on Kayla but she did have a man in her life, and Austin told the inve
stigator to put his focus there. The good news was she hadn’t returned to cause trouble or bother Bailey. He had no doubt her first attempt outside the school was a warning to Austin because Kayla wanted cold, hard cash. He wouldn’t put it past her to try something else to upset Bailey and piss him off in her quest to get him to buy her off.
They both knew the court date loomed at the end of the year and something had to give before then. He was counting on the PI to find something incriminating on Kayla, because Austin wasn’t going to put his daughter through any more stress by being forced to relive past events. She was going through enough, courtesy of her mother.
The night after she’d seen Kayla, Bailey began having nightmares. She’d wake up crying, coming to him and disrupting his eight hours because it took her too long to fall back to sleep… in his bed.
With Bailey’s life in turmoil, Mia stepped up even more. She kept Bailey’s schedule busy with friends and special projects so she had no time to dwell on the mean lady at school, as she’d called Kayla one night while crying herself to sleep and breaking Austin’s heart.
Mia fit into his life so seamlessly and on so many levels it scared him, and for a man who used to use a gun in his daily job, that struck him as ridiculous. But look at the situation he was in thanks to letting himself be manipulated by Bailey’s mother. Austin was finished with marriage and happily ever after and Mia still wanted those things. Hell, after the childhood she’d had, she deserved those and more.
He just couldn’t give them to her. With a little girl in his room at night and them both keeping busy during the day, he and Mia hadn’t connected again, and maybe not being able to drag her back into his bed really was for the best.
“Can I lick the bowl?” Bailey’s voice traveled to him and he forced himself to stop overthinking and step into the room.
“Hi, girls.” Austin came up to the counter. Mia was putting the cupcakes into the oven while Bailey was, as she’d requested, running her fingers through the bowl and feasting on the remaining batter.
“Daddy!”
“Those cupcakes look good,” he said as Mia slid the final tin into the oven.
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