He liked the way Phoebe had furnished the place. The cabin had a cozy feel that still managed to seem sophisticated and modern. The appliances and furniture were top-of-the-line, built to last for many years, and no doubt expensive because of that. The flooring was high-end, as well.
The pale amber granite countertops showcased what looked to be handcrafted cabinetry done in honey maple. He saw touches of Phoebe’s personality in the beautiful green-and-gold glazed canister set and in the picture of Phoebe, her sister and Teddy tacked to the front of the fridge with a magnet.
Leo looked down at Teddy. The boy’s big blue eyes stared up at him gravely as if to say, What’s your game? Leo chuckled. “Your auntie Phoebe is one beautiful woman, my little man. Don’t get me in trouble with her and you and I will get along just fine.”
Teddy’s gaze shifted back to his tiny hands covered in drool.
Leo was not so easily entertained. He felt the pull of Atlanta, of wondering what was going on at work, of needing to feel in control...at the helm. But something about cuddling a warm baby helped to freeze time. As though any considerations outside of this particular moment were less than urgent.
As he’d told Phoebe, he wasn’t a complete novice when it came to being around kids. Luc and Hattie adopted Hattie’s niece after they married last year. The little girl was almost two years old now. And last Valentine’s Day, Hattie gave birth to the first “blood” Cavallo of the new generation, a dark-haired, dark-eyed little boy.
Leo appreciated children. They were the world’s most concrete promise that the globe would keep on spinning. But in truth, he had no real desire to father any of his own. His lifestyle was complicated, regimented, full. Children deserved a healthy measure of their parents’ love and attention. The Cavallo empire was Leo’s baby. He knew on any given day what the financial bottom line was. During hard financial times, he wrestled the beast that was their investment and sales strategy and demanded returns instead of losses.
He was aware that some people called him hard...unfeeling. But he did what he did knowing how many employees around the world depended on the Cavallos for their livelihoods. It irked the hell out of him to think that another man was temporarily sitting in his metaphorical chair. The vice president Luc had chosen to keep tabs on the money in Leo’s absence was solid and capable.
But that didn’t make Leo feel any less sidelined.
He glanced at his watch. God in heaven. It was only ten-thirty in the morning. How was he going to survive being on the back burner for two months? Did he even want to try becoming the man his family thought he could be? A balanced, laid-back, easygoing guy?
He rested his free arm across the back of the sofa and closed his eyes, reaching for something Zen. Something peaceful.
Damn it, he didn’t want to change. He wanted to go home. At least he had until he met Phoebe. Now he wasn’t sure what he wanted.
Hoping that the boy wasn’t picking up on his frustration and malcontent thoughts, Leo focused on the only thing capable of diverting him from his problems. Phoebe. Tall, long-legged Phoebe. A dark-haired, dark-eyed beauty with an attitude.
If Phoebe could be lured into an intimate relationship, then this whole recuperative escape from reality had definite possibilities. Leo sensed a spark between them. And he was seldom wrong about things like that. When a man had money, power and reasonably good looks, the female sex swarmed like mosquitoes. That wasn’t ego speaking. Merely the truth.
As young men in Italy, he and Luc had racked up a number of conquests until they realized the emptiness of being wanted for superficial reasons. Luc had finally found his soul mate in college. But things hadn’t worked out, and it had been ten years before he achieved happiness with the same woman.
Leo had never even made it that far. Not once in his life had he met a female who really cared about who he was as a person. Would-be “Mrs. Cavallos” saw the external trappings of wealth and authority and wanted wedding rings. And the real women, the uncomplicated, good-hearted ones, steered clear of men like Leo for fear of having their hearts broken.
He wasn’t sure which category might include Phoebe Kemper. But he was willing to find out.
Phoebe took her time showering, drying her hair and dressing. If Leo wasn’t going to live up to his end of the bargain, she wanted to know it now. Leaving Teddy in his temporary care was no risk while she enjoyed a brief respite from the demands of surrogate parenthood. Despite Leo’s protestations to the contrary, he was a man who could handle difficult situations.
It was hard to imagine that he had been ill. He seemed impervious to the things that lesser mortals faced. She envied him his confidence. Hers had taken a serious knock three years ago, and she wasn’t sure if she had ever truly regained it. A younger Phoebe had taken the world by storm, never doubting her own ability to craft outcomes to her satisfaction.
But she had paid dearly for her hubris. Her entire world had crumbled. Afterward, she had chosen to hide from life, and only in the past few months had she finally begun to understand who she was and what she wanted. The lessons had been painful and slow in coming.
Unfortunately, her awakening had also made her face her own cowardice. Once upon a time she had taken great pleasure in blazing trails where no other women had gone. Back then, she would have seen a man like Leo as a challenge, both in business and in her personal life.
Smart and confident, she had cruised through life, never realizing that on any given day, she—like any other human being—was subject to the whims of fate. Her perfect life had disintegrated in the way of a comet shattering into a million pieces.
Things would never be as they were. But could they be equally good in another very different way?
She took more care in dressing than she did normally. Instead of jeans, she pulled out a pair of cream corduroy pants and paired them with a cheery red scoop-necked sweater. Christmas was on the way, and the color always lifted her mood.
Wryly acknowledging her vanity, she left her hair loose on her shoulders. It was thick and straight as a plumb line. With the baby demanding much of her time, a braid was easier. Nevertheless, today she wanted to look nice for her guest.
When she finally returned to the living room, Teddy was asleep on Leo’s chest, and Leo’s eyes were closed, as well. She lingered for a moment in the doorway, enjoying the picture they made. The big, strong man and the tiny, defenseless baby.
Her chest hurt. She rubbed it absently, wondering if she would always grieve for what she had lost. Sequestering herself like a nun the past few years had given her a sort of numb peace. But that peace was an illusion, because it was the product of not living.
Living hurt. If Phoebe were ever going to rejoin the human race, she would have to accept being vulnerable. The thought was terrifying. The flip side of great love and joy was immense pain. She wasn’t sure the first was worth risking the prospect of the last.
Quietly she approached the sofa and laid a hand on Leo’s arm. His eyes opened at once as if he had perhaps only been lost in thought rather than dozing. She held out her arms for the baby, but Leo shook his head.
“Show me where to take him,” he whispered. “No point in waking him up.”
She led the way through her bedroom and bathroom to a much smaller bedroom that adjoined on the opposite side. Before Teddy’s arrival she had used this space as a junk room, filled with the things she was too dispirited to sort through when she’d moved in.
Now it had been tamed somewhat, so that half the room was full of neatly stacked plastic tubs, while the other half had been quickly transformed into a comfy space for Teddy.