“Ah,” she said smugly, “so you’re still in the early stages, but not too early, right, or she wouldn’t be there with your children. Because, as best as I can remember, you haven’t dated much and none of those women ever got anywhere near the twins.”
His cousin was too insightful. The way she homed in on the intensity of his draw to Alexa so quickly made him uncomfortable.
He shot up from his seat. “That’s enough hypothesizing about my personal life for one night. I need to go.”
“I’m not giving up. I’ll want details when you return,” Paige insisted, getting louder and louder by the second. “And I want to meet her. I know you guard your privacy, but I’m family and I love you.”
“Love you too, cuz.”
“So you’ll talk to me? Let me know what’s going on in your world rather than hole up the way you did after Pippa—”
“I hear a kid,” he cut her short. “Gotta go. Bye.” He thumbed the off button and flipped the phone in his palm, over and over.
Guilt kicked around in his gut for shutting down Paige and for taking advantage of Alexa’s help. He should send Alexa back to Charleston and then impose on the sister of a cousin-in-law because his ex-wife had dumped his kids off without warning…
Hell, his life was screwed up, and he needed to start taking charge. He’d meant it when he said he could separate the personal from the professional. But he also heard Alexa when she said this was moving too fast for her. She needed more time, time they wouldn’t have if she went back to Charleston while he stayed here. He suspected once she went home, she would erect mile-high walls between them, especially once she learned he’d never planned to sign her cleaning company.
He needed longer with her now.
His mind filled with a vision of Alexa chasing his kids around, all wet from the tub. Warm memories pulled him in with a reminder of the family life he should be having right now and wasn’t because of his workload. Having Alexa here felt so right.
It was right.
And so, he wasn’t sending her back in the morning. In fact, he had to find a way to extend their window of time together. He not only needed her help with the children, but he also wanted her to stay for more personal reasons. The explosive chemistry they’d just discovered didn’t come around often. Hell, he couldn’t remember when he’d ever burned to have a particular woman this much. So much the craving filled his mind as well as his body.
The extension of their trip presented the perfect opportunity to follow that attraction to its ultimate destination.
Landing her directly into his bed.
* * *
Sunlight streamed through the window over the array of clothes laid out on the bed. So many clothes. Far more than she needed for a day or two.
Although as Alexa looked closer, she noticed the variety. It was as if whoever had shopped for her had planned for any contingency. Tan capris with a shabby chic blouse. A simple red cocktail dress. A sexy black bathing suit that looked far from nanny-like and made her wonder who’d placed the order. At least there was a crocheted cover-up. And for this morning’s breakfast…
She wore a silky sundress, floral with coral-tinted tulips in a watercolor print. Strappy gold sandals wrapped up and around her ankles. She scraped her hair back with a matching scarf that trailed down her back.
There was a whole other shopping bag that a quick peek told her held more clothes, underwear, a nightgown and a fabric cosmetics bag full of toiletries. Once upon a time, she’d taken these kinds of luxuries for granted, barely noticing when they appeared in her room or at a hotel.
These days she had a firm grasp on how hard she would have to work to pay for even one of these designer items. What a difference a year could make in a person’s life. Yet, here she was again, dancing on the periphery of a world that had almost swallowed her whole.
Steeling her resolve to keep her values firmly in place, she strode from the bedroom into the sitting area where Seth was strapping the twins into the new, top-of–the-line double stroller.
He looked up and smiled. The power of his vibrant green eyes and dimples reached across the room, wrapping around her, enticing her to move closer into the circle of that happiness. A dangerous move. She had to step away, for her own peace of mind. She wasn’t wired to leap into intimacy with a stranger.
A stranger who became more intriguing by the second.
Surely a billionaire who knew how to work a stroller couldn’t be totally disconnected from everyday reality. That insight buoyed her, and inspired her. Actively learning more about him would help her on many levels. Knowing more about him was wise for her work.
For work, damn it, not because of this insane attraction.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes, I believe I am.” She could do this. She could keep her professional face in place, while discovering if Seth Jansen harbored any more surprises in that hulking hot body of his.
“Glad the clothes fit. Although for breakfast with the twins, we might be better off draping ourselves in rain ponchos.”
Before she could laugh or reply, his phone rang and he held up a hand. “Hold on, I’ve got to take this. Work call coming in.”
He started talking into his cell and grabbed his briefcase off the sofa. Opening the door, he gestured her ahead. She wheeled the stroller forward, out into the hall and toward the elevator.
The fabric slid sensuously against her skin with each step as she pushed the stroller into the elevator while Seth spoke on his phone to his partner… Rick…briefcase in his other hand. Each glide of the silky dress against her skin reminded her how vibrantly in tune her senses were this morning, and, as much as she wanted to credit the sunshine, she knew it was last night’s kiss that had awakened something inside her.
Something that made professional goals tougher to keep in focus.
Two floors down, the doors slid open to admit an older couple dressed casually in sightseeing clothes that still shouted Armani and Prada. They fit right in with the rest of the clientele here. Except the woman carried a simple canvas bag with little handprints painted on it and signed in childlike handwriting. Stenciled along the top of the bag were the words Grandma’s Angels. Alexa swallowed a lump of emotion as she counted at least eleven different scrawled signatures.
The husband leaned closer to his wife, whispering, pointing and smiling nostalgically. The wife knelt to pick up a tiny tennis shoe and passed it to Alexa. “You have a beautiful family.”
Before Alexa could correct her, they reached the lobby and the couple exited. She glanced sheepishly toward Seth and found him staring at her with assessing eyes as he tucked away his phone. Her mouth went dry. She grabbed the stroller, grateful for the support as the now increasingly predictable wobbly knees syndrome set in.
Ever aware of his gaze following her, she wheeled the twins from the elevator. She needed to get her thoughts in order ASAP. She was seconds away from meeting royalty for breakfast, pretty heady stuff even given her own upbringing. Seth was certainly coming through on his promise to introduce her to prestigious connections. Knowing the Medina family could be a serious boon to her fledgling business.
Although she was confused by a person who invited twin toddlers to a business breakfast at a restaurant with silk, antiques and a ceiling hand-painted with twenty-four karat gold.
The clink of silverware echoing from the room full of patrons, she didn’t have to wonder for even a second which pair of diners to approach. A dark-haired, aristocratic man stood from a table set for six, nodding in their direction. A blonde woman sat beside him, a flower tucked behind her ear.
The wheels of the stroller glided smoothly along