“I have a costume and I do tricks. I’m Wonder Mom. I arranged for Cody to see me lift a car, which was pretty cool. But he’s older now and honestly, my last stunt was with a cat and I don’t think he believed me. So I was thinking if I could do something special, that would be good.”
Jason cleared his throat. “Do you have an idea how you want to make this happen?”
“Fairy dust?” Nathan asked.
Kerri ignored him. “A harness and a crane for the flying. A platform just under the water for that. I don’t know and I don’t have the resources.” She looked at Nathan. “You do.”
He held up both hands. “You’re Wonder Mom. How can a mere mortal possibly help?”
Kerri narrowed her gaze. “Is he always an ass?”
Jason started to choke on his coffee. Nathan waited patiently until the other man managed to croak, “No. Not at all.”
“You should make that sound more convincing,” Nathan murmured.
Kerri faced him. “What does it matter to you? You’ll assign some secretary to find me what I need and be done with it. It’s nothing to you and it’s everything to my son. Do you get that?”
Nathan had been called a lot of names in the past eighteen or twenty years, starting when he was in college and taking rich kids for their allowance at high-stakes poker games. He’d been written up in newspapers and magazines as a heartless, money-hungry bastard who would rather rape the environment than spend an extra buck on saving whatever microscopic insect he was displacing with his buildings.
He’d been told he was heartless, soulless, lacking in morals, and he’d felt nothing. But when some corn-fed, blond hairdresser looked at him like he was slime, he felt…guilty.
What the hell was up with that?
He felt awkward and uncomfortable—emotions he didn’t allow himself. This was his meeting. He was in charge. Who did she think she was?
“Kerri, you’re asking a lot,” Jason said. “Maybe if there was—”
“Do it,” Nathan told him.
Kerri’s eyes widened. “Just like that?”
“Like you said, I’ll assign some secretary to take care of it. What do I care?” He made it a point to never care. That’s why he was the best.
“Okay. Thank you. It means a lot to me.”
She frowned slightly, as if not sure what was up with him or what he had in mind. Good. He liked her off balance.
“Then we have a deal,” Jason said.
Kerri nodded and reached for the pen. She added the “Wonder Mom” clause to her list, then started to sign the documents already prepared.
Jason grabbed them. “You have to read them first.”
“Why?” she asked, taking them back and signing them. “We all know I don’t have a choice. Mr. King gets what he wants and I get what I want.”
Nathan still wasn’t sure he liked her, but he was beginning to respect her. “Still not a deal with the devil?”
“Still not.”
“Then maybe you should call me Nathan. What with us doing business together.”
Her eyes widened, as if she remembered their conversation from a few days ago during which she’d told him to call her by her first name because sleeping together otherwise would be awkward. Only he wasn’t going to sleep with her.
Yet as she stood, he found himself looking her over, taking in the curves underneath her loose dress.
She shook hands with Jason, then looked at him. “I guess I’ll go find Tim.”
“I’ll walk you down.”
She smiled. “Still don’t trust me?”
“I want to keep an eye on you.”
“Because I might run off with a stapler? It’s a law office, Nathan. What possible trouble could I make here?”
“You’d be surprised.”
He led her to the elevator, then pushed the Down button. “Jason will mail you a copy of the documents you signed.”
“I know he will. He seems very efficient. And nice. I didn’t expect that from a lawyer.”
“Have a lot of experience with them?”
“Not really. Is he married?”
Annoyance exploded hard and hot inside of Nathan. “Is that the game? You can’t get me, so you want Jason? He makes a lot of money, but unfortunately he does have a wife. They just had a baby.”
Kerri patted his arm. “You have quite the temper. Do you know what all that built-up anger is doing to your cardiovascular system? It’s not healthy.”
The elevator arrived. She stepped on, then looked expectant. He put out a hand to hold the door.
“You didn’t answer the question.”
“That’s because I thought it was rude.” She sighed. “I saw a sign in one of the big corner offices on the way in—It’s A Boy. I wondered if it was his. I was going to send a card. Nothing more.”
Nathan couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt like an idiot. He was confident he’d been a lot younger and somehow his father had been involved.
He got on the elevator. “I’m sorry,” he said, the words unfamiliar and hard to form.
“You should be.”
“That’s gracious.”
“You assume the worst about me.”
How was this his fault?
He was a master of negotiation. He didn’t get flustered or confused or run out of things to say. But this woman made him crazy.
He turned to tell her that, then realized he couldn’t admit the weakness. She looked up at him expectantly, so he did the only thing he could think of.
He kissed her.
CHAPTER FOUR
NATHAN’S MOUTH WAS warm and firm, but not demanding, which surprised Kerri. She’d expected to be ravished, not kissed. He didn’t grab her. Instead he let his lips handle all the action, and they did a fine job.
Her eyes fluttered shut as she gave herself up to the kiss, enjoying the heat, the pressure, the little tingles that shot down her arms. Without meaning to, she tilted her head slightly, in silent invitation.
One he ignored, she thought sadly. His touch was fleeting, more heat than substance, and left her wanting more. Something she wouldn’t have guessed. When he pulled back, she felt an unexpected whisper of hunger. Probably because she hadn’t kissed a man since Brian had died…before Cody had been born. How sad was that?
He looked stunned, as if he hadn’t planned to kiss her. She quickly reassured him.
“It’s okay,” she told him. “I don’t mind.”
His expression hardened. “Is this about sleeping with me for the money?”
“What? No. Besides, you kissed me.”
“It’s your fault it happened.”
“That’s mature.” Why was he making this so difficult? “I don’t mind. It’s fine. I owe you.”
“So you’ll have sex with me?”
“Not the most subtle come-on.” She considered the question, then answered honestly. “If it’s important