“When I wasn’t there physically, I still tried to support her. There were lots of nights we instant messaged when her mom was dying. Fortunately then I was in a part of Alaska that wasn’t too remote.”
“Do you think all of that’s caught up with Tina?”
“Possibly. She has a good heart, Kaitlyn. But she’s twenty-two...and still young. From what she’s told me, Erica’s father has left for parts unknown. She’s feeling overwhelmed. I’ve got to find her, bring her back here and get her help.”
“Have you thought about the possibility that she won’t be coming back?”
“No.” His firm denial said he’d make sure she came back, one way or another.
“Adam.” She had to put this as gently as possible. “If your sister doesn’t want to be a mother, you can’t force her to be.”
His determination was evident in his expression. “I can’t force her to be, but I can set things up to make it easier for her to be a mother. Apparently, I haven’t done enough, and I intend to remedy that. But right now I have a baby to take care of.”
He took the bottle from the baby’s mouth and raised her to his shoulder to burp her, but she didn’t burp. She spit up and started crying.
If Adam thought he could learn to be a substitute dad in twenty-four hours or even a few days, he was sadly mistaken.
A half hour later, Kaitlyn walked beside Adam through the department store. She’d offered to come along because even the best parents sometimes had difficulty juggling a baby and shopping. However, whenever she got within a foot of him, chemistry seemed to snap, crackle and pop between them.
Just like that night at Raintree Winery.
Jase and Adam had been talking. She’d been on her way to speak to Jase’s wife, Sara, when Jase had called to her and introduced Adam.
When she’d lifted her gaze to Adam’s—
Something had happened that had made the air buzz between them. Maybe that buzz had drowned out her good sense. Or maybe since her divorce had just become final, she’d had something to prove—that she was still attractive and desirable.
They’d talked for a half hour while they tasted one Raintree wine after another. Yes, she had to admit she’d flirted with him. What breathing woman wouldn’t have? He was Mr. Tall, Dark and So-o-o Sexy.
The event had become more crowded and they found it hard to hear each other, so they’d wandered down the hall and settled in an office with a long burgundy leather couch. Adam had closed the door so they’d have privacy...to talk.
They had talked. Mostly about sites Adam had seen in his travels as an environmental geologist...how she’d been homeschooled before it had become more common because she’d been academically ahead of all her peers, gone to college at sixteen and fought her way through med school because she was younger than everyone else. But her determination and dedication paid off. And then—
Adam had said, “I never expected to meet a woman like you tonight.”
In her professional life, she was confident. But her divorce had shaken her personal confidence in so many ways. And to hear that from Adam’s deep voice—
“You’re beautiful, sexy and dedicated to what you do.”
Her ex-husband had considered that dedication a flaw, especially at the end of their marriage. “Thank you,” she’d murmured, never taking her gaze from his.
That’s when he’d kissed her, and she’d responded as if her life had depended on it.
The kiss expanded, catching both of them in its web. They kissed again and again. She’d hardly noticed Adam unfastening her blouse. His hand on her breast had been so arousing. She’d unbuttoned his shirt, felt his hot skin and springy brown hair. When his hand ventured between her thighs and cupped her, she’d reached for his belt.
But then she’d heard voices in the hall. Gazing up at Adam, she’d glimpsed the hungry desire in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he’d asked.
She’d panicked. She was almost naked, lying under a man she didn’t even know!
She’d slid away from him, scrambled to a sitting position, avoided his gaze and buttoned her blouse. “I can’t do this. I should never have let this happen!”
And then she’d bolted, leaving Adam sitting there. She’d rushed out of the winery, wondering what in blazes had gotten into her, wondering why she’d been reckless when she’d never done anything like that before.
Now Kaitlyn hurried to keep up with Adam’s long strides to the baby department. In the year since she’d met him at the winery, she’d thought about him. But she hadn’t had any means of contacting him in a remote location.
When Erica made a noise, Adam stopped and looked down at her as if...as if he cared.
Could this bad boy—after all, she’d researched him after their “encounter”—who traveled the world, really care about an infant? An infant who wasn’t even his?
Glancing up at her, seeing that she was watching him, Adam looked disconcerted. Then his expression changed, and he didn’t look disconcerted as much as he looked determined. “We should talk about what happened the last time we were together.”
Uh-oh. Maybe his mind had been wandering in the same direction. “This isn’t a good place,” she said calmly. Her heart sped up, and she knew she didn’t want to have that discussion at all, let alone here.
His jaw set and his gaze was just a little too penetrating. “That’s an excuse—I’ll settle for it for now, at least until we get everything we need for Erica.... What do we need?”
At the baby section now, Kaitlyn pointed to a big box on the lower shelf. “You need a swing.”
He looked at her as if she were crazy.
“Really,” she assured him. “Erica fell asleep in the car. That means she likes motion. So if you want any peace, you should give her motion.” She pointed to the picture on the box.
Adam crouched down to look at it more closely. The overhead lights glimmered on russet strands in his hair, thick dark hair she’d run her fingers through. His shoulders were wider than the box he was studying. Those shoulders had felt tautly muscled under her hands. He was so long-waisted, with a runner’s legs. He’d told her he jogged wherever he happened to be. She remembered the pressure of his lower body on top of hers. His jeans fit him too well. Although his shirt was loose, as he crouched down like that, examining the box, it molded to his back.
Although it had been over a year, she hadn’t been able to dismiss the picture of the two of them entwined in each other’s arms. It had haunted her dreams.
He grabbed one of the boxes, easily lifted it, and stowed it on the bottom of their cart. “It doesn’t look too complicated. In fact, it makes me wonder if the company should make them for adults.”
She couldn’t help but smile at the wryness in his tone. “I’ve often thought I’d like a swing on my front porch. That’s if I ever have a front porch.”
“Where do you live now?”
“I rent a town house—no maintenance, no upkeep, no porch.”
He studied her as if he were searching for meaning under her words. “I suppose you’re not home much.”
“If I’m not at my office, I’m doing volunteer work for The Mommy Club. That doesn’t leave spare time to plant a garden.”
“I know what you mean,”