He cleared his throat. “Please, do come in.” Major Duh, Sergeant Goof. She was already in. “Farther in, rather.” He scratched his eyebrow and straightened his mouth to keep from laughing at himself.
Sarah started to shrug out of her jacket. She paused as her head tilted up to peer around at the jewel-toned foyer as though looking for someone. The twins, maybe?
He smiled. She’d meet the two of them in all the glory of their nearly four-year-old furor soon enough.
Mina tugged at the young woman’s sleeve, helping the extraction along. “Si, take off this coat and stay a while.”
A lo-ong while, Aaron thought, then refined his smile. He didn’t need another pretty ornament around the house. He needed someone who could handle his children in their unruly moments. To safely care for them with compassion, and dare he say, love?
Aaron stuck out his hand, engulfing Sarah’s in it. “Pleasure to see you again, Miss Graham…Sarah,” he corrected and closed the door.
“You, too.” She shifted a scuffed brown-leather backpack purse farther onto her slim shoulder. The worn item seemed out of place with her crisp, modern grayish-pink business suit and dressy heels.
His breath hitched at the stark blue of her eyes. He hadn’t noticed that yesterday. “The boys are with friends until we get more acquainted, since yesterday was rushed. You can meet them another day if we move forward.”
She clasped delicate hands together, but not in an obnoxious sense. “I can’t wait.” Sincere glee on her face proved it so.
She tucked strands of stylish hair behind her ear and peered around the large, open rooms. And at the toys his sister Ashleigh overdosed the boys with. And at the groceries and laundry strewn about.
Mina rushed forward. “You won’t have to keep it clean. All he needs is someone to watch the children.”
“Mina takes care of cooking and housework,” Aaron agreed.
Sarah made a pleasant sound. Half laughter, half sigh of relief. “That’s good to know. Though I’ve no trouble with housework, I’m not that great a cook. While I’m not above trying to learn, I’m afraid there would be many kitchen disasters before I mastered more than TV dinners and microwave meals.”
“I’m fond of the microwave myself. Although I can grill a mean steak.”
Now why had he said that? Maybe she was a vegan and he’d just offended her.
Then again, according to her dawning grin, maybe not.
“I love steak. Especially from the grill, juicy and marbled. With sea-salt baked potatoes and sweet corn on the cob dripping with hot butter. And pumpkin pie so smothered in whipped cream that you can’t see the golden filling. It’s my favorite meal.” Because she was not much over five feet tall and he was well over six, she seemed to have to strain her neck to maintain eye contact.
He motioned to a chair in the family room. “Have a seat, Sarah.”
She nodded and followed Mina into the room. The way Sarah’s hands rubbed together, she was no doubt chattering out of nervousness. Her stomach growled audibly. She placed a hand against it.
He lifted his gaze from her trim middle. “Hungry?”
“I was so nervous this morning I didn’t eat breakfast. And I never skip meals.”
“Nervous?”
“Absolutely. This job means so much to me. I—I mean, should I end up being chosen.” Rocking back, she bit her bottom lip and darted her gaze to the gleaming white marble tile.
He smiled inside. Loved that her guard slipped enough to let him glimpse some carefree as well as vulnerable parts of her.
“I’m going to my office while you two get acquainted,” Aaron said to Mina and Sarah. Trying not to snicker, he retreated to his study, which also boasted a gym. Tried unsuccessfully not to feel like a total fiend for throwing Sarah to his Doberman of a housekeeper.
No nanny had passed the Mina test yet. Would Sarah?
A half-hour later, it became apparent by laughter and friendly chattering that the two were actually getting along and that there would be no bloodshed, death by spatula or shooing of the new nanny from his home today.
The new nanny. Strange that his mind would go there already. But it was true. Deep within, he felt a solid instinct that firmly stated Sarah could be it for his family.
Aaron rejoined the women. Mina rose. “I’ll take care of refreshments if you’d like to show her around,” she said as she passed by and breezed from the room.
Aaron approached Sarah. “Would you like to see the boys’ play area and where you’d sleep if things go through?”
Her smile intensified. So did his pulse.
She rose.
“Follow me. Mina’s making tea.” And probably leaving them alone to get more acquainted in ways that had no business in Aaron’s brain. Aaron led Sarah through the great room. He stopped at the wood banister. “You could choose any room other than, obviously, those occupied by myself and the boys.”
“What about Mina?”
“She sleeps downstairs in one of the guest rooms off the kitchen. She has weak knees and trouble with stairs.”
He watched her while she eyed the winding staircase. “This woodwork is absolutely gorgeous.”
This girl is absolutely gorgeous.
“Feel free to look around upstairs.” Aaron retreated to the kitchen and cornered Mina. “So, what do you think?”
Mina grinned like she’d won the lottery, though she never gambled. “I think you already know what I think.” She winked.
Heat came to his collar for no apparent reason other than the way Mina smiled and eagle-eyed him. He fled to the formal dining room to gather paperwork that would hopefully bring his other two pararescue teams to Refuge.
Moments later, Sarah returned downstairs. “The rooms are amazing and—” Rapid movement cut her words short. Nimble feet took her to the kitchen doorway. She took the heavy, decorative wrought-iron tray from Mina, and headed to the family room.
Impressive. Pitching in already. And without her knowing, he observed her from the dining room. So her helping Mina had obviously been from pure motives and not falsity to impress him.
He made himself visible, joining them. From the tray Mina had prepared, he served the women and sat across from Sarah. “Besides being a meat-and-potatoes kinda girl who’s not afraid to dive into dessert, tell me about yourself. What are you interested in and why exactly are you interested in this job?”
As Sarah spoke, her body posture relaxed.
Mina settled in a chair, forming a triangle of the three, and sipped her tea.
Every now and then he’d glimpse her mouth twitch into a privately amused grin that her dainty teacup did little to hide, as though Mina sensed his being totally enthralled by Sarah’s heart and her love for children.
Yet he distinctly recalled her telling the agency owner yesterday that having children probably wasn’t in her future.
While she was seemingly open and transparent in a bigger sense, he couldn’t pinpoint something about Sarah. She remained a living labyrinth.
Until he determined what that something was, he’d bask in the moment and gauge Mina, whose radar would undoubtedly flip to red alert at the first sign of trouble.
Sarah’s face glowed and she laughed unabashedly when Mina told of the twins’