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The guy’s regal lineage didn’t matter to Seth. He just appreciated the guy’s hard-nosed efficiency. This deal would be sewn up quickly, one way or another.
“Sorry I’m late.” Cortez thrust out his hand. “Javier Cortez.”
“Seth Jansen.” He stood to shake Javier’s hand and then resettled onto a barstool beside the other guy.
The bartender placed an amber drink in front of Javier before he even placed an order. “I appreciate your flying down to meet with me here.” He rattled the ice and looked around with assessing eyes. “My wife loves this place.”
“I can see why. Lots of historic appeal.”
It was also a good locale to conduct business, near the Medinas’ private island off the coast of Florida. Although Seth hadn’t been invited into that inner sanctum yet. Security measures were tight. No one knew the exact location and few had seen the island fortress. The Medinas owned a couple of private jets, but were looking to increase their transport options to and from the island as their family expanded with marriages and new children.
Cortez tasted his drink and set it on the cocktail napkin. “Since my wife and I are still technically finishing up our honeymoon, I promised her a longer stay, the chance to shop, laze around by the pool, soak up some Florida sun before we head back to Boston.”
What the hell was he supposed to say to that? “Congratulations.”
“Thanks, thanks. I hear you have your kids and their sitter with you.”
Of course he’d heard, even though Seth had only been in town for about an hour. The guy was a security whiz and obviously didn’t walk into a meeting unprepared. “I like to work in time with them whenever I can, so I brought the kids and Mary Poppins along.”
“Excellent. Then you won’t mind if we postpone the rest of this discussion.”
Crap. Just what he didn’t need.
The stay here extended. Less taken care of tonight, more tomorrow and even the next day. “Of course.”
Cortez stood, taking his drink with him as he started back toward the elevator. Seth abandoned his seltzer water.
They stepped into the elevator together, and Cortez swiped his card for the penthouse level. “My wife and I would enjoy having you and your kids meet us for breakfast in the morning, your sitter, too. Around nine? Great,” he said without waiting for an answer. “See you there.”
Holy hell. Breakfast in a restaurant with a one-year-old was tough enough. But with two of them?
He stepped out onto the top floor, Javier going right as he went left.
The closer he came to the suite’s door, the louder the muffled sounds grew. Squealing babies. Damn. Was one of them hurt? He double-timed toward his room, whipped the key card through just as the door opened.
Alexa carried a baby on each hip—two freshly bathed and wet naked babies. Her cheeks were flushed, her smile wide. “I just caught them. Holy cow, they’ve got some speed for toddlers.”
He snagged a towel from the arm of the sofa and held it open. “Pass me one.”
She handed Owen over and Seth saw…
Her shirt was soaking wet, clinging to every perfect curve. Who would have thought Mary Poppins could rock the hell out of a wet T-shirt contest?
Chapter 3
Alexa plucked at her wet company shirt, conscious of the way it clung to her breasts. She didn’t need the heat in Seth’s eyes. She didn’t need the answering fire it stirred in her. They both had different goals for what remained of their twenty-four-hour deal. They were best served focusing on the children and work.
Turning away, she hitched Olivia up on her hip and snagged the other towel from where she’d dropped it on the sofa to chase the racing duo around the suite. “You’re back early from your dinner meeting.”
“You need some clothes.” The sound of his confident footsteps sounded softly behind her on plush carpet.
“Dry ones, for sure.” She glanced through to the bathroom. Towels were draped on the floor around the circular tub, soaking up all the splashes. “I let the babies use the Jacuzzi like a kiddie pool. A few plastic cups and they were happy to play. Supper should be arriving soon. I thought you were room service when I heard you at the door.”
“They’ll need cleaning up again after supper.” He tugged out two diapers and two T-shirts from the diaper bag.
“Then I’ll just order more towels.” She plucked the tiny pink T-shirt from his hand and busied herself with dressing Olivia to keep from noticing how at ease he was handling his squirming son.
“Fair enough.” He pressed the diaper tapes in place, his large masculine hands surprisingly nimble.
“Did your meeting go well?” She wrestled a tiny waving arm through the sleeve.
“We didn’t get through more than half a drink. He had to postpone until the morning.” A quick tug later, he had Owen’s powder-blue shirt in place. He hoisted his son in the air and buzzed his belly before setting him on his feet. “I’ll just call room service and add my order to the rest.”
He wasn’t going back to work? They would be spending the rest of the evening here. Together with the children, of course. And after the toddlers drifted off? He’d mentioned Pippa kept them up late. With luck the pint-size chaperones would burn the midnight oil.
“Too bad your dinner companion couldn’t have told you about the delay before you left Charleston. You would have had time to make other arrangements for the children.” And she would have been at home in her lonely apartment eating ice cream while thinking about encountering Seth on his plane. Because without question, he was a memorable man.
“I’m glad to have the time with them. I assume you can arrange to stay longer?”
“I’ll call my partner back as soon as the kids are asleep. She and I will make it work.”
“Excellent. Now we just need to arrange extra clothes and toiletries for you.” He reached for the room phone as Olivia and Owen chased each other in circles around their father. “When I order my supper I’ll also have the concierge pick up something for you to change int—”
“Really, no need.” She held up a hand, an unsettling tingle tripping up her spine at the thought of wearing things purchased by him. “I’ll wear the hotel robe tonight and we can have the hotel wash my clothes. The kids and I will kill time tomorrow browsing around downtown, shopping while you finish your meeting. You do have a double stroller, don’t you?”
“Already arranged. But you are going to need a change of clothing sooner than that.” The furrows in his brow warned her a second before he said, “My business prospect wants to have breakfast with the kids and there’s not a chance in hell I can carry that off on my own. It’s my fault you’re here without a change of clothes.”
A business breakfast? With two toddlers? Whose genius idea was that? But she held her silence and conceded to the need for something appropriate to wear.
She stifled a twinge of nerves at discussing her clothing size. She was past those days of stepping on the scales every morning for her mom to check—what a hell of a way to spend “mother-daughter” time. And thank God, she was past the days of starving herself into a size zero.
Size zero. There’d been an irony in that, as if she could somehow fade away…
Blinking the past back, she said, “Okay then, tell them to buy smalls or eights, and my shoes are size seven.”
His green eyes glimmered wickedly. “And underwear measurements?”
She poked him in the chest with one finger. “Not on your life am I answering that one.” God, his chest was solid. She stepped away. “Make sure to keep a tally of how much everything costs. I insist on reimbursing you.”
“Unnecessarily prideful, but as you wish.” He said it so arrogantly she wanted to thump him on the back of his head.
Not a wise business move, though, touching him again. One little tap had nearly seared her fingertip and her mind. “I pay my own way now.”
“At least let me loan you a T-shirt to sleep in tonight rather than that stifling hotel robe.”
His clothes against her naked flesh?
Whoa.
Shaking off the goose bumps, she followed the toddling twins into the master bedroom. The rumble of his voice followed her as Seth ordered his meal, her clothing and some other toiletries…
Olivia and Owen sprinted to check out the matching portable cribs that had been set up on the far side of the king-size bed, each neatly made. Everything had been provided to accommodate a family. A real family. Except she would crawl under her own covers all alone wearing a hot guy’s T-shirt.
Alexa wrapped her arms around her stomach, reminded of the life she’d been denied with the implosion of her marriage. A life she purposefully hadn’t thought about in a year since she’d craved a real family more than her next breath. Being thrust into this situation with Seth stirred longings she’d ignored for too long. Damn it, she’d taken this gamble for her company, her employees, her future.
But in doing so, she hadn’t realized how deeply playing at this family game could cut into her heart.
* * *
Playing pretend family was kicking his ass.
Seth forked up the last bite of his Chilean sea bass while Alexa started her warm peach bread pudding with lavender cream. They’d opted to feed the babies first and put them to bed so the adults could actually dine in peace out on the turret balcony. Their supper had been set up by the wrought-iron table for two, complete with a lone rose in the middle of the table. Historical sconces on either side of the open doors cast a candlelit glow over the table.
Classical music drifted softly from inside. Okay, so it was actually something called “The Mozart Effect—Music for Babies,” and he used it to help soothe Olivia and Owen to sleep. But it still qualified as mood-setting music for grown-ups.
And holy crap, did Alexa ever qualify as a smoking hot adult.
She’d changed into one of his T-shirts with the fluffy hotel robe over it. She looked as if she’d just rolled out of his bed. An ocean breeze lifted her whispery blond hair as late evening street noises echoed softly from the street below. Tonight had been the closest he’d come to experiencing family life with his children.
He hadn’t dated much since his divorce and when he had, he’d been careful to keep that world separate from his kids. Working side by side with Alexa had more than cut the tasks in half tonight. That made him angry all over again that he’d screwed up so badly in his own marriage. He and Pippa had known it was a long shot going in, but they’d both wanted to give it a chance, for the babies. Or at least that’s what he’d thought, until he’d discovered Pippa wasn’t even sure if he was the biological father.
His gut twisted.
Damn it all, Olivia and Owen were his children. His name was on their birth certificate. And he refused to let anyone take them from him. Pippa vowed she wasn’t going to challenge the custody agreement, but she’d lied to him before, and in such a major way, he had trouble trusting her.
He studied the woman across from him, wishing he could read her thoughts better, but she held herself in such tight control at all times. Sure, he knew he couldn’t judge all females by how things had shaken down between him and Pippa. But it definitely made him wary. Fool him once, shame on her. Fool him twice. Shame on him.
Alexa Randall was here for one reason only. To use him to jump-start her business. She wasn’t in St. Augustine to play house. She didn’t know, much less love, his kids. She was doing a job. Everybody in this world had an agenda. As long as he kept that knowledge forefront in his mind, they would be fine.
He reached for his seltzer water. “You’re good with kids.”
“Thanks,” she said tightly, stabbing at her pudding.
“Seriously. You’ll make a good mother someday.”
She shook her head and shoved away her half-eaten dessert. “I prefer to have a husband for that and my only attempt at marriage didn’t end well.”
The bitterness in her voice hung between them.
He tipped back his crystal glass, eyeing her over the rim. “I’m really sorry to hear that.”
Sighing, she dipped her finger in the water and traced the rim of her glass until the crystal sang. “I married a guy who seemed perfect. He didn’t even care about my family’s money. In fact, he sided with my dad about signing a prenup to prove it.” Faster and faster her finger moved, the pitch growing higher. “After always having to second-guess friendships while growing up, that felt so good—thinking he loved me for myself, unconditionally.”
“That’s how it’s supposed to work.”
“Supposed to. But then, I’m sure you understand what it’s like to have to question everyone’s motives.”
“Not always. I grew up in a regular farming family in North Dakota. Everyone around me had working class values. I spent my spare time camping, fishing or flying.”
“Most of my friends in private school wanted the perks of hanging out with me—shopping trips in New York. For my sixteenth, my mother flew me and my friends to the Bahamas.” She tapped the glass once with a short fingernail. “The ones with parents who could afford the same kind of perks were every bit as spoiled as I was. No wonder I didn’t have any true friends.”
Having to question people’s motives as an adult was tough enough. But worrying as a kid? That could mark a person long-term. He thought of his children asleep in the next room and wondered how he would keep their lives even-keeled.
“So your ex seems like a dream guy with the prenup…and…?”
“His only condition was that I not take any money from my family.” Her eyes took on a faraway, jaded look that bothered him more than it should have for someone he’d just met. “My money could go into trust for our kids someday, but we would live our lives on what we made. Sounded good, honorable.”
“What happened?” He lifted his glass.
“I was allergic to his sperm.”
He choked on his water. “Uh, could you run that by me again?”
“You heard me. Allergic to his swimmers. We can both have kids, just not with each other.” She folded her arms on the edge of the table, leaning closer. “I was sad when the doctor told me, but I figured, hey, this was our call to adopt. Apparently Travis—my ex—didn’t get the same message.”
“Let me get this straight.” Seth placed his glass on the table carefully to keep from snapping the stemware in two with his growing anger. “Your ex-husband left you because the two of you couldn’t have biological children together?”
“Bingo,” she said with a tight smile that didn’t come close to reaching her haunted blue eyes.
“He sounds like a shallow jerk.” A jerk Seth had an urge to punch for putting such deep shadows in this woman’s eyes. “I would be happy to kick his ass for you. I may be a desk jockey these days, but I’ve still got enough North Dakota farm boy in me to take him down.”
A smile played at her lips. “No worries. I kick butts on my own these days.”
“Good for you.” He admired her resilience, her spunk. She’d rebuilt her life after two nearly simultaneous blows from life that would have debilitated most people.
“I try not to beat myself up about it.” Sagging back in the wrought-iron patio chair, she clutched the robe closed with her fists. “I didn’t have much practice in making smart choices about the people I invited into my life. So it stands to reason I would screw that one up, too.”
“Well, I’m a damn good judge of character and it’s obvious to me that he screwed up.” Seth reached across the table and touched her elbow lightly where the sleeve fell back to reveal the vulnerable crook. “Not you.”
Her eyes opened wider with surprise, with awareness, but she didn’t pull away. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I know there had to be fault on both sides.”
“Still, that’s not always easy to see or say.” His hand fell away.
“What about your ex?” She straightened the extra fork she hadn’t needed for her dinner. In fact, she hadn’t eaten much of her fire-grilled sea scallops at all and only half of her bread pudding. Maybe the cuisine here didn’t suit her. “Does she make it a regular practice to run off and leave the kids?”
“Actually, no.” Pippa was usually diligent when it came to their care. In fact, she usually cried buckets anytime she left them.
Alexa tapped the top of his hand with a whisper-soft touch. “Come on now. I unloaded about my sucky marriage story. What’s yours?”
Normally he preferred not to talk about his failures. But the moonlight, good food—for him at least—and even better company made him want to extend the evening. If that meant spilling a few public knowledge facts about his personal life, then so be it.
“There’s no great drama to share—” And yeah, he was lying, but he preferred to keep it low-key. He was used to glossing over the truth in front of his kids, who were too young to understand paternity questions. “We had a fling that resulted in a surprise pregnancy—” Pippa had just failed to mention the other fling she’d had around the same time. “So we got married for the children, gave it an honest try and figured out it wasn’t going to work. We already had divorce papers in motion by the time the babies were due.”
“If you don’t mind my asking—” she paused until he waved her on “—why did you get married at all then?”
He’d asked himself the same question more than once, late at night when he was alone and missing the twins. “Old-fashioned, I guess. I wanted to be around my kids all the time. I wanted it to work.” Wanted the babies to be his. “It just…didn’t.”
“You’re so calm about it,” she said with more of those shadows chasing around in her eyes.
Calm? He was a holy mess inside, but letting that anger, the betrayal, fly wouldn’t accomplish anything. “I have the twins. Pippa and I are trying to be good parents. At least I thought we were.”
Her hand covered his completely, steadily. “By all appearances you’re doing a great job. They’re beautiful, sweet babies.”
The touch of her soft skin sent a bolt of lust straight through his veins, pumping pulsing blood south. He wrestled his thoughts back to the conversation, back to the care of his offspring. “They’re hell on wheels, but I would do anything for them. Anything.”
So there was no need for him to stress over the fact that Alexa turned him on so hard his teeth hurt. He’d been too long without sex, only a couple of encounters in the year since his divorce. That had to be the reason for his instantaneous, out of control reaction to this woman.
Gauging by the pure blue flame in her eyes, she was feeling it, too.
He was realizing they had a lot more than just a hefty dose of attraction in common. They were both reeling from crappy marriages and completely focused on their careers. Neither of them was looking for anything permanent that would involve more messy emotions.
So why not hook up? If he wanted to act on their attraction and she was cool with the fact that being together had no effect on his business decisions, this could be the best damn thing to happen to him in months. She could be the best thing to happen to him in months.
Yeah, this could work.
Simple, uncomplicated sex.
They had an empty second bedroom waiting for them. He always carried condoms these days. One surprise pregnancy was enough. They had moonlight, atmosphere. She was even already half-undressed. There was nothing stopping him from seeing if she was amenable.
Decision made, Seth pulled the rose from the vase and stroked it lightly down her nose. Her eyes blinked wide with surprise, but she didn’t say a word, didn’t so much as move. Hell, yeah.
Emboldened, he traced her lips with the bud before he leaned across the table and kissed her.
Chapter 4
The warm press of Seth’s mouth against hers surprised Alexa into stillness—for all of three heartbeats. Then her pulse double-timed. Surprise became desire. The attraction she’d been feeling since first laying eyes on him, since he’d taken off his tie, since she’d felt the steamy glide of his gaze over her damp clothing now ramped into hyper-drive.
He stood without breaking contact, and she rose with him as they stepped around the small table into each other’s arms. She gripped his shoulders, her fingers sinking into the warm cotton of the shirt she’d chosen for him earlier. Her defenses were low, without a doubt. The romantic meal, moonlit turret and alluring dinner companion had lulled her. Even the soft classical music stroked over her tensed and frazzled nerves. It had been so long since she’d relaxed, too busy charging ahead with rebuilding her life. Even opening up about her divorce had felt—if not good—at least cathartic.
It had also left her bare and defenseless.
The man might be brusque in the way he spoke sometimes, but, wow, did he ever take his time with a kiss. She slid one hand from his shoulder up to the back of his neck, her fingers toying with the coarse texture of his hair. Her body fit against his, her softness giving way to the hard planes of his chest. The sensitive pads of her fingers savored the rasp of his late day beard as she traced his strong jaw, brushed across his cheekbones and back into his thick hair.
His mouth moved over hers firmly, surely, enticing her to open for him. Her breasts pressed more firmly against him as she breathed faster and faster with arousal. The scent of aftershave mingled with the salty sea air. The taste of lime water and spices from his dinner flavored their kiss, tempting her senses all the more to throw reason away. The bold sweep of his tongue made her hunger for more of this. More of him.
How easy it would be to follow him into his bedroom and toss away all the stress and worries of the past years as quickly as discarded clothes. Except, too soon, morning would come and with it would come all those concerns, multiplied because of their lack of self-control.
God, this was so reckless and unwise and impulsive in a way she couldn’t afford any longer. Scavenging for a shred of self-control, she pushed at his shoulders since she couldn’t seem to bring herself to tear her mouth away from his.
Thank goodness he took the hint.
He pulled back, but not far, only a whisper away. Each breath she took drew in the crisp scent of him. The starlight reflected in his green eyes staring at her with a keen perception of how very much she ached to take this kiss further.
Her chest pumped for air even though she knew full well the dizziness had nothing to do with oxygen and everything to do with Seth’s appeal. Slowly he guided her back to her chair—good thing since her legs were wobbly—and he returned to his as well, his eyes still holding her captive. He lifted his crystal glass, sipping the sparkling water while watching her over the rim.
She forced a laugh that came out half strangled. “That was unexpected.”
“Really?” He placed his glass on the table again. The pulse visibly throbbing in his neck offered the only sign he was as shaken as she was by what they’d just shared. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since I first saw you on board my plane. At that moment, I thought that attraction was mutual. Now, I know it is.”
His cool arrogance smoked across the table.
A chilling thought iced the heat just as quickly as he’d stoked it. “Is that why you asked me to watch your children? Because you wanted a chance to hit on me?” She sat straighter in her chair and wished she wore something more businesslike than a borrowed terry-cloth robe and his shirt. “I thought we had a business arrangement. Mixing business and personal lives is never a good idea.”
“Then why did you kiss me back?” He turned the glass on the tablecloth.
“Impulse.”
His eyes narrowed. “So you admit you’re attracted to me.”
Duh. Denying the mutual draw would be pointless. “You know that I am, but it doesn’t mean I’ve been making plans to act on the feeling. I think Brad Pitt’s hot as hell, but I wouldn’t jump him even if given the opportunity.”
“You think I’m Brad Pitt-hot?”
Damn the return of his arrogant grin.
“I was just making a point,” she snapped.
“But you think I’m hot.”
“Not relevant.” She flattened her hands on the table. “I’m not acting on the impulse any further tonight or ever. If that means you renege on your offer to read my proposal and refer me to others in the business, then so be it. I will not sleep my way into a deal.”
She pushed to her feet.
“Whoa, hold on.” Standing, he circled the table to face her, stroking her upper arm soothingly. “I didn’t mean to imply anything of the sort. First, I don’t believe you’re the kind of person to get ahead in the world that way. And second, I have never paid for sex, and I never intend to.”
She froze, his touch sending fresh skitters of awareness up her arm. The darkness and distant night sounds isolated them with too much intimacy.
Alexa eased back a step toward their suite and the soft serenade of Mozart on the breeze. “Have you looked into finding someone else to take care of your children?”
Still, he didn’t move. He didn’t have to. His presence called to her as he simply stood a couple of steps away, his broad shoulders backlit by the moon, starlight playing across his blond hair, giving him a Greek godlike air.
“Why would I need to do that?” he asked. “You’re here for them.”
“Our agreement only lasts for twenty-four hours,” she reminded him, holding onto the door frame to bolster her wavering resolve.
“I thought we established the time frame had expanded because my meeting with Javier Cortez fell through tonight.” He stepped closer, stopping just shy of touching her again. “You even rearranged things at your work to accommodate our business agreement.”
He was right, and she’d allowed him to scramble her thoughts once more. She locked onto his last three words and pushed ahead. “Our business agreement.”
“You’re angry.”
“Not…angry exactly. Just frustrated and disappointed in both of us.”
His eyes flared with something indefinable. “Disappointed?”
“Oh—” she suddenly understood his expression “—not disappointed in the kiss. It was… Hell, you were here, too. There’s no denying the chemistry between us.”
Another arrogant grin spread across his face. “I agree one hundred percent.”
“But back to the Brad Pitt principle.” She stiffened her spine and her resolve. “Just because there’s an attraction doesn’t mean it’s wise to act on it. I’m disappointed that we did something so reckless, so unprofessional. My business has to be my primary focus, just as you’ve said your children are your main concern.”
“Having my priorities in order doesn’t cancel out my attraction to you. I can separate business from pleasure.” He held her with his laser hot gaze. “I’m very good at multitasking.”
Anger did build inside her now alongside the frustration. “You’re not hearing me! This thing between us is too much, too soon. We barely know each other and we both have high stakes riding on this trip.” She jabbed him in the chest with one finger. “So, listen closely. No. More. Kissing.”
She launched through the door and into the suite before he could shake her resolve again. But as she raced across the luxurious sitting area into her bedroom, his voice echoed in her ears and through her hungry senses.
“Damn shame.”
She completely agreed. Sleep tonight would be difficult to come by as regrets piled on top of frustrated desire.
* * *
Staring off over the city skyline, Seth leaned back in his chair, staying on the turret balcony long after Alexa left. The heat of their kiss still sizzling through him, he finished his seltzer water, waiting for the light in her room to turn off.
He’d only met her today, and he couldn’t recall wanting any woman this much. The strength of the attraction had been strong enough on its own. But now that he’d actually tasted her? He pushed the glass aside, his deeper thirst not even close to quenched.
Now he had to decide what to do about that feeling. She was right in saying that giving in to an affair wasn’t wise. They both had important reasons to keep their acquaintance all business.
His life was complicated enough. He needed to keep his life stable for his kids. No parade of women through the door, confusing them.
He eyed his smartphone on the table where it had been resting since his four attempts to contact Pippa. She still wasn’t returning his messages, and his temper was starting to simmer. What if there had been something wrong with one of the kids and he needed to contact her? She should at least pick up to find out why he was trying to reach her.
His phone vibrated with an incoming call. He slammed his chair back on all four legs and scooped up his cell fast. The LED screen showed a stored name…his cousin Paige back in Charleston.
Not Pippa.
Damn it.
Even his extended family kept in better contact with him than the mother of his kids. His cousins Paige and Vic had both moved from North Dakota, each starting their families in the Charleston area. With no other family left out west, Seth had followed and started his own business.
He picked up without hesitation. “Paige? Everything okay?”
“We’re fine.” His cousin’s voice was soft as if lowered to keep from waking her children. Classical guitar music played softly in the background. “The girls are both finally asleep. I’ve been worried about you all afternoon. How are you and the twins? I feel so bad that I couldn’t help you out.”
“No need to call and apologize. We prefer to steer clear of strep throat.”
“Actually I’m calling about Vic and Claire…”
Oh. Hell. In the chaos with the twins, he’d actually forgotten that his cousin Vic’s wife had gone into labor today. “How’s she doing?”
