Dani said. “Enough family stories. Pass the sweet potatoes, please. Mom, why don’t you and Dad tell Nathaniel about your trip to Hong Kong last summer.”
* * *
Nathaniel was actually having fun. He had expected to sit back as a spectator while Dani enjoyed holiday rituals with her family. Instead, he had been pulled into the fray with a vengeance. The Meadows clan swapped jokes and debated blockbuster movies and argued politics passionately, including Nathaniel at every turn.
The only subject completely off-limits was Peaches. He knew Dani had explained the bare bones of the situation. Dani’s siblings and parents handled the baby’s presence with sensitivity. They didn’t ignore her, but they also didn’t say or do anything to make Nathaniel feel uncomfortable.
In the unlikely situation in which he found himself, his hosts’ kindness and generosity were extraordinary. “May I propose a toast?” he asked as Mrs. Meadows brought out a ten-layer apple stack cake and a bowl of freshly whipped cream.
“Of course,” Jared said. “But do it quick—before we all fall asleep. The tryptophan in the turkey is doing a number on me.”
Nathaniel raised his glass of wine. “To snowstorms and spontaneity and hospitable families. Thanks for including me.”
“Hear, hear,” Dani’s father said. “Now, about that Hummer...”
As Jared and his father argued over who would get first turn behind the wheel, Nathaniel followed Dani into the den where a mound of beautifully wrapped presents was piled beneath a real Fraser fir Christmas tree. The room smelled amazing, a cross between Alpine ski weekends and the comfort of home.
For a moment, Nathaniel felt a keen sense of loss for something he had never known in the first place. Shaking off the odd feeling, he took the baby from Dani. “You’ve been holding her forever. My turn, I think.”
It was eye-opening to watch how the siblings and Dani’s parents related to her. At New Century Tech, Nathaniel knew Dani as sharp and capable and goal oriented. In this setting, she was the “baby” of the crew. They petted her and teased her. Perhaps it was so ingrained in the family dynamic they didn’t realize how much they underestimated her.
Nathaniel had done nearly the same on a more personal level. At work, he kept such rigid boundaries he never allowed himself to fully appreciate Dani’s qualities as a woman, though the physical awareness had been there all along. It had taken a massive snowstorm to make him see what he was missing.
Dani was funny and warm and sexy. Brains and beauty in one appealing package.
Not for the world would he have embarrassed her in front of her family. Despite his hunger to be with her, he kept his distance physically, never touching her arm or tucking her hair behind her ear. He and Dani played the role of business associates perfectly. No one would ever guess they had spent the weekend making love at every turn.
He was touched and surprised to know that Dani’s mother had somehow found a couple of things to wrap for him. He opened a navy-and-burgundy silk tie and a pair of sterling silver cuff links.
In the midst of the pandemonium of wrapping paper and boxes and bows, Nathaniel found himself trying to imagine what it would be like if he were a real member of this family. Heart pounding in his chest, he looked across the room at Dani and found her gaze on him. Her beautiful blue eyes shone bright with happiness.
The truth hit him without warning. A tsunami of feelings tightened his throat and glazed his eyes with moisture. He loved her. He was in love with his executive assistant.
This was a hell of a time for a personal epiphany. His head spun. The conversation swirled around him. He must have participated in appropriate ways, but he felt clumsy, his faculties impaired.
“Excuse me,” he said, when he could form the words. “Peaches wants her bottle. I’ll be right back.”
He fled the family celebration. In the kitchen, he clutched the baby and searched for the premixed bottles of formula Dani had ordered, the same kind they had used that first night. With shaking hands, he uncapped and heated and tested. The routine was not so intimidating now. Against all odds, he was learning how to deal with a baby.
Once the bottle was ready, he went in search of a quiet bedroom. The house was very nice, but not all that large. Even with the door closed, he could hear echoes of the festivities from down the hall. He sat on the edge of the bed and cradled the little girl in his arms. She smiled up at him as she gripped the bottle.
Damn it. Dani was right. He didn’t want the complicated situation, but it was going to break his heart if she weren’t his flesh and blood.
Females were trouble. That was the truth. How was he going to let either one of them go?
Immediately after the formula was gone, Peaches fell sound asleep. He tugged the bottle from her hands and set it aside. Carefully, he lifted the small, limp body onto his shoulder.
He wanted to be alone. He needed time and space to process everything that was happening to him. Unfortunately, he was smack-dab in the middle of a good old-fashioned family Christmas.
When he made it back to the den, Jared cornered him. “It’s not going to be safe to get across that bridge. At least not until the water goes down and Dad and I can see how much damage was done. There’s an alternate route off the back side of the property, but it will add almost an hour to your trip.”
Dani’s mother joined them. “I know we’re crowded, but I would feel better if you stayed the night, Nathaniel. I don’t want you taking my daughter and the baby across the bridge today, Hummer or no Hummer. And that other road is terrible. We have all sorts of blankets and sleeping bags, more than enough to make comfy pallets here in front of the fire. I thought about kicking Jared out of his room, but his is a twin bed, so not much help.”
Nathaniel swallowed his misgivings. “Dani can have the sofa. I’d be happy to stay, Mrs. Meadows, but I definitely will have to get on the road first thing in the morning to make it back to work.”
“Of course,” Dani’s mother said. She turned around and looked at her daughter. “You don’t mind camping out for just one night, do you, sweetheart?”
Dani had a deer-in-the-headlights look. “It’s okay with me, Mama, if Nathaniel agrees.”
Mrs. Meadows beamed. “Then it’s settled.”
For Nathaniel, the torture was only beginning. His plan had been to leave around four in the afternoon and hightail it back to Atlanta. He would drop Dani off at her apartment, and he and Peaches would go to his condo to wait for Ophelia.
Now he was going to spend another night with the woman he wanted more than his next breath. In her parents’ house. With a baby as chaperone. God help him. It was everything he feared and everything he couldn’t have.
The warm, loving family, the precious baby, the woman who tempted him beyond reason. How could he keep a rein on his hunger if the two of them were trapped in this house?
Despite his inner turmoil, the day passed quickly. As Dani had warned, the men were eager to try out the Hummer. Even Angie’s husband went along for the excursion across snow-covered fields.
Nathaniel enjoyed the outing far more than he expected. Angie’s husband possessed a dry wit. Dani’s
