nanny’s employment would take.
Watching the scene of the white crib and changing table in the large airy room, made sunny and happy with the rainbow curtains that currently billowed in the morning breeze, Jake sat back in his tall-backed black leather office chair. He had only intended to turn on the system, but just then Hannah emerged from the adjoining bathroom, carrying the baby tub, which she set on a counter by the crib. She picked up squirming Dixon and set him in the water.
Jake leaned in to study the screen again. Clearly happy to be in his bath, Dixon gooed, bounced and splashed, but Hannah only laughed. Jake watched her, his head tilting to one side as he observed the way she handled Dixon.
“You better stop wiggling or you’re going to slide right out of my hands.” As she said that, she leaned down to Dixon and rubbed her nose against his. The baby giggled all the more. Enveloped in a warm, fatherly feeling, Jake smiled.
He couldn’t picture Felicity doing this with his adorable little boy. Hell, he didn’t think the L.A. nanny was this warm with Dixon. Yet, it didn’t seem odd to see Hannah play so intimately with the baby she had gotten acquainted with at his party once they realized she would be his nanny. She and Dixon seemed at home with the playing, the tickling, the teasing.
He continued to silently watch Hannah, enjoying her interaction with Dixon, until he realized just how much he was enjoying it. He thought Hannah was pretty and sweet, and he adored his son. The sight of them together made him feel things that went beyond anything he had ever felt before and entered the soft, wonderful place he thought only existed in a man’s imagination: the place where intimacy with a woman mingled with the joy of fatherhood.
He bounced away from the screen.
Whoa, he thought, then turned off his computer screen, though he left the computer itself on, to continue operating the camera and to record everything that took place in the nursery while he was gone.
That was a weird feeling.
A very weird feeling. Especially since he and Hannah had never been intimate.
It was the kind of feeling he had heard other men talk about with reference to their wives. The kind of feeling that scared him silly because listening to his friends talk about turning all mushy inside watching their wives with their babies made him think they were wimps. He could allow for a little wimpiness and sappiness about being a dad. He could let a guy get sloppy as all hell over a woman. But as soon as a man made that baby/mother connection, Jake knew it was all over for the poor sap. The guy was a goner.
And he did not intend for anything to be over for himself. He had a great life. He was rich. He was good-looking. He had any woman he wanted from the large, sophisticated circle of jet-setters in which he traveled. And, if everything went well with this week’s delivery, he would have the kind of risky, adrenaline-producing career that most men only dreamed about.
He had no business thinking about mothers and babies. He loved Dixon. In fact, having Dixon was the blessing of his life because in spite of never marrying, he got to be a dad. He had an heir, money and, even if he only remained a CIA courier, a fabulous secret life of sorts. He didn’t need to be thinking sappy thoughts about a pretty girl.
With that, he left his office and headed for the kitchen and a final cup of coffee before he departed for the airport. As he brought the cup to his lips, Hannah entered the kitchen, carrying a very clean, very nicely dressed Dixon. Wearing a pale blue T-shirt, shorts and little tennis shoes, Jake’s six-month-old son already looked like the jock Jake was sure he would someday be.
“Here, give him to me,” Jake said, reaching for his son.
“Be careful. He’s particularly squirmy today.”
“It surprises me that he took to you so well.”
Hannah shrugged and gave him a beautiful smile that he felt the whole way to his toes. “It shouldn’t. He’s not old enough to make strange yet.”
She issued the comment so casually that it struck Jake that part of the reason he was having more trouble controlling his feelings today was that Hannah was acting differently. He could have sworn she was afraid of him when he danced with her Friday night. Or, at the very least, that she was shy. But here she was behaving as if they were lifelong buddies.
He could easily believe she wanted to work for him because she had been laid off and needed the money. But that shouldn’t make her eager to be around him. If anything, she should be shooing him out the door. Yet this morning he could swear she was happy to be with him.
As Hannah watched Jake cuddle Dixon affectionately against his chest, a quick round of realization buffeted her. First, he seemed suspicious of her and that could mean he sensed she was here under false pretenses. But that was only half true. Her main purpose might be to observe how he lived, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take care of his son. Even analyzing Jake, she could effortlessly fulfill her duties as nanny.
Second, she really liked him. He was funny and, in spite of his wealth, he lived a relatively normal life. His house stood alone on the outskirts of town for privacy, but despite its size and beauty, it was a comfortable house. He was a comfortable guy.
Third, even though he was a jet-setting playboy, Jake made an adorable father. It was a role no one expected to see him play, but just as he did everything else in his life, he made fatherhood look easy.
But that was exactly why Hannah was here. She was sure it was sophistication that helped Jake make everything look simple and she wanted some of that sophistication. She didn’t think just being around him would cause her to absorb the information and experience she needed, and she suspected that once they became better friends she would have to ask him questions. But that only reinforced that she had to be here. Seeing how the other half lived, making friends and asking questions to learn everything she could was Phase One of her new life plan. Phase Two was to get a job in Pittsburgh, once she had sophistication enough that she could ace an interview. And Phase Three was to actually move out of town.
She had to be here. If it killed her, she had to overcome his suspicions of her.
“Well, I’m off,” Jake said. “There’s a maid who comes twice a week, by the way. Don’t even rinse the dishes. Just take care of Dixon.”
“Okay,” Hannah said, smiling at him as he kissed his little boy goodbye.
But when he stepped forward to hand the baby to Hannah, their eyes met and she didn’t know how she knew, but she got the sudden impression he was thinking he should be kissing her goodbye too.
Heat suffused her. So did an awful need. He was absolutely everything any woman would want in a man, and he was within arm’s distance. He also seemed to like her. Was it so hard to believe…
Damn it! She had to stop this wishful thinking! She could not be attracted to him. He was so far out of her league he would hurt her and there was no phase in her new life plan to accommodate getting over a broken heart.
She took Dixon from his hands and stepped back several paces. “Have fun in Paris.”
Jake nodded once quickly, then bolted out the door.
Hannah breathed a sigh of relief. If she didn’t behave herself, he was going to realize that she found him attractive and he would fire her and then she would be sunk.
“So, how did it go?”
Maria
