held up a hand. “Hold on, I’ve got to take this. Work call coming in.”
He started talking into his cell and grabbed his briefcase off the sofa. Opening the door, he gestured her ahead. She wheeled the stroller forward, out into the hall and toward the elevator.
The fabric slid sensuously against her skin with each step as she pushed the stroller into the elevator while Seth spoke on his phone to his partner… Rick…briefcase in his other hand. Each glide of the silky dress against her skin reminded her how vibrantly in tune her senses were this morning, and, as much as she wanted to credit the sunshine, she knew it was last night’s kiss that had awakened something inside her.
Something that made professional goals tougher to keep in focus.
Two floors down, the doors slid open to admit an older couple dressed casually in sightseeing clothes that still shouted Armani and Prada. They fit right in with the rest of the clientele here. Except the woman carried a simple canvas bag with little handprints painted on it and signed in childlike handwriting. Stenciled along the top of the bag were the words Grandma’s Angels. Alexa swallowed a lump of emotion as she counted at least eleven different scrawled signatures.
The husband leaned closer to his wife, whispering, pointing and smiling nostalgically. The wife knelt to pick up a tiny tennis shoe and passed it to Alexa. “You have a beautiful family.”
Before Alexa could correct her, they reached the lobby and the couple exited. She glanced sheepishly toward Seth and found him staring at her with assessing eyes as he tucked away his phone. Her mouth went dry. She grabbed the stroller, grateful for the support as the now increasingly predictable wobbly knees syndrome set in.
Ever aware of his gaze following her, she wheeled the twins from the elevator. She needed to get her thoughts in order ASAP. She was seconds away from meeting royalty for breakfast, pretty heady stuff even given her own upbringing. Seth was certainly coming through on his promise to introduce her to prestigious connections. Knowing the Medina family could be a serious boon to her fledgling business.
Although she was confused by a person who invited twin toddlers to a business breakfast at a restaurant with silk, antiques and a ceiling hand-painted with twenty-four karat gold.
The clink of silverware echoing from the room full of patrons, she didn’t have to wonder for even a second which pair of diners to approach. A dark-haired, aristocratic man stood from a table set for six, nodding in their direction. A blonde woman sat beside him, a flower tucked behind her ear.
The wheels of the stroller glided smoothly along the tile floor as they passed a waiter carrying plates of crepes on his tray. Alexa stopped by their table.
Seth shook the man’s hand. “Javier, I’d like you to meet—”
The man took her hand. “Alexa Randall. A pleasure to meet you,” Javier said with only a hint of an accent. He motioned to the elegant woman beside him. “This is my wife, Victoria.”
“Lovely to meet you.” Victoria smiled welcomingly, while tucking her fingers into the crook of her husband’s arm. He covered her hand automatically with a possessive and affectionate air.
Good God, this place was chock full of couples swimming in marital bliss. First the elderly couple in the elevator. Now her dining companions for breakfast. She didn’t even dare look at the couple feeding each other bits of melon at the table next to them.
The numbers of fawning couples here defied national divorce statistics. Although, now that she thought about it, she and Seth had enough breakups to even out the scales.
Leaning into the stroller, Victoria grinned at the twins and spun a rattle attached to the tray. “Would you mind if I held one of these sweethearts?”
Seth pulled back the stroller canopy. “Sure, this is Owen—” he picked up his son “—and this is Olivia.”
As Victoria reached down, the little girl stretched her arms up toward Alexa instead. Alexa’s heart squeezed in response. So much so, it scared her a little. These babies were quickly working their way into her affection. Victoria eased back gracefully and left Alexa to settle the baby girl into her high chair beside her brother’s. The adults took their seats and placed their orders, so far, with no mishaps.
As the waitress placed each person’s dish on the table, Victoria spread her linen napkin across her lap. “I told Javier he really put you on the spot insisting you bring along babies, but the twins are total dolls.” She tickled Olivia’s chin. “Hopefully you’ll warm up to me, sweetie, so I can entertain you while Alexa eats her breakfast, too.”
“I think I can manage, but thank you.” She reached past her smoked salmon bagel for her goblet of juice. How well did this woman and her husband already know Seth? What kind of information might she learn during this breakfast about Seth and his possible contacts?
While Javier detailed the must-see sights in St. Augustine, Olivia and Owen fed themselves fruit—which scared Alexa to her last frazzled nerve as she watched to be sure strawberries stayed on Olivia’s tray but not Owen’s.
Seth shoveled in steak and eggs, spooning oatmeal into the twins’ mouths, while holding a conversation. She was in awe.
And a little intimidated.
She’d almost flooded the floor last night during their bath. If he hadn’t shown up early, she wasn’t sure how she would have wrestled them both into clothes. Whenever she thought she’d moved everything dangerous out of their reach…
Oh, God…
She lunged for Olivia just as Seth smoothly pulled the salt shaker from her grasp. Her pulse rate doubled at the near miss with catastrophe. So much for using this breakfast to learn more about Seth from the Cortez couple. She would be lucky to make it through the meal with her sanity intact.
Victoria rested her knife at the top of her plate of half-eaten eggs Benedict. “I hope he’s treating you to some vacation fun after all these stodgy business meetings are over.”
“Pardon?” Alexa struggled to keep track of the twins and the conversation in the middle of a business meeting and a dining room full of tourists.
Glasses and silverware clinked and clattered. Waiters angled past with loaded trays as people fueled up for the day ahead.
Victoria swiped her mouth with the linen napkin. “You deserve some pampering for watching the kids solo here at the hotel during the day.”
“I’m helping out with temporary nanny detail.”
Leaning closer, Victoria whispered, “It’s obvious he doesn’t look at you like a nanny.”
She couldn’t exactly deny that since she was likely searing him with her own glances, too. “Honestly we don’t know each other that well.”
Victoria waved away her comment, her wedding rings refracting light from the chandelier. “The length of time doesn’t always matter when it comes to the heart. I knew right away Javier was the one.” She smiled affectionately at her new husband, who was deep in conversation with Seth. “It took us a while to find our way to each other, but if I’d listened to my heart right off, we could have been saved so many months of grief.”
“It’s a business arrangement,” she said simply, hoping if she repeated it enough she could maintain
