crossed Kasey’s lovely face. “I’m so sorry, Aaron. That must be awful.”
That was one word for it. “My sister received a letter from him saying that he needed time away to recover from Will’s death. But that letter was fake—it definitely wasn’t his handwriting. Besides, no matter how upset Jason was, he would never abandon his little girl.”
Aaron heard the harsh note in his voice and tried to tone it down, to find his control. “He’s a devoted dad and he’d never neglect Savannah for this long. There have been emails, but on other trips Jason never connected with Savvie through emails—she’s too little—he always FaceTimed with her.” Aaron tossed his cold coffee into her sink and linked his hands around the back of his neck. “In short, Jason is officially missing, presumed kidnapped.” He forced the words out. “It’s possible that he’s dead.”
Kasey lifted her fist to her mouth, her eyes wide with shock mixed with horror. “God, Aaron.”
He imagined himself in her arms, soaking in her strength, leaning on her, emotionally, for a minute, maybe two. But that wasn’t what he allowed himself—he didn’t fall apart, he couldn’t. He had to be strong. For Jason. For Megan. For Savannah.
“Savvie is five, nearly six, and has been bouncing between Megan, my sister’s house and mine. I remember Jason naming me as her guardian after her mom died a year or so back but I never expected to have to take full responsibility for her.” First her mom, then her dad. No wonder Savannah looked and sounded shell-shocked. “I’m picking her up from my sister Megan’s soon, but, while I can handle the occasional sleepover or a weekend here and there, she’s going to be with me full-time.”
Well, here went nothing. “I need reinforcements and I was hoping that you would, um, lend me a hand with her.”
Kasey looked like he’d asked her to play with acid-covered playing cards. “Aaron, I’m your executive assistant, not a babysitter. You have an enormous disposable income, hire a nanny!”
A stranger in his house? No. Aaron folded his arms, prepared to argue. “On your résumé, you said that you spent a year in France as an au pair. And I’ll double your salary if you take on the extra workload.”
Kasey still looked doubtful.
“Yeah, I could hire a nanny but you’re young, warm, and I think she’d relate to you better. I just need to get through the next couple of weeks, someone to help me until she goes to school. Then I’ll make another plan,” Aaron added.
“What about your sister? Can’t she help you?”
Megan was trying to unravel her own messy life and while he knew that she could occasionally help out, she wasn’t available on a continual basis. “Megan has her own issues she’s dealing with.”
Aaron looked at Kasey, almost prepared to grovel. “I trust you, Kasey. I trust you with my business.” Okay, that was a small lie. He trusted her as much as he could and only with parts of his business.
“The hell of it is that I need you. So, will you help me?”
* * *
I need you...
Kasey was still trying to make sense of his words when her cell phone buzzed with an incoming call. Seeing Michelle’s name on her screen brought the usual wave of longing and disgust, regret and anger, so she did what she always did and let the call go to voice mail. She couldn’t deal with her former best friend right now. She wasn’t sure whether she ever could.
Kasey looked at Aaron, who dominated her small kitchen. She could see the worry in his deep green eyes; it was also etched into the grooves edging his masculine but still sexy mouth, painted in the dark circles under his eyes. He also looked like he’d lost weight, which in Aaron’s case meant that he’d dropped muscle since there wasn’t an inch of fat on him. She’d checked.
Despite working virtually and only seeing him within the confines of a computer monitor, she’d noticed that he was worried and, day-by-day, she saw his tension levels ratcheting up. Thanks to that amazing, glorious night that could not be mentioned, they were very careful to keep their relationship strictly professional, so she’d avoided asking him what was wrong and whether she could help.
And that raised the question, did she want to help? Should she help? She rather liked being on the outside looking in; it felt safer that way. But lately she’d started to think that maybe it was time to come out of her self-imposed hermit lifestyle, to start engaging with the world again. Meet some new people and, maybe, make a friend or two.
She wasn’t looking for a new best friend or a new lover—she didn’t trust herself or her judgment to go that far—but sharing a meal with a nice man or a cup of coffee with a girlfriend might be fun. But, God, she was so out of practice. She needed to dust off her social skills; Aaron was the only person she spoke to on a regular basis and that was all about business.
Looking after Savannah would pull her out of her rut and make her interact with someone new, even if she was only five years old. But she had to be careful, she’d made a promise to herself to protect what was left of her heart and she couldn’t afford to become emotionally attached to anyone, let alone a little girl who’d lost her mom and maybe—God, she prayed not—her dad.
“It’s a temporary gig, Kasey. Just until we find our feet,” Aaron said.
Kasey tapped her nails against her fake granite countertop, fighting the urge to say no, to crawl back into the security of her quiet and lonely life. If she kept to herself, then no one could hurt her...
But they were talking about a little girl. What harm could she do?
Kasey thought she could handle Savannah but she had to remember that she came as a package deal with Aaron. And she definitely couldn’t handle him!
To give herself some time to think, Kasey lifted her phone to her ear to listen to Michelle’s message. “So, I know you’re not too happy with me at the moment but it’s been a while since we spoke. Kasey, we need to resolve our issues. I need to say sorry for my oops and you need to forgive me.”
Oops? That was what her childhood friend was calling sleeping with her husband? An oops? Holy hell, now she’d heard it all.
“Anyway, I’ve tracked you down and I’m driving to Royal to see you. I should be there later this morning. And we’re going to talk, Kasey. You can’t keep running from me. I’m staying for the weekend, possibly longer if I can’t get through to you, and we’re going to thrash this out.”
Like hell she was. Kasey’s eyes flew to the clock on the wall—it was already ten and Michelle was super punctual. In fact, she was often early. She bit her lip and thought fast. “Would me helping you with Savannah mean me moving into your house?”
“It would make sense,” Aaron replied, his voice as neutral as Switzerland.
Two hours ago the thought of sleeping down the hall from the hottest man in Royal would’ve sent her running for the hills. But dealing with Michelle, rehashing their torrid past, was more terrifying than dealing with a little girl and Kasey’s raging but hopefully well-hidden lust for her boss.
Sold, Kasey thought. Michelle would arrive in Royal, not find her at home and, after a day, maybe two—because she had a low attention span
