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Lurching toward him, she grabbed his chubby wrist just before his hand reached his mouth. His face scrunched into utter dejection as his tiny world crumbled over the lost treat. Alexa winced a second ahead of his piercing scream. Seth leaned in to soothe the temper tantrum. Before Alexa could even form the words of warning…
Olivia flipped the bowl of oatmeal straight into Javier Cortez’s lap.
Chapter 5
The cosmos must have been holding a serious grudge against him because the sight of Alexa in a bathing suit sucker-punched him clean through.
Seth stopped short by the poolside bar outside the hotel and allowed himself a moment to soak in the sunlit view, a welcome pleasure after a tense work day that had started with his kid dumping oatmeal in a prospective customer’s lap. Thank goodness Javier Cortez had insisted it didn’t matter.
And Alexa had acted fast by scooping up both twins and taking them away for the day.
Now, she looked anything but maternal as she rubbed sunscreen down her arms, laughing at something Victoria said. The twins slept in a playpen under the shade of a small open cabana. Only a half dozen others had stayed this late in the day—a young couple drinking wine in the hot tub and a family playing with a beach ball in the shallow end.
His attention stayed fully focused on the goddess in black Lycra.
He should be celebrating the success of his day’s meeting. Javier wanted him to tour the landing strip at the king’s private island off the coast of St. Augustine. Their time here was done. The king’s island even came equipped with a top-notch nanny for the twins, a nanny the king kept on staff for his grandchildren’s visits.
And yet, Seth was all the more determined than ever to keep Alexa with him, to win her over, to seduce her into his bed again and again until he worked this tenacious attraction out of their systems. He hadn’t yet attained that goal but was determined to keep her around until he succeeded.
The black bathing suit was more modest than the strings other women wore that barely held in the essentials. Still, there was no denying her sensuality. Halter neckline, plunging deeply until the top of her belly button ring showed.
A simple gold hoop.
His hands itched to grasp her hips and slide his fingers along the edges, slipping inside to feel the satiny slickness he knew waited right there. For him.
Splashing from the deep end snapped him back to reality. Damn, he seriously needed to rein in those kinds of thoughts out here in public. Even when they were alone. He needed to be patient. He didn’t want to spook her into bailing on this time they had together.
He thought back to how fast she’d retreated after their kiss. She’d been undeniably as turned on as he was and yet, she’d avoided him that morning as they’d prepared for the day. Although he thought he sensed a bit of softening in her stance as the day wore on. At breakfast he’d thought he caught her eyes lingering on him more than once. He could see the memory of their kiss written in her eyes as she stared at him with a mixture of confusion and attraction.
Shoving away from the bar, Seth strode alongside the pool toward Alexa. “Good afternoon, ladies.”
Jolted, she looked over at him. Her eyes widened and he could have sworn goose bumps of awareness rose along her arms. She yanked her crocheted cover-up off the glass-topped table and shrugged into it almost fast enough to hide her breasts beading with arousal. His own body throbbed in response, his hands aching to cradle each creamy globe in his palms.
“Seth, I didn’t expect you back this early.”
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Victoria gather her beach bag. “Since you’re done for the day, I take it my husband’s free, so if you’ll both excuse me…”
The woman made a smooth—and timely—exit.
Seth sank down into her vacated lounger beside Alexa as a teenager cannonballed into the deep end. “Did you and the babies have a good afternoon?”
“No problems or I would have called you. I wrote down everything the children ate and when they went to sleep. The pool time wore them out.” She toyed with the tie on her cover up—right between her breasts.
He forced his gaze to stay on her face. “I want you to extend your time with us for a couple more days.”
Her jaw went slack with surprise before she swallowed hard. “You want me to stay with you and the children?”
“Precisely.”
“My business is a small operation—”
“What about your partner?”
“I can’t dump everything on her indefinitely and still meet our obligations.”
His point exactly as for why hers wasn’t the company for Jansen Jets—hers wasn’t large enough and didn’t have adequate backup resources. He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. “I thought you were cleaning my plane to meet with me.”
“That certainly was my intent—and to impress you with A-1’s work.” She hugged her legs. “But I do clean other aircraft in addition to my obligations to office work.”
“That doesn’t leave much time for a private life.” Late day sun beating down on his head, he shrugged out of his suit jacket and draped it over the back of the lounger. He loosened his tie. God, he hated the constraining things.
“I’m investing in my future.”
“I understand completely.” His eyes gravitated toward his children, still sleeping peacefully in the playpen—Olivia on her tummy with her diapered butt up in the air, Owen on his back with his arms flung wide.
“You’ve achieved your goals. That’s admirable. I’m working on my dream now.” Determination coated each word as fully as the sunscreen covered her bared skin.
He really didn’t need to be thinking about her exposed body right now.
Already, he was on the edge of a new deal with Javier Cortez to supply charter jets for the royal Medinas. That huge boon would take his company to the next level and free him up to set up an entire volunteer, nonprofit foundation devoted to search and rescue operations. His first love, what had drawn him into flying in the first place. That love of flying had helped him develop and patent the airport security device that had made him a mint. Once he took his business to the next level, funding and overstretched government budgets wouldn’t be an issue…
So damn close to achieving all his business dreams.
Yet, still he was restless. “Let’s forget arguing about tomorrow and business. We can hash that out later. Right now, I’m off the clock. I want to make the most of our time left in St. Augustine tonight.”
“What exactly did you have in mind?” She eyed him suspiciously.
Had he imagined her softening on the all-business stance? There was only one way to find out.
Standing, he snagged his suit coat. “We’re going to spend the evening out.”
“With twins? Don’t you think breakfast was pushing our luck?”
He grinned, scooping up his groggy daughter. “Trust me. I can handle this.”
“All right, if you’re sure.”
“Absolutely.” He palmed his daughter’s back as she wriggled in his arms and tugged at his collar. “Wait until you see what I have planned. You’ll want to dress comfortably, though. And we should probably pack extra clothes for the kids in case they get dirty.”
Alexa pulled up alongside him, Owen in her arms. Seth reached for the door inside—
Until her gasp stopped him short.
“Did you forget something?” he asked.
When Alexa didn’t answer, he glanced and found her staring back at him with horror. What the hell? Except as she raised a shaking hand to point, he realized she wasn’t looking at him. Her attention was focused fully on Olivia.
More precisely, on Olivia’s bulging left nostril.
* * *
Sitting on the edge of the hotel sofa in their suite, Alexa struggled to contain the squirming little girl in her lap while pushing back the welling panic. The whole ride up in the elevator had been crazy, with Seth attempting to check his daughter’s nose and the child growing more agitated by the second.
How in the world had Olivia wedged something up her nostril? More importantly, what had she shoved into there?
Alexa winced at the baby’s bulging left nostril. She hadn’t taken her eyes off Olivia for a second during their time at the pool—except when Olivia had been sleeping. Had she woken up? Found something in the playpen? Perhaps something blew inside the pen with her?
Panic gripped her. What the hell had she been thinking, allowing herself to believe she could care for these two precious children? She willed herself to stop shaking and deal with the crisis at hand.
Seth knelt in front of her, trying to grasp his daughter’s head between his palms. “I can get this out if you will just hold her still long enough for me to push my thumb down the outside of her nose.”
“Believe me, I’m trying my best.” Alexa’s heart pumped as hard and fast as Olivia’s feet as the little girl screamed, kicking her father in the stomach. Her face turned red; her skin beaded with sweat from hysteria.
Sinking back on his haunches, Seth looked around their suite. “Is there any pepper left from last night’s dinner?”
“Housekeeping cleared away everything. Oh, God, I am so sorry. I don’t know how this happened—”
A crash echoed through the room.
Alexa looked at Seth, her panic mirrored in his eyes. “Owen!”
They both shot to their feet just as a pitiful wail drifted from behind the velvet sofa. Holding Olivia around the waist, Alexa ran fast on Seth’s heels, only to slam against his back when he stopped short.
Owen sat on the floor, blessedly unharmed, just angry. His “tower”—which consisted of a chair, a pillow and the ice bucket—now lay on its side by the television. Handprints all over the flat screen testified to his attempt to turn on the TV by himself.
Seth knelt beside his son, running his hands along the toddler’s arms and legs. “Are you okay, buddy? You know you’re not supposed to climb like that.” His thumb brushed over his son’s forehead, along the eyebrow that still carried a scar from past stitches. “Be careful.”
Picking up Owen, Seth held him close for a second, a sigh of relief racking through his body so visibly Alexa almost melted into the floor with sympathy. God, this big manly guy who plowed through life and through the skies alone had the most amazing way of connecting with his kids.
What would it have been like to grow up with a father like him? A dad so very present in his children’s lives?
Standing, Seth said, “I’m going to have to take Olivia to the emergency room. Swap kids with me. You can stay here with Owen.”
“You still trust me?”
“Of course,” he responded automatically even though his mouth had gone tight. With frustration? Fear?
Or anger?
He leaned toward her. Olivia let out a high-pitched shriek and locked her arms tighter around Alexa’s neck, turning her face frantically from her father.
Seth frowned. “It’s okay, kiddo. It’s just me.”
Patting Olivia’s back, Alexa swayed soothingly from side to side. “She must think you’re going to pinch her nose again.”
“Well, we don’t have much choice here. I need to take her in.” He set down Owen and clasped his daughter.
Olivia’s cries cranked up to earsplitting wails, which upset her brother who started sobbing on the floor. If Olivia kept gasping would whatever was in her nose get sucked in? And then where would it go? Into a lung? The possibilities were horrifying. This parenting thing was not for the faint of heart.
“Seth, let me hold her rather than risk her becoming even more hysterical.” She cradled the little girl’s head, blond curls looping around Alexa’s fingers as surely as the child was sliding into Alexa’s heart. “You and I can go to the emergency room and take both kids.”
Plowing a hand through his hair, Seth looked around the suite again as if searching for other options. Finally he nodded and picked up his son. “That’s probably for the best. We just have to get a car.” He grabbed the room phone and dialed the hotel operator. “Seth Jansen here. We need transportation to the nearest E.R. waiting for us. We’re headed to the elevator now.”
She jammed her feet into the flip-flops she’d worn to the pool, grateful she’d at least had time to change out of her swimsuit, and followed Seth out into the hall. The elevator opened immediately—thank God—and they plunged inside the empty compartment. He jostled his restless son while she made shhh, shhh, shhh soothing sounds for Olivia, who was now hiccupping. But at least the little girl wasn’t crying.
The floors dinged by, but not fast enough. The doors parted and the elderly couple they’d seen on their way down to breakfast stepped inside.
Dressed to the nines in jewels and evening wear, the woman wasn’t carrying her canvas bag made by her grandchildren, but she still radiated a grandma air. She leaned toward Olivia and crooned, “What’s the matter, sweetie? Why the tears?”
Lines of strain and worry pulled tighter at the corners of Seth’s mouth. “She shoved something up her nose,” he said curtly, his gaze locked in on the elevator numbers as if willing the car to move faster. “We’re headed to the E.R.”
As if sensing her dad’s intent, Olivia pressed her face into Alexa’s neck.
The grandmother looked back at her husband and winked knowingly. The older gentleman, dressed in a tuxedo, reached past Alexa so quickly she didn’t have time to think.
He tugged Olivia’s ear. “What’s that back there behind your ear, little one?” His hand came back around with a gold cuff link in his palm. “Was that in your ear?”
Olivia peeked around to see and like lightning, the grandmother reached past and swiped her finger down Olivia’s nose. A white button shot out and into the woman’s hand. She held it up to Seth’s shirt. A perfect match. They hadn’t even noticed he was missing one from near his neck.
Surprise stamped on his handsome face, Seth stuffed the button into his pocket. “She must have pulled it off when I picked her up by the pool.”
Alexa gasped in awe at how easily the couple had handled mining the button from Olivia’s nose. “How did you two manage that so smoothly?”
The grandpa straightened his tuxedo bow tie. “Lots of practice. You two will get the knack before you know it.”
In a swirl of diamonds and expensive perfume, the couple swept out of the elevator, leaving Alexa and Seth inside. The doors slid closed again. She sagged back against the brass rail. Relief left her weak-kneed all the way back to the penthouse floor while Seth called downstairs on his cell to cancel their ride to the E.R.
Stopping just outside their door, he tucked his phone in his pocket and slid a hand behind her neck. “Thank you.”
“For what? I feel like I’ve let you down.” The emotions and worry after the scare with Olivia had left her spinning. She could only imagine how he must feel.
“Thank you for being here. Chasing these two is more challenging than flying a plane through a thunderstorm.” He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “My family tells me I’m not too good at asking for help. But I gotta admit having an extra set of hands and eyes around made things easier just now.”
His emerald-green gaze warmed her along with his words. Given her history with men, the whole trust notion was tough for her. But right now, she so desperately wanted to believe in the sincerity she saw in his eyes. She felt appreciated. Valued as a person.
Giving that much control to another person scared her spitless. “You’re welcome.”
She thought for a moment he was going to kiss her again. Her lips tingled at the prospect. But then he glanced at the two children and eased back. “Let’s get the diaper bag so we can move forward with our night out on the town.”
Blinking fast, she stood stock-still for a second, barely registering his words. They still had a whole night ahead of them? She was wrung out, as if she’d run an emotional marathon. With her defenses in the negative numbers, an evening out with Seth and his children was too tantalizing, too tempting a prospect. Hell, the man himself was too tempting. Not that she had the choice of opting out.
She just really hoped the evening sucked.
* * *
The evening hadn’t sucked.
In fact, Seth had followed through with the perfect plans so far, starting off with a gourmet picnic at a park near a seventeenth century fort by the harbor. The children had toddled around, eaten their fill and gotten dirty. So precious and perfect and far more normal than she would have expected.
