Soldier Daddy

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“Definitely steak. And salt-baked potatoes. And fresh sweet corn on the cob, dripping with butter.”

Across the line, Mina grew silent a moment, certainly a rare occurrence, no doubt pondering his words.

He smiled to himself as he put a package of steaks in the cart and pushed it toward the dessert section. “Although I need you to look up a recipe for me.”

“Si, anything. Just say.”

“Pumpkin pie.” After she recited the recipe, he reached for the Cool Whip topping. He wanted to make this dinner special. For at the end of it, he’d welcome Sarah on as their new nanny.

He knew in his heart this was right.

As long as her background check came back clean, his boys had their nanny.

The house was big enough that she could have all the privacy in her downtime that she desired. She’d mentioned needing every other Saturday night off. That worked well since he wanted to spend solo time with the boys, too. And Mina would remain, so their arrangement wouldn’t compromise Sarah’s reputation.

This felt right.

And if he was hearing God correctly, he was checking into Sarah’s past for nothing. He needed to call his sister. A government skip tracer, Ashleigh had open access to sensitive information and would be able to use her investigative experience to tell him. Which reminded him…Aaron dialed Ashleigh. No answer. He waited for her voice mail.

“Yeah, Ash? I’ve got someone I need you to run for me. Name’s Sarah Graham.” Aaron recited other info about Sarah that would ease Ash’s background search, then hung up. Sure, the agency would have run a check. But Ash could dig deeper.

Though he had no reason to believe Sarah was anything but safe, he had to be sure for his boys. He’d learned the hard way that looks could deceive. But rarely did first impressions. And something told him God had sent this woman as a gift. She’d be good for the boys.

Maybe good for you, too, another mind-whisper trailed.

Aaron paid for his groceries and headed home, feeling a rush of anticipation. It turned to laughter as he walked past the living-room window. All of his house’s inhabitants’ torsos tilted side to side as their feet took them in wild, wacky circles. And of course, Sarah led the pack.

Aaron viewed his furniture, pushed to the sides of the room where the foursome danced to what sounded like the Hokey Pokey. And he knew with certainty his carefully ordered life was about to unravel.

For good.

Good!

Aaron didn’t seem fazed about the misplaced furniture or up in arms over the chaos she’d created in every corner of the room. Something twinkled in his eyes and a smile dawned at the twins dancing. That was good, right? The rest of his face remained unreadable, however.

Sarah dialed down the stereo volume. “Boys, Daddy’s home.”

That’s all it took to rocket-thrust the twins toward the door. Something jolted in Sarah’s mind at her own wording. “Daddy” sounded much too much like something a wife would say to her children about their father. Maybe Aaron hadn’t noticed.

Then again, according to the way his chin slowly rose as he studied her, maybe he had. As the boys rushed across the floor toward him, he set down the grocery sacks and knelt for the impending double impact, but continued to watch her. She made herself busy picking up stray toys. After all, she far from deserved a man like Aaron.

The usual militantly focused look in his eyes softened as he nestled one twin in each arm. “Hey. Did you guys miss me or something?”

Melt!

How could they not?

She did.

Her own thoughts caused her cheeks to burn.

“Yes. You were gone a long time.” Bryce’s bottom lip quivered. “The sky tried to send a storm but Miss Sarah prayed it away.”

Aaron eyed her for a long while. The longer he looked the more his eyes sparkled with softness. “Did she now?”

Braden nodded. “Uh-huh, but I wouldn’t have been scared.”

“Why’s that?”

“She made a tent of blankets near the couch for naptime and let us sleep in the same room with her. We pretended to camp.”

Aaron held her gaze, approval evident in his eyes. “That was nice of her.”

She busied herself straightening the room, mostly to escape the potency of his mesmerizingly pleased expression.

You’re acting like a freak of nature! He’s just your boss! Well, almost her boss. Hopefully.

“Thanks for making a game of it,” Aaron said, coming close. Closer than a boss would.

She remembered to breathe. “No problem. It was fun for me, too.” Grocery sacks lifted, she headed for the kitchen.

Following, Aaron bit back a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Sarah set the bags on the counter.

“Images of you performing silly dances when I walked up. You seem quite proficient at the Hokey Pokey.”

Heat blasted her cheeks but she laughed regardless. “You can see in the windows?”

He grinned. “Very clearly.”

“Maybe we should keep the blinds closed, then.” She adjusted her collar and turned her attention to the groceries. His hand brought up a package.

Sarah blinked. Joy streaked through her. “Steak?” It came out as a squeak.

Aaron pulled more items from the sack. “And salt-baked potatoes. And corn on the cob that will drip with—”

“Butter.” She rose on her toes and clapped as he held it up. Then grew serious. “I don’t know what to say, Aaron.”

He moved close enough for her to catch whiffs of cologne that were entirely too enticing.

“Just say you’d still like to be our nanny. Because if you do, this is a welcome-to-our-home celebration dinner, complete with pumpkin pie and two tubs of Cool Whip.”

She shrieked and started to hug him, then, mortified, caught herself. She jolted inches away and stuttered nonsense. “I—I’m so sorry. I’m just so thrilled about this and I didn’t mean to nearly attack you there.”

Sarah glimpsed a part of Bryce in Aaron’s shy grin.

He shrugged. “It’s okay. Mina does it all the time. She comes from a family of huggers. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it.”

Yet his uncertain eyes said something altogether different and it scared her absolutely to death. Because the flint of longing in her heart matched the strike of yearning in his eyes the moment she’d nearly thrown herself at him in her excitement over the job.

Wait. He had mentioned Mina’s family. Yet not his own. Why?

This man was larger than life. An intentional hero. Internationally esteemed. This silly zinging and these wayward thoughts would wear off in time. They would. They had to. For no upstanding, respectable man in his right mind would want to entangle himself with a woman harboring her past.

“Sarah, one more thing.” He’d turned serious.

Her heart thudded. Oh, no. He knows.