The Boss's Baby Arrangement

Delilah waved her hand dismissively. “Someone on the staff when I phoned to say hello.”

To check up, more likely. His in-laws made no secret of the fact that they wanted custody of Rose. He would feel a lot more comfortable welcoming them for visits if they weren’t taking notes and plotting the whole damn time.

He ground his teeth and tried to be as reasonable as possible. He didn’t want to upset his daughter’s world by having her taken from her own father. “Rose will be awake in about an hour. If you would like to stay for lunch, you can play with her when she wakes.”

He glanced over his shoulder, checking on his brother and Maureen. Easton was tying the boat off along the dock while Maureen gathered up the samples. But that wasn’t what caught Xander’s eye. A massive gator swam in the dock area and bumped into the boat. The low-slung boat was tipped off balance and his eyes darted to Maureen, who was leaning over the railing.

Three (#ulink_6cdfb738-054a-5966-83d1-416614e922f0)

Water swirled around Maureen as she plummeted into the murky bay off the side of the boat.

Swimming had never been an issue for her. In Ireland, her childhood adventures had often unfolded in rivers and lakes. The water called to her. When she was young, she’d hold her breath and dive in undaunted. She’d even told her parents she was searching for kelpie—mythical Irish water horses. They were dangerous creatures of legend—sometimes drowning mortals for sport. At eight, Maureen was convinced that she could find kelpie and clear up the misconception. Her inclination to help and heal ran deep, to her core.

But here, in the swampy waters of Key Largo, there was no mythical creature that might whisk her to the bottom and drown her. No, in this water, an alligator slinked by. An animal that actually had the capacity to knock life from her lungs.

She tread water, schooling her breathing into calm inhales and exhales. Or at least, this was the attempt she was making. Boggy, slimy weeds locked around her ankle, twisting her into underwater shackles.

Adrenaline pushed into her veins, her heart palpitating as she tried to force a degree of rigidity into her so-far-erratic movements.

From her memory depths, she recalled a time not unlike this one. She’d been swimming in Lake Michigan after her parents had relocated to Michigan. She’d been caught in weeds then, too, but her father had been there to untangle her. And that lake had lacked primitive dinosaur-like predators, which had made the Lake Michigan moment decidedly less dramatic.

Eyes flashing upward, she caught the panic flooding Xander’s face.

Ready to help her.

The weeds encircling her ankle pulled against her. Damn. How’d she managed to become so ensnared so quickly? The pulse of the tide slashed into her ears, pushing her against the boat.

A loss of control kicked into her stomach. She heard vague shouting. Easton? Maybe. His voice seemed far away.

The grip on her ankle pulled taut, forcing her below the surface. The more she tried to tread water, to grab hold of the boat, the more she was pulled down. A new sort of tightness tap-danced on her chest. A mouthful of salt water belabored her breathing.

A vague sense of sound broke through her disorientation. Xander’s voice. That steadying baritone. “Maureen, I’m coming!”

Words drifted to her like stray pieces of wood. Her salt-stung vision revealed Xander’s muscled form coming toward her. She made out the people behind him—his in-laws. Even from here, blurry vision and all, she read the concern in their clasped forms.

In an instant Xander was there, face contorted in worry. With an arm, he stabilized her against the boat. Air flooded her lungs again.

“I’m okay. I can swim. I just need to get my foot untangled from the undergrowth.”

“Roger.” He started to dive.

She grasped his arm. “Be careful of the—”

His gaze moved off to the side where the gator lingered with scaly skin and beady eyes. “I see. And the sooner we get out of here the better.”

He disappeared underwater, a trail of small bubbles the only trace of him. Sinking fear rendered a palatable thrum in her chest—a war drum of anxiety. The gator disappeared under water.

Time stood on a knife-edge.

Suddenly she felt a palm wrap around her ankle and release her from the weeds. On instinct, she drew her knee to chest.

Xander followed. The edge of worry ebbed but refused to fade.

“I’m sure you can swim. But humor me. You may not know you’re injured.”

“I don’t want to slow you—”

“And I don’t want to hang out here in the swamp with gators and God only knows what else in addition to the leaking gas. Quit arguing.” No room for negotiation in that tone. It must be the same voice Xander used in boardroom meetings.

“Okay, then. Swim.”

His arms around her, she felt warmth leap from his body to hers. Feeling small and protected for the first time in ages. The muscles in his arm grew taught and retracted as he moved them through the water. Steadying her breathing, pushing her fear far away.

The water gave way to mucky sand and he helped her wade through that all the way to the shoreline.

Her body shook of its own accord. As if by reflex, he wrapped her into a tight hug and her head fit snugly beneath his chin.

The world, which a moment ago was filled with panic and fear, stilled. His breath on her cheek warmed her bones with more intensity than the tropical sun.

In that space, adrenaline fell back into her bloodstream. But fear didn’t motivate that move this time. Awareness did as he held her close, breathing faster, somehow keeping time with her ragged heart. His body felt like steel against hers as she pulled away from him, her eyes catching his, watching as they fell away to her lips.

She hadn’t imagined it, then, noting his desire.

“Maureen?” Her name sent the world crashing back into place. Willing her eyes away from his, she looked over her shoulder to see his in-laws and Easton standing a short distance away.

Knowing he needed coverage, even if just for a moment, she turned to face them, careful to stay angled in front of Xander. As if he’d done it a thousand times before, his hands fell to her shoulders. A mild but welcome distraction.

Xander’s in-laws were visibly distraught.

“Are you okay?” Xander’s father-in-law asked, face crumpled like he smelled something rotting. Maureen nodded dully, afraid her words might betray something private and real about this moment.

The man shifted focus from Maureen to Xander. “And you?”

“Yes. Thankfully. More of a scare than any real harm.” His hands squeezed Maureen’s shoulder blades before dropping. Immediately she felt the echo of his absence from her skin.

His mother-in-law sniffed in response. “Honestly. What if that had been Rose? I’m just glad she wasn’t out here. A nature refuge is lovely, of course—” ice entered her words “—but such a dangerous, unpredictable place isn’t so well suited for our grandchild.”

Maureen squinted at the woman’s response, which felt more like a warning than anything else.

* * *

Hours separated him from the gator run-in and he still couldn’t think straight.

He’d always been a pro at compartmentalizing events, locking his personal life away so he could focus on whatever task at hand. That proved infinitely difficult with this afternoon’s events.

As if his mind was a film loop, he kept revisiting Maureen falling in the water, a gator just a few feet away. The moment she looked like she was struggling sent him tumbling into action—a reflex and urge so primal, he couldn’t ignore it.

Nor could he ignore the way she’d looked, soaked to the bone in her swimsuit. The feel of her shuddering with relief when they were on solid ground. How that relief reverberated in his own gut as he’d looked at her full lips.