Special Deliveries: Wanted: A Mother For His Baby: The Nanny Trap / The Baby Deal / Her Real Family Christmas

He didn’t want to be distracted from his important mission by a fleeting, if forceful, craving to take her to bed. He had to keep the focus on Bella and Drew’s relationship. She needed to become so attached to Drew that she couldn’t imagine not being a part of his life. That would be jeopardized if Blake got physically involved with her.

He stepped back. The move wasn’t an invitation for her to enter, but a retreat from the way she affected him.

“Come in,” he offered, covering his lapse of control.

“I can’t stay long. I’m meeting friends.” She glanced around as she took three steps into the foyer and stopped.

Blake shut the door, trapping them together in the foyer’s dimness. Intimacy crowded them as the silence lengthened.

A year ago they’d been friends. He’d thought her one of the kindest, warmest people he’d ever met. She was everything he imagined the perfect mother to be. Gentle, but resolute. A natural caretaker with a loving heart. Dedicated to her family.

His heartbeat quickened as images of her in the apartment rushed through his mind. The evening she came over for dinner to celebrate her agreeing to act as their surrogate. The afternoon she’d perched on the edge of a chair in the living room while they awaited the results of her pregnancy test. Her, cranky and uncomfortable the morning before she gave birth, four days past her due date and annoyed with him for being so positive despite the extended wait.

Thinking about that day made his heart clench. Twenty-four hours later, she’d exited his son’s life without a backward glance. “What brings you by?”

“I came to tell you my decision.”

“You could have called.” He softened his tone to take the edge off the words. A hint of anxiety tightened his muscles. Having her company in the Hamptons this summer was instrumental to his plans. Unfortunately, at the moment he wasn’t thinking as a father concerned about his motherless child, but as a man who knew how to appreciate a beautiful woman.

“I should have.” She gnawed on her lower lip. “But something has come up and I was wondering if I could borrow three thousand against my salary before we leave New York.”

Any elation he might have felt at her decision was tempered by her request. He’d hoped that meeting Drew would have made his offer irresistible, but here she was thinking only of the money. “I think that can be done.”

He tightened his jaw against the urge to ask why she needed the money. He’d paid her thirty thousand dollars to act as Drew’s surrogate. Had she gone through all that money already? If that was why she’d agreed to be his nanny for a couple months, getting her maternal instinct to kick in might be more of a challenge that it was worth.

“Thank you.” She sounded very relieved.

He paused, considering her. “Don’t you want to know how much I’m going to pay you?”

“I know you’ll be fair.”

“Ten thousand.”

Her eyes widened. “Very fair.”

“Never fear, you’ll earn it.”

As if to punctuate his statement, a wail came from his study, where Blake had left the baby monitor.

Her gaze reached beyond him, delving into the apartment. “Is Drew still up?”

“No. I put him down an hour ago.”

That caught her attention. “You put him down?”

“I am his father.”

“Of course you are.”

“You didn’t expect me to take care of my own son?”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what?”

A line appeared between her delicately arched eyebrows. “I guess I never pictured you doing anything so domestic.”

“You don’t think I’m domesticated?”

That made her lips soften and the edges curve up. “Not really.”

He wasn’t sure what to make of her smile or the way such a minute shifting of facial muscles made his gut twist. “I assure you, I’m quite tame.”

“Then things have changed a lot since Drew was born.”

“And it’s those changes that brought us to where we are right now.”

“You mean being a single dad.”

“Partially.” He noted her quicksilver frown and guessed he’d sparked her curiosity. Before she could question him further, he said, “I’m planning to head to the beach house on Saturday. Can you be ready?”

“Sure. All I need to pack are some shorts and tops.”

“And a bathing suit. Drew loves the water.”

“Since your current nanny is out of commission, do you want me to stop by tomorrow and help Mrs. Gordon pack for Drew?”

Blake wasn’t surprised by her offer. He’d noticed that Bella often went that extra mile when it came to helping people out. “I’m sure she’d appreciate that.”

“Tell her I’ll be by around ten.”

She was turning to go when Blake spoke. “Want to help me check on him?”

The impulsive request caught both of them by surprise.

Bella gestured over her shoulder. “If I’m late my friends will worry.”

“I understand.” But he didn’t move from the foyer, despite his son’s continued distress. “Text them. Tell them where you are.”

His reluctance to let her go wasn’t logical or sensible. Until he’d gone to her school today, he hadn’t realized just how much he’d missed her company. The way her eyes danced with mischief. How easily she made him smile.

He’d spent the past nine months being angry with her; it had blocked out all the good memories. Now, thinking back on how well they’d gotten along and confronted with his startling sexual attraction, Blake was forced to face that his plan was not going to be as straightforward as he’d originally thought.

“They’re waiting for me.” She sidled toward the door, but her attention remained on the source of the unhappy sounds deeper in the apartment. “You’d better go see what’s wrong.”

And she was out the door before his emotional chaos sorted itself out. He headed to his son’s room, contemplating the changes in Bella.

The city had hardened her. Her warmth was no longer as accessible as it once had been. Of course, their final conversation right after Drew’s birth hadn’t been in any way congenial. He’d been harsh, caught off guard by her insistence that she wanted no contact with Drew.