Daddy on Demand / Déjà You: Daddy on Demand / Déjà You

Humiliated by the reflection that she saw in his car’s window, Sabrina tried her best to make him leave by being her least gracious. Casting him a sidelong look, she countered, “And what do you want?”

Holding up an index finger to beg her patience, Collin got her seated inside, then trotted around the front of the glistening mechanical indulgence, and climbed in behind the camel brown steering wheel. “Right now a triple Scotch would be sheer bliss.”

“No one asked you to write that check. What happened, did that Wynne, Wooster, what’s his name that you hired after dumping me make a pass at you?”

“Geoffrey Wygant is an excellent assistant and you’ll be happy to know is in a twenty-year relationship with his partner, Duke.”

The last Duke she’d known was a rottweiler on a farm neighboring her parents’ place in Wisconsin. Homesickness mixed with her shame and she shook her head with abject misery. “Excuse me. I shouldn’t have said that. I was just—”

“Dealing with shock and low blood sugar.” Collin spun the Mercedes into traffic and turned a sharp right at the next corner. “Geoff happened to be the first applicant since you who could spell as well as the kids on Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? Most impressive is that he possesses an unbeatable knack for matching clients to restaurants.”

So much for her favorite bathtub fantasy where Collin Masters admitted his mistake and came with flowers and the keys to a white Porsche to beg her to come back. No matter how many magazines she read or how much Internet surfing of dating Web sites she tried at her brothers’ prodding, Sabrina could never compete with such experience and élan. She choked on a bitter laugh and ended up coughing.

“I’m serious.”

“It’s not that,” she wheezed for the second time. “I think I’ve lost the ability to breathe and think at the same time. Congratulations,” she added, hoping she sounded sincere. “Truly. I wish you a long and happy working relationship.” But that meant that she was back to square one regarding the reason for his intrusion into her miserable life.

As though reading her mind, Collin said abruptly, “Okay, to keep you from jumping out into traffic, I’ll answer your question about why I’m here. Cassidy is being deployed.”

“Oh, no!”

And here she thought things couldn’t get any worse. Not only did she like his sister, she had come to understand how close Collin was to his only sibling. This had to be his worst nightmare come true. At least she could work through her situation. What if…?

“I’m so sorry,” she added quickly.

“Thanks.”

Collin pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot and handed the vehicle over to an eager valet. There wasn’t time to talk again until they were seated in a quiet corner booth by the bar and they’d ordered drinks. “Everything is excellent here, but if you’re really hungry—and you look like you could use four, even seven courses—the prime rib would turn an acorn-loving squirrel into a carnivore.”

She was about to insist that he add the cost to her IOU, then recognized how petty that would appear, so she nodded. “Thank you. Then the prime rib it is.” Her mouth watered just saying the words. Thank goodness the waitress had already brought a loaf of bread and whipped butter with herbs and promised to quickly bring Collin’s salad choices for them. Then she saw the condition of her hands.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to go wash up a bit.”

“Of course. Wait a minute—you aren’t going to sneak out on me, are you?”

Did he really think she had suddenly thought of anywhere else to go, or could afford to turn down such a dinner? Struggling not to forgive him completely, she gestured to her condition. “I’ve been rummaging my way through a super warehouse since dawn. Even if you had managed to transpose my head onto someone in a Girls Gone Wild video and it got back to my family in Wisconsin, I don’t think I would be upset enough to turn down this meal.”

“I’ll keep that I mind for the future should I need additional leverage.”

Trying not to smile, Sabrina made a hasty retreat for the ladies’ lounge. She sucked in her breath when she saw her appearance in the mirror behind the sink. The view under those lights was worse than she anticipated. Not one for the made-up look, the mascara and lip gloss she had put on first thing this morning had long worn off by sweat and nervous lip gnawing. As for her hair…all she could say for it was that it was relatively clean. She quickly grabbed a brush from her purse and gave her shoulder-length mop an energetic workout until the results were closer to a glossy if limp cape. Rinsing her face, she touched up her lashes and lips, but resisted anything else. It would seem too obvious to do more. Besides, she was trying to save him from losing his appetite, nothing else. Nothing at all.

“So how is Cassie taking this?” she asked slipping back into the booth.

Collin was already half through his Scotch. “Oh, she’s the stiff-upper-lip sort. You know she’s besotted about flying up in the skies with pigeons, ducks and whatnot. This is the downside of that.”

“But the babies…”

“It’s been a few months since you’ve seen pictures.” He immediately reached for his billfold and flipped it open to a photo of the girls in miniature versions of Mommy’s flight suit standing in the doorway of their mother’s Pave Hawk surrounded by the grinning crew.

“Oh—how darling! They look more and more like her.”

“Well, Gena adores inheriting the curls to where she screams if someone comes near her with scissors, so Cass is rethinking the blessing in that. On the other hand if Addie keeps demanding hers be cut off, Cass has threatened to have what’s left of the mop mowed into a Mohawk.”

Sabrina smiled and took a sip of her wine. “So who is Cassidy entrusting them to while she’s gone? That has to be the world’s hardest decision.”

“It is.” Collin spun his glass between his hands repeatedly. “I’m glad you feel the same way I do.”

“Excuse me?” Something about his fixation on his drink and the fidgeting had Sabrina drawing a conclusion that sent her stomach into doing new flip-flops. “Oh, my—not you!”

“That was flattering. Who else would you expect?”

Granted they were all the other had relative-wise, but there had to be other options. “Didn’t you once say during a phone call to some client that your idea of a perfect Sunday was sleeping until noon and having girlfriends wearing panties labeled Monday through Saturday?”

“I’m in advertising, Ms. Sinclair. I say things to make clients feel better about themselves, their product and their ideas. The better they feel, the more lucrative the account, which—might I remind you—made it possible to pay you handsomely until you quit.”

“We’re talking about your own flesh and blood.”

Collin continued to work his glass like a worry stone. “Some adjustments will have to be made, of course. In fact, considering your passionate opinions, you’ll undoubtedly approve of Cassidy’s recommendations.”

“I’m almost willing to bet my next paycheck that I will.”

Laughing mirthlessly, Collin replied, “It’s you.”

“Excuse me?”

“Cass demanded that I hire you to help me. To move in with us.”

If the wineglass had been between her fingers, Sabrina would have snapped it into orbit. “She didn’t.“

“She’s been a fan of yours from day one. Surely you sensed that?”

“She was nice to me and I appreciated that. You’d be surprised how many of your snooty callers aren’t capable of being civil to anyone they deem lesser than themselves.”

Frowning, Collin replied, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Frustration just made her all the hungrier and Sabrina beheaded the loaf of bread with one strong whack of the serrated knife. “Because I assumed by the way they acted that they were more valuable to you than I was. Tell Cassie thanks, but she’s wrong. I’m not cut out for the job.”

Clearing his throat, Collin continued. “She thinks of you as remarkably levelheaded and reliable. Hindsight being what it is, I can’t argue there.”

What had he objected to? That she was too sunny and glass-half-full for his cynical self? Considering the condition of the world these days, people like her were in short supply. But since he’d just performed a knight-in-shining-armor rescue, she bit back the impulse to tell him as much.

“Please thank Cassidy for me,” Sabrina said spreading butter onto her bread. “Tell her that she’ll be in my thoughts and prayers, but I couldn’t possibly accept.”

“You could, but you won’t.”

She leveled her gaze on him. “Can’t.” But seeing anxiety in his eyes, she immediately undermined herself by asking, “When does she leave?”

“Before Thanksgiving if not sooner. There’s some training courses she’s compelled to take. I don’t suppose you’d at least be willing to go shopping with me after we eat and help me pick out bunk beds and girly things like sheets and towels and whatever will make the second guest room seem less of the white space than it currently is?”