Baby Benefits (10 page)

He muttered a string of curse words, most of which he hadn’t said aloud in decades.

“What did you say?” she asked.

He sucked in a deep breath. Time Magazine had once called him “the most successful CEO under 30.” Business Weekly had described him as “a brilliant strategist.” Hell, he’d been rated one of Dallas’s most eligible bachelors five years running. So how the hell had he been outsmarted by a damn car seat?

Aloud, he said, “It’s going great.”

No way was he going to admit that this was yet another arena of fatherhood at which he was failing miserably.

“Are you sure? Because I’ve heard they can be kind of tricky.”

Kind of tricky? He’d have gone with conniving. Or devious. Or evil incarnate.

He shot a look over his shoulder to find Raina just behind him, bobbing up and down, angling to see over his shoulder. When she realized she’d been caught, she bit down on her lip with a grin and shrugged her shoulders. The mischievous gleam in her eyes tugged at something deep inside of him.

He was seeing yet another side of her. One that was playful and mischievous. Man, what he wouldn’t give to see that expression over a bowl of strawberries and whipped cream. It was the stuff of fantasies.

Fantasies which were, at the moment, strictly forbidden.

The weather had turned unseasonably warm overnight. When Raina showed up at his house this morning, instead of the jeans and T-shirt she’d worn the day before, she’d been clad in denim shorts and a green tank top.

There was nothing wrong with her clothes. Her shorts weren’t too short, despite the tempting length of leg they revealed. Her tank top was modestly cut, covering everything that needed covering, even if it did cling to her breasts in a manner entirely too appealing. However, on her, the outfit seemed downright suggestive.

Which might have been more bearable if she wasn’t hovering. Eager to help, she trotted around to the other side of the SUV and climbed in. She shot him a sympathetic look over the car seat.

“Let me help. You’ve been at this for a while now. I’m guessing you need a break.”

“Where’s Isabella?”

“I rocked her to sleep and put her down in the bouncing seat in the living room.” Raina patted the receiver to the baby monitor she had clipped to her hip. It squealed static in response. “I’ll hear if she wakes up.”

“Great,” he muttered. Just great. He’d worked for hours last night trying to get Isabella to sleep. Raina did it in less than thirty minutes.

She tilted her head to the side with a frown as she studied his face. “And you look exhausted. How late were you up with her last night?”

He felt a growl of annoyance rumbling through his chest and snapped, “Late.”

“Ah. I thought so. Maybe you should call Mrs. Hill again for tonight.” When he glared at her, she held up a hand. “Or not. If you really feel like you have to do everything for yourself or you’re a failure, then by all means, work yourself into a state of exhaustion.”

Then, with quick efficiency, she nudged his hands out of the way and began loosening all the straps. “Did you read the instruction manual?” she asked as she plunged one of the latches between the seat back and base.

“Of course I read the manual.” Briefly. “You’re supposed to hear a—”

And at that moment, she wiggled her hand around and the latch gave a loud click as it snapped into place.

“A click?” she asked with a grin.

Smiling at him from over Isabella’s car seat, she looked so impertinent, so unlike the Raina he knew, he was struck by the sudden notion that maybe he hadn’t known her at all.

Was that possible? Had he really worked side by side with this woman for nearly a decade and not actually seen her? He’d sure as hell never noticed how attractive she was. How tempting.

Had he disappeared so completely into his role as CEO that he’d stopped seeing people for who they really were? And did it matter, when no one saw him beyond his position anyway?

Crouching, Raina wiggled around the car seat to his side of the car. He had to climb out to make room for her, and still she seemed to fill the entire backseat. As thin and willowy as she was, her arms and legs seemed everywhere, brushing against him as she maneuvered into place. She snapped in the second latch, then wiggled around again so her knee was lodged in the car seat.

“I read somewhere that the only way to really get these straps tight enough is to put your weight in the seat.” She sounded slightly out of breath, no doubt from all the wiggling.

But to him, the sound was positively erotic. That combined with the tempting view she’d presented him with of her behind made his senses leap to life. The fog of his exhaustion lifted as sexual awareness prickled along his nerve endings.

Finally, she scooted back to the other side of the car and shoved at the car seat. “There you go. Doesn’t move more than an inch in any direction. It’s perfect.”

Her cheeks were flushed with exertion and delicate beads of moisture dotted her forehead as her breath continued to come in short bursts. His body responded automatically to the tempting picture she presented. This was how she’d look after climaxing.

That’s when it hit him. He wanted her. This wasn’t some passing whim. As inconvenient as it was, all he could think about was stripping off those shorts of hers, pulling those mile long legs around his waist and burying himself in her heat. Damn it.

“Perfect.”

At his growl, she chuckled knowingly. “Except that I did it for you and you’re still bound and determined to do this all by yourself, aren’t you? Got to maintain that all important control, right?” Bending over the seat, she gave a sigh of exaggerated exasperation. With a series of clicks, she released each of the latches and sat back. “Okay, I’ll talk you through it as you do it.”

For a moment, he merely stared at her. How could she be so immune to the tension between them? Yet she seemed completely unaware he wanted to haul her across the seat and kiss her senseless then strip off her clothes and explore the silken skin of her lithe thighs.

But since she was staring at him expectantly, he loosened the straps of the car seat like he’d seen her do, and gave it another shot.

He rammed the latch back into the space between the seats, this time jamming his finger. He cursed again, loudly enough that she couldn’t help hearing.

He sat down on the bench seat, swinging his legs around so they hung out the open car door. Raina winced sympathetically, which only made him scowl more.

“Let me see it.”

Before he could protest, she’d stepped forward so she was standing between his legs. She’d pulled her hair back into some sort of ponytail, which bobbed in loose honey-blond curls against the back of her neck as she moved.

She took his hand in both of hers and turned it palm up on his leg, so that the backs of her hands rested against the top of his thigh. Her touch was painstakingly gentle. Her hands warm and dry against his. Her fingers both delicate and long.

He opened his mouth to tell her that she had the wrong hand, but as he did so, he sucked in a breath of air filled with her scent. The words he’d been about to say evaporated and he snapped his mouth shut.

How in the world had he worked beside her for so long and never noticed how appealing she smelled? Delicately feminine and fresh. Like a warm spring day. Like mischief and playing hooky. Like temptation itself.

“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself,” she chastised gently. “Car seats are notorious for being difficult to install. That’s why some people take workshops on how to do it. And why people take them by the fire department to make sure they did it right.”

And all the while, she rubbed her thumbs across his palm and up his finger, applying light pressure. No doubt waiting for him to wince in pain, still unaware she had the wrong hand. Her touch was so soothing and gentle, soon his finger wasn’t the only thing throbbing.

“The car seat isn’t what’s frustrating me.”

Her gaze darted to his. Her eyes were wide, her pupils dilated. She sucked in a deep breath as awareness sparked between them.

Ah. So he wasn’t the only one affected. He reached a hand out, but she deftly stepped away from his touch.

“I still remember how mad my dad got trying to install Kendrick’s car seat.”

Her tone was bright and cheerful. Exactly as it had been all morning long. Overly cheerful, he now realized.

“Raina—”

But she ignored him and continued talking. Babbling nervously. “I must have been about eleven, and I remember standing in the doorway of the garage watching him. I’d never heard anyone cuss so much. Gosh, I haven’t thought about that for years.”

Her voice trailed off. When he looked up, her brow was knitted into a frown and her eyes held the saddest expression.

Funny, he’d always thought of her as being coolly professional. Almost distant. And yet, watching this mixture of sorrow and confusion drift across her face, he realized now that he was used to seeing her cheerful. Not ebullient or giddy, just sort of quietly happy. Now, she wasn’t, and he didn’t know if he was to blame or the memory of her father was.

Staring blankly down at his hand, she murmured. “That was years before he left. I’d forgotten that he was unhappy even then.”

The gentle yearning in her expression tugged at something deep inside of him. She blinked and a single tear slipped free of her eye to trail down her cheek. Without thinking, he reached up and brushed away the tear. She blinked again, this time in surprise. He felt her sharp intake of breath against the back of his hand.

Part of him knew that if he stopped to consider what he was doing he’d recognize what a very bad idea this was. But he didn’t give himself time to think. For the first time in years, decades probably, he didn’t rationalize a decision. He didn’t think it through. He didn’t consider all the angles, all the advantages and disadvantages. He just acted.

He slipped his hand behind her head and pulled her closer to him. She stepped farther between his legs, closing the distance between them.

He’d meant to simply comfort her. And yet, when he leaned forward, pulling her mouth to his, comfort was the last thing on his mind. All he wanted was to explore her mouth. To taste her lips and somehow snatch some of the precious warmth for himself.

Her lips were soft beneath his. Her kiss impossibly sweet. Full of delicious innocence.

The hesitancy of her touch—the faint tremble in her hands as her fingers crept up his thighs—ratcheted up his desire. Suddenly, the need to offer comfort vanished, only to be replaced by true passion. By the need to possess.

His tongue pushed past her lips, plunging into her mouth, only to be met by her own, stroke for stroke. He buried his hands in her hair, tugging at her ponytail until it pulled loose and her hair tumbled over his hands.

Any ability he might have mustered to resist her was completely destroyed by the fervency of her response. She was liquid fire in his arms. A molten explosion of pure passion. Even knowing it was a mistake to keep kissing her, he didn’t care. Didn’t care that kissing her would only make things worse. Would only make him want things he couldn’t have. For the moment, the only thing that mattered to him was the heat of her mouth under his, the touch of her hands on his thighs. The press of her body against his.

He briefly considered leading her into the house, upstairs to his bedroom, but he dismissed the idea. His exclusive Highland Park neighborhood wasn’t the type where people fooled around in their cars, but he’d parked by the side of the house and they were well hidden from the street. No one would see them. No one would know. And he wouldn’t have to decide to break the vow implicit in his engagement to…What was her name? What did it matter when Raina’s hands were inching up his thighs?

He matched her, move for move, dropping his hands to her waist, to explore the delicate skin just above her waistband. Her stomach muscles leapt at his touch, trembling against his palm. He could feel her rib cage vibrating as she struggled to suck in air. His hand inched toward her breast. He’d just cupped its delicious weight when Raina jumped. Not with anticipation.

She literally leapt away from him, putting a good three or four feet of distance between them in a single movement. She spun from him, facing the line of live oaks that bordered his drive, burying her face in her hands.

Confusion rocketed through him. One moment she’d been in his arms, hot and eager, the next she was jumpy and distraught. What the hell had he done? Why had she…

A full moment had passed before he heard the clatter of footfall on the driveway. By the time he looked up, Kitty Biedermann was rounding a curve in the path.

Raina had to hand it to her. Kitty Biedermann had impeccable timing. A few minutes later and she might have discovered Raina and Derek naked in the back of his car. A few minutes earlier and she would have interrupted nothing at all.

As it was, Raina had heard her strolling up the drive just in time to jump guiltily out of Derek’s arms. Just in time to ruin the perfect kiss Raina had dreamed about countless times over the past few years.

Just in time to make her feel like the other woman. Dirty and shameful.

If anyone should feel shameful, it was Derek. He’s the one who’d kissed her, not the other way around. However, when she’d steadied herself by brushing her hair back from her face and turned to glance at him, she found him leaning calmly against his SUV, his gaze guarded, his hands tucked into his pockets.