Baby Benefits (3 page)

“Whoa, there.” In a second, Dex crossed the room and pulled her from Derek’s arms.

Instantly, Isabella quieted down. She curled up in the protection of Dex’s arms and buried her face against his chest.

Resentment surged through Derek. Dex was his kid brother. Derek had spent his entire life protecting and taking care of him. And sure, sometimes he was a pain in the butt, but he was basically a good guy. So why did the sight of Isabella cuddled in his arms make Derek want to deck him?

Dex cradled her, slowly swaying back and forth. To Derek he said, “You need to be careful. You don’t want to drop her.”

Derek glanced at the stack of books on his desk. Drily, he said, “I bought fifteen books on child rearing at the bookstore this morning. I’m pretty sure one of them would have mentioned that it’s better not to drop the baby on the floor.”

Dex smiled. “Hey, I’m just trying to help. The learning curve here is pretty steep.”

“It can’t be too hard. You did it.”

“I had help.”

As he said the words, the door to the office swung open. Raina stood in the doorway, hands on her hips, a resentful scowl marring her delicate features.

“He’ll have help, too. At least for a few weeks.” She marched across the room to Dex. “Hand me that baby.” Once she had Isabella in her arms, she pressed a hand to Dex’s back. “Now, don’t you have a job to be doing? Or at least a wedding to plan or something?”

“I was just helping,” Dex protested.

“No. You thought you were helping. What you were actually doing was butting in. You learned to do this without Derek breathing down your neck, he should get to do the same thing. As it is now, you’re just making him nervous.”

Dex grinned.

“He isn’t—” Derek started.

“Yes, he is. Besides, if you’re going to try to learn to be a father in two weeks—” Sarcasm dripped from her voice, making it clear she thought he was insane “—then the last thing you need to be thinking about is how this genius does things. Trust me when I tell you, he’s no expert.”

“Hey—” Dex protested.

She turned her glare back in his direction. “I mean it. For the next two weeks, I don’t want to see you anywhere near here. You’re always complaining about not having enough responsibility at work, well, here’s your chance. Go find something to do. Goodness knows, Derek is going to be too busy to work for the next two weeks. And while you’re at it, I hope you’re planning on spending a lot of time with Lucy, because Derek doesn’t need you hanging around the house, either.”

Dex grinned as he allowed himself to be shuffled toward the door. To Raina he said, “I guess you decided to finally push back.” Before leaving he looked up at Derek one last time. “One word of advice—babies eat every two hours.”

Every two hours? “That can’t be right.”

“It is. I swear. Oh, and babies don’t eat pizza.”

Raina glared. “Of course they don’t eat pizza.”

“I’m just saying…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but retreated through the door, hands held up in the universal sign of surrender.

Derek made a mental note for himself. No pizza.

When the door closed behind Dex, Derek turned his attention to Raina. She held Isabella cradled in her arms, murmuring soothing nonsense to the baby. As Isabella settled into her arms, tension seemed to drain away from Raina. She tucked her face to the top of Isabella’s head and inhaled deeply.

For an instant, an expression crossed her face unlike any he’d ever seen before. The mixture of serenity and yearning nearly took his breath away. Raina, who he’d always thought of as merely pretty, was beautiful.

The moment passed so quickly he might have imagined it. Then she was looking up at him again as fierce annoyance flickered across her face. Once again, an expression he’d never before seen. But this time decidedly less pleasant, and perhaps easier to deal with.

“Here’s the deal,” she began. “Let me make it clear that I think you’re being ridiculous. It shouldn’t matter that Isabella has a close bond with her uncle. You should be glad she has people who care about her in her life. Having said that, if you really think you have to compete with Dex and learn to be a father in two weeks, then I’ll spend that time teaching you everything I know about children.”

“Which I suppose is considerable.” He didn’t bother to keep the note of sarcasm out of his voice. He had no doubt Raina could master anything she set her mind to. She could certainly help him learn, but how much did she already know?

Almost as if she was reading his mind, she countered with, “I have four younger brothers and sisters. I’ve been around babies all my life.”

“Four? I had no idea you had that many brothers and sisters.”

“Yes, four. And of course you didn’t. It would never occur to you to ask. You just don’t pay that close attention.”

He frowned, fairly certain she’d just insulted him. Something else she’d never done before today. “What’s gotten into you?”

Her gaze narrowed. “You want to know what’s gotten into me?” With her free hand, she pulled out the crumpled sheet of paper he’d noticed earlier and tossed it at him. “This. This is what’s gotten into me.”

The paper bounced off his chest and fell to the floor. He didn’t bother to pick it up. Raina had worked for him for a long time. He knew her as well as he knew anyone. Whatever had brought about this sudden change in her attitude, he’d find a way to fix it.

“Whatever is on that sheet of paper, whatever has you so upset, we’ll work it out.”

“Not this time. That’s my letter of resignation.”

Raina watched Derek’s expression shift from his normal confidence to confusion and shock with more than a modicum of regret. This was so not how she’d imagined this conversation going.

She’d envisioned herself sitting across from his desk, carefully outlining her reasons for leaving, him frowning with regret, but eventually standing up, shaking her hand, and watching her walk out. In her mind, it had all been very dignified.

She had not imagined throwing things at him.

Nor had she imagined holding in her arms this sweet baby girl.

Even as the thought went through her mind, she squashed it as ruthlessly as she had her doubts about quitting. This child in her arms was not a “sweet baby girl.” She was a booby trap. She was a cuddly little bundle of emotional attachment.

If Raina thought it was going to be hard to walk away from Derek, this little cutie pie would only make it that much harder.

Which was why, as soon as Isabella began to quiet down, Raina scanned the room for somewhere to place her. When she didn’t see one, she crossed to where Derek stood.

“Okay, lesson one. Babies like to be held close to your body. Let her hear your heartbeat. Let her feel you breathing slowly in and out. Here, try it.” She placed the baby into his arms and then quickly distanced herself from them both.

For an instant, they wore identical expressions of confusion and surprise. Isabella immediately started squirming again. This time, he brought her close to his chest and it seemed to calm her.

“And just remember, babies are like a savvy business rival. They can sense your insecurities. When you’re nervous, don’t let her know it.”

As Derek glanced down at the infant in his arms, determination narrowed his gaze. She watched him following her advice, deliberately slowing his breathing with the steady rise and fall of his chest. Then he looked back at her. “You’re resigning?”

“That was the plan.”

“You can’t resign.”

Had he and Trinity been comparing notes or something? “Trust me, I can resign.”

“You’ve worked here for eight years. Why would you want to resign now?”

The blank confusion nearly did her in. He honestly couldn’t imagine her wanting to do anything else. It was charming in a way, his absolute conviction that she was as devoted to the company as he was. His total faith in her.

“Nine,” she admitted with a sigh. “I’ve worked here for nine years. It’s time for me to move on.”

“You have another job? A better offer? I’ll match it.”

His confidence sent a jolt of panic through her. Negotiations were second nature to him. If she wasn’t careful, he’d bargain her into submission before she knew what was happening.

If he knew the real reason she’d come back…If he knew that she’d simply been unable to walk out on him when he needed her…well, if he knew that, she’d be doomed.

No, she needed something to throw him off the scent. Luckily, she’d been watching him closely all these years. She’d learned a thing or two from him.

“I don’t have another offer. I’m not leaving because of money or benefits packages. I’m leaving because I just don’t want to work here anymore.”

“I don’t believe you. You love this job. You love this company.”

His voice was filled with fierce passion. She could only shake her head.

“No, you love this job. You love this company. Me? I just work here.” She shrugged, hoping the indifferent gesture would counteract the wistfulness of her tone. “For me, it’s always been about the money. You’ve paid better than anyone else in town. And if you want the truth, it’s still about the money.”

A less desperate woman might have balked at taking advantage of his situation. But Raina remembered all the times she’d watched him browbeat a business rival. Determined not to be a causality of his superior skills, she pushed ahead, refusing to candy coat the situation.

“The way I see it, after I hand in my resignation, I can take the two weeks of vacation I have socked away. Or I can stick around and help you with this little problem of yours.” She gestured toward Isabella. “So you should ask yourself—if I’m not here to help, what exactly are you going to do with this daughter of yours?”

His gaze narrowed just a bit. He was sizing her up, measuring her weaknesses. She didn’t let any of them show.

“What’s your price?”

“I don’t want to quit. I want you to fire me.”

Three

Derek had always told people that Raina was smarter than most of the board members. This proved he was right. Unfortunately.

“If I fire you, you’ll qualify for unemployment.”

“And a compensation package.”

She stood maybe eighteen inches away from him, her gaze squarely on his, her chin bumped up, her spine stiff enough to give her the illusion of another inch or so of height he knew she didn’t really possess. Her arms crossed over her chest in a way that plumped up her breasts.

She couldn’t possibly know how alluring she appeared at this moment. Plenty of women used their physical assets as business assets. Raina wasn’t one of them.

Still, just because she didn’t know the edge her body gave her, that didn’t mean he was unaffected by it. Quite the contrary, in fact.

A situation was made worse by the infant he held in his arms. Raina’s assurances that Isabella was nothing more than a business rival had done little to boost his confidence. Isabella squirmed fitfully in his arms. Clearly she knew he was an amateur and didn’t want anything to do with him.

Confronted with Raina’s newfound aplomb on one front and Isabella’s mutiny on the other, he felt besieged in a way he hadn’t since taking over as CEO of Messina Diamonds.

“What kind of severance package are you talking about?”

For the first time in the conversation, Raina hesitated. Aha. So she hadn’t thought this far ahead.

But she quickly recovered and said in a rush, “I want what Schmidt got when she left.”

He nearly chuckled at her ballsy display. “Schmidt was a VP. And she’d been with Messina for over ten years.”

“Only nine and half, if you subtract the six months of unpaid leave she took to tour the wine country for her honeymoon. Besides, you’ve told me more than once that I was more valuable than any VP.” She arched an eyebrow coolly, looking for the first time today like her normal self. “Do you need me to scour your old e-mails to find that statement in writing?”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Isabella shot him a dirty look as she wedged a tiny fist under his chin and pushed with inhuman strength. Since he was clearly losing control of the Isabella portion of the equation, he needed to wrap things up with Raina quickly. It wouldn’t help his position for her to see how desperate his situation was. “I can’t give you the same package as Schmidt, the board will never stand for it. But I can give you twice your salary, plus stock options.”

A triumphant grin spread across her face. “Done.”

She extended her hand to him. Only once he held it in his, did he add, “Contingent, of course, on whether or not I find your father lessons satisfactory.”

She frowned and tried to pull her hand away, but he held its delicate weight firmly in his own.

“Define satisfactory. In specific terms. I don’t want to get to the end of the two weeks and have you back out of our deal on a technicality.”

“Would I do that?”

“In a minute. ‘Satisfactory’ is entirely too vague.”

“Then how about this.” He thought briefly of the piercing pain he’d felt watching his daughter sobbing as she reached for Dex. “At the end of two weeks, I want Isabella to reach for me.”