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Reese’s mouth forms a tight line. “There’s no way she can fall?”
“She’ll be fine, Mama Bear. Let me grab my coat.” I look over at the glass door where Millie has her face pressed against the glass. “It’s a cool night for a munchkin. Do you want hot chocolate?”
“Yeah! Choc-wit.” Her smile shows her dimples.
She’s the cutest kid.
“I have whipped cream and marshmallows. What should we put on top?”
Her face grows serious like she can’t decide. “Can we have whipped cream and marshmallows?”
“Sure,” I say as Reese says, “No!”
“She’s four. Let her have her fun,” I throw back.
“That a freaking ton of sugar. Do you want to put her to bed tonight?”
My eyes linger, drinking in her frustration.
I want to put you to bed tonight, or at least I want to take you to bed, Reese.
That singular thought conjures scalding images I can’t get out of my head. What would it be like to shear off her clothes? To pull that fierce mouth to mine, to devour her, to spread her legs and impale her right on my seething—
No. Get your shit together, man. She’s still an employee.
“She’ll be fine. Give me five minutes. Do you want cocoa too?” I ask.
Her tight face relaxes. “Any chance you have hot tea? Or coffee?”
“I’ve got both.”
“Tea would be great. Surprise me with what kind,” she says.
“You guys can go ahead. I’ll meet you outside. It’s all voice activated. Just say, ‘Lexa, unlock the main balcony’ and she will.”
Reese nods, flicking her hair.
On the balcony, carrying a small tray of mugs, I pass out hot drinks and turn on the gas firepit.
“Don’t worry. I put a lid on Millie’s cup and lowered the temperature,” I tell her.
“You’ve thought of everything.” Reese holds her hot tea with both hands and smiles, closing her eyes. “This looks even nicer than the indoor fireplace. How many, um, fire-making things do you have?”
“At least seven. Every bedroom has its own fireplace, and so do a couple bathrooms. Nothing like hot flames on cool nights,” I say, staring too intently into her eyes.
Reese whips her face away with a redness on her cheeks I don’t think is from the coolness. She walks about two feet from the railing.
“Do you see where I am?” Reese asks, sipping her tea.
Millie nods.
“There’s an imaginary line here. If you cross it, we all turn to ice.”
“How?” Millie asks.
“Elsa magic. But if the spell gets broken, we go home, and you don’t play on the slide with Miss Tiffany. You only draw in your notebook all day.”
“No notebook!” Millie spits like she’s being sentenced to hard labor.
Reese smiles at her. “Then don’t cross the line, okay, bumblebee?”
“O-kay.”
I sit in a lounge chair beside the fire and Reese sits across from me. Her eyes trail Millie, making sure she doesn’t get anywhere near the railing.
“She’s safe. It’s solid glass between the metal. It could repel a charging bull.”
She glances at me. “She can climb. Don’t let the little legs fool you.”
“You act like she’s been through boot camp. I’ll eat my watch if the girl can do a pullup at least three times her own height,” I say.
“She’s flexible and fast. You don’t know what she’s capable of.” She wags a finger at me.
I try not to snort.
Reese has never been at my penthouse for a social call before. I’m not sure she’ll be here again, but I’ll see if I can do anything else to childproof the balcony just in case.
Millie goes close to her imaginary line and jumps back from it so hard she falls on her bottom. She looks up and sees me watching her.
“Don’t worry. I made sure we won’t turn into ice,” I say with a mock-serious tone.
She smiles and scurries off, paying some imaginary friend for a milkshake her hot chocolate becomes.
Old words come floating back.
Reese told me I’d be a good dad once, and for some unholy reason those words combined with Millie’s tiny figure playing on my balcony makes me see this moment differently.
What if the kid playing on the balcony was mine?
What if the beautiful woman sitting across from me wasn’t just my driver?
But another memory hits.
Reese, dazzling photographers and influencers in a bright dress that fit her like a glove, her lips on fire and for one glorious moment—mine.
Mine and nothing else.
Never going to happen. Never should fucking happen.
I wish I could forget. Her blue eyes and easy smile are so soft tonight with nothing but the tangerine glow of the gas flames dancing between us. The city lights twinkle in the distance, illuminating her like she’s one with the city’s soul.
“Thanks for dropping by,” I say, taking a pull of my drink.
“Well, you’re welcome. I wasn’t sure it’d be okay or if you’d be busy.”
“Never too busy for this,” I say. “You and Millie are welcome anytime.”
