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It had been two days since her confession. Two days since they’d solved the Gabe and Pam problem, only to fall into one of their own. They’d lived like polite strangers ever since and the tension in the house was so thick Ethan could hardly breathe.
Emma was the only bright spot in his life and he didn’t miss the irony in that. The baby girl was the reason all of this had happened to his once orderly life in the first place, and now that everything was turned upside down, it was Emma alone who could make him smile.
He’d interviewed four nannies in the last two days and Ethan felt the pressure to find someone fast. The sooner he did, the sooner Sadie could leave and they could try to get past this mess.
Sadie. Leaving. It was the right thing, but it didn’t feel that way.
A knock at the office door had him turning. “Yes?”
Sadie stepped inside and Ethan’s heart gave a hard jolt in his chest. He ignored it. That was hormones. Lust. He hadn’t touched her in days and his body missed hers. Hell, the sex had been great, so why wouldn’t he react to her? It had nothing to do with her big blue eyes. Or the way she sang to Emma first thing in the morning. Or how she smelled. Tasted. The sound of her laugh, the touch of her skin.
“What is it, Sadie?” He sounded gruff even to himself.
One of her blond eyebrows arched. “Rick’s taking over for me this afternoon. I’m going to the house to get Emma. Take her to a doctor appointment.”
He straightened at that. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing, Ethan,” she said, tipping her head to one side, and he knew she was doing it on purpose now. “She needs a checkup.”
His heartbeat settled down as he nodded. “All right. Can Rick handle your desk?”
She lifted her chin. “I’ve been working with him. He can do the job if you’re patient with him at first.”
Since Ethan and Gabe weren’t at war any longer, there’d been no reason why Rick from Marketing couldn’t take over for Sadie. He wasn’t as good at it as she was, but then no one would be.
“I’m not going to slow walk him, Sadie,” Ethan grumbled. “If he can’t do the job find someone else.”
“He can do it, Ethan. Just don’t be a jerk and you won’t scare him into paralysis.”
Shaking his head, he said, “Still feeling free to say whatever you’re thinking, huh?”
“Freer than ever,” she said with a sharp nod. “I’ve got to go.”
She left and Ethan was alone again. Damn it.
* * *
They found the nanny that afternoon.
The woman was impeccably qualified and Sadie was trying very hard not to resent her for it. Teresa Collins was perfect. Her résumé. Her references. She’d been trained at a world renowned nanny academy, for heaven’s sake, and Emma had taken to her instantly. Not to mention that at forty plus, Teresa wouldn’t be leaving to start a family of her own. In other words, the woman was everything they’d been looking for.
Standing out in the backyard, where she could be alone and think, Sadie noted the finished fence—four feet of terra-cotta-colored brick topped by another two feet of wrought iron. Emma would be safe, she told herself. And happy.
She’d grow up in this beautiful house with Julie and her daughter, with a perfect nanny and with Ethan. The only one missing would be Sadie. And since she was so young, Emma would never know that someone else had loved her, too.
Instead, the nanny would get all Emma’s smiles and hear her first words and see her first steps. At that thought, Sadie had to wonder if Ethan would stay involved with the baby. Would he back away and leave it all to the nanny because it was easier?
This was Sadie’s own fault, of course. She never should have stayed the extra time. Never should have moved in here with Ethan and absolutely shouldn’t have had sex with him. But that part was really hard to regret. In fact, the only thing she was sorry for was that he hadn’t touched her in days.
Not since the night she’d told him she loved him and he’d reacted like a vampire to a rope of garlic.
“Sadie?”
Speak of the vampire... She turned from the ocean view to watch Ethan walk toward her, and her heart did a spin and jolt just looking at him. She really needed to go. Soon. For her own sake.
