Page 33 of A Baby Surprise For My Billionaire Boss

“I’m impressed,” Maddie said softly, three nights later. “You’ve been home early every night this week.”

“It was easier than I thought it would be,” Eli admitted. “It makes me feel bad for not having done it sooner.”

“What matters is that you did it now. Hey, can you hand me that dish towel?”

“I’ve told you that you don’t have to do the washing up. That’s not your job.”

Maddie reached past Eli and plucked the towel from its hook. For a moment, her lean, muscular body was pressed up against his, and he could feel the shape of her curves. It slayed him. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her right where she was, stop her from moving. He knew he couldn’t do that, but there was no denying the desire.

He stepped back quickly instead, breaking the contact between them, which caused her to stumble. He was force to reach out and put a hand on her arm to steady her, and somehow that was just as intoxicating, although a mere hand on her elbowreally shouldn’t have affected him so powerfully. Perhaps it was because he was now imagining all the places he wasn’t touching her.

Maddie cleared her throat, lowered her eyes, and stepped away to start drying the saucepan she had washed.

Eli stood still, half of him wanting to leave the kitchen to be alone with his thoughts — and to break the tension that was so thick in the air he felt as if he could nearly see it. The other half of him resisted, desperate to stay. Sometimes he felt as if he spent all day waiting for these moments when the two of them would be alone together. Sometimes it felt as if he was living for these moments, and when thoughts like that occurred to him, he was forced to admit to himself that his feelings had already gone much too far to be called back. The most he could hope to do now was to control them, to keep them restrained, like a dog that couldn’t be trusted without a leash.

“Will we be seeing you for dinner next week as well?” Maddie asked him.

“I suppose you’d tell me that Charlie has gotten used to that, and it wouldn’t be a good idea to disappoint him?”

“I would definitely say that.” Maddie hesitated. “I would also be disappointed if you stopped coming home for dinner.”

She shot him a glance, as though nervous of what his reaction to that might be.

Eli didn’t know how he ought to react. She wanted him at dinner — not for Charlie’s sake, but for her own?

“I guess you work hard on those meals,” he said at last, knowing it was a poor response, but not knowing what else to say. Whatcouldhe say?

Maddie seemed somehow deflated by the comment, but she recovered herself. “I do,” she said. “And so does Charlie. We both want to see you enjoy them.”

“I do. I look forward to them all day.” The food was the least of what he looked forward to. Were they both talking in code, circumventing the thing they really meant to say? He couldn’t be sure. He was usually so good at reading women — so why did he find her so difficult to interpret?

She cleared her throat. “Dishes are done,” she said. “I think I’ll go read for a bit before bed.” Meaning she would pass on their customary glass of wine tonight.

Eli watched her go, unsure if he was glad of the reprieve or sad to be missing out on more time with her. With Maddie, it seemed, he was always asking himself that question.

CHAPTER 13

MADDIE

“Ihaven’t seen you inforever,” Tess complained as she set the lunch tray down on the table between the two of them. “That’s how it feels, at least. I miss you!”

“I know,” Maddie said sympathetically. She reached out to take her soup and sandwich from the tray and arranged them in front of her, consciously aware of the fact that she hadn’t said she had missed Tess too.

The truth was that she hadn’t, exactly. Not that it wasn’t good to see her friend, of course. They were at their favorite cafe today, a few blocks from the beach where Maddie had once worked, and thus, by definition, close to the neighborhood where Eli and Charlie lived. She’d never realized how close this cafe was to those ritzy, upscale houses. Certainly there was nothing blue-blooded about this place, which served sandwiches to order, soup of the day, and soda that you dispensed yourself into a paper cup. Maddie and Tess loved it because the soups were so well made, but not because there was anything fancy about it.

She was glad to be here, but in all actuality, she couldn’t say that she had missed these outings with Tess, even though it hadbeen a long time since one had taken place. She had been too distracted with everything that was going on in her own life to feel much longing for this.

She felt guilty about that — but at the same time, surely Tess must understand. She was preoccupied herself, living with her boyfriend for the first time.

“How have things been with Damian?” she asked.

Tess rolled her eyes. “Don’t ask.”

“Uh-oh. Not good?”

“No, it’s fine. I mean, I’m glad he moved in,” Tess said. “It’s just an adjustment. You and I lived together for such a long time that there were never any surprises, but with Damian it’s like something new every day.”

“Good surprises, I hope?”

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