Page 8 of A Baby Surprise For My Billionaire Boss

The lifeguard cleared her throat. “Sir, I don’t mean to interrupt, but we do require that kids of his age be supervised by a parent or guardian if they’re going to be on the beach.”

“I know,” Eli said. “I only took my eyes off him for a second. He knows better than to wander off like that.” He looked Charlie up and down. “Did you go in the water?”

“No. Obviously. My swimsuit isn’t wet.”

“Don’t catch an attitude with me. You broke the rules. I told you we would be going home if this happened.”

“Dad!”

“Don’tDadme.” He looked up at the lifeguard. “Thank you for finding him,” he said. “Honestly, anything could have happened.”

She nodded. “Don’t worry. These things happen to the best of us. You’re just lucky it wasn’t any worse.”

“I know I was.” He knew all too well. He had read horror stories in the news about what happened when little kids got caught in riptides.

Eli took a breath. Now that he was feeling slightly less panicked, he was beginning to really appreciate what this woman had donefor him. “I owe you one,” he told her. “You might have saved my son’s life today.”

“I wasn’t drowning, Dad, I was digging up a sand dollar.”

Eli wasn’t about to alarm his son with stories of freak waves or kidnappers. He kept his attention on the pretty lifeguard instead.

There were definitely worse things to be looking at. The wind had caught her hair, making it blow around her face. She didn’t seem at all self-conscious about the fact that she was standing in front of him in nothing but a one-piece swimsuit while he was fully dressed. Of course, she was probably used to standing in front of people in her swimsuit since it was a part of her job, and Eli was used to pretty girls in their suits at the beach. Usually they were even less covered up than she was, in string bikinis instead of one-piece lifeguard suits.

But that didn’t seem to make a difference. The fact of the matter was that she had his attention in a way no woman had in a very long time.

He and Fiona had not been in a relationship. Charlie had been the result of a one-night stand, a pregnancy they had mutually decided to keep because they had both wanted a child and had liked each other as friends enough to give coparenting a try. Eli had continued to date after his son’s birth.

But he hadn’t dated since Fiona’s death. It had changed everything for him. There had been no more nights when Charlie was with his mother, so bringing girls home had become completely impractical, as had staying at their places for the night. He had resigned himself to the idea that he would have totake a few years off from dating — and with that idea in his mind, he realized now, he had stopped noticing women.

But he was definitely noticing the one standing in front of him now. She made his heart beat faster and his blood rush. He had forgotten what those sensations felt like.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t even know your name.”

“Maddie,” she said. “Maddie Foster.”

“Maddie, I’m Eli Sinclair.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Listen, would you like to come out for ice cream with me and Charlie?” The idea came to him on a whim. “My way of saying thank you for this.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she said quickly. “I was only doing my job.”

“It really would be my pleasure. And our treat.”

“Come with!” Charlie urged. “I want ice cream.”

Maddie chuckled. “That’s hard to say no to.”

“Are you off work soon?”

“Now, actually. I was about to go punch out for the day.”

“Let us get you some ice cream. There’s a great place around the corner from here — Sprinkle Time?”

“I know it.”

“What do you say?”

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