Page 65 of Baby For The Billionaire Silver Fox

“My first babysitting gig was for the boys next door. The parents asked me to give them these boxed meals for dinner. I thought I would impress them and cook them on the stove instead of the microwave. The containers melted onto the coils and smoked up the whole house. Neither the fire department nor the parents were amused,” Dan admitted sheepishly.

We laughed ourselves silly, picturing him melting stuff on the stove and then making a bigger mess trying to clean it up.

“Maybe the kids should have made dinner for you,” Matt suggested.

“What about you, Nicole? Any cooking mishaps?” Dan asked.

I thought about it. “Well, you might notice I don’t work in the food industry, and there’s a reason for that.”

I had their full attention. “No mishaps, really. Unlike Dan, I can follow directions on a box.” I shot him a grin. He gave me a light kick under the table and then rested his foot between mine.

“My specialties were mac and cheese and anything that came in a can, like spaghetti, soup, or green beans. I never learned to cook. But I was good at feeding myself out of necessity. As soon as I figured out how to use a can opener, I graduated from cereal and pbj’s to canned goods. My whole world expanded.” I said lightly, trying to make a joke, but it fell flat. Why did I open my mouth and share that?

“To this day, mac and cheese is still my favorite.”

“That’s true,” Lexi nodded.

Dan was looking at me with an expression I couldn’t read. His foot rubbed gently up my leg.

“Your turn, Matt,” I said, not breaking eye contact with Dan.

Matt sat back and thought about it. “There have been too many screw-ups to count, mostly from back in the day when I was just getting started with my deli business. But a fairly recent lesson comes to mind—don’t drink Bourbon Smashes when you’re roasting an expensive cut of meat to impress your girlfriend. You’ll get mixed up about the correct meat temperature and burn it beyond recognition.”

“True story,” Lexi confirmed. “Who wants chocolate torte or creme brulee now?”

I went for the chocolate torte and savored several bites before I stuck out my spoon to hover over Dan’s creme brulee. “May I?” He nodded and watched me scoop some up and raise it to my mouth. His eyes were locked on the spoon moving to my lips, and he wet his as he watched the spoon disappear into my mouth. He swallowed hard. Never ever would I have thought I could turn on someone with a spoon, but here I was, killing it. He cleared his throat loudly, and I jumped, dropping my spoon to my plate, where it clattered loudly.

Lexi looked at me, then Dan. I caught her trying to hide a smile. Really? I gave her a dirty look.

“I guess that’s my cue to wrap it up. I took an early shift tomorrow, so I should be getting to bed. To sleep,” I added. Lame. “Everything was delicious, Matt and Lexi. I’d reciprocate, but you know,” I said, pointing at myself, “Mac and cheese, canned spaghetti, canned corn, canned anything.…”

“Give yourself some credit,” Lexi chimed in. “You can order pizza like a pro.”

I hugged Lexi and Matt and turned to hug Dan.

“I should get going too. I’ll walk you home,” he said, helping me into my warm puffy coat.

“It’s just across the big yard to Nana’s house,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Not a problem to see you home,” he answered.

“Lexi, I’m going to turn off the outside lights, okay? It’s clear out, and I want to see the stars.”

We stepped out and walked just past the hedges. I touched Dan’s arm to stop him so we could look up.

“Magnificent,” I breathed. “I’ve always loved gazing at the stars.”

“They seem extra bright tonight.”

“Bonus points if you spot a shooting star.” We stood like that, side by side, feeling each other’s warmth in the cold evening while feasting our eyes on the vast universe of bright twinklers.

“You know, when I was a little girl, I wished on a star every evening that the stars happened to be out.”

“What did you wish for?”

I kept my gaze up, even though I knew he’d turned his gaze to me. “I wished I would be a better girl.”

“Better than what, Nik?” he asked softly.

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