Page 20 of One More Baby for the Boss

CHAPTER 9

ALEX

The tension between them shattered like glass as Elijah turned toward the sound of his son’s voice. Alex turned away too and strode quickly to the bottle of water that sat on her nightstand. She took a long drink and tried to clear her head. Had that really almost happened? She’d been sure she was about to kiss him.

Where had it come from? She had admired Elijah before, of course. He was extremely attractive, and she couldn’t help but notice it. But he was still her boss. She had never intended to act on those feelings, and yet she had almost just crossed that line. If he had initiated the kiss, she knew she would have given in to it. Who knew what might have happened if Jack hadn’t shown up when he had?

“What’s up, buddy?” Elijah asked as Alex turned back around. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“I had a nightmare,” the boy said, rubbing his eyes. “I don’t want to go back to sleep.”

“I’ll get him back down,” Alex said. It was her job, after all.

But Jack wrapped his arms tightly around his father’s waist, burying his face in Elijah’s stomach.

“It’s all right,” Elijah said, lifting Jack up in his arms. “You want me to take you back to bed, buddy?”

“I don’t want to go back to bed.”

“Well, we shouldn’t hang around in Alex’s room. What if we go read a story?”

In response. Jack reached out a hand to Alex. She took hold of it. “You want me to go too?”

Jack nodded.

“You want both of us?”

“Yes.”

Alex met Elijah’s eyes over Jack’s head.

Elijah shrugged. “Sounds okay to me,” he said. “But we do need to go back to your own bed, Jack, okay? Then you can pick out a book, and we’ll all read it together.”

“Okay,” Jack mumbled.

They went into the neighboring room. Jack climbed into bed and put his arms around his favorite stuffed dog. Elijah went to the little bookshelf built into the wall and began to scan the titles.

“Help me,” he murmured to Alex. “I don’t know which of these he likes.”

Alex pointed to the book she knew was Jack’s current favorite — a story about a lost dinosaur. Elijah gave her a grateful smile and took it off the shelf.

Alex went back over to the bed and sat down. Jack crawled up into her lap and curled up in her arms. She hugged him and then looked up at Elijah.

He was looking at her as if he had never seen her before. His eyes were wide, and he was hardly breathing. It would have been strange if it hadn’t been a perfect reflection of the shocked, awed way Alex was feeling herself.

She wanted to ask him what it was that was making him look at her like that, but the truth was that she knew the answer without having to ask. This felt so intimate. It felt like the three of them were a little family. It had been nearly a decade since Alex had been part of anything resembling a family, and having it back, even in this unexpected form, was a shock to her system. Holding Jack in her arms and having her trust and depend on her so completely. Working together with Elijah to do something that needed to be done. She’d never thought she would be part of something like this again. She had all but forgotten what this felt like.

He sat down on the end of the bed, opened the book and started to read.

His voice was soothing and calm, and Alex knew at once that he was no stranger to reading his son bedtime stories. She hadn’t given him enough credit, she saw that now. He had done this before. And the way the sound of his voice immediately made Jack relax showed her just how right she had been to suspect that he needed more time with his father. He had been so upset about his nightmare, but just being here with Elijah had put him at ease. This was clearly all he needed.

“Dad?” Jack interrupted as Elijah turned the page of the book.

“Yes, Jack?” Elijah lowered the book into his lap.

“Are we always going to live here?”

“Well, I hadn’t given that much thought,” Elijah said. “Don’t you like it here?”

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