Page 33 of One More Baby for the Boss

“Oh yeah!” Jack laughed too. “I forgot! Maybe I should get lots of colors so I can make the leaves on my tree all different colors. That would be more exciting, right?”

“It’s your tree,” Alex said. “It can be whatever you want it to be.”

Jack nodded seriously. “I’ll think about it,” he said. “And we can go shopping for paint tomorrow.”

“That sounds perfect to me,” Alex said. “But for now, you need to get to bed before your dad comes in here and demands to know why I’m keeping you up all night. We don’t want to get him madat the two of us. He might tell us we weren’t allowed to work on the tree together at all anymore!”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Jack said. “Dad thinks the tree is cool.”

“You’re right. Even so, though, you should get some sleep, okay?”

Jack groaned. “I’m not tired. I want to stay up and work on it some more.”

“There isn’t anything more we can do tonight anyway. We’ve got to let it dry. But we’ll do some more work tomorrow, okay? I promise.Ifyou’re good and go to bed right now.”

“Fine,” Jack said. “As long as you promise.”

“I really do.”

Jack flung his arms around Alex’s waist. She returned the embrace. She’d gotten used to hugs from her young charge, and had begun to really enjoy them. She hadn’t truly realized how long it had been since she’d had regular hugs in her life. How long had it even been since someone had touched her?

She ruffled Jack’s hair and he ran off to bed. Alex went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of wine she had purchased in town. She’d been saving it for a special occasion, and now the time felt right. She began going through drawers, searching for a corkscrew. She’d had no occasion to look for one so far. She cursed under her breath as she opened drawer after drawer, none of them containing what she needed.

“Trouble?”

Alex spun around, her face flushed, feeling as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn’t. It wasn’t the case, ofcourse. Elijah had made it clear that she was free to use anything in the house. There was no reason she shouldn’t be looking for a corkscrew. Still, going through the drawers the way she had been felt strange and borderline inappropriate.

“What were you looking for?” Elijah asked. He was leaning against the doorframe in a white T-shirt and jeans that hung low on his hips, and for a moment Alex couldn’t catch her breath. It was bad enough sneaking up on her the way he had. Did he have to be such a knockout while doing it?

She held up the bottle sheepishly. “A corkscrew,” she said. “I thought I’d have a glass of wine.”

He frowned and came closer, looking at the bottle. “That isn’t one of mine.”

“Oh, God no. I wouldn’t have taken one of yours,” she said. “I picked this up when we were in town the other day.”

“Why not just take a bottle of mine? I told you that you were welcome to anything in the house.” Elijah opened a drawer that Alex hadn’t tried yet. He pulled out a corkscrew and held out his hand for the bottle of wine. Although Alex’s pride made her resist the idea of allowing him to open her bottle for her, there was something so chivalrous about it that she found herself giving in. She handed the bottle over.

He looked at it. “This isn’t any good,” he said.

“What?”

“This stuff is practically dishwater. You can’t drink this. Is this what you like?”

“It’s not dishwater,” Alex protested. “And I don’t know if I like it. I’ve never had it before. It was on sale at the grocery store.”

“Yeah, that’s not a great sign,” Elijah said.

“I didn’t realize you were such a wine snob!”

“I’m not asnob. I just think you should drink the good stuff instead of whatever’s on sale.” He grinned easily. “Can I open up a bottle for us to share? Would you be interested in that?”

“Well… okay,” she said. “I guess that would be fun, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all.” He went over to a small refrigerator that she had noticed a few times but hadn’t bothered to open. “Is white okay?”

“Sure,” Alex said. “I like sweet wines.”

“Then you’ll enjoy this ice wine,” he said, pulling out a bottle that was narrower than any wine bottle Alex had ever seen. “It’s very sweet. Hang on, I’ll get some cheese for us to eat with it.”

---