1
“Why don’t you and Lisa come over to my place on Thursday night? I’ll have my chef whip up something delicious, and we can talk details on the sale.”
Drew Preston kept a bright smile on his face. That was one of the rules of business his father had taught him early in his life, when his dad was building the family shipping business from the ground up. Wear the expression you’d want people to see, even if you’re on the phone. They’ll hear it in your voice.
He needed Jack Holloway to hear an easy confidence today, because Jack’s company—up for sale in a once-in-a-lifetime deal—was the final piece for Drew to pick up for Preston Logistics. After everything that had happened with his ex-wife Susan…
Drew wasn’t going to think about that now.
“Oh, sure.” Jack Holloway seemed to follow Drew’s father’s advice, too, because he sounded genuinely excited to come out to Drew’s place. Of course, that could be because Drew’s house was a mansion overlooking some of California’s most beautiful wine country. “Lisa will be thrilled. What time should we arrive?”
“Six o’clock?”
“Perfect. We’ll be there with bells on.”
They ended the call at the same moment Drew’s son Logan laughed in the next room of the office suite, where Drew’s secretary had her desk. His son had the best laugh. What he didn’t have was a nanny. The last nanny had been good—a little goofy, with curly blonde hair that she wore in an enormous bun on the top of her head—but two weeks ago she’d announced that she was headed off to business school, and that had been that. He’d had to interview eight candidates to find her, too.
The interview with a potential new nanny was coming up in fifteen minutes. Drew added the dinner with Jack and Lisa to his calendar, then stood up to meet Sam, his uncle on his father’s side. He’d been spending time with Logan the last couple of weeks while Drew’s staff vetted candidates for the nanny position, and Drew owed him. It was well within his means to hire a temporary nanny, but Drew didn’t want to switch out Logan’s caretakers more than he had to. The boy was only three. It was hard enough switching back and forth between Drew’s and Susan’s houses.
But when he got to the door of his office, Sam wasn’t there.
Logan sat on the leather sofa across the room from the secretary’s desk, pressed leg-to-leg with a woman so gorgeous that Drew’s heart stopped, stuttered, and raced ahead to catch up.
The light from the window caught in her dark hair as she bent toward Logan, her finger tracing a path on the book she held. The table in front of the sofa had a drawer with books just for this purpose, and Logan had clearly chosen one to give her.
“Look at that red truck.” Her voice was clear, almost songlike, and Logan glanced up at her with wide eyes before he focused back on the book. “What do you think about that?”
“I like red trucks.” Logan nodded decisively. “Some red trucks are fire trucks, and they’re loud and fast. We’re going to see a fire truck tomorrow.”
She flipped the page. “Hmm. A blue boat. Have you ever been on a boat?”
“I swam in the water.” Logan’s eyes lit up. “Daddy took me to the pool, and I have dinosaurs on my bathing suit.”
Drew’s heart ached. It had been a couple of months since the last time he’d taken Logan to his favorite pool—an indoor setup at one of the larger gyms in town. He had a home gym and a pool at the house, but Susan had wanted Logan to mingle with other kids, so the two of them had gone in on a membership at the gym when Logan was a baby. Drew had never given it up.
Logan sat so still for this woman. She had to be the candidate for the nanny position, but she was dressed more like an executive in a gray blazer and pencil skirt.
They interacted with an ease that he’d rarely seen in Logan. It was a balm on his heart—a bittersweet one. How could his boy be almost as comfortable with this perfect stranger as he was with his own parents?
How long had he been standing here watching?
Drew cleared his throat, a smile already on his face. “I hate to interrupt…”
She looked up at him and boom—there it was again, reverberating like a bass drum in his chest. Those chocolate eyes, that pointed chin—he could picture himself taking it between his thumb and forefinger and tilting her face up toward his own.
“Hello,” she said, her own white teeth flashing in a smile. “Here, Logan. Check out that lifeboat a minute and let me know what you think.” Logan took the book, putting it studiously in his lap, and the woman stood gracefully. Drew met her halfway across the room, his hand extended to shake. “I’m Penelope Fox. Your uncle—”
“I had to step out for a minute.” Drew’s uncle rushed back in through the front entrance. “Call from one of my students.” He came across the office and gave Drew a quick embrace. “I left Logan in good hands, and Britta—where’d she go?”
“Here,” sang Britta from the doorway, a stack of papers in her arms. “Copies are done. Are you headed out?”
Drew laughed. “Yes. Meeting room down the hall. Are you good, Uncle Sam?”
“Better than ever.” The older man clapped his hands. “Logan, the playground is calling our names.”
Logan scrambled off the sofa and put the book carefully on the table. “I want to go on the swings.”
“We’ll go on the swings.” Sam led him to the door.
“And the slide.”
“And the slide, three times if you want.”
“Four!”
“Four times, if you want.”
“Wait!” Logan wheeled around and came tearing across the room toward Drew. He leapt at the last second, landing solidly in his arms. When had he gotten so big?
Drew hugged his son tightly with a pang. It wouldn’t be very long before Logan stopped doing this. “Love you, buddy,” he murmured into his ear.
“Love too, Daddy.” The little boy, who had his blond hair and blue eyes, scrambled to get down as quickly as he’d come up. Drew stood him on his legs—they were full-on preschool legs now, losing the softness they’d had when Logan was a toddler—and the boy was off again.
Not to Sam, but to Penelope Fox.
Logan ran full tilt into her knees, wrapping them into a fierce hug, and Drew caught a glimpse of her surprised smile as she leaned down to pat Logan’s back.
What was in the air today—magic? It wasn’t just his plans with Jack that had Drew feeling so optimistic.
He had to pull it back. This kind of optimism had gotten him into the mess with Susan, which—as he reminded himself daily—had forced him to lay off at least two dozen people while he got Preston Logistics back on its wobbly feet. If he managed to acquire Jack’s business, the company would be solid again. He had to focus.
Logan let go of Penelope’s knees and ran at full speed back to Sam, who caught him by the hand and called a goodbye as Logan dragged him out.
“He’s full of energy.” Penelope’s voice had a smile in it, though her expression was more reserved now that Logan had left the room. “You have a sweet boy.”
“I can’t argue with that.”