“I’m fine,” I mumbled into his chest.
Monty released my hand but gripped my shoulders, pushing me back. I stood at arm's length from him, a little woozy as his chocolate eyes searched mine.
I licked my lips. His eyes darted to my mouth and took longer than even I thought was appropriate to return to my gaze.
“I’m sorry. It caught me off guard.”
He sounded familiar. But as I stared at him, nothing came to mind. I would have thought I’d remember someone who looked as good as Monty, but I was learning mommy brain was sometimes worse than drunk brain.
“Off guard? You stared at my hand for about thirty seconds.”
Damnit.
Here I was trying to get this guy to hire me, and I already made fun of him. It was hard reining in this sass.
He chuckled and raised his brow. Holy moly. Right there. The combination of the deep chuckle and that look could melt the panties right off my hips. Even with the glasses. I wasn’t a glasses-on-guys sort of gal, but it worked on him.
I bit my lip as I considered asking Rock if it was frowned upon to have inter-office relations. I wouldn’t think it would be since he was banging my sister right after he hired her.
“You’re right.” He scratched the back of his head and gazed toward the kitchen. “I’m not great with babies.”
He winced after Rock elbowed him again.
“What does a baby have to do with a handshake?”
“Nothing. It has nothing to do with anything. I am just . . . Isn’t there a baby here? I thought it was a baby’s birthday?”
I took a step back and frowned. Why was he so interested in my baby?
I looked over at Laura, who shrugged. “He’s taking a nap.”
I could accept the awkward handshake and the fearful behavior, but now I was getting creepy vibes from him.
“Why are you here?” I put my hands on my hips. There was no way I was letting Monty anywhere near my baby.
He looked up at Rock, who shook his head.
Monty swallowed. “I just love babies.”
But he just said he wasn’t good with babies. Something wasn’t right.
“Oh no.” I took a step back, grabbing my sister’s arm and pulling her with me.
We kept walking until we were standing by the table with the presents. Jami was there with Nancy, monitoring the gifts like she said she would. The only way she tolerated parties was by having a job. I told her I needed someone to watch the gifts. So, here she stayed.
“You want me to work for a pedophile?” I whisper-screamed at my sister.
“No. He’s not like that. At least, I don’t think he is.”
I waved toward the family room. “You were there. You heard him. The man has issues. Very creepy issues.”
My sister bit her thumbnail as her gaze flickered between me and the other room. After a moment, Rock came up next to her.
“I have no idea what’s wrong with Monty. He’s normally not like that.”
I folded my arms and faced him. “You’ve known him all his life. Has he ever shown an affinity to babies or small children?”
“No. I mean, nothing out of the ordinary. He avoids them. That’s why I didn’t understand why he showed up here.”
“Yeah, it was weird. When he got here, he told me he thought we weren’t speaking.”
Rock tilted his head, but after a moment, his eyes widened. “Oh no. I totally forgot. I asked him to come. I thought you left me several days ago. I might have had too much to drink and ran into his office, begging him to talk to you.”
“What else did you tell him? Because I can’t work for a man who is really into babies,” I said, making air quotes with my fingers.
Rock rubbed his head. “I can’t remember. Like I said, I had too much to drink. He seemed uneasy when he saw you. Maybe I said something in my drunken state that set him off. I bet I told him to lie to you. He’s bad at lying. Besides, I know he’s really worried about finding investors for his project. He’s stressed.”
I guessed that was a good thing. I wouldn’t want to work for someone who could easily lie.
“That makes sense. I may have only met him a week ago, but he never struck me as creepy. He seemed like the sane one of the family,” Laura said.
“Hey.” Rock frowned.
She leaned in and gave Rock a hug. “I love your imperfections. Some of them are sexy.” She wiggled her eyebrows.
I almost gasped as I witnessed Rock blush. He was the type of guy who barked orders. Never figured my sister had the power to fluster him.
“I like him,” Jami said, interrupting my sister’s love talk.
“Really?” Laura and I asked at the same time.
Jami rarely liked people, so infrequently that she made three lists. One was a list of people she disliked. She refused to say the word “hate” as she felt that was an ugly word.
Another list was of people she tolerated. Rock was on that list, but he didn’t know it.
The last list contained people she loved. Laura, my parents, recently added Nathan, and I were the only people on that list.
“Yes. He would never hurt Nathan.” Jami turned toward us, her eyes cast down and thumb rubbing Nancy’s feathers.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t let him near Nathan,” I said.
My sister raised her eyes to me and held my gaze. “But he must.”
I loved Jami. She knew things that most people didn’t. Yes, she was book smart. She studied archeology at the university. There wasn’t a fact about history she didn’t know. But she also knew things about people. She could read them. I never understood how since her therapist said she had trouble understanding social cues from people.
But she just met Monty, and I suspected she only said a few words to him at most. I wasn’t about to let him near Nathan, no matter what she liked about him.
Maybe she just thought he was cute.
“Maybe. But not today.” I nodded at her.
“Yes. But he will meet Nathan,” she added before turning back to the French doors.
I glanced toward the family room. Monty was there, staring at us. He quickly turned and bumped into the end table with a lamp. It almost fell on my neighbor Gerald’s head, but he caught it just in time.
Maybe he was a nervous guy. If I ever expected an employer to give me a chance despite my lackluster work history, Monty deserved a chance too.
Chapter 9
Monty
“BABIES, HUH? YOU LOVE babies,” James said with a snicker as he sat on the corner of my desk.
“Rock told you?”
I knew it wouldn’t be long before my younger brother found out. He lived for that sort of thing. He loved making fun of us any chance he got.
“No, Laura.”
I rubbed my face. I left the party on Saturday soon after that. There was no point being at a baby’s birthday when I freaked out the mom. Yes, I was the father, but no one knew that but me. I wondered if I should ever tell anyone.
I’d take care of them. Maybe be an anonymous person mailing big checks to Julia every year.
I groaned. I had turned into a Dickensian character. A benefactor from afar.
“Don’t worry, Bro. We all know you aren’t a perv. Except for Julia. I’m sure you’ll never be invited back into her house.”