LITMIR.BIZ

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leading him out of the employees’ break room and going back to her station.

      “We can go to the Royal Diner to talk. Have you had breakfast?”

      “No, I didn’t eat breakfast this morning,” she replied, dazed by what was happening and barely thinking about breakfast.

      “Want me to tell your manager?” David asked, looking around the store.

      “Oh, no!” she gasped, imagining her supervisor’s reaction to all this. “I’ll tell him. You take Autumn.”

      “No,” David replied in a no-nonsense, take-charge voice. “You hold Autumn and keep feeding her because she’s happy. I’ll tell the manager and square it with him and I’ll drive. What’s your manager’s name?”

      “Jerry Vickerson, and his office is in the southeast corner of the store.”

      “I’ll be right back, Marissa Wilder. Don’t go away,” David ordered, giving her a look that immobilized her as he started to walk away. “And when I get back, I need to buy a baby carrier for her before I leave the store. I don’t care about the price. You pick it out.”

      Turning to stride away, he combed his fingers through his hair and squared his shoulders.

      “Baby Autumn, you have a very decisive, persuasive caretaker. Where’s your mommy, sweetie?” A nanny with triple her current salary. Wow. It wasn’t going to do her 401K any good, but to take care of this little baby would be wonderful. To live at David Sorrenson’s would be—exciting? Heartbreaking, most likely. She probably would spend half her time fantasizing about him. Although, his behavior this morning hadn’t made him too adorable. Still, the man had gotten what he wanted in no time flat.

      As she cuddled the baby close against her, Marissa hummed to herself while she selected a carrier. She remembered the brown paper sack David had had in his hand and picked up a pretty pink diaper bag with teddy bears on it.

      In minutes he came striding back. “It’s settled. Your job is terminated. You can have it back whenever this nanny job ends—which may be soon.”

      She stared at him in amazement. Her boss was just a step away from being a modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge to his employees. To have him suddenly become so cooperative surprised her, and she wondered what incentive David Sorrenson had offered her boss.

      “All right,” she said cautiously. “I picked out this carrier and here’s a diaper bag. You look as if you need one,” she said, eyeing the paper sack.

      “Oh, yeah, I do. Good.” He pulled out his wallet and glanced at the price tags. “That’s good. I’ll transfer this stuff from the sack to the bag and then, when we get to my car, we’ll put Autumn into the carrier. I’m using a borrowed one that I need to return.”

      Marissa rang up his purchase with one hand, completing the transaction and watching him empty the sack and toss it into the trash.

      “Do you want to get your things and leave your name tag?” David asked. “I told your manager I would bring you back later to pick up your paycheck. He said he would have it ready in an hour.”

      She realized David was waiting and she hurried to get her purse. “You’ll have to hold the baby for me. I need both hands free to get this name tag off.”

      “Let me do it,” David said, stepping close.

      Her pulse jumped as he moved within inches. His warm fingers brushed her collarbone and her shoulder. He stood close and she looked at his unshaven jaw covered in black stubble, his mouth with his slightly full lower lip, the sight of which stirred a bushel of curiosity about how those lips would feel on hers. He deftly removed the pin and placed it under the counter. “Anything else?” he asked.

      “Oh, yes!” she answered dreamily while looking at curls of dark chest hair at the open neck of his blue, short-sleeved western shirt and thinking she could let his fingers flit over her for another half hour or so.

      “Yes?” he repeated, his voice filled with curiosity while he stared at her with arched brows. Then she realized what she had just said.

      “I meant no!” she replied swiftly, feeling her cheeks flush. She turned away, but not before she saw his eyes narrow and his gaze became more piercing than ever.

      He took her arm. “My car is this way.”

      She had a ridiculous feeling she had just lost control of her life. All because she knew how to feed and hold a baby. “Don’t you like babies?”

      “I don’t know anything about them. Well, now I know they cry a lot and I know how to change a diaper.”

      Marissa hurried beside him, trying to keep up with his long-legged stride as they left the store and crossed the parking lot to his low-slung, dark green sports car. Sunshine spilled over them on the crisp November day, and Marissa still couldn’t believe what was happening to her. She glanced over her shoulder at the store and it seemed as if she were in a dream. Why wasn’t she back there working?

      She looked at the tall man beside her. In less than thirty minutes he had changed her life. Now here she was outside, invited to breakfast with an unbelievably appealing man and she was going to get to care for a precious little girl and make a lot of money doing it. She had to be dreaming, yet the sunshine was warm and very real. Enjoy the moment, she thought.

      He held the door for her. “I’ll take Autumn now and put her into her carrier.” Once again, their hands touched and she was too aware of each tiny contact. What was happening to her? She didn’t usually have that reaction when she handed things to men at the store.

      She looked down at her clothes. Did she want to go to the Royal Diner in her Bo-Peep costume she had worn for the store special today? Deciding she would, she sighed. It was her own outfit, not the store’s, and it would be too complicated to go home to change.

      Climbing into the car, Marissa watched David put the baby into her new carrier in the back seat. He buckled the infant and the carrier in and then slid behind the wheel.

      Beware of charming, appealing men, she reminded herself silently, glancing at David. She remembered how she had fallen head over heels in love—or had it been infatuation?— for her handsome ex-husband who had turned out to be a crushing disappointment in her life. A man who had used her for his own purposes, cheating on her while she worked to help put him through medical school. When he’d achieved his goal, he had discarded her, hurting her badly.

      When Autumn began to cry, Marissa twisted in the seat to talk to the baby and to try to give her the bottle. As soon as she did, Autumn became quiet.

      “Thanks for doing this,” David said.

      “She’s an adorable baby. So pretty.”

      He didn’t answer, and in minutes they whipped into a parking place in front of the Royal Diner. “I’ll take the carrier inside with us,” he said, climbing out to unbuckle the carrier. While he held the door for Marissa, she entered the warm Royal Diner. With every step she was aware of David’s presence, aware of brushing against his arm as she went through the open door.

      When the smell of frying bacon and brewing coffee assailed her, she realized that she was hungry. Sliding into a booth, Marissa smoothed her skirt and petticoats and patted the seat. “Put Autumn’s carrier here beside me. When she finishes this bottle, I can watch her.”

      He didn’t need any arm-twisting for that one. Instantly, he set the carrier with the sleeping baby beside Marissa and then he slid into the booth and sat facing her.

      Feeling nervous and self-conscious, Marissa smiled at him. She glanced around the diner and saw a familiar waitress heading toward them.

      Popping gum and giving a tug to her tight, pink polyester uniform, Sheila Foster brought them glasses of water and plastic-coated menus. “Hi, Marissa. Hi, David,” she greeted them, looking again at Marissa. “Cute dress and cute baby.”

      “Thanks, Sheila,” Marissa

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