The Boss's Baby Arrangement. Catherine Mann
her face so full of maternal love and hope, all of which had been poured into putting this room together. A week before Rose was born, he and Terri had sat on the daybed, his arms wrapped around her swollen belly, as they’d dreamed of what their child would look like. What she would grow up to accomplish. So many dreams.
Now his brother catnapped in that same space, as he so often did these days, quirky as hell and a never-ending source of support. An image of his brother dancing with Maureen Burke flash through Xander’s mind. His brother hadn’t had much of a social life lately, either, and even knowing Xander would help Easton if the roles were reversed didn’t make it fair to steal so much of his brother’s time.
Xander pushed up from the rocker and shook his brother lightly by the shoulder. “Hey, Easton,” he said softly. “Wake up, dude. You should head on back to your room.”
His brother’s eyes blinked open slowly. “Rose?”
“Much better. Her fever’s down. I’ll still take her to her regular pediatrician for a follow-up, but I think she’s going to be fine. She’s past needing both of us to keep watch.”
“I was sleeping fine, ya know.” His lanky brother swung his legs off the bed.
“Folded up like pretzel. Your neck would have been in knots. But thank you. Really. You don’t have to stick around. I know you have to work.”
“So do you,” Easton said pointedly, raking his fingers through his hair.
“She’s my kid.”
“And you’re my brother.” His eyes fixed on Xander’s. Steady and loyal. They’d always been different but close since their parents traveled the world with little thought of any permanent home or the consistency their kids needed to build friendships. They relied on each other. Even more so after their father died and their mother continued her world traveling ways, always looking for the next adventure in the next country rather than connecting with her children.
And, thank God, Xander’s brother could work at any wildlife refuge around the world and he’d chosen to stay on here and help him. That meant the world to him. Easton had done special projects here for Terri, but this place wasn’t on the scale of the other places where he could work.
Hell, it wasn’t on Xander’s scale. But for Terri, for Rose, too, he would put this place on the map. Whatever it took. This was his wife’s legacy to their child.
“Thank you.”
“No thanks needed other than getting this little one better.” Easton smoothed an affectionate hand over his niece’s head. “Well...and a bottle of top-shelf tequila to drink at sunset.”
“Put it on the list.” A long list, all he owed his brother. But he would find a way to pay him back someday. A kick of guilt pushed him to say, “If you need to move on to a larger job—”
“I wouldn’t be needed. Being needed, making a difference—” he shrugged, eyes flicking to Rose “—that’s what life’s all about.”
Xander swallowed hard. Terri had said that to him more than once. God, he missed her. “Fair enough.” And before he even realized the thought had crossed his mind, he stopped his brother at the door. “Might you really be sticking around because of a certain red-haired zoologist?”
“Maureen?” Easton said with such incredulity there was no doubting the truthfulness of his statement. “No. Absolutely not. There’s nothing going on between the two of us. We’re too much alike.”
Laughing lightly, he shook his head, scratched the back of his neck and chuckled again on his way out the door, leaving Xander more confused than ever. Not because of his brother’s denial.
But because of his own relief.
Maureen listened for the familiar click-click of her key in her beach cabana door. The double click meant that the teal-colored cabana was, indeed, actually locked. One click meant a well-targeted gust of wind would knock the door in. She would miss these sorts of quirks when she moved out of the brightly painted cabana and tropical Key Largo.
But that wasn’t happening yet. Shoving the thought aside, Maureen adjusted her satchel filled with notebooks and began her commute to work. A leisurely five-minute walk.
And today, with the sunshine warming her fair skin, she was content to take in her surroundings as she made her way to the Lourdeses’ home residence, built on property they’d bought at the edge of the refuge. Sauntering to the main house—a white beach mansion that always reminded her of the crest of a wave in a storm—she let her mind wander.
Absently, she watched volunteers from town and from farther away gather and disperse on the dock on-site. Even from here, she could hear the bustle of their excitement as the crowd moved toward the fenced and screened areas beneath the white beach mansion on signature Florida Keys stilts.
Eyeing more volunteers who were gathering by the screened areas where recovering animals were kept, she scanned the zone for Easton. Not a trace of him.
Or Xander. After last night, her thoughts tilted back to the dance. To his warm touch, the way he looked after his daughter. The kind of person he was. And those damn blue eyes that cut her to the quick, pierced right through her.
She’d spent most of the night attempting to navigate her sudden attraction to Xander. Not that it really mattered. Instead of admitting that the dance echoed in her dreams last night, she attempted to turn her attention to more practical matters like the school group that was due at the refuge shortly.
Though located on Key Largo, the refuge’s secluded location meant tourists didn’t wander in haphazardly. The public could access the refuge only through a prearranged guided tour. This policy was one Maureen loved. It made the wildlife refuge into her own kind of sanctuary, one that often felt independent of the tourist traps and straw-hat community of the main part of town. The limited public interaction allowed her to enjoy the mingled scent of salt and animals. There was truly a wildness here that called to some latent part of Maureen’s soul.
Surveying her watch, she noted the time. The school children would be here soon. That meant she had to find Easton quickly.
And if she happened to see Xander...well, that’d be just fine by her.
Though, if she were being honest, the thought of accidently on purpose running into him made her giddy. Flashes of last night’s dance pulsed in her mind’s eye again.
What would she do if she actually ran into him anyway? Running a hand through her ringlet hair, Maureen stifled a sigh as Xander came into view.
Well, she certainly was committed now. At least, committed to some harmless small talk with a man who had pushed her sense of wild abandon into the realm worthy of Irish bards.
Biting the inside of her lip, she dropped her hands to her sides. Xander’s smooth walk was uninterrupted as he pulled on his suit coat.
He’d built an office extension onto the refuge when Terri, his wife, had started to volunteer. Terri had fallen in love with Key Largo and her volunteer work. Three years ago, when Maureen had just started with the refuge, Xander had commuted back and forth to Miami for work, using the office at the refuge as a satellite. After Terri passed away, he’d moved here full-time.
Maureen’s thoughts lingered for a moment on her memories of Terri. She had been a quiet, gentle woman. It hadn’t taken Maureen very long to figure out Terri’s heart was bigger than most, and that her kindness and empathy were genuine. Wounded creatures were comforted by Terri’s presence. When Terri had become pregnant, she’d begrudgingly performed office work, though Maureen could tell she’d rather have been among the animals.
After she’d passed away, Xander had poured himself into the refuge. In the beginning, Maureen felt like Xander was trying to find some other piece of Terri here.