Baby Benefits (9 page)

Derek, however, had been unwilling to accept her resignation. He’d come to her home then, too. When he’d found out why she’d quit, he’d hired a construction crew to retrofit their tiny suburban home, giving Rose back her mobility and independence. He’d forbidden her from telling anyone in her family he was footing the bill. He’d insisted on calling it a bonus for making it through the first year.

His generosity had affected everyone in their home. When she’d thanked him profusely, tears pooling in her eyes, he’d merely cleared his throat and said, “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re the best assistant I’ve ever had. I’m not going to let you quit simply because the doors in your house were improperly sized.”

That had been it. The very moment when she’d begun to love him. It had been all downhill from there.

And now, here he was, in her home once more and this time he was the worried one. Whatever annoyance she’d felt with him earlier in the day disappeared in the light of his current situation.

Since a display of sympathy was as likely to make him uncomfortable as her tears had all those years ago, she turned toward her family and began making introductions. “You already met Lavender, but this is my youngest sister, Cassidy. And Kendrick, my brother, is there by the door. My middle sister, Jasmine, is away at school.”

Kendrick rushed forward, with his hand extended. “So, you’re the diamond guy.”

Derek shook Kendrick’s hand automatically, but it took him a moment to refocus his attention. Finally he said, “Yes. I suppose I am.”

“Cool.” Kendrick scrubbed a hand over his spiky black flattop. “I’ve never met a billionaire.”

“Kendrick,” Raina chided. Kendrick may poke fun of Derek, but he was as fascinated by wealth as any teenager.

She glanced toward her mother for backup, but Rose merely smiled, apparently unconcerned.

Derek blinked, either surprised or embarrassed, she couldn’t tell which. She hoped he was surprised, because frankly she was embarrassed enough for everyone.

Kendrick ignored her. “So, Mr. Messina, do you have any advice to pass on?”

“Um…” Derek glanced in her direction. It may have been the first time she’d ever seen him at a loss for words. “Work hard and stay in school.”

A nervous chuckle slipped forth from her lips.

“But,” Kendrick pointed out, “didn’t you drop out of school when your father discovered the site of the first Messina Diamond mine in Canada?”

“Kendrick!” This time it was Rose who protested. Apparently it was okay to grill guests, just not to bring up their lack of education.

“That’s enough, Kendrick. Mr. Messina merely took the GED in lieu of graduating early. By then he was nearly finished with his course work anyway,” Raina defended.

“No, Raina. It’s fine.”

Other than a momentary spasm of his jaw, Derek gave no indication that the question bothered him. Raina was sure it did though. No matter how many times she’d heard him field this question, his response was always the same.

“I would never recommend anyone drop out of school. I was extremely lucky things worked out as well for me as they did. And I certainly wouldn’t have considered doing it if I’d had any other options.”

“You mean, if your father hadn’t just become a billionaire overnight.”

Kendrick’s tone was as respectful as his manner, but nevertheless, Raina heard the subtle insult in the statement. And could she blame Kendrick, for resenting—even a little—someone who appeared to have so much when they struggled just to get by? Of course, Kendrick didn’t know all that Derek had done for their family.

Before Derek could respond, Raina leapt to his defense. “You forget, Kendrick, that finding diamonds doesn’t make someone a billionaire overnight. Derek didn’t drop out of school because he thought he’d never have to work again, he dropped out to help his father run the business.”

She didn’t want to say more in front of Derek for fear of offending him, but—as she understood it—his father may have been a brilliant geologist, but he’d never been much of a businessman. It the early days of Messina Diamonds, he’d made some pretty serious mistakes. If Derek hadn’t stepped in to run the business side of things, the family would have lost everything.

He’d been just seventeen when he’d taken over for his father. He’d missed most of his last year of high school. He’d never gone to college. Who knew what else he’d missed out on. After all, Messina Diamonds had become his whole life. He’d been working eighty-hour weeks since he was seventeen. He may be a billionaire, but she wouldn’t let anyone imply he hadn’t worked for it.

She gave Kendrick a heavy pat on the back. “I believe you still have a calculus test to study for.”

“But—”

“And if tomorrow you’re still interested in Derek’s business history, I’m sure I can dig up some press releases for you read.”

Steering Kendrick toward the kitchen, she gave a sigh of relief when Lavender emerged from the hall carrying a silent and very tired-looking Isabella.

“She’s fine,” Lavender announced. “Temperature’s normal. She probably just felt hot to you because she’s dressed warmly. Then she probably got fussy because you woke her up and wouldn’t stop messing with her.”

Derek’s cheeks flushed with apparent embarrassment as he held out his arms for Isabella.

Lavender didn’t hand her over. “I’ve almost got her back to sleep. Why don’t you let me carry her out to the car for you? Then at least she’ll sleep through the drive home.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded stiffly. Raina knew that Lavender was only trying to help, but suspected she’d just made things worse. Derek wasn’t a man who liked asking anyone for help. Having to come here at all had to rankle him. Now, to top it off, he undoubtedly thought Lavender was implying he’d done everything wrong.

Lavender, unaware of the insult she’d just delivered, strolled out to his car, gently rocking Isabella and humming a little tune. After Derek apologized to Rose for interrupting their evening, Raina and Derek followed.

Raina noticed for the first time that Derek was driving Dex’s SUV rather than his own. “Still haven’t moved Isabella’s car seat over to your SUV, huh?” His only response was a beleaguered glance that made her wish she hadn’t brought it up. “Don’t worry, we’ll do it tomorrow.”

While Lavender lingered by the car, swaying Isabella to sleep, Raina placed her hand on Derek’s arm, halfway down the path.

He turned to her, his expression still troubled in the half-light of dusk. Pulling his keys from his pocket he beeped the door unlocked with his remote.

As they stood, waiting for Lavender to ease Isabella into the car seat and get her buckled, Raina forced a wry chuckle. “And now you see why I work so hard to keep my work life and my personal life separate.” Derek turned his gaze to her, his expression blank. “I apologize for Kendrick’s behavior,” she explained. “He’s not used to being in polite company.”

A glimmer of understanding lit in Derek’s eyes. “I doubt Kendrick considers me polite company.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” But her protest sounded lame, even to her.

Derek’s lips twitched into a half smile. “Oh, come on. The ring tone for my number on your cell phone? You didn’t think I ever noticed? Dum dum dum, Dum de dum, Dum de dum. That’s the theme music for some famous bad guy. Was it the Terminator?”

She buried her face in her hands. Cringing, she admitted, “No, it’s Darth Vader. But how…”

“Did I know that was Kendrick’s idea? You’d mentioned he gave you all new ring tones for Christmas last year.”

“Ah.” She lowered her hands and forced herself to look at him. “I’m sorry. My family can be a bit irreverent. And I never dreamed you would notice.”

“Maybe I pay better attention than you think.” His voice was soft and low, like a caress. His words a balm to soothe her frayed emotions.

The intensity of his gaze shot through her, heating her blood and weakening her knees. She sucked in a deep breath as awareness stretched between them.

She felt herself swaying toward him as if the earth were shifting beneath her feet. Then he reached up his hand to brush aside a lock of her hair.

“There’s no need to apologize,” he murmured.

She was so lost in the potential of the moment, it took her a second to respond. “They don’t mean anything by it. They’re just—”

“It’s okay.”

“It isn’t,” she protested, and she wasn’t talking only about her siblings’ teasing, but also about the tension growing between her and Derek. She forced herself to step away from him. “I should have put a stop to it years—”

“Raina, it’s fine.” As if he sensed the change in her, his tone darkened.

“But they have no idea how much you’ve done for us. And I—”

This time Derek pressed a finger to her lips, halting her protests. “Apparently you don’t think I can take a joke.”

The warmth of his finger against her mouth stifled any urge she had to continue arguing with him. Heat surged through her, stirring desires she thought she’d long ago suppressed.

She wasn’t supposed to feel this way. She was supposed to be getting over him. So why wasn’t she?

Glancing away to avoid his gaze, she noticed Isabella was now sleeping peacefully in her car seat. Lavender had apparently slipped inside without Raina even noticing. That happened sometimes when Derek was around—everyone else just faded into the background.

She was suddenly struck by the intimacy of being alone with him on a darkened street. Of standing so close beside the car. There was something illicit about it. Something that harkened back to teenage dates, to spending the last few minutes before curfew parked in the driveway, necking with her boyfriend in the front seat of his car.

She forced herself to step away from him, to pick up the dangling thread of the conversation. “I guess I didn’t think you’d have a sense of humor about this.”

He shrugged, casting her a wry smile. “It could be worse. They could call me Norman Bates.”

She chuckled at the image and the awareness she’d felt earlier morphed into something new. “Somehow I just can’t see you nursing an obsession with your dead mother. It’s an entirely too spineless a form of villainy.”

“But you can see me ruling the evil empire?”

“Yes,” she joked. “I think that’s kind of the point.” Then her smile faded and she shook her head. “No. Honestly, I can’t. If my family knew about all you’d done for them, they’d feel differently. And you can’t tell me it doesn’t hurt your feelings just a little bit.”

He shrugged, stepping into the car. “I’ve never much cared what people thought about me. I have a job to do. I do it. That job doesn’t entail winning popularity contests or having people like me.”