Steven (7 page)

“Have you burped her yet?”  She’d have offered to take the baby, but she was wet, and she wanted to see how
Steven
did with her on his own.  He never seemed to have a whole lot of contact with her, but he didn’t seem disinterested.  He simply didn’t know what to do with her.

“When am I supposed to do that?”

“About halfway through the bottle.  Go ahead and do it now.”  She reached down and pulled a burp cloth from the diaper bag, and put it over his shoulder.

“What’s that for?”

“In case she spits up on you.”

He wrinkled his nose.  “You mean baby puke?”

She laughed.  “I guess that’s one way of putting it.”   She settled down on the blanket beside him, showing him how to lift the baby to his shoulder and pat her back.

He held her awkwardly, but quickly got a loud burp from her.  The grin on his face made him look like he’d won some sort of prize.  He cradled her in his arm again and stuck the bottle back in her mouth.

“How was the water?”
  He couldn’t keep his eyes off her.  Her entire body had a sheen of water over it, and the damp swimsuit did nothing to hide her luscious curves.

“Absolutely amazing!”  Her eyes glowed as they looked into his.  “This is an experience I’ll never forget.”
  She hoped he realized how very much it meant to her he’d included her and the baby on this trip.  Seeing the ocean for the first time was awesome, of course, but doing it from a private island with gorgeous beaches, was unbelievable.

“Better than Galveston?” he
teased
.

She laughed.  “Well, the company is certainly better than it would have been in Galveston.”
 

“Not missing old what’s his face too much, then?”

She shook her head.  “Not missing him at all.  He wasn’t the man I thought he was.”
  She looked down at the quilt she’d spread for them to sit on, her hand wrinkling it. 

“Because he took off with your best friend?”

She shrugged.  “Actually, it’s more than that.  His biggest complaint about me was always that I’m too perfect.”  She wrinkled her nose as she said the last word.  “I’m anything but perfect.  I don’t even have a
desire
to be perfect.”

He grinned.  “Why were you too perfect?  Because you wouldn’t go to bed with him?”

She shrugged
,
blushing.  “That’s probably the main reason.  My parents were always so strict.  If I wore a skirt it had to be well below the knee.  No make-up until I was eighteen.  I couldn’t date until my parents met the boy, and then he had to meet their standards.  Do you know how many boys passed their stupid test?”

He shook his head.   “How many?”

“Two! 
Mom died while I was still in high school and Daddy died during my freshman year of college.”  She looked down at her hands.  “I started dating Bradley right after I graduated.  His dad and mine were good friends, so I figured he’d be okay.”
  She shook her head at her naiveté.

“But he wasn’t?”

She shrugged.  “I guess he was decent enough most of the time.  He certainly didn’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer, though.”  She paused staring out at the ocean.  “I’m sure that’s why he ended up with Tiffany.  She was willing to put out before marriage and I wasn’t.  Of course, if he’d just waited a few more days, it all would have been good.”
  She rolled her eyes. 

“So are you heartbroken about the breakup, or glad it happened so you could go on with your life?”

She turned to him then, her blue eyes meeting his brown.  “If he hadn’t broken it off, I’d never have left Hamlin.  Or met you
.  Or been able to help raise
Faithy.   I think he did the best thing he could have done for me.”  She laughed.  “Of course, I didn’t think so at the time.”

Hearing about her childhood made him wonder what happened to Angela, but he figured it was just a case of a preacher’s kid held down for so long, when she didn’t have something holding her down, she went nuts.  It was a spring action kind of thing he’d heard about from a lot of preacher’s kids.

He put the baby to his shoulder to burp her again, this time doing it perfectly.  She smiled at the way he was getting to know his daughter.  “My life is a little different than I expected, too.  I mean, a week ago I was watching the Super Bowl with my two business partners and suddenly, I have a baby I never knew about.  And then a nanny moves in with me.  What happened to living it up?”

She grinned.  “Well, the nanny can move out and leave you and your baby to yourselves.”
  Not that she’d ever leave her niece, but it was fun to tease him and watch his face blanch at the idea.

“Don’t you dare!”  He propped Faith into a sitting position on his lap so she could see
Bailey
. 

Bailey
’s heart skipped a beat at his words.  For all his gruffness,
Steven
was a man who had a lot of love to give.  He was a giver, and she needed him in her life.  She smiled at him.  “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“
Are y
ou hungry yet?” 
Steven
wasn’t comfortable with the direction the conversation was going. 
He was beginning to feel a lot more than lust for his sweet young nanny. 

She nodded.  “Swimming always makes me hungry.  Is it too early for lunch?”
  She put her hand to her stomach, amazed at how hungry she was.

He glanced down at his watch.  “Nah.”  He handed
F
aith to her and got to his feet, reaching down for the little girl. 
“Let’s go eat!”

*****

By the time Faith was down for her nap, Bailey was starting to get nervous.  She was still wearing her bikini under the white terry cloth robe.  Steven gave no indication he was ready to get back to work.  For once, he seemed ready to focus on the people around him.  Where were his business associates? 

When she’d put the bikini on, she’d told herself she was ready to throw her morals to the wind and go the final step with this man, but now she wasn’t so certain.  What if he didn’t think of her that way?  Maybe he’d just been joking with her all along like his friends had done the night she came to his house.

She tiptoed out of her suite after putting the baby down, and went in search of Steven.  She could start a conversation with him and see where it went, couldn’t she?

She wandered out to the main room and saw him leaning up against the wall waiting for her.  She smiled.  “Got any big plans for the rest of the day?”

He took her hand and led her to a couch.  “Not a thing.  I thought it would be a good time to get to know my nanny.”  He sat down and pulled her down into his lap.

She laughed even as she blushed.  “I have a feeling you’re not talking about
discussing
our childhoods.”
  She’d never sat on a man’s lap, at least not as an adult.  She found she liked having him cradle her in his arms.

He shook his head, his grin spreading.  “I don’t talk about my childhood.”  His hand tangled in her hair as he pulled her close, his lips descending on hers. 

She smiled against his mouth.  This was
what she’d been waiting for
.   His lips sent sparks through her body, and she turned more fully to face him, her hands caressing his cheeks and shoulders. 

He pulled one of her thighs across his lap to the other side of his legs, so she was straddling him, his mouth never breaking contact with hers.  Tangling his tongue with hers, his hands untied the belt of her robe, and he pushed the offending garment off her shoulders. 

One of his hands cupped her breast through her bathing suit, while the other traced along her back.  “I need you,” he whispered softly against her lips.

His words were as potent as his magic fingers against her skin.  No one had ever claimed to need her before.  It gave her a feeling of power over this incredibly dynamic man. 
She pulled her head back and looked into his chocolate colored eyes.  “Take me to bed.”  She couldn’t believe she’d said those words to him, but seeing the way his eyes narrowed, she was glad she had.

He pushed her to her feet, and taking her hand, led her to his room, which was identical to hers.  He stopped beside the bed, and untied the straps of her s
wim suit top.  He pushed down the bottoms and laid her back onto the bed, following her down.

He trailed his lips along her neck and down to her taut nipple, laving it with his tongue.
  He needed her to be as ready for him as he was for her.  His fingers danced across her skin, leaving no part of her body untouched.  She clung to his shoulders, unsure of what to do with her hands.

One
of his hands
trailed down her thigh, and came up along the inside spreading her folds.  One finger entered her gently to test her readiness for him.  He wasn’t sure how long he could wait for her to catch up with him.

She tossed her head back and forth on the pillow moaning in pleasure.  Her hands moved under his tee shirt, rubbing his shoulders with her hands.  She loved the feel of his bare flesh beneath her fingertips. 

After a moment, he stood and stripped off his shirt, toeing off his shoes, and then pushed his jeans and boxers down and off.  After stepping out of them, he rejoined her on the bed, his lips meeting hers with a kiss rough with passion.

He moved between her legs, and stared straight into her eyes as he entered her.   Once he was deep inside her, he gave her a moment to adjust to him, and then started moving, pushing them both toward the ultimate pleasure. 

Bailey
was a bit shocked by the feeling of having him inside her, but then the pleasure overtook her.  She arched beneath him, her body moving along with his of its own accord.

Soon, they were both crying out in pleasure, and he collapsed beside her on the bed, drawing her close to him.  She pillowed her head on his shoulder, lightly trailing her fingers across his chest, still not quite able to get her breath back.  She couldn’t believe she’d done that with him, but she couldn’t make herself regret it.

After a few moments, she sat up.  “The baby.  I
won’t be able
hear her from here.”
  She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten the baby.  It was the first time since
Faith was
been born she’d been so irresponsible.

He got up and strode to a panel in the wall, apparently unashamed of his nudity.  He flipped a switch she hadn’t noticed before.  “There.  Now we can hear her if she cries.”

He slipped back into bed with her, and held her close.  “Are you okay?”
His eyes echoed his concern.  She was too precious to him to hurt her in any way.

She nodded, embarrassed, burying her face into his shoulder. 

He smiled at her timidity.  “Are you going to be embarrassed every time I make love with you?”
  His voice made it clear this was not an isolated incident.  He planned on doing this often.

“Probably,” she mumbled, her voice muffled by his flesh.

He laughed softly.  “I’ll just have to do it more, so you’ll get used to it.”  His hands started stroking her body again, much slower this time.  “Anything you didn’t like last time?”

She shook her head.  “I liked it all.”
 

“Good.  Let’s see if we can’t find a few more things you like.”  His mouth connected with hers and finally she was able to stop thinking and overanalyzing the situation.

They had a quiet dinner that evening, and she realized no one else had arrived.  “Where are your business associates?”

He smiled, his hand holding hers.  “They’ll be here tomorrow.  And just so you know, it’s just Justin and Cody.  They
each said they were bringing a date, but I don’t think they’re seeing anyone, so who knows what they’ll do?
”
  They’d both responded enthusiastically to his suggestion they bring dates.  He was surprised, because he hadn’t been aware of either of them seeing anyone.  Of course, they didn’t know he was currently sitting here with his nanny, either.

“Why did you guys need to come all the way here to have a meeting?  You couldn’t do it at the office?  Or your house?”  Her voice conveyed her disbelief.
  Were they all just so frivolous they felt the need to go to an exotic location every time they had to have a meeting?  What did that say for their sense of responsibility?

“I wanted to bring you here, because you said you’d never seen the ocean.  Justin had been making noise about us needing to have a meeting about something, and I never even asked what.  I’ve been putting him off for a couple of weeks.  So, I decided I’d come here, and make it a business trip, but bring you and Faith along.”
  He was almost embarrassed to admit there was no real reason for them to be there.

Her eyes widened.  “So you did this for me?”
 
How could any woman resist a man who would do something so sweet?  Why was he still single?

He shrugged, a little embarrassed.  “I need
ed
to get away for a while
,
too.”