careful, he could avoid ever finding the right time and place. Then maybe, just maybe, they would both get out of this in one piece.
“Race you to the end of the cove,” he said, sprinting in that direction.
“No fair,” she called after him. “You got a head start.”
As they laughed, the tension between them faded.
“A family is very imp…imp…Daddy, what’s that word?” Christie asked, holding up her book.
Parker leaned over the side of his chair. Christie was on the floor next to him, reading in front of the fire. Erin sat on the sofa deeply engrossed in a book of her own. They’d just finished dinner and Kiki had already left for one of her rendezvous.
“Important,” he said. “See, you can sound it out.
“What’s a ‘tant’?”
“It’s not a real word. It’s just a sound.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I like real words better than sounds. Sounds are hard.”
She rolled onto her back, pulled the book with her and continued to read. “A family is very important. We all have a family. A family can be big or little. A family is more than just a mommy or a daddy.” She dropped the book to her chest. “Is Kiki part of my family?”
Parker didn’t know how to answer that. “I defer to the resident expert. Erin?”
“Hmm?” She glanced up from her book. “What?”
“Is Kiki part of my family?” Christie asked.
“Sure.”
“Is Millie?”
Millie, Parker remembered, was Christie’s favorite doll.
“Yes,” Erin said. “Family is anyone we care about a great deal. Pets can be part of a family.”
Christie sat up and grinned. “So if I had a puppy, he would be part of the family.”
Erin groaned and leaned her head back on the sofa. “I can’t believe I said that.”
“You brought it on yourself,” Parker told her.
“I know.”
“A puppy would be very nice,” Christie said. “Just a little one. He would be very quiet.”
“Somehow I doubt that.” Erin looked at her daughter. “You’re not going to get a puppy tonight. Nor are you going to convince me to get you a puppy. Why don’t you go get Millie and bring her downstairs and I’ll read you both a story?”
“Okay.” Christie scrambled to her feet and raced out of the room.
“You handled that very well,” Parker said. “This parent thing is harder than I thought.”
“It has its rewards.”
He nodded. “I see that.” The lamplight caught her hair and turned the red highlights to the color of fire. “I’m glad you agreed to stay. I appreciate the time to get to know Christie so it will be more comfortable when she’s here on her own.”
“Oh, I thought I’d break you in gently. Maybe give you a practice session or two. You know, leave you two alone for an afternoon.”
“When?” he asked, suppressing his uneasiness at the prospect. God knows what horrible mistakes he could make in a few hours. Thinking about being alone with Christie was fine as long as the reality of it was in the future.
Erin laughed. “Parker, you look as if I just threatened to murder nuns. It’s going to be fine. You and Christie get along great.”
“Sure, while you’re around. What if she starts to cry? What if she falls down and hurts herself? What will we talk about? What will we do?”
“You’ll figure it all out. I promise.”
He didn’t believe that. Maybe he could convince Erin to join her daughter when Christie visited here. Not just because the thought of being alone with Christie made him nervous but also because he liked having Erin around. She was funny and bright. She considered herself on equal footing with him. He knew she often forgot he was a millionaire several times over. He liked that. He hadn’t grown up around money so he wasn’t used to people treating him differently.
She set her book down and leaned forward on the sofa. Her feet were tucked under her. “Kiki will be here,” she reminded him. “I’m sure if you ask her, she’ll forgo her nocturnal visiting. At least for the first couple of nights.”
“Very funny,” he muttered.
She laughed. The sweet sound found an answering chord deep in his chest. Sometimes he thought her laughter was the most healing sound he’d ever heard. She complicated the hell out of his world. He wanted her. He liked her. He refused to screw things up by acting on his desire.
Life was damn hard sometimes, but he knew how to make it easy. He wasn’t going to let her know she got to him. He was going to be her friend, nothing more. He was going to be polite and pleasant and never let on that he’d once had the insane thought of asking her and Christie to stay. Permanently.
Chapter Ten
Erin opened the large manila envelope and dumped the contents onto the small desk in the corner of her room. She sorted through her forwarded mail, picking out the bills, tossing junk mail disguised as real correspondence. There wasn’t much here. Her rent was due, as were the utilities and the phone bill. Four bills. She got her checkbook from her purse and started to write.
Ten minutes later, she had finished. She leaned back in her chair, then glanced out the open window to her right. A perfect starry night winked back at her. If someone had told her she was going away for the summer she would have thought it would take weeks to prepare. But the reality was very different. Joyce picked up her mail and forwarded it once a week. The landlord’s gardener took care of the small yard. There were no pets, no other commitments. She and Christie had simply disappeared into Northern California and no one noticed.
That wasn’t completely true, Erin reminded herself. Joyce noticed. She’d called a couple of times to make sure Erin knew what she was doing. Erin always told her yes, even though she wasn’t sure. She’d been here a month. In that time, she, Parker and Christie had settled into a routine. They were living like a family. She enjoyed the situation, even if it wasn’t real.
Joyce warned her that Parker could still be an ax murderer in disguise. Erin had reassured her friend on that point. Parker was a complex man, but he wasn’t a sociopath. They were both a little confused about their relationship. It was complicated by Christie, the fact they were strangers trying to parent together, and by the past. And by her attraction to him.
As she sealed the envelopes and wrote the return address, she fought the memories of that night they’d had the storm. The night he’d said he was attracted to her and then had kissed her.
She’d relived that night a thousand times in her mind. Every time she was just as confused and just as aroused. What had really happened between them? Why had he walked away from her? Not that she wasn’t grateful, because she was. She hadn’t been with a man in years and she and Parker had barely known each other a few days. It was too soon, although her hormones didn’t agree.
But why had he kissed her? Should she believe what he said? Logically it made no sense to lie to her. She’d already agreed to let Christie spend the summer, so there wasn’t anything to be gained by seducing her or pretending a physical attraction that didn’t really exist. In fact, a physical relationship would only complicate matters between them.
Was it just straight sexual awareness? Was she trying to make it more complicated than it needed to be? Erin smiled. What a concept! It was possible he really wanted her, she supposed. Although she’d gotten so used to thinking of herself as a sexless single mother, a man finding her attractive was startling to say the least.
After four weeks, Parker still had the power to make her knees tremble. She hated the weakness and loss of
