Barefoot by the Sea

push in the opposite direction. “Can you excuse us for a second?”

“Of course.” He paused at the kitchen door, watching them walk away. No doubt they’d stroll back in to tell him he was out of the running.

Unless…

“Hey, Tess,” he called.

She turned, slowing enough for him to see something in her eyes. Surprise, humor, a hint of hope. He winked and waited for a quick laugh at the unsubtle flirt.

Instead she raised one eyebrow and kept walking. Bollocks. He’d lost that round.

When they turned into admin area that separated the restaurant from the spa, Tessa steered them into Lacey’s office and shut the door. “Seriously, Lacey?”

“I am completely serious. He’s a great chef. You should see his resume.”

“I’m sure he’s an amazing chef. Hell, if he cooks like he kisses, we’ll be Zagat rated by next month. But, Lacey, I practically threw myself at him the other night and I’m still stinging from how fast he turned me down.”

“You like him, don’t you?”

Tessa puffed out a frustrated sigh and dropped into the guest chair, which only gave her a bird’s-eye view of her dirty shorts and bare legs. “Look how I’m dressed. I look like a…a…”

“A gardener, which you are. Listen, Tess, give the guy a chance.”

“I did.”

“No, you asked him to be a sperm donor.”

“Well…”

“If you hadn’t, you’d probably still be in the bed with him, maybe just now coming up for air.”

Tessa let out a grunt and crossed her work boots. “I can’t do it. I can’t work with him.” She shook her head, trying so hard to convince herself that she meant that. “I mean, I guess I could, but he’s so…so…” Frickin’ hot it hurts.

“I guess if he upsets you that much, then we’ll find someone else.”

Tessa didn’t answer, mostly because she knew Lacey well enough to recognize that there was absolutely zero sincerity in that statement. She was ready to make the guy an offer now.

From behind closed eyes, Tessa corralled her thoughts, but the only thing her brain could conjure up were delphinium-blue eyes, hair the color of streaked hickory bark, and that menacing, deadly creature on his neck. Hell, he was a human garden of delights and dangers.

“Does he upset you?”

“Upset…” Doesn’t even begin to describe. She looked at Lacey and fired up some sarcasm. “Slightly.”

Lacey grinned. “I remember that feeling.”

“No.” She held her hand up to stop the inevitable—and wrong—comparisons. “This is different.”

Lacey ignored her. “I still have that feeling, to be honest.”

“No, no you don’t.”

“Hell, yeah, I do. Last night, as a matter of fact—”

“Lacey!” She slammed her hands on the armrests. “This isn’t like when you met Clay.”

“It’s not?”

“No, that was real. This is…not.”

Lacey laughed. “You don’t know that yet. And trust me, I do know what you’re feeling.” She dropped down into the chair next to Tessa. “Is it so horrible if a guy turns you on, Tess? Would it be the end of the world to get a little wild and crazy with him?”

She blinked at her. “I want to have a baby, not a fling with the tattooed man.”

“Have both.”

Could she do that? A powerful longing twisted through her whole body. Was that longing for him or just her usual maternal aching?

She sat up, an idea occurring. “Isn’t that against the Casa Blanca employee rules?”

Lacey laughed. “I’ll check the handbook I haven’t had time to create yet. Look, even if I had one, the property owner who fell into bed with her architect would be a hypocrite if she made a rule against fraternization.”

Tessa dropped her head back. “I don’t think I can do it.”

“Sure you could. You damn near did it the other night.”

“I mean work with him. I’ll make a complete fool of myself.”

Lacey laughed. “Could be fun.”

“Fun for you and Joss and Zoe, maybe. Anyway, he seems to have no problem turning me down. It’s one thing to lust after a coworker, but it’s another to lust alone after a coworker.”

“I don’t think he’ll hold out for long.”

Lacey made it sound like fun and games, but the reality of the situation wasn’t fun, and getting pregnant wasn’t a game, despite her playful musings about seashells.

“I told him I wanted a sperm donor. What’s he going to think when he finds out I’m cooking up my eggs and some stranger’s sperm in a test tube to be carried in another woman’s belly?” She let out a soft groan. “Oh, God, when I spell it out like that, it sounds so horrible, doesn’t it?”

“Horrible?” Lacey was up and had her arm around Tessa in an instant, the move as natural as her next breath. “Honey, you want a baby and you’re moving heaven and earth to get it. You have to separate the two things. There is nothing horrible about wanting a baby and doing what you can to get one. That’s quite understandable. At the same time you met a man who makes your heart skip and your toes curl and the entire lower half of your body wake up and want to play. That’s understandable, too.”

Tessa relaxed into a grin. “You do know how it feels.”

“I do, and it’s awesome.”

“With the right guy,” Tessa shot back. “Not a long-haired…”

Lacey raised a brow.

“Okay, tattooed…”

And she smiled.

Tessa had to laugh. “He does have a lot in common with your husband.”

“Listen to me,” Lacey said softly. “I know that feeling, but I also know how it feels to hold your child. All I’m trying to say is there’s no law that you can’t try to have your baby and date the new chef. They aren’t mutually exclusive.”

Except that dating and babies generally did have something to do with each other. Then Lacey’s words hit her brain. The new chef. “You’ve already hired him.”

“I want to, assuming his references check out and he passes the physical.” Lacey gave a bad Groucho Marx eyebrow wag. “Which of course would give you all the info you need to know about his potential for all the jobs available at Casa Blanca…including sperm donor.”

Oh, brother. “You’re not listening, Lace. He couldn’t have run away faster. He’s not—”

“Hey, are you in there?”

“Come on in, Joss,” Lacey called. “Tessa’s here, too.”

“Did you see who is in the kitchen?” Jocelyn practically leaped into the room. “Scorpion Man!”

Tessa dropped her head into her hands. “Could this get any worse?”

“I already texted Zoe and told her,” Jocelyn added.

“In other words, yes, it can get worse.” Tessa threw her hands up in surrender. “Look, if you hire him, Lacey, you all have to stop acting like we’re in middle school and I have a crush. I have to work with the guy, plus he’s not my type, and he couldn’t have been less interested in me in the bar the other night.”

“He turned down your request to father a child,” Jocelyn said. “Prior to that, he was majorly interested.”

“Interested in getting laid.”