Not wanting Matt to know she had so little to her name, she said, "I thought I'd try out the whirlpool tub in my room. It looks awesome."
A heavy pause followed, one that was long enough for her to realize--too late--the suggestiveness of her comment.
"Yes," he finally agreed. "The tubs in this house are great."
Praying she hadn't stepped over some nanny boundary and promising herself to be more careful in the future, she said, "Good night."
When her bedroom door closed, she sagged against it.
If Daniel ever suspected she had the hots for his business partner, he'd tell Matt to send her packing for sure.
Chapter Five
By the end of the first week, Matt was seriously concerned for his sanity.
Ari's tantalizing scent lingered in a room after she left it. The upstairs hallway smelled like lavender bath salts, and he couldn't erase the image of her naked in all that bubbling water. Story time with Noah had become torture, with Ari curled up in the wicker chair by the window, listening with rapt attention. He sometimes lost himself in midsentence, unable to keep his eyes off her. Dinner was equally dangerous. She told him about the day's activities, and he could barely remember a thing. Not when he was so drawn to the heat of her body, the glow of her hair, the sweetness of her skin, the way her mouth moved.
And how badly he wanted to taste her.
If Ari had been merely pretty, he'd have gotten over it. Especially since her exuberance and her unconscious charm had initially reminded him of Noah's mother. That should have warned him off if nothing else did. Irene was like Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's--silly and carefree, always getting herself into trouble, but so sweet you couldn't help forgiving her. Until one day you couldn't take any more...and you realized you'd never be more than a fun, and temporary, distraction. Irene flitted in every few weeks or months, showering Noah with extravagant gifts, then disappearing just as quickly, leaving behind a devastated little boy who couldn't understand why his mommy always left him.
But Matt couldn't help but feel that there was so much more to Ari. The questions she asked, her interest in Noah, the way she listened to the bedtime stories, her gaze soft with affection for his child. The fact that she wanted to talk to his son's teachers and find activities that would enhance his capabilities, to actually learn who Noah was as a person, was not only beyond anything any nanny had ever given--it was beyond what Noah's own mother had given him.
When she'd told Matt she'd keep his son safe, it felt like a vow.
But it was the moment she'd told him how books had been her lifeline that he couldn't forget. Her words could have been his own. No one else had ever understood just how much the pages of books transported him. He forgot the neighborhood, his life, the bullies, his dad's angry words. He was somewhere better. He didn't know how bad Ari's childhood had been, but books had obviously done the same thing for her.
"So how are things going with your new nanny?"
Matt started at Sebastian's question. The Maverick Group's headquarters were on the twenty-ninth floor of Sebastian's high-rise in downtown San Francisco, and this was one of the rare occasions when they were all there at the same time. All five Mavericks had their own offices, along with Cal Danniger, their business manager, and Noah Bryant, their lawyer.
"Ari's great with Noah," Matt said. "She takes him interesting places, teaches him. I've never had a nanny so involved."
"Sounds like she's got a lot of energy," Evan said, leaning against the reception desk, arms folded over his chest. "Isn't she a lot younger than your previous nannies?"
"She's definitely full of energy and enthusiasm," Matt replied.
They were spotlighting him, and he cursed the heat coursing through his body at the mention of her. She was a heck of a lot younger than he was, she'd come out of a difficult past as a foster child--and, most important of all, she was off-limits! He knew he had his head in all the wrong places.
"You've got a winner in Ariana." Daniel sprawled in a leather chair, legs spread, hands on his knees. "Your home has got to be like a breath of fresh air for her."
Matt was once again reminded of her scent. Which then reminded him of her nightly soak in the tub...and all the images that assailed him when he was just down the hall, unable to get her out of his head.
"She's special," Daniel went on. "She always took the new employees under her wing and showed them the ropes."
"Then why did you let her go?" Will looked up from scrolling through his phone. "Jeremy keeps talking about how pretty she is, by the way. Sounds like he hasn't forgotten meeting her in San Jose when we were all rebuilding the youth home."
"Don't talk about how pretty she is," Daniel said. "You'll give this guy"--he hooked a thumb at Matt--"ideas."
"Ideas are the farthest thing from my mind," Matt lied, every eye on him. It was a lie he was afraid his closest friends would see through if they looked hard enough. The Mavericks were protectors, and they were all keeping an eye out for Ari. There'd be hell to pay if he screwed up.
"Anyway," Daniel continued, "having been a foster kid, she appreciates the importance of surrounding children with love and kindness."
The Mavericks had been raised with Susan and Bob's love and kindness. But the years before that had shaped them too. When high school came to an end for all of them, they'd made a vow to get out of that filthy Chicago neighborhood, and they'd each done it in their own way.
Will had turned his uncanny sense of what people desired into an importing empire. Sebastian's sensitivity and charisma brought him worldwide renown as a self-help authority. Evan had his numbers, Matt had his inventions, and Daniel had his home improvement conglomerate.
Each and every one had their demons to battle too. Matt could self-analyze enough to admit that his dad's cruel words still played a huge role in who he was today.
No son of mine is going to be an effing weenie.
Your friends can't do all the sticking up for you your whole life, ya puny little weakling.
Buck up, you idiot.
He'd eventually bucked up. But he'd also sworn never to tear his son down the way his own father had tried to demolish him. He'd always controlled himself ruthlessly, never yelled at Noah--never yelled at anyone in front of him either. And he'd vowed to protect his son from anyone who did, whether on a playground or at school. He worried that he wouldn't be able to step up for his son every single time, like the day that kid had slapped the book out of Noah's hands...but he pushed those fears out of his head. He would be there for his kid, just the way Susan and Bob had been there for each of the Mavericks.
The elevator dinged and the middle set of doors opened on Cal Danniger. "Did I miss a meeting notification?"
"Nope. We're grilling Matt about his nanny," Sebastian drawled.
Cal stepped out of the elevator, letting the doors close behind him. As business manager, he handled all their mutual holdings under The Maverick Group umbrella. While they were hands-on, it was impractical for the five of them to manage the ventures the entire group was involved in. Cal was their trusted guy.
"Don't tell me you lost another one. How long did she last? A week?" Cal shook his head in feigned disgust. While he wasn't a Maverick, they all looked on him as a sort of cousin, given that he'd worked for them from the inception of The Maverick Group.
"I haven't lost this one," Matt growled. And he wouldn't.
Not as long as he kept his hands to himself.
"I don't get what's so wrong with them all," Will said.
"I caught the last one speaking harshly to Noah." Matt could still feel his blood boiling over that. He'd fired her, had her pack up her things and get the hell out of his house inside of ten minutes.
"Are you really that bad a judge of character every time you hire someone to take care of your kid?" Sebastian asked.
He was a damn good judge of character, but dealing with children was different than managing a QC department or running an assembly line. "No
ah is special. I want the perfect nanny for him, and I've got high standards. What's wrong with that?"
"Luckily, Ariana's perfect," Daniel said. "So don't mess it up."
Evan pushed away from the reception desk. "Glad you're here, Cal. Do you have a status report on the Link Labs endeavor yet?" They'd signed the agreement almost six months ago, and so far things had been progressing better than expected. Matt had brought the venture to the group, but Evan was their financial guru, and he was all about the numbers and quarterly reports.
"I've got it all in my office," Cal said, heading down the hall with Evan.
Matt was damned glad he was off the hot seat. Sooner or later, if they kept talking about Ari, he was bound to give himself away.
The bigger problem was that more than his base nature was getting to him. His fantasies were no longer merely about begging her to let him join her in that tub. Sometimes they were about joining her with Noah, going to the zoo, simply being with her.
Ari was becoming an obsession.
"Evan's looking a little haggard." Sebastian slouched in his chair, his gaze on the hallway.
Will frowned. "Living with Whitney will do that to a guy. He needs a good woman like Harper." His eyes turned bright with that look of love he got whenever he said her name.
Will had never looked happier or seemed more content, not even when he'd made his first billion. Only Harper had done that for him. Along with her brother, Jeremy. They'd be married in Chicago at Bob and Susan's house over the Christmas holiday, and Matt had a feeling Jeremy might have a little niece or nephew within a year.
"It really sucks how things have worked out for them," Daniel said. "I'm not a fan of divorce, but sometimes I'm not sure there's another way."
Matt agreed, but he was afraid Evan couldn't see the light. "He'll never do it. He's too loyal." Then he turned to Sebastian. "How's Noah's dinosaur coming?"
Sebastian's fiancee, Charlie, was a brilliant artist who worked primarily in metal. And she'd promised Noah a dinosaur for his garden.
Just hearing her name had his friend smiling with a look in his eye that could have been the twin of Will's for his fiancee. "New commissions are being thrown at Charlie every day, but she loves working on Noah's present. All I can say without spoiling any surprises is that you should think about getting the garden ready soon for some absolutely brilliant sculptures."
"You and Will are just too disgustingly happy," Daniel groused good-naturedly.
Sebastian trained his eagle eye on Daniel. "What about you? You've been spending all your free time working on your cabin in Tahoe lately. Is there someone you've got hidden up there that you're not telling us about?" He cocked one devilish brow.
Daniel laughed and shook his head like they were nuts. But he tugged at the open collar of his shirt, as if somehow, impossibly, it had become a little tight. "I just want the roof on the cabin before winter this year."
"Right," Will said, obviously having noticed the collar-tugging as well.
To save himself, Daniel turned the spotlight back on Matt. "What about you? Anyone caught your eye recently?"
Jesus, he'd thought their interrogation was over.
"Nope." But if Daniel's collar had been tight, Matt's was strangling him.
Because Ari had caught him from the first time he'd ever set eyes on her.
Chapter Six
October in the San Francisco Bay Area could be warm, especially in the early part of the month, but Matt's pool was heated all year round, and Ari intended to make the most of it. Three times during their first week, she'd given Noah swimming lessons, and he was doing extremely well. He wasn't afraid of the water in his face, but he hated his water wings.
"Sorry, sweetie," she called out as he clung to the far edge of the pool. "You can't take them off. Let's try it again--swim to me." She held out her arms in encouragement as Noah did another lap of the shallow end.
He splashed through the water toward her, the water wings making his strokes awkward. Matt had insisted he wear them for safety reasons, but from everything she'd learned in her courses--and she'd even looked up the question online--there was a good basis for kids his age to swim without flotation devices when they were under adult supervision. She hoped Matt could see that tomorrow if he joined them, since he devoted his weekends to Noah.
The week had been fabulous. Noah was adorable, and his laughter twisted her heart around his little finger. Their driver, Doreen, took them anywhere Ari wanted to go. They'd visited the Oakland Zoo one afternoon, gone to the mummy museum another day. Once, they'd played with Jorge and Rosie, and just as Ari had predicted, the two children had become fast friends. When she told Matt about it, he'd seemed pleased.
But she especially loved story time each night, when she sat in the wicker chair and watched Matt read to his son. She got her fill of his gorgeous face, his tender smile, the love in his eyes. Then, after they'd tucked Noah in, Matt made time to talk with her about the day.
Her fantasies about him were only a dream. One that would never come true. But in her experience, dreams were often better--because no one left you in the end or threw you out when they were tired of you.
And really, the nanny and the rich guy? It wasn't just a fairy tale--it was a full-blown cliche.
In the water, Noah threw one last burst of power into his arms to reach her. She scooped him up and held him high, her muscles straining. He was a growing boy and getting heavy. "You're an amazing swimmer!" Setting him on the pool deck, she hoisted herself up beside him. "Okay, since we're getting out, we can take the water wings off now."
"Yay!" He immediately pushed them down his little arms, then ran for the towels on the chaise lounge where Ari had left them.
"No running by the pool," she cautioned him, and was glad he slowed down to a fast walk.
After drying herself off and putting on her terrycloth cover-up, she sat on the edge of the chair and helped Noah dry off his thick, curly hair. The late afternoon sun sparkled on the rippling water in the pool. She was in the most beautiful place on earth, with a thicket of live oaks just beyond the lawn and a row of flowering bushes. Nothing could be better.
Then Matt unexpectedly stepped out of the house, and her heart actually stopped. Just bam! Her breath caught and her skin tingled, and it felt like all the stars fell out of the sky.
In jeans, he was a masterpiece worthy of a museum. But in a black suit, his tie off, and the top two buttons of his white dress shirt undone... Sweet Lord, he was someone you could see only on a movie screen. Someone to gaze at and drool over but never touch, because he couldn't possibly be real.
Seeing his father, Noah squealed and squirmed away from her. "Daddy," he shouted in his high, sweet voice as he ran along the pool's edge. "Guess what I just did!"
"Don't run," she called out, Matt echoing her words.
But Noah was too focused on his daddy to listen as he cut the corner of the pool. Her heart in her throat, Ari started running too. But she wasn't fast enough to stop Noah from tripping.
Someone was shouting, maybe screaming--it could have been her. Then Noah's little voice cried, "Daddy!" as he fell, his skull heading toward the concrete lip of the pool.
The water exploded with a great splash as Matt dove into the shallow end just as Ari reached the edge. But Noah fell before she could catch him.
She'd never believed in miracles until that moment, when Matt seemed to grab Noah right out of the air before he actually plunged into the water. He held the little boy's body in his arms as though he were a rare jewel, while Noah squalled.
Then she saw the splash of blood on Noah's forehead, and her ears rang with terror, her voice dried up.
"Call Doreen now!" Matt ordered. "Tell her we need to go to the hospital."
He might have shouted. She might only have been reading lips. Cradling his precious son in his arms as Noah cried, Matt slogged to the stairs. Water streamed from them both as he climbed out.
Ari had already grabbed her phon
e. Doreen answered immediately, and Ari shouted instructions she couldn't actually hear over the roar in her ears.
"I think he hit his head." Matt ran his shaking hand over Noah's scalp. "It's okay, buddy. Daddy'll take care of you."
He carried Noah across the deck while Ari followed. Matt's sodden suit left a trail over the sun porch, then the floor, and Doreen met them at the front door.
"The car's ready." Matt's driver took in Noah's pale face and Matt's ruined suit, then ran down the front steps to open the car door, her blond ponytail bouncing, so perky and out of place in the moment.
They piled into the backseat, Noah in Matt's arms and Ari crowded against them, her hand on Noah's forehead.
She couldn't feel a lump, and she prayed he'd suffered no more than a scrape and a bruise. He'd taken a tumble--and scared the living daylights out of them--but his daddy had saved him.
Then she lifted her gaze from Noah. And saw Matt's stricken face.
*
How could I have let this happen?
Matt shouldn't have surprised them. And he should have been more strict with Noah about never running by the pool. But Noah sped everywhere, and he was always excited when Matt got home.
"He's going to be just fine," Ari said softly.
She was trying to soothe him, but just as he hadn't stopped Noah's tumble into the pool's edge, he couldn't stop the jumble of his guilt-ridden thoughts either.
He swallowed hard, his teeth grinding together. Noah no longer whimpered and lay quietly in his arms as Doreen guided the big car through the streets. Thank God the hospital wasn't far.
"It's probably just a scrape."
He could barely hear Ari's words when he was so frozen with terror and when he kept seeing Noah falling on repeat inside his head.
"It was an accident," she said softly. "That's how kids are, always rushing."
But accidents didn't happen to Noah. Matt had vowed to always protect his kid. Always. He was worth more than an oil baron or a social media king, and if he couldn't protect his kid no matter what, then what was the use of all that money?