The Millionaire's Secret Wish (11 page)

Shaken, but determined not to show it, Alisa lifted her chin. “Well, you can consider yourself unbusy with me,” she said, and turned on her heel. She felt his hand circle her wrist, and he spun her back around.

“All these sly comments you keep making about my imaginary harem could get pretty damn old.”

“Women are like potato chips to you, Dylan. You can’t eat just one.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re so clever. Here’s a news flash. Just like you’re no little adoring angel, I’m no player, no—”

“Cheat?” she suggested in a cool voice.

“That’s right,” he said, clenching his jaw. “And the sooner you accept that fact, the better we’ll get along.”

“We don’t need to get along,” she told him.

He took a breath as if he was struggling for patience. “That’s where you’re dead wrong,” he said. “But you’ll learn. It may be the death of me, but you’ll learn.”

Alisa left his house angry enough to spit. She dropped off the film at a quick developer on the way home and decided to wait. After she collected the film, she grabbed a bottle of wine, some brie and bread, and a candy bar.

As she walked through the door of her apartment, she headed straight for the kitchen, got a glass for the wine and a knife and plate for the brie and bread. Making a face at Dylan even though he couldn’t see her, she took her goodies to her bedroom. It was the one room where she felt most comfortable.

Plopping down on the bed, she poured a glass of white wine for herself and took a long cool swallow. “Delicious,” she said, relishing the pleasure and telling herself that Dylan wasn’t a necessary ingredient for her to enjoy her life. When she thought of sensual pleasures, however, her mind stubbornly visualized Dylan.

Wrinkling her nose, she shook off the mental picture and resolved to replace it with real pictures of Tonto. She opened the freshly developed photos and smiled at the friendly retriever. The dog was a handful, but a beautiful handful.
Like his owner?

Alisa chuckled to herself. Dylan would love being compared to a dog. She flipped through the photos and caught sight of one with Dylan laughing. Some
thing inside her pushed her toward him. She lingered over the sight of the light in his eyes, his white teeth, and his heart-melting features. She scanned the next two photos and found another of him, his gaze thoughtful, intense. She’d seen that expression on his face many times. He was a complex man. Not everyone knew that about him, but she did. He was fascinating. There had been a time when she couldn’t know him enough. She still had more than her fair share of curiosity about him.

Why? she wondered, frustration picking at her. She knew more about Dylan than most anyone else. Why was there more she wanted to know?

She poured another glass of wine and nibbled on the brie and bread as she looked through the photos again. After a few moments she picked up her pad of paper and began to sketch. But it wasn’t Tonto’s image that appeared on her pad. It was Dylan. She started with one image she’d gleaned from the photos and sketched Dylan. She looked at it critically and frowned. It wasn’t quite right. It didn’t capture the essence of him. Remembering another facial expression that had intrigued her, she ripped the first sketch off the pad and let it fall to the floor. She began again. Hours later her pad was empty and her floor full of sketches of Dylan.

Dylan continued to join her when she ran in the mornings. Alisa tried to snub him, but the effort made her feel small. Another way the accident had changed her, she supposed. Dylan may be the question mark
in her life that never got answered, but he didn’t deserve poor treatment.

The time drew near for her to take care of the children for Kate and Justin. Alisa was looking forward to a weekend filled with children’s books, finger painting, Disney movies, popcorn and cookies. She packed a bag and heard children’s voices and the sound of a piano playing as she rang the doorbell at Amy and Justin’s home.

The three-and-a-half-year-old twins answered the door and stared at her. “We can’t let you in,” Nick said.

Jeremy nodded. “We’ll get in trouble.”

“Can you get Amy?” Alisa asked.

“She’s real busy,” Nick said, and Jeremy nodded.

Alisa sighed. The first thing she would need to cover with Amy was the temporary transfer of power or she was going to spend a lot of time standing on the front porch this weekend.

“What about Justin?” she asked.

“He’s not to be ’sturbed cuz he’s playing stocks and making lots of money,” Nick said.

“Emily?” she asked doubtfully.

The boys lit up and yelled at the top of their lungs. “Emily, Alisa wants you!”

Emily appeared at the door and smiled.

“Any chance I can come in?” Alisa asked.

Emily nodded and immediately opened the door.

Nick gasped. “You’re gonna get in trouble. You’re not supposed to let people in the house.”

“I won’t get in trouble. Alisa’s taking care of us while Aunt Amy and Justin go on a honeymoon.”

“I wanna go on a honeymoon,” Jeremy said glumly.

“You’re still gonna get in trouble,” Nick said.

“Will not,” Emily said.

“Will, too,” Nick said.

“Will not to infinity,” Emily said, silencing him with her advanced retort.

“What’s infinity?” Nick asked suspiciously.

“It’s bigger than the biggest number you can think of.”

“I wanna go on a honeymoon,” Jeremy said.

Alisa could see the beginning of separation sadness in the small boy and felt a tug on her heartstrings. She put her arm around him. “I brought cookies for everyone who isn’t going on a honeymoon.”

Jeremy’s eyes widened. “Cookies? Lots of cookies?”

She gave him a quick squeeze. “Lots, but not enough to make you sick. We can finger paint and read and play games and watch movies.”

“And go horseback riding,” a deep voice from behind her said.

Alisa whipped her head around to see Dylan just inside the front door. How had he gotten in so easily after she’d stood on the porch for four minutes? She stood. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m helping take care of the kids while Justin and Amy use my condo in Belize,” he said calmly.

“That’s not possible,” she said. “Amy asked me to take care of the kids this weekend.”

“And Justin asked me,” Dylan said.

Alarmed, frustrated, Alisa shook her head. “But—”

“Hey, these kids are great, but they’re a handful. I’m guessing Justin and Amy decided two heads would be better than one.”

He shrugged. “Looks like we’re both baby-sitting. I’ll let you have the master bedroom,” he told her, and leaned closer to speak in a voice just for her ears, “but don’t even think about sneaking into my bed in the middle of the night.”

Alisa opened her mouth to protest, but he continued whispering.

“Just because we’ll be together for three nights doesn’t mean you should remember what it was like for me to touch you and you to touch me. It’s a waste of time for you to remember how good it was when we made love to each other.”

He pulled back. “Don’t even think about trying to seduce me or distract me. I need my sleep,” he told her and strode past her as she watched him with her mouth hanging open.

A
lisa’s visions of a cozy weekend with the children got flushed straight down the toilet. Glancing at Dylan’s broad back, she scowled. She didn’t want to spend an entire weekend with the man she was trying to stuff in a box.

Amy appeared in the den with a suitcase and cast a nervous glance at Alisa and Dylan. “Sorry about the mix-up on the arrangements,” she said. “Justin asked Dylan and I asked you, and after we thought about it, we thought this crew might do better with two adults. Do you mind too much?” she asked Alisa more than Dylan.

“We’re fine,” Dylan said before Alisa could speak.

Alisa surreptitiously shot him a disagreeable look,
then took a deep breath. Amy was clearly nervous about leaving the children. Alisa didn’t want to add to her uneasiness. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

Justin sauntered into the room jingling his car keys and carrying his suitcase. All smiles, he shook Dylan’s hand. “A weekend in Belize at your condo. I owe you for this,” he said.

“My pleasure,” Dylan said. “Drink a Beliken beer for me.”

Nick and Jeremy raced in front of Justin and Amy. “We’re gonna go horseback riding,” Nick said.

Emily trailed behind her brothers.

Amy knelt down in front of the children. “You are going to have so much fun,” she said. “Now make sure you do everything Alisa and Dylan tell you to do. And don’t fight with each other.” She gave each child a tight squeeze. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“When will you be back?” Emily asked.

The uncertainty in the little girl’s voice made a lump form in Alisa’s throat. The children had lost both their parents in the same accident, and the loss they’d battled was tremendous.

“Monday,” Amy said, stroking Emily’s hair. “You can call me anytime. Dylan has the phone number. You help Alisa, okay?”

Emily nodded and clung to Amy. Jeremy returned for a second hug. “Can I go on the next honeymoon?” he asked.

Amy’s eyes filled with tears. “Next time we’ll take a family trip and everyone will go,” she said.

Alisa saw the potential for a cryfest and was determined to head it off. “I need some cookie testers,” she said. “I’m still not sure I’ve got this recipe just right.”

Jeremy appeared front and center. “I’ll be a tester.”

“Me, too,” Nick yelled, then gave a quick squeeze to Justin before he followed Alisa to the kitchen.

Dylan shooed Justin and Amy out the door, and the weekend officially began. After a lunch of sandwiches and cookies, Alisa cleaned up the kitchen while the children played in the backyard. Dylan tossed the trash in the can.

“I didn’t know you liked children,” she said to him.

He met her gaze. “Why wouldn’t I? I was a kid once.”

“Well, you don’t have any children.”

“And I damn well am not having any unless I’m married,” he said heatedly, then shook his head and brushed his finger over her nose. “There are lots of things you don’t know about me, Alisa. You haven’t been paying attention for a long time.”

She wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t. With the exception of her recuperation after her accident, she had done her best not to pay attention to Dylan. She felt a surprising pang and wondered what she’d missed.

“Are you the same girl you were at eighteen?” he asked in a low voice.

She immediately shook her head. “No.”

“I’m not the same guy I was eight years ago, either.”

She couldn’t argue his reasoning. Food for thought when she was already full. She would think about it later. “We should probably check on the kids,” she said, and hurried outside to where the children played on an elaborate swing set that occupied half the backyard. After making sure everyone took a trip to the bathroom, she and Dylan situated the kids in the car and drove to his estate.

They walked to the barn and met Meg Winters and the already saddled horses. At first the children were overwhelmed by the size of the animals.

“He’s awful big,” Jeremy said of Sir Galahad, his wide-eyed gaze filled with wariness.

Nick nodded. “He’s really tall. I want to ride the little one.”

Jeremy nodded, still not quite sure. “You go first,” he said to Nick.

Nick shook his head. “You can go first,” he said with uncharacteristic generosity.

“Emily should go first. She’s a girl,” Jeremy said.

Emily shook her head and backed away. “I want to watch.”

Meg Winters smiled. “The horses look big, but they’re very nice. Come and meet Sir Galahad.”

Meg introduced the kids to the horses, allowed
them to feed them apples and helped them feel more at ease. After a few minutes Nick was willing to try a short ride on the pony, but Jeremy was still reluctant.

Alisa wrapped her arm around the little boy’s shoulder. “Don’t you want to go for a ride, sweetie?”

“He’s so big. What if I fall?”

She gave him a reassuring squeeze. “We won’t let you fall. Would you like me to walk beside you?”

He nodded, and seemed to hold his breath as Dylan placed him in the saddle. Alisa led Sir Galahad for a slow walk in the field. After a short time she returned.

Emily’s little face was filled with a mixture of longing and fear. Dylan was whispering in her ear. She nodded hesitantly, then Dylan mounted the mare and Meg lifted Emily up to sit with him in the saddle.

“Emily’s riding with Dylan,” Nick said with excitement. “I wanna ride with Dylan.”

Alisa watched Dylan hold Emily securely in front of him, allowing her to hold the reins at the same time that he held them. He talked to her in a low, reassuring voice.

The image froze in her mind. On several occasions he had spoken to Alisa in that same reassuring voice when she’d been frightened. He had held her so many times. Her heart swelled in her chest. She wondered what Dylan’s children would look like. Would they be adventurous like him? Would his son drive all the girls crazy with his smile?

What would Dylan’s wife be like? she wondered,
and found the very thought of him marrying hurt. Would his wife see past his wealth to the man he was? Her heart tightened in her chest. Why should any of this matter to her? Confused, she reminded herself that she certainly wasn’t the woman who could hold his attention, so she needn’t be thinking about it.

After the horseback ride, Dylan and Alisa took the kids swimming. The children were so active they had to watch them every minute. The kids played with Tonto, and Dylan grilled hamburgers for dinner. When the sun set they returned home. After baths the children were so tired they nearly fell into bed.

Alisa felt ready to fall down, too. She sank onto the sofa in the den and closed her eyes while Dylan got a beer from the refrigerator. She heard him return and felt him lift her feet at the end of the sofa so he could sit down.

“This is just the first day,” she said, surprised at how tired she was. “I can’t believe their little bodies hold so much energy.”

“And it was only a half day,” Dylan said.

“I’m trying to figure out how Amy was a teacher and then came home to take care of kids, too,” Alisa said in wonder. “But women in all kinds of careers do it every day. I’m surprised she and Justin didn’t move to a larger house after they got married.”

“They wanted the kids to feel secure, so they didn’t make any changes,” Dylan said. “I better hit the road.”

Alisa opened her eyes and stared at him. “You’re not leaving?”

He shrugged and took a swallow of beer. “You said you wanted to do this by yourself.”

Alisa pictured herself taking care of the kids with no help for the next three days and felt her stomach dip. “I might have been a little hasty.”

“Really?” He glanced at her with the ghost of a sexy grin. “Is that your sweet way of saying you need me?”

She took a breath and struggled with her pride. Sitting up, she drew her knees against her. “I’m conceding that in this case two adults are definitely better than one.”

“Even if I’m the other adult,” he concluded.

She threw him a dark look. “I suppose this is when I should tell you that you really surprised me with Emily today. You were wonderful with her.”

“With all my experience with females, I’m surprised you’re surprised.”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” she said. “You were very sensitive and gentle with her.” She paused as similar memories trickled through her mind. “It reminded me of how gentle you were with me when I was a little girl.”

She didn’t reach out to him, but she wanted to. He didn’t touch her, but she could see that he wanted to.

“You made it easy,” he said, and his words and the look in his eyes touched her. The moment swelled between them, brimming with shared memories and
history and unspoken emotion. His gaze fell over her in what she’d almost swear was a longing way. She felt an echo of the same longing inside her.

“We were a good team today?” he said, knocking back the rest of his beer. He stood and strolled toward the door.

She nodded, strangely reluctant for him to go but unwilling to ask him to stay. “We were.”

“I’m going to bed,” he said, and met her gaze. “Remember not to think about me tonight. Remember not to remember,” he told her.

His admonition was like striking a match over a vat of gasoline. She was immediately consumed with memories of what it had been like to be held by him, to make love with him. Damn him, he wouldn’t stay in her neat little box.

It rained on Saturday, and Dylan watched as Alisa pulled out her bag of tricks. Books, games, finger painting and more books. When the kids grew edgy in the afternoon, she exchanged a look of desperation with Dylan.

“Television,” he suggested in a mock-serious tone. “With all this emphasis on reading, kids just don’t get enough television these days.”

She chuckled and the sound warmed him. Dylan resisted the urge to touch her, but he was getting damn tired of resisting.

“I’m saving TV for when I have zero working
brain cells left. Everyone, put on your old tennis shoes,” she said.

“What do you have planned?” he asked.

She smiled at him mysteriously. “Hey, when it comes to rainy days, I learned from the best.”

“Walking in the rain and stomping through mud puddles. Cleanup’s gonna be he—” He broke off when she shook her head at the swear word he almost used. The kids had big ears. “Hellacious,” he said.

“I’d rather have a tough cleanup than grumpy kids. But you can stay inside if you’re afraid of getting wet,” she said with a challenge in her eyes that made him want to haul her over his shoulder and carry her home. Someday, he promised himself. Someday.

Later that night, after dinner and a Disney flick, Nick and Emily drifted off to sleep without a problem. Jeremy, however, was still wide awake after the fourth book Alisa read to him.

“What do you usually do at bedtime?” Alisa whispered to the little boy.

“Go to sleep,” he said.

Dylan smothered a chuckle at the look of consternation on Alisa’s face.

“What do you do when you have a hard time going to sleep?” she asked.

“I listen to songs,” he said. “‘Kum-ba-yah’ and ‘Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall.”’

She bit her lip. “‘Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall’?”

Jeremy nodded. “Justin sings it to me.”

Alisa glanced at Dylan, and it took him a moment before he grasped the direction her female mind was headed. He shook his head. “Absolutely not,” he said in the most forceful whisper possible.

“But he’s used to a male voice,” she said, brimming with amusement.

“Lower yours,” he said.

“Just think of it as counting sheep for him,” she said, then added, “musically.”

Groaning, Dylan walked to the side of the boy’s bed and sat down on the floor. He looked into Jeremy’s wide open eyes. “I’m warning you I don’t sing very well.”

Jeremy patted Dylan on the head. “That’s okay. Justin can’t, either. That’s why I fall asleep so fast.”

With those words of encouragement and Alisa’s barely muffled snicker, he began to sing, if one used the term loosely, “Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall” and didn’t stop until he was down to seventy-three bottles. He watched Jeremy’s chest rise and fall with sweet, even breaths. Sleep, blessed sleep.

He glanced up to meet Alisa’s gaze and caught a tenderness in her eyes that made his heart stop. In that moment she was closer to loving him than she had been in eight years.

She finally looked away and he breathed again. Dropping a kiss on Jeremy’s forehead, she stood and nodded toward the door. They walked out of the room and after closing the door, drew a collective sigh of relief.

“I cannot tell a lie. I’m very impressed,” she said.

“You didn’t know I could sing,” he said, leaning sideways against the wall beside her.

She bit her lip. “I still don’t know you can sing.”

“You’re impressed that I know all the words to ‘Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall,”’ he concluded tongue-in-cheek.

Alisa rolled her eyes. “No, I’m just impressed you did it. You didn’t want to do it, but he needed you to sing tonight.”

“It could have been a purely selfish move,” he told her. “Jeremy’s sleep equals Dylan’s sleep.”

She tossed him a skeptical glance and leaned closer to him. “Maybe, but I think it was pretty terrific of you to sing Jeremy to sleep.”

“How terrific?” Dylan asked.

“Very terrific,” she said. “Why?”

“Will you give me a good-night kiss if I finish ‘Seventy-two Bottles of Beer on the Wall’?”

Alisa looked horrified. “I’ll give you a good-night kiss if you promise not to sing ‘Seventy-two Bottles of Beer on the Wall.”’

“Deal,” he said, and lowered his head.

She turned her head and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Dylan didn’t say a word. He just met her gaze and stayed where he was. Her eyes glinted with an array of emotions: passion, longing, doubt. Oh, how he hated seeing the doubt.

Slowly she lifted her mouth to his and he knew this was the sweetest offering he could receive. She didn’t
completely trust him, and that knowledge burned in his gut like a hot iron. But she wasn’t denying she wanted him.

Resisting the urge to claim and consume, he kissed her gently. He savored the soft texture of her mouth and just barely dipped his tongue across her silky inner lips. She swept her tongue over his, and again he forced himself to hold back. In the soft light of the hall he felt the door to her heart crack open. It was a fragile moment he was determined to handle with care.