"Surprise, surprise," Julie drawled.
Grace laughed and lifted her hair off her neck to let some air circulate. "As I've learned in my two short weeks with my employer, harassing and haranguing constitute Delilah's primary method of operation. I have no complaints, though. She's been darned good to me, and Molly's a joy."
Julie found no fault with the second half of that statement. The first had her lifting her brows in polite disbelief.
"It's true," Grace insisted. "Her bark is a whole lot worse than her bite. Most of the time."
"If you say so."
"Back to this stuff we bundled up. It was gorgeous, Julie. A Chanel suit and Viktor Russo handbag, among other things. Not your style, maybe, but I bet the shop has some things that are."
"I'm not sure I want to show up at a fancy dress ball wearing a gown one of Delilah's acquaintances discarded."
"Oh. Right." Grace chewed on that dire possibility for a while before offering another suggestion. "I'm pretty good with a needle. If you did find something you liked, we could alter and accessorize so that not even the original designer would recognize his creation."
The generous offer moved Julie. She'd enjoyed a wide circle of girlfriends during her younger years, but most had dropped off the radar after her parents' death and Julie's subsequent necessity of holding two or three jobs while working her way through college. Even the few she'd held onto had slipped away during the years she'd spent flying down in South and Central America. So the obvious sincerity behind Grace's suggestion warmed a corner of her heart.
"Thanks," she said with real gratitude. "I appreciate the offer, but you wouldn't have time to do alterations."
"Sure I would." A dimple appeared in the nanny's right cheek. "As you may have noticed, Delilah tends to preempt many of my duties. And tomorrow's my day off. I'd enjoy hitting the shops with you. Unless you and Alex have other plans," she tacked on as he reappeared.
"I don't know." Julie turned the question over to him. "Do we? Have plans for tomorrow?"
"We did," he answered with a small grimace as he slipped his cell phone into its case. "I wanted to take you to the airfield so you could scope out DI's air ops center. Looks like I have make a quick trip to Tulsa instead. One of our major customers has a problem that requires my attention. Sorry."
"No need to apologize. I didn't expect you to spend every day with me."
Or every night, although she sincerely hoped she wouldn't have to alter the agenda she'd formulated for later this evening. First priority was to get Alex alone. Second, to get him naked. Then … Well, three, four and five would take care of themselves.
Which begged the question-what came after five? Or six? Or seven? She didn't bother to kid herself any longer. Sometime in the past few days what she felt for Alex Dalton had slipped past attraction and plain old-fashioned lust. She was now flying dangerously close to unfamiliar territory, with no charts or instruments to guide her. She was wondering just where they would land when Blake emerged from the house.
"I heard Mom over the baby monitor," he announced with a grin. "She was informing Molly that good little girls probably shouldn't poop in their bathwater."
"Uh-oh." Grace pushed out of her chair. "I better get up there. So Julie, are we good for tomorrow?"
"I am if you are."
"Great. I'll pick you up at ten. We can have lunch out." She waved to the men. "'Night, Alex. See you, Blake."
Blake's gaze followed the nanny as she retreated into the house before turning back to Julie. "You and Grace have something planned for tomorrow?"
"We're going to hit the shops."
"Good. I'm glad she's getting out for a while. Mother's kept her jumping for the past two weeks. What's on your schedule, Alex?"
"I've got to go to Tulsa."
The brothers shared a look.
"No problem," Blake said in his easy way. "I'll spend the day here with Molly and Mom."
"But … " Guilt and confusion tagged Julie. "Grace said it was her day off."
"It is. And mother's more than competent to take care of Molly. What's more, she'll have Louis and the other staff close at hand. Alex and I just like to provide a little, uh, backup."
"Make that a little 'parental oversight'," Alex clarified as he and Julie drove through the star-studded night. "And not necessarily of Molly."
"Good grief! What do you imagine your mother could do with a six-month old in tow?"
"Whatever she decides needs doing," he returned with some feeling. "She had Blake and me crawling through pipe sections and swinging from oil rigs before we could walk. Hauling us out to the fields with her was a necessity back then. Times have changed, although you'd have a hard time convincing our mother of that."
Julie didn't comment but she suspected whichever of the Dalton men proved to be Molly's father would have their hands full riding herd on a small daughter and a supercharged mother. She pitied the poor woman who landed in the middle of that triangle. Any Dalton bride would have to fight tooth and nail to keep from getting mowed down in the scuffle.
Which brought her back full circle to the question of where this … this thing … between Alex and her could go. If, in fact, it went anywhere. A wave of sudden doubt hit her when she keyed open the door to the guest suite and he paused on the threshold.
"I've been thinking about us, Julie."
So there was an "us." The plural gave her a small thrill, although Alex looked way too serious for her peace of mind. Especially considering the agenda she'd privately mapped out for the rest of the evening.
"I've been pushing you since the day I showed up unannounced at Agro-Air," he said slowly.
"True, although I would probably use a stronger verb than 'push' to describe blackmail and the sneaky ploy of turning my stated weakness for pizza against me."
"So I'll back off," he continued, "if you want me to."
"Let me think about that for a moment." Crossing her arms, she gave the issue the serious consideration it deserved. "One, I didn't have to agree to the deal you offered me and my partners. Two, I didn't have to make this jaunt to the city. Three, I certainly didn't have to grab you by the ears and drag you to bed last night."
"That's not quite how I remember it," he said as a grin slipped out, "but go on."
Okay, she needed to be honest here. Not a real problem, since she'd never learned to do coy. Still, she couldn't bring herself to voice the emotions she hadn't quite sorted through yet. The best she could do was a stripped-down version of the truth.
"Four, I seem to have a lamentable case of the hots for you, Dalton. So all things considered, I'd say no. I don't want you to back off."
That was all Alex had been waiting for. He'd been aching for this woman all evening. Listening to her spar with his mother … Seeing the moonlight glint on the dark red of her hair … Remembering how she'd moaned and arched under him last night … He'd damned near doubled over with wanting her.
His conscience had jabbed right through the wanting, though. More than one competitor had accused him of steamroller tactics. And it was true. He tended to go all out when he desired something. Or in this case, someone. Except desire didn't begin to describe the hunger he felt for Julie Bartlett. As a consequence, he'd spent most of the ride home telling himself to throttle back and let whatever this was between them develop gradually, naturally. Thank God she'd seen his brief spurt of nobility for the BS it was!
His conscience now conveniently out of the way, he covered the mouth she tipped up to his. Hunger ripped into him, swift and fierce. This time, though, he was determined to take things slow. He wanted to explore every inch of Julie's long, lithe body. Savor the strength in the sleek muscles she'd developed from jenking a two-ton aircraft into hard turns.
That was the plan, anyway. Right up until they stumbled into the guest suite, still locked together and feeding ravenously off each other. Her hands attacked his shirt buttons. His tugged at the hem of her blouse. The moment Alex found smooth skin and warm woman, he jettisoned the last of his good intentions and backed her to the wide leather sofa.
She tumbled onto the cushions. He followed her down. Breathless and awkward with their bodies tangled at odd angles, she laughed up at him with those mesmerizing eyes. He could lose himself in them. In her. Might already have done just that. The realization hit while Alex could still form a semi-coherent thought, just nanoseconds before his blood rushed south, his mind shut down, and he channeled all his energy to the task of baring Julie to his hands and tongue and teeth.
He woke at his usual 6 a.m. the next morning. Julie lay sprawled beside him in glorious abandon, the top sheet tangled and twisted around her naked form. Smiling, Alex tucked his hands behind his head and let his gaze roam lazily over her curves and hollows.