“Is it helping?”
He grunted in approval. “You’re hired.”
Her presence had his mind continuing to drift back over the night. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about how to get her to move back into town, and he came across a piece of information in the newspaper that spurred an idea. Someone had left the paper on his desk, turned to the real estate section. It all but jumped out at him. The house Emma grew up in was for sale.
He needed his daughter close, preferably in town with him, but in order to get to Annie, he had to go through Emma first. Oh sure, he could do what he threatened and call his father’s lawyers and fight her for custody, but he didn’t have the heart to do that. After everything she’d been through, she didn’t deserve to be treated that way. This one simple task he could do for her.
He needed to get her into town first, where he could take care of the both of them.
“I have a proposition for you.”
Her fingers moved up the back of his neck, kneading the spot at the base of his skull. “All right.”
“Been thinking about it all night, actually. I could use an assistant at the club. Frankly I’d like to be able to spend more time down on the floor and less time doing all that damn paperwork. I could also use someone to keep track of the employees. I need people hired and I don’t have time to do interviews. Now, with Annie, I’m going to have even less time because I’d like to be able to cut my hours. You just can’t do eighty hours a week with a kid.”
Her hands paused. “So you thought of me?”
“Well, yes. It’s a position I need to fill and frankly, it’d get you back into town, but,” he sat forward and turned to face her, “more importantly, I need someone I can trust. Last month’s inventory was off by three hundred dollars and cash came up short by five.”
“Somebody’s stealing.”
“I’m having security cameras installed this week. I need to catch them in the act before I can start firing people. There are only one or two people I know I can trust, but to be honest, I’m half tempted to fire the rest and hire a whole new crew.” It bugged the hell out of him he didn’t know who to trust in his own place. Most of them had been there since he opened.
Emma looked at her hands, resting on the back of the chair. “I’d have to quit my job.”
He asked a lot. “Plus move back to town, I know. You’re perfect for the job. You could do this with your eyes closed. I’m prepared to pay you ten percent over what you’re making now, whatever it is. Benefits included.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, but stood twisting her fingers together before finally looking at him. “I need some time to think about it.”
He nodded. “Of course. When you go back to work on Wednesday, if you do decide to commute, I’ll cover your expenses.”
She drew in a heavy breath, her chest rising and falling. “I wanted to talk to you about that. I’m afraid I’m not planning to commute. I’ll bring Annie home with me during the week, and we can stay with you on the weekends.”
He drew his brows together and shook his head. “I want my daughter to stay here.”
Emma let out a long tired sigh. “I can’t commute, Dillon. That’s three hours of driving every day. On top of nine hours at the office. That makes for a hell of a day.”
“Then you’ll leave her with me and come back on the weekends.” He hoped she wouldn’t, but Dillon braced himself for an emphatic denial. Emma Stanton was overprotective and always had been.
Her body tensed, concern a palpable emotion in her eyes. “No offense Dillon, but you don’t know the first thing about babies. You said so yourself. Do you even know CPR?”
“I recertified six months ago.” Her intense rejection bothered him. Taking care of Annie would give him the opportunity to prove he was a capable, dependable adult, not the careless teen she remembered. He cocked a brow. “Surely you don’t think I’d hurt her?”
She looked down and shook her head. “No. Of course not, but babies are tricky.”
He leaned his elbow on the back of the chair. “Then how ’bout we make a bet on it? That I can take care of Annie until you come back on Saturday.”
Her chin ratcheted up a notch. “I’m coming back Friday night.”
He shook his head. “I want till Saturday morning. That gives me three days. Four if you count tomorrow.”
She folded her arms. “How do you expect to care for a baby when you haven’t even changed a diaper yet? You said it yourself, you don’t get up before noon. Annie gets up at six. What if you’re sound asleep and don’t hear her cry? Who’ll watch her while you’re at work?”