She hoped.
In the end she couldn’t see any reason not to trust him.
“Okay,” she said at last. “Lead the way.” She followed the guys to a section where the creek was narrower and they took turns hopping over it. Then they walked down a couple of houses to a sprawling, white-brick colonial.
Holy cow.
She didn’t have to worry about him having bad intentions toward her. Gorgeous men with this kind of money in the bank usually had more women than they could handle. Not that it mattered. This wasn’t a social call. She was staying just long enough to get some sleep, charge her phone, and get in contact with her sister. Then she was gone.
We’re practically family.
She ignored the thrill those words made her feel. The only family she had was a father she’d never met and a sister who was halfway around the world. These were hardly normal circumstances and, even if they were, the last thing she had time for was a handsome man.
Especially since the last one she’d liked had ended up dead.
* * *
After showing Raina to a guest room, Jackson retrieved his cell phone from his office. He’d had his security company on speed dial ever since his youngest son had gotten tall enough to reach the door handle. He’d been locked out plenty of times.
Although he doubted anyone would be willing to come out on a holiday weekend without charging an outrageous amount, it was still worth calling. The Raina Winters he knew probably wouldn’t even blink at the price. She no doubt spent thousands a month just on the fancy clothes she usually wore.
You’re going to let me stay at your house?
Not that she wasn’t usually polite, but she’d seemed stunned and incredibly grateful at the offer. He softened, remembering the look on her face. Why was she having this effect on him now? They’d been neighbors for almost six months. His boys adored her and she was always very friendly, but he’d never felt anything more than passing interest. But she’d seemed different. Approachable, even. Which was dangerous, in more ways than one.
He hit the last speed dial on his phone and waited as it rang. As expected, it went to voice mail.
“Hey, Len, it’s Jackson Alexander. One of my neighbors is locked out. You’re probably out of town for the long weekend but if not, let me know. She’s staying with me in the meantime. Thanks.”
He called a few other companies for good measure, then tucked his phone in his pocket. All they could do now was wait. It was a long shot, hoping that anyone would be able to come out on a holiday, but the alternative was spending the long weekend with a supermodel. Raina Winters was the kind of woman he usually stayed far away from.
After the dark year following Cynthia’s death, his friends had pushed him headfirst into the singles scene, determined to draw him out of his depressed state. He’d gone out with singers, actresses, athletes, and socialites. Blondes, brunettes, and every shade in between. Curvy and slender, feisty and giggly, he’d been on a mission to feast on all the female delights he’d missed out on by marrying young.
Somehow, he’d thought if he could bury himself in female attention, he could forget that the only woman he wanted was gone forever.
Then he’d met Alana. She’d seemed like everything he could want in a woman: sexy, talented, and ambitious. A jazz singer, she’d been someone he could talk to about the business and bounce around his ideas about producing a new kind of album. She’d been excited about the project and even volunteered to sing. When she’d started pressuring him for more of his time and commitment, he’d actually felt guilty that he couldn’t give her what she needed.
Until the day he found her ass-up over his assistant’s desk. In the end, Alana wasn’t special. She was just another singer looking for her big break and she’d been willing to do whatever or whoever it took to get there. They’d broken up, but he’d learned a valuable lesson. He’d been in love with a fantastic woman once and the odds of it happening for him again were somewhere between “not gonna happen” and “a snowball’s chance in hell.”
Since then he’d only dated women who knew the score and had just as much to lose as he did. Starlets who needed someone on their arm for a film premiere and models who needed an escort who wasn’t prettier than they were.
But in that moment, when he’d seen Raina on the ground with those big wounded eyes aimed at him, he’d experienced an almost startling sensation of longing. In the past three years no other woman had tempted him to break his no-strings rule. And none had roused the instinct to comfort and protect. Until now. Until Raina.
Which meant she really had to go.
He walked down the hall to his sons’ room where Nicholas was helping Chris with one of his toys.
“Daddy, look at what Uncle Nick did. He fixed my robot. It lights up and everything!” Chris held up a toy that had been broken for weeks.
Jackson looked at his brother, shocked. “I’ve been trying to fix that one for ages. What did you do?”
Nicholas grinned. “I hit it. Hard.”
Chris picked up the toy and flew it around the room making beeping noises.
“Figures.”
His phone chirped and he pulled it out to see there was a message. “Hopefully this is the locksmith.”
He hit the button to play his messages.
BEEP
“Um, yes, hello. This is Linda Taylor-Whiting. I’m scheduled to interview for the nanny position this afternoon.” She paused and cleared her throat a few times. “I was reading the agency’s notes on your children and it mentioned that one of your boys particularly likes insects. I’m not sure I would be the best candidate in this circumstance.”
Jackson shook his head as she stumbled through an apology before hanging up. He’d been blessed for years because Cynthia’s mother had been able to care for the boys during the day. But she’d recently gotten remarried and moved to Massachusetts.
The boys hadn’t made it easy to find a replacement for the grandma they adored. He was proud of his children but also completely aware that they weren’t choirboys. Between Chris’s penchant for playing practical jokes and Jase’s current fascination with insects, they definitely didn’t make his task any easier. He hadn’t met a woman yet who could deal with them for more than a few hours at a time.
“Damn. Another nanny bites the dust.”
He just needed someone who could watch the boys during the afternoons while he was working, at least through the summer. Once the school year started, Chris would be in kindergarten and Jase would be in preschool. He’d be able to get by on his own then. Of course in an ideal world he’d find a caregiver he could retain all year, maybe even one who could also run errands, such as grocery shopping, for him.
Nicholas looked up. “You still can’t find a nanny?”
“Every time I think I have a candidate there’s a catch. The first one was excellent at running a household, but stiff with the boys. She didn’t even last a whole day. The one after her was more interested in baby-sitting me than the kids. Her skirt barely covered her ass.”
He knew that type and avoided it like the plague. Gold diggers and groupies were a part of life in the music business, but he’d learned his lesson about needy women. His ex-girlfriend had made sure of that.
He hadn’t realized when he started looking for nannies how difficult it would be or that there were women who’d apply for the job hoping to catch his eye. If he had, he would have asked his mother to handle screening the candidates.
Although, considering how much his mother wanted him to remarry, that might not have been the wisest plan either.
“Then there were the two after that who looked more like convicted felons than Mary Poppins. Now we have the one I was sure was perfect, who was scheduled for this afternoon, but she just canceled.” He hung his head in defeat.
Nicholas shook his head in sympathy. “I don’t envy you. Unless you need someone to interview the ones with the short skirts? No? Okay, well just keep me in mind.”
Jackson clapped his hands until he had both boys’ attention. “Aren’t we having fun with Uncle Nick? As a matter of fact, who wants to spend the night at Uncle Nicholas’s house?” Jackson asked in a singsong voice.
Jase, who’d been watching his brother from his perch on the bed, took his thumb out of his mouth and yelled, “Me, Me, Me!” while Chris danced in the background in excitement.
Nicholas shot him an evil look. “Seriously? I have a date tonight. And she is…” He cut a glance at the two boys watching them avidly. “Constructed like a solid outdoor restroom facility.”
Jackson crinkled his brow in confusion and then almost choked with laughter at his brother’s child-friendly version of built like a brick shithouse. It took him a few minutes to compose himself before he could answer.
“Well, I’m going to be busy tonight and I’d feel better if the boys were with someone I trust. You can just bring them back when you come on Monday for the cookout.”
His brother laughed knowingly and slapped him on the back. “I was starting to get worried about you for a minute there, but I should have known you had plans for later. The player is back!”
Jackson grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the hallway.