“I don’t believe that. You’re a little devil.” Callum began to tickle her.
Drew watched his brother who was always such a natural with kids.
“We better go. I think we’ve taken up way too much of your time already,” Callie said.
Meghan took her hand and he saw it as the most natural reaction in the world. His daughter already trusted Callie.
“You can stop by any time. Be warned, he’s a slacker, so he’ll be finding any excuse not to work. Although, I can see why he’d want to stay home.” Callum winked at Callie.
Callie blushed. “Right, okay, yeah, I think it’s time for me to take Meghan home. We hope you enjoy lunch, don’t we, Meghan?”
“Yes, enjoy lunch, Daddy.”
He was tempted to forget his lunch more often he got to see Callie and his little girl. He watched them walk out of the office and up the street.
“Wow,” Callum said.
“You’re married.”
“I wasn’t saying wow to me but I can see why you were struggling with that decision. She’s hot.”
“Don’t,” Drew said.
“You know, when I think about it, Callie was hot in high school.”
“She was fat.”
“Don’t be a dick, Drew.”
He ran his hands over his face. “I’m starting to wonder the same thing, okay? I’m not entirely happy with how I’m thinking things right now, okay. I mean, she’s … Callie.” He shook his head. Opening up the brown bag, he saw a couple of sandwiches, a bag of chips, and there even appeared to be a couple of wrapped cookies. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
His mouth watered.
“How are you finding everything?”
“Fine. No problems so far, not that I expected any.” He took a bite of the sandwich. Cheese and pickle. He loved it. He demolished the whole of his lunch in less than five minutes. He was so hungry.
“So the nanny is working for you then?” Callum asked.
“Are you playing the big-brother routine?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t need to.”
“Has Tilly signed the paperwork yet?”
“Nope.”
“Do you really think she’s ever going to sign it?”
“She will.”
“How do you know?”
“I know Tilly. I know she’s going to find someone who can offer her better. That’s all Tilly has ever done. I was under no illusions when I married her. You’ll probably find when she got knocked up by me, she figured I was rich already.”
Callum smiled. “I’m glad you’re divorcing her. You know what it means.”
“I’m not going to go looking.”
“Why go looking when you’ve got a perfect candidate working with you?”
“You deal in sexual harassment cases. If I in any way make Callie uncomfortable, she can have my ass for that little nugget. It’s not going to happen.”
“Unless she feels the same way. The woman’s making you breakfast and lunch. I think it’s safe to say something’s going on there.”
Callum left him alone. Drew finished off his coffee, crumpled up the empty lunch bag, and sat back. He needed to get his shit together and get down to the courthouse to deal with a delinquent who liked to graffiti on public property. The kid had some major issues. He was in the system as it wasn’t his first offense.
Still, even as the confrontation he was no doubt about to have filled him with anticipation, a certain brunette had spiked his blood with need. He hadn’t felt this way about anyone in a long time. It was an entirely new experience for him. One he wanted to enjoy, even if he was her employer.
****
Drew had called ahead of time to let her knew he’d be late.
She’d bathed Meghan after she’d eaten, gotten her dressed, and read to her. The young girl was out of it in a matter of minutes.
It had been a long, productive day. She still had a lot of laundry to get through.
The living room finally looked like a place to relax rather than a dump for washing and dishes. The kitchen was also pristine. There was no way she was going to bake or cook anything without cleaning it first.
She’d gotten Meghan to help her. Together, they’d tackled the dust and dirt. Tomorrow, she intended to tend to the gardens. Mowing the lawn, weeding.
As a treat for Meghan for all of her hard work, and to get her to walk to her father’s office and back, they’d baked a batch of delicious cupcakes. They sat on the counter under a glass dome.
She finished folding what looked like a month’s worth of clothes and changed the wash for another. She’d been using the line outside to dry the clothes but now it was dark, so she kept the dryer low.
When she finally got on top of it, she would only ever use the line during the summer, spring, and some of the fall months.
She took a shower, washing off all the sweat, and changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt. She carried the laundry basket downstairs just as the door opened.