Page 26 of Up for Heir (Westerly Billionaire 2)
Spencer sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. Screw the rules. This isn’t about sex. “Did my family send you? Because you’ve got me ready to call every last one of them and apologize.”
She tensed beneath his arm. “Of course they didn’t.”
“I was joking.”
Her expression remained strained. “I know.”
Is it my arm? Am I crossing a line? He removed it and shifted to break the contact between their bodies.
They sat for a while without speaking, looking out over the water. The view got Spencer thinking about how he could incorporate it into his next themed virtual office program. “I want to show you what I do. Let’s shower, get something to eat, and I’ll take you to my office.”
“I should get back. I hate to leave Skye for too long on a day when I don’t have to.”
“Of course.” In an attempt to mask his disappointment, he ended up sounding impatient.
She searched his face and said, “She takes up a lot of my time. And that’s the way it should be. She and I are a package deal. I wouldn’t want to be with anyone who saw her as less than the blessing she is.”
Was that what drove my mother to divorce her first husband? Did he resent me? The love in Hailey’s voice when she defended Skye sparked yearning in him that had nothing to do with lust. People spoke about loyalty and commitment, but Hailey lived that virtue. She could have been resentful of how easily he’d believed the worst of her, but she wasn’t like that. She was the kind of woman a man could picture building a life with if he were ready to take such a step.
He offered her a hand to help her back to her feet. She took it. They stood there, hand in hand, in a moment outside of time. He could have kissed her then and she might have let him, but he held himself in check. Yes, his body went haywire whenever she stood too close, but he wasn’t a boy anymore. He didn’t have to let his desires rule him.
As he looked down into her trusting eyes, he asked himself where he wanted this to go. The answer came to him without hesitation. Whether we last for a week or a lifetime, I don’t want her to regret giving us a second chance. I want her to be happy.
He’d forged his place in the tech industry by being a problem solver, an obstacle remover. He couldn’t bring her father or her brother back. His experience with children was extremely limited, so he didn’t feel qualified to advise her on anything when it came to her niece. Her employment situation, however, was another story. He would find her the perfect job, one that would ease the worry in her eyes.
Doors were about to fly open for Hailey.
Some of his thoughts must have shone on his face because Hailey looked uncomfortable beneath his sustained attention. “You are my favorite view, beautiful inside and out. I forgot how good it feels just to look at you.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before releasing it. “I hope saying so doesn’t break any of our rules.”
She shook her head slowly as if she’d been as lost in him as he’d been in her. Her voice was husky and sexy as hell when she said, “No. That’s okay.”
He nodded toward where they’d left their towels and deliberately kept the return conversation light. The perfection of the weather and the day made it easy to talk about nothing in particular and still smile through it.
Too soon, they were shaking the sand out of their clothes and putting them back on. Hailey smoothed the material of her dress over her hips and said, “I was so excited about getting this dress, and I didn’t even wear it that long.”
Spencer stepped into his jeans but halted before securing them. Tongue in cheek, he said, “I won’t say it. I can’t say it.”
She made a face at him, then put her hands on her hips. “You might as well. I’m curious.”
“Nope, I’m abiding by our rules.”
“Just spit it out.”
He let his grin shine. “A dress that doesn’t stay on long? That’s always been my favorite kind.”
She laughed and smacked his arm playfully.
Being with her shouldn’t feel as good as it had the first time around, but it did. In many ways, it was even better.
God, I hope I don’t fuck it up a second time.
Chapter Ten
That night, after tucking Skye in bed, Hailey took the remaining craft supplies off the kitchen table in the guesthouse and tucked them away in a cabinet. When she finished, she sat down with the four freshly painted sets of wooden nesting dolls. Each said something about its creator.
Delinda chose to draw cats of various colors. She’d chosen a traditional style, and the result rivaled the quality of any Hailey had ever seen in a store.
Michael attempted to paint Star Wars characters with hilarious results. They all ended up looking vaguely like who he said they were. Everyone had fun guessing, and he didn’t seem to mind when they guessed wrong.
Hailey found a design for robots that made Skye laugh, so she did her best to re-create them. They weren’t perfect, but Skye was playing with them even before they’d dried and that was good enough for Hailey.
Skye had stared at her unpainted wooden dolls for a long time before snapping her fingers and saying, “I’ll do it by age. Delinda, you’re the oldest, so you’ll be the biggest.” She’d looked at Hailey, then Michael. “Then Michael, right? Or are you older than he is, Auntie Hailey?”
Hailey had ruffled her hair. “I’ll get you for that.”
Skye was already choosing her paint while she answered, “Bring it on.”
Delinda’s delighted laugh surprised them all. “Oh, Hailey, we’re in trouble.”
With a cheeky smile, Skye had replied, “You’re the ones who wanted me to speak—”
“Yes, we did, and hearing you joke again makes me so happy.”
Skye had looked up from painting, suddenly serious. “I make you happy, Auntie Hailey?”
“You do, sweetie. Happy. Sad. On our best days and our worst day—I’m always grateful for you.”
Skye had held up the tiniest of her nesting dolls. It was still blank. “If you ever have a baby of your own, will you love me more because you knew me first? Or will you love it more than me because it will really be yours?”
Michael had cleared his throat.
Delinda had remained surprisingly silent.
Hailey had stood, then bent down so she was eye to eye with her niece. “There is no more or less when it comes to love. I love you, and if I ever have a baby I will love it, too.”
“What if you don’t have enough love?”
Not caring that they still had an audience, Hailey pulled Skye in for a hug. “When you look up at the stars, can you see them all?”
“No,” Skye said softly.
“But you know there’s more of them than you can see, right?”
“Yeah, everyone knows that.”
“Well, that’s what your father would have told you about love if he were here. He and your mom loved you more than you could ever measure. I love you the same way. And if I ever do have a baby, that’s what I hope you’ll feel because it doesn’t matter how we came together—we’re family.”
Skye had looked across at Delinda. “I changed my mind. I hope she has a baby. I hope she has a hundred babies. I want a big family.”
“Easy there, Tiger.” Hailey laughed. “I’m a long way from getting married and thinking about babies.”
“The important thing is that Skye would be okay if you did meet someone,” Delinda had asserted.
Hailey was beginning to think Delinda might be hoping something would develop between her and Spencer. If she was, Hailey wasn’t sure how she felt about that. On one hand, it was sweet and could be taken as a compliment. On the other hand, not everything worked out the way people hoped and it was pressure Hailey wasn’t prepared for.
Alone in the guesthouse kitchen, Hailey picked up Skye’s tiny piece that now had a face and a baby bottle drawn on its side. She didn’t dream about having a baby of her own—not anymore. Any desire she’d ever had had ta
ken a backseat, along with so much else, as Hailey had gone into survival mode.
Things are finally stable. Shouldn’t that be enough for me?
Her phone buzzed with a text message. You up?
Spencer.
H: Yes.
S: Busy?
She could have said yes. She could have also said she was too tired to talk, but the truth was she wanted to hear his voice before she went to bed. No, Skye is asleep.
Her phone rang and she answered it on the first ring. “Hey,” he said in a deep tone that always sent her heart racing.
“Hey, yourself.”
“How was your day?” he asked even though he’d spent the day with her.
“Better than expected.”
“Mine, too. What did you end up doing with Skye?”
Her gut reaction was to wonder if he was asking to be polite or if he really cared. I’ll never find my way back to happy if I second-guess everything everyone says. “We had craft night.”
“What did you make?”
“Russian nesting dolls.”
“And here I was picturing finger paint and Play-Doh.”
She laughed. “Skye’s seven and she’s bright. She likes a challenge.”
“Me, too.”
