Billionaire's Jet Set Babies & The Nanny Bombshell: Billionaire's Jet Set Babies / The Nanny Bombshell
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Steeling her resolve to keep her values firmly in place, she strode from the bedroom into the sitting area where Seth was strapping the twins into the new, top-of–the-line double stroller.
He looked up and smiled. The power of his vibrant green eyes and dimples reached across the room, wrapping around her, enticing her to move closer into the circle of that happiness. A dangerous move. She had to step away, for her own peace of mind. She wasn’t wired to leap into intimacy with a stranger.
A stranger who became more intriguing by the second.
Surely a billionaire who knew how to work a stroller couldn’t be totally disconnected from everyday reality. That insight buoyed her, and inspired her. Actively learning more about him would help her on many levels. Knowing more about him was wise for her work.
For work, damn it, not because of this insane attraction.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes, I believe I am.” She could do this. She could keep her professional face in place, while discovering if Seth Jansen harbored any more surprises in that hulking hot body of his.
“Glad the clothes fit. Although for breakfast with the twins, we might be better off draping ourselves in rain ponchos.”
Before she could laugh or reply, his phone rang and he held up a hand. “Hold on, I’ve got to take this. Work call coming in.”
He started talking into his cell and grabbed his briefcase off the sofa. Opening the door, he gestured her ahead. She wheeled the stroller forward, out into the hall and toward the elevator.
The fabric slid sensuously against her skin with each step as she pushed the stroller into the elevator while Seth spoke on his phone to his partner… Rick…briefcase in his other hand. Each glide of the silky dress against her skin reminded her how vibrantly in tune her senses were this morning, and, as much as she wanted to credit the sunshine, she knew it was last night’s kiss that had awakened something inside her.
Something that made professional goals tougher to keep in focus.
Two floors down, the doors slid open to admit an older couple dressed casually in sightseeing clothes that still shouted Armani and Prada. They fit right in with the rest of the clientele here. Except the woman carried a simple canvas bag with little handprints painted on it and signed in childlike handwriting. Stenciled along the top of the bag were the words Grandma’s Angels. Alexa swallowed a lump of emotion as she counted at least eleven different scrawled signatures.
The husband leaned closer to his wife, whispering, pointing and smiling nostalgically. The wife knelt to pick up a tiny tennis shoe and passed it to Alexa. “You have a beautiful family.”
Before Alexa could correct her, they reached the lobby and the couple exited. She glanced sheepishly toward Seth and found him staring at her with assessing eyes as he tucked away his phone. Her mouth went dry. She grabbed the stroller, grateful for the support as the now increasingly predictable wobbly knees syndrome set in.
Ever aware of his gaze following her, she wheeled the twins from the elevator. She needed to get her thoughts in order ASAP. She was seconds away from meeting royalty for breakfast, pretty heady stuff even given her own upbringing. Seth was certainly coming through on his promise to introduce her to prestigious connections. Knowing the Medina family could be a serious boon to her fledgling business.
Although she was confused by a person who invited twin toddlers to a business breakfast at a restaurant with silk, antiques and a ceiling hand-painted with twenty-four karat gold.
The clink of silverware echoing from the room full of patrons, she didn’t have to wonder for even a second which pair of diners to approach. A dark-haired, aristocratic man stood from a table set for six, nodding in their direction. A blonde woman sat beside him, a flower tucked behind her ear.
The wheels of the stroller glided smoothly along the tile floor as they passed a waiter carrying plates of crepes on his tray. Alexa stopped by their table.
Seth shook the man’s hand. “Javier, I’d like you to meet—”
The man took her hand. “Alexa Randall. A pleasure to meet you,” Javier said with only a hint of an accent. He motioned to the elegant woman beside him. “This is my wife, Victoria.”
“Lovely to meet you.” Victoria smiled welcomingly, while tucking her fingers into the crook of her husband’s arm. He covered her hand automatically with a possessive and affectionate air.
Good God, this place was chock full of couples swimming in marital bliss. First the elderly couple in the elevator. Now her dining companions for breakfast. She didn’t even dare look at the couple feeding each other bits of melon at the table next to them.
The numbers of fawning couples here defied national divorce statistics. Although, now that she thought about it, she and Seth had enough breakups to even out the scales.
Leaning into the stroller, Victoria grinned at the twins and spun a rattle attached to the tray. “Would you mind if I held one of these sweethearts?”
Seth pulled back the stroller canopy. “Sure, this is Owen—” he picked up his son “—and this is Olivia.”
As Victoria reached down, the little girl stretched her arms up toward Alexa instead. Alexa’s heart squeezed in response. So much so, it scared her a little. These babies were quickly working their way into her affection. Victoria eased back gracefully and left Alexa to settle the baby girl into her high chair beside her brother’s. The adults took their seats and placed their orders, so far, with no mishaps.
As the waitress placed each person’s dish on the table, Victoria spread her linen napkin across her lap. “I told Javier he really put you on the spot insisting you bring along babies, but the twins are total dolls.” She tickled Olivia’s chin. “Hopefully you’ll warm up to me, sweetie, so I can entertain you while Alexa eats her breakfast, too.”
“I think I can manage, but thank you.” She reached past her smoked salmon bagel for her goblet of juice. How well did this woman and her husband already know Seth? What kind of information might she learn during this breakfast about Seth and his possible contacts?
While Javier detailed the must-see sights in St. Augustine, Olivia and Owen fed themselves fruit—which scared Alexa to her last frazzled nerve as she watched to be sure strawberries stayed on Olivia’s tray but not Owen’s.
Seth shoveled in steak and eggs, spooning oatmeal into the twins’ mouths, while holding a conversation. She was in awe.
And a little intimidated.
She’d almost flooded the floor last night during their bath. If he hadn’t shown up early, she wasn’t sure how she would have wrestled them both into clothes. Whenever she thought she’d moved everything dangerous out of their reach…
Oh, God…
She lunged for Olivia just as Seth smoothly pulled the salt shaker from her grasp. Her pulse rate doubled at the near miss with catastrophe. So much for using this breakfast to learn more about Seth from the Cortez couple. She would be lucky to make it through the meal with her sanity intact.
Victoria rested her knife at the top of her plate of half-eaten eggs Benedict. “I hope he’s treating you to some vacation fun after all these stodgy business meetings are over.”
“Pardon?” Alexa struggled to keep track of the twins and the conversation in the middle of a business meeting and a dining room full of tourists.
Glasses and silverware clinked and clattered. Waiters angled past with loaded trays as people fueled up for the day ahead.
Victoria swiped her mouth with the linen napkin. “You deserve some pampering for watching the kids solo here at the hotel during the day.”
“I’m helping out with temporary nanny detail.”
Leaning closer, Victoria whispered, “It’s obvious he doesn’t look at you like a nanny.”
She couldn’t exactly deny that since she was likely searing him with her own glances, too. “Honestly we don’t know each other that well.”
Victoria waved away her comment, her wedding rings refracting light from the chandelier. “The length of time doesn’t always matter when it comes to the heart. I knew right away Javier was the one.” She smiled affectionately at her new husband, who was deep in conversation with Seth. “It took us a while to find our way to each other, but if I’d listened to my heart right off, we could have been saved so many months of grief.”
“It’s a business arrangement,” she said simply, hoping if she repeated it enough she could maintain her objectivity. “Only business.”
“Of course,” Victoria conceded, but her smile didn’t dim. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be nosy. It’s just that given what I understand from Javier, Seth has been a workaholic since his divorce. He hasn’t had time for relationships.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for.” Alexa knew full well she and Seth were sending out mixed signals. As much as she’d been determined to keep things professional with Seth the businessman, she found herself drawn to Seth the father. A man so tender with his children. At ease with a baby stroller. As adept at flying a spoonful of oatmeal into a child’s mouth as he was at piloting a plane through the sky.
These surprise insights proved a potent attraction, especially after living with her own distant father and then the way her ex had checked out on her.
Victoria’s voice pulled Alexa out of her musings.
“Honestly, my thoughts may be selfish. I was thinking ahead that if Javier and Seth settle on a contract, then I was hoping we would get to see more of each other. As much as I adore my husband, his world is narrow and he’s suspicious of expanding the circle. I’m always grateful for some girl time.”
“That would be lovely, thank you.” Alexa understood perfectly about lonely inner circles, too much so. She felt a twinge of guilt over her thoughts about using the Cortezes for contacts.
All her life she’d been warned about gold diggers. She’d always known the chances of someone seeing through the money to love her for herself was slim. And still she’d made a royal mess. She didn’t want to let the Cortez money and their Medina connections blind her to who they really were.
“I mean it. And regardless of how much time we spend visiting, let’s enjoy the day…let’s have fun.”
Fun? She should be home, at work. She took a deep breath. This situation would help her at work. Or she hoped so.
She couldn’t ignore the fact that her wish to stay right here was increasing by the second. “I appreciate how helpful you’ve been here at breakfast. The twins are my responsibility. We’re going sightseeing with the stroller, maybe do a little shopping.”
“Perfect,” Victoria declared. “I’m at loose ends. I love a good walk and shopping. And after that, we can wear them out at the pool.”
Alexa did have a swimsuit and she had absolutely no reason not to take Victoria up on her generous offer. No reason other than a deep-seated fear of allowing herself to be tempted back into a world she’d been determined to leave behind. A way of life embraced by Seth and his precious children. Her eyes were drawn back to the twins.
Just as Owen wrapped his fist around one of his sister’s strawberries—a food he was allergic to.
Panic gripped Alexa as she saw the baby’s lightning fast intent to gobble the forbidden fruit. “No! Owen, don’t eat that.”
Lurching toward him, she grabbed his chubby wrist just before his hand reached his mouth. His face scrunched into utter dejection as his tiny world crumbled over the lost treat. Alexa winced a second ahead of his piercing scream. Seth leaned in to soothe the temper tantrum. Before Alexa could even form the words of warning…
Olivia flipped the bowl of oatmeal straight into Javier Cortez’s lap.
Chapter 5
The cosmos must have been holding a serious grudge against him because the sight of Alexa in a bathing suit sucker-punched him clean through.
Seth stopped short by the poolside bar outside the hotel and allowed himself a moment to soak in the sunlit view, a welcome pleasure after a tense work day that had started with his kid dumping oatmeal in a prospective customer’s lap. Thank goodness Javier Cortez had insisted it didn’t matter.
And Alexa had acted fast by scooping up both twins and taking them away for the day.
Now, she looked anything but maternal as she rubbed sunscreen down her arms, laughing at something Victoria said. The twins slept in a playpen under the shade of a small open cabana. Only a half dozen others had stayed this late in the day—a young couple drinking wine in the hot tub and a family playing with a beach ball in the shallow end.
His attention stayed fully focused on the goddess in black Lycra.
He should be celebrating the success of his day’s meeting. Javier wanted him to tour the landing strip at the king’s private island off the coast of St. Augustine. Their time here was done. The king’s island even came equipped with a top-notch nanny for the twins, a nanny the king kept on staff for his grandchildren’s visits.
And yet, Seth was all the more determined than ever to keep Alexa with him, to win her over, to seduce her into his bed again and again until he worked this tenacious attraction out of their systems. He hadn’t yet attained that goal but was determined to keep her around until he succeeded.
The black bathing suit was more modest than the strings other women wore that barely held in the essentials. Still, there was no denying her sensuality. Halter neckline, plunging deeply until the top of her belly button ring showed.
A simple gold hoop.
His hands itched to grasp her hips and slide his fingers along the edges, slipping inside to feel the satiny slickness he knew waited right there. For him.
Splashing from the deep end snapped him back to reality. Damn, he seriously needed to rein in those kinds of thoughts out here in public. Even when they were alone. He needed to be patient. He didn’t want to spook her into bailing on this time they had together.
He thought back to how fast she’d retreated after their kiss. She’d been undeniably as turned on as he was and yet, she’d avoided him that morning as they’d prepared for the day. Although he thought he sensed a bit of softening in her stance as the day wore on. At breakfast he’d thought he caught her eyes lingering on him more than once. He could see the memory of their kiss written in her eyes as she stared at him with a mixture of confusion and attraction.
Shoving away from the bar, Seth strode alongside the pool toward Alexa. “Good afternoon, ladies.”
Jolted, she looked over at him. Her eyes widened and he could have sworn goose bumps of awareness rose along her arms. She yanked her crocheted cover-up off the glass-topped table and shrugged into it almost fast enough to hide her breasts beading with arousal. His own body throbbed in response, his hands aching to cradle each creamy globe in his palms.
“Seth, I didn’t expect you back this early.”
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Victoria gather her beach bag. “Since you’re done for the day, I take it my husband’s free, so if you’ll both excuse me…”
The woman made a smooth—and timely—exit.
Seth sank down into her vacated lounger beside Alexa as a teenager cannonballed into the deep end. “Did you and the babies have a good afternoon?”
“No problems or I would have called you. I wrote down everything the children ate and when they went to sleep. The pool time wore them out.” She toyed with the tie on her cover up—right between her breasts.
He forced his gaze to stay on her face. “I want you to extend your time with us for a couple more days.”
Her jaw went slack with surprise before she swallowed hard. “You want me to stay with you and the children?”
“Precisely.”
“My business is a small operation—”
“What about your partner?”
“I can’t dump everything on her indefinitely and still meet our obligations.”
His point exactly as for why hers wasn’t the company for Jansen Jets—hers wasn’t large enough and didn’t have adequate backup resources. He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. “I thought you were cleaning my plane to meet with me.”
“That certainly was my intent—and to impress you with A-1’s work.” She hugged her legs. “But I do clean other aircraft in addition to my obligations to office work.”
“That doesn’t leave much time for a private life.” Late day sun beating down on his head, he shrugged out of his suit jacket and draped it over the back of the lounger. He loosened his tie. God, he hated the constraining things.
“I’m investing in my future.”
“I understand completely.” His eyes gravitated toward his children, still sleeping peacefully in the playpen—Olivia on her tummy with her diapered butt up in the air, Owen on his back with his arms flung wide.
“You’ve achieved your goals. That’s admirable. I’m working on my dream now.” Determination coated each word as fully as the sunscreen covered her bared skin.
He really didn’t need to be thinking about her exposed body right now.
Already, he was on the edge of a new deal with Javier Cortez to supply charter jets for the royal Medinas. That huge boon would take his company to the next level and free him up to set up an entire volunteer, nonprofit foundation devoted to search and rescue operations. His first love, what had drawn him into flying in the first place. That love of flying had helped him develop and patent the airport security device that had made him a mint. Once he took his business to the next level, funding and overstretched government budgets wouldn’t be an issue…
So damn close to achieving all his business dreams.
Yet, still he was restless. “Let’s forget arguing about tomorrow and business. We can hash that out later. Right now, I’m off the clock. I want to make the most of our time left in St. Augustine tonight.”
“What exactly did you have in mind?” She eyed him suspiciously.
Had he imagined her softening on the all-business stance? There was only one way to find out.
Standing, he snagged his suit coat. “We’re going to spend the evening out.”
“With twins? Don’t you think breakfast was pushing our luck?”
He grinned, scooping up his groggy daughter. “Trust me. I can handle this.”
“All right, if you’re sure.”
“Absolutely.” He palmed his daughter’s back as she wriggled in his arms and tugged at his collar. “Wait until you see what I have planned. You’ll want to dress comfortably, though. And we should probably pack extra clothes for the kids in case they get dirty.”
Alexa pulled up alongside him, Owen in her arms. Seth reached for the door inside—
Until her gasp stopped him short.
“Did you forget something?” he asked.
When Alexa didn’t answer, he glanced and found her staring back at him with horror. What the hell? Except as she raised a shaking hand to point, he realized she wasn’t looking at him. Her attention was focused fully on Olivia.
More precisely, on Olivia’s bulging left nostril.
* * *
Sitting on the edge of the hotel sofa in their suite, Alexa struggled to contain the squirming little girl in her lap while pushing back the welling panic. The whole ride up in the elevator had been crazy, with Seth attempting to check his daughter’s nose and the child growing more agitated by the second.
How in the world had Olivia wedged something up her nostril? More importantly, what had she shoved into there?
Alexa winced at the baby’s bulging left nostril. She hadn’t taken her eyes off Olivia for a second during their time at the pool—except when Olivia had been sleeping. Had she woken up? Found something in the playpen? Perhaps something blew inside the pen with her?
Panic gripped her. What the hell had she been thinking, allowing herself to believe she could care for these two precious children? She willed herself to stop shaking and deal with the crisis at hand.
Seth knelt in front of her, trying to grasp his daughter’s head between his palms. “I can get this out if you will just hold her still long enough for me to push my thumb down the outside of her nose.”
“Believe me, I’m trying my best.” Alexa’s heart pumped as hard and fast as Olivia’s feet as the little girl screamed, kicking her father in the stomach. Her face turned red; her skin beaded with sweat from hysteria.
Sinking back on his haunches, Seth looked around their suite. “Is there any pepper left from last night’s dinner?”
“Housekeeping cleared away everything. Oh, God, I am so sorry. I don’t know how this happened—”
A crash echoed through the room.
Alexa looked at Seth, her panic mirrored in his eyes. “Owen!”
They both shot to their feet just as a pitiful wail drifted from behind the velvet sofa. Holding Olivia around the waist, Alexa ran fast on Seth’s heels, only to slam against his back when he stopped short.
Owen sat on the floor, blessedly unharmed, just angry. His “tower”—which consisted of a chair, a pillow and the ice bucket—now lay on its side by the television. Handprints all over the flat screen testified to his attempt to turn on the TV by himself.
Seth knelt beside his son, running his hands along the toddler’s arms and legs. “Are you okay, buddy? You know you’re not supposed to climb like that.” His thumb brushed over his son’s forehead, along the eyebrow that still carried a scar from past stitches. “Be careful.”
Picking up Owen, Seth held him close for a second, a sigh of relief racking through his body so visibly Alexa almost melted into the floor with sympathy. God, this big manly guy who plowed through life and through the skies alone had the most amazing way of connecting with his kids.
What would it have been like to grow up with a father like him? A dad so very present in his children’s lives?
Standing, Seth said, “I’m going to have to take Olivia to the emergency room. Swap kids with me. You can stay here with Owen.”
“You still trust me?”
“Of course,” he responded automatically even though his mouth had gone tight. With frustration? Fear?
Or anger?
He leaned toward her. Olivia let out a high-pitched shriek and locked her arms tighter around Alexa’s neck, turning her face frantically from her father.
Seth frowned. “It’s okay, kiddo. It’s just me.”
Patting Olivia’s back, Alexa swayed soothingly from side to side. “She must think you’re going to pinch her nose again.”
“Well, we don’t have much choice here. I need to take her in.” He set down Owen and clasped his daughter.
Olivia’s cries cranked up to earsplitting wails, which upset her brother who started sobbing on the floor. If Olivia kept gasping would whatever was in her nose get sucked in? And then where would it go? Into a lung? The possibilities were horrifying. This parenting thing was not for the faint of heart.
“Seth, let me hold her rather than risk her becoming even more hysterical.” She cradled the little girl’s head, blond curls looping around Alexa’s fingers as surely as the child was sliding into Alexa’s heart. “You and I can go to the emergency room and take both kids.”
Plowing a hand through his hair, Seth looked around the suite again as if searching for other options. Finally he nodded and picked up his son. “That’s probably for the best. We just have to get a car.” He grabbed the room phone and dialed the hotel operator. “Seth Jansen here. We need transportation to the nearest E.R. waiting for us. We’re headed to the elevator now.”
She jammed her feet into the flip-flops she’d worn to the pool, grateful she’d at least had time to change out of her swimsuit, and followed Seth out into the hall. The elevator opened immediately—thank God—and they plunged inside the empty compartment. He jostled his restless son while she made shhh, shhh, shhh soothing sounds for Olivia, who was now hiccupping. But at least the little girl wasn’t crying.