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“Cats do what they want.”
“Perhaps the cat needed to have a higher bar set for its behavior.”
He didn’t use Blossom’s name, but the feline didn’t seem to mind. She was trying to get out of the cage and closer to AJ. “Perhaps. But this gives me hope.”
“Hope?”
“That Blossom will find her forever home. There’s been concern she might be unadoptable. She doesn’t seem to like many people.”
He looked at Blossom, but he didn’t touch her. Much to the cat’s dismay. “I don’t know anything about cats, but she seems fine to me. Not so annoying now that she’s quiet.”
Camille approached. She handed AJ a glass with a straw sticking out. “Your protein shake.”
“Thanks.” His fingers circled the glass.
The flight attendant handed a small juice-sized glass to Emma. “A little ginger ale for you.”
“Thank you,” Emma said.
“We’ll be landing soon.” Camille motioned to the back of the plane. “Please return to your seats.”
Emma did and buckled her seat belt. The engines whirred. She waited for Blossom to meow, but the cat remained quiet.
AJ sat across from her. Sipped from the straw. “You okay?”
She nodded.
“If you feel bad again, Camille restocked the side pocket.”
Two more airsickness bags were inside. “Thanks, but I’ve never had trouble during landings.” At least not the one Emma remembered.
“We’re beginning our descent into Haley’s Bay,” the pilot announced. “Please remain seated.”
She gripped the armrests, a combination of anticipation of wanting to be on the ground and apprehension over what the rest of the week would hold.
AJ stared at her over the rim of his glass, his eyes full of concern. “The pilot’s very good.”
“You don’t have to reassure me.”
His gaze narrowed, darkened. “Why not?”
“It’s not your job.”
“I get to write my job description. One benefit of being the boss.”
“Do you like being the boss?”
He stiffened. Stared into his drink. Toyed with the straw.
“No one’s asked me that. People assume...” He shifted in his seat. “But yes, of course. What’s not to love?”
He was bluffing, hiding something, like a child who said swim lessons were fun when dunking his head under water terrified him. What other secrets was AJ hiding?
None of Emma’s business. She didn’t need to go looking for AJ Cole’s demons. She had enough of her own. But she hoped this vacation went well for him because the only thing worse than having no family would be having a family that didn’t get along. Best to make sure she knew what AJ needed from her.
She removed a half-inch binder and a mechanical pencil from her tote bag. “Libby sent me your tentative itinerary. Any changes to today’s schedule I should know about?”
He waved his hand, as if brushing aside Emma’s question. “Relax until we land.”
“Let’s confirm today’s agenda first.” She adjusted her glasses. “Then I’ll relax.”
AJ took another sip of his drink. “Read what’s on your list.”
“Lunch with your grandmother while I arrange meetings with the party rental company and florist and check into the Broughton Inn. A conference call at two, another one at three, followed by an interview at four with a technology blogger. Then you have a break until dinner with your family at seven.”
“Easy afternoon.”
“Three calls on the first afternoon of your vacation sounds more like you’re working.”
He raised a brow, as if surprised by her words. Guess Libby didn’t speak to him like that. Well, Emma wasn’t like her best friend. Not even close.
“This is a light day.” He placed his empty glass on the table between them. “I’ve limited what’s on my schedule.”
Emma guessed she had a different definition of limited from his. “If there aren’t any changes—”
“There is one.”
She readied her pencil.
A muscle ticked at his jaw.
She leaned forward. “What?”
“We’re staying at my grandmother’s house. It’ll be easier with the party planning, and my grandma thought it would be better for the cat.”
Disappointment shot through Emma. She’d been a live-in nanny so she knew what staying at someone’s house as an employee meant. But the arrangement made sense, even without the cat factored in. She pasted on a smile. “That’s generous of your grandmother.”
He leaned back against his seat, but his gaze never left her. “My grandmother loves playing hostess. She’s thrilled I’m bringing company, not to mention a cat.”
The noise level of the engines changed. She clasped her hands together. “I’m sure your grandmother’s more excited to have you staying with her. Ten years is a long time to be away.”
“What has Libby told you?”
“Not much.” A glance out the window told Emma the plane was descending. “I know you’re throwing your grandmother an eightieth birthday party. Very nice of you to do.”
“Just holding up my end of a deal.”
Emma looked back at him. “Excuse me?”
His gaze, warm and clear, met hers. “When I was eight, I wanted a space-alien birthday party. My dad said no, so my grandma offered to throw me a party if I agreed to do the same for her when she turned eighty. We shook on it.”
Emma tried to picture AJ as a boy, but looking past the handsome man sitting across from her was impossible. “You remembered that after all these years?”
“No.” He half laughed. The charming sound sent a brush of tingles across Emma’s tummy. “My grandma did. She reminded me in February.”
She rubbed her stomach. Maybe she was feeling the aftereffects of being sick earlier. “Still nice of you.”
“She’s my grandma. I wasn’t about to say no.”
“Would you be returning to Haley’s Bay if it weren’t her birthday?”
“Probably not, which she knows.” Affection filled his gaze. “My grandmother’s a sly one. But I’m on my way so she’s happy. I want the party to go smoothly. That’s what I’m counting on you for, Emma.”
She wrote the words “anticipate and prevent problems” in her binder. “Yes, Mr. Cole.”
“AJ.”
The man had seen her vomit. The only other people to see her do that were her parents, God rest their souls, and Libby. “AJ.”
He smiled. She smiled back. The moment lingered. Filled her with heat. She looked at her binder. “Anything else I should know?”
“My family is big and crazy and loud.” AJ sounded amused, not annoyed. “I have four brothers—Ellis, Flynn, Declan and Grady—and two sisters—Bailey and Camden. Not to mention my sister-in-law, Risa, and more aunts, uncles and cousins than I can count.”
“That is a big family.”
“The single Cole men will hit on you because you’re new in town and their reputations haven’t been sullied yet. They’ve done that in the past. You’re under no obligation to them, and let me know if they annoy you.” AJ’s dark eyes and serious tone told Emma he wasn’t joking. “What you do on your own time is none of my business, but don’t let your actions affect your ability to get the job done.”
His words irritated her. Okay, he didn’t know her, but she wasn’t about to sleep around because good-looking guys were giving her attention. She imagined his brothers were attractive, AJ in multiples, like the Hemsworth brothers. That could be dangerous. To her job and her heart. She jotted a note in the margin. “Stay away from Cole males.”
“I’ll keep my distance.”
A lopsided grin formed. “Smart.”
She hated the way her body responded to his compliment. “It’s been my experience that business and pleasure don’t mix well.”
“Mine, too.”
At least they agreed on something.
“But business has to be fun,” AJ added. “All work and no play...”
“Would be boring.” Emma recalled Libby’s description of the Cole corporate headquarters in Seattle with a game arcade, gym, massages, errand service, and free meals, snacks and drinks at the employee cafeterias. Fun seemed to be the operative word at his company. Not surprising given that he developed a photography-based blogging platform and created a social media gaming site for friends to compete. “I wouldn’t last long as a nanny if I didn’t play. Having fun means everything to children.”
“What about you?”
“I like to have fun.”
He drummed his fingers against the chair arm. “What do you do for fun?”
“Play tag, dress-up, bicycle, hunt for treasure, bake, board games, and go to the Oregon Zoo, the children’s museum or OMSI.”
His fingers stilled. “I meant what do you do when you’re not being a nanny.”
“Oh. Sorry. I like to read, watch movies, hike, volunteer at an animal rescue center.”
“Quiet pleasures.”
“It’s not always quiet at the rescue shelter, but the noise is different there. I love being a nanny. The children are wonderful, but they’re loud and full of energy and want your undivided attention. A little quiet is nice.”
“Alone time is fun for you.”
She bit back a smile. AJ wasn’t grilling her, but he seemed to want to know more about her. She would have expected a billionaire to brag and make sure the conversation centered around him. Not that she knew any billionaires, but she’d worked for a millionaire. “Escaping inside a dark theater with a bucket of popcorn, a soda, a box of candy and no one to take to the bathroom at the best part of a movie is the definition of superfun.”
“There’s a theater in Haley’s Bay.”
“Thanks, but I doubt you’ll be screaming and tugging on my shirt to get attention all day long.”
“No screaming.” He winked. “And I’ve found persuading a woman to take off her shirt works better than tugging.”
“I’m surprised you have to persuade them.” The man’s smile could charm a snake out of its skin. “I assumed women flashed you, like at Mardi Gras.”
“Only in my dreams.” With a wry grin, he settled back in his seat. “But they’re very nice dreams.”
“I imagine so.”
“What do you dream about, Emma?”
“I... Um, a lot of things.”
“Like what?”
She fiddled with her seat belt. “Cats. Children. Family.”
“Nanny things?”
A lump the size of a Super Ball burned in Emma’s throat. She swallowed, kept her smile from wavering and looked AJ straight in the eyes. “Yes, nanny things.”
Cat lover things. Mommy things. Wife things. Things a man who had a family, albeit an estranged one, would never understand. Things she dreamed about. Things she wanted...desperately.
Chapter Three
Charlie, AJ’s chauffeur for three years, cut five minutes off the drive from the minuscule airport to Haley’s Bay. AJ rubbed his thumb against his fingertips.
He liked being on time. He preferred arriving early. Charlie was doing his job, getting AJ to his destination as quickly as possible. But this once, he wouldn’t have minded being late.
Still, he didn’t lower the glass panel and tell Charlie to slow down. Not until AJ had a reason, one beyond his wanting to prolong the inevitable.
Music played from the speakers. Stock quotes ran across the bottom of a television screen. The bar called to him, but he needed to be stone-cold sober when he faced his family. AJ glanced at Emma, seated next to him, the cat carrier at her feet.
She stared out the window. Her serious expression—dare he say dour—took prim and proper to the next level. So different from how she’d been right before landing. Her sense of humor had disappeared. Her smile, too.
She might be upset over getting sick earlier. She might be nervous about her new job. Or she might be acting the way she always did. Whatever the reason, she was his employee, his responsibility. The least he could do was help her relax after a rough flight and coax a smile out of her. “Let’s take a detour. Check out a lighthouse or two.”
Her lips twisted. “You’re expected at your grandmother’s house.”
“I wouldn’t be a gracious host if I didn’t show you the sights.”
“You’re not my host,” she countered. “You’re my boss.”
Being her employer was easy to forget. Libby had hired Emma. “I don’t mind playing tour guide.”
Her nose crinkled. “You have a schedule—”
“Subject to change.”
“True, but as your personal assistant I’m supposed to keep you on schedule.”
“True, but you’re also supposed to do what I ask.”
“Even if doing so isn’t in your best interest? I mean, you haven’t been home in ten years. Your grandmother might be peeking out the window waiting for you to arrive.”
He pictured Grandma doing that. “I’ll concede the point.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
His gaze met Emma’s. She removed her glasses to blow on the right lens. Pretty blue eyes surrounded by long, thick lashes. He hadn’t noticed her eyelashes before. “Does your grandmother do the same when you visit?”
“My grandparents are dead.” Emma put on her glasses and stared out the window. “Looks like we’re here.”
A wooden sign on the side of the two-lane road welcomed visitors to Haley’s Bay. The sign was new. The churning in AJ’s stomach wasn’t.
After a decade, the town had likely changed. In that same time, his life had also changed. His family’s opinion of him might never change. That could take a century. Or longer.
The last time he was home his family had tried to shame him into staying in Haley’s Bay. That wouldn’t happen again, but something else might. He wanted to be prepared. “One of your responsibilities is running interference for me.”
“What do you mean?”
“If I find myself in a difficult situation, I may need you to get me out of it by texting or calling or physically interrupting me.”
She smiled at the sleeping cat before looking up at him. “Afraid you might run into old girlfriends who might want to rekindle the flame?”
“That isn’t likely to happen.” His high school sweetheart and ex-fiancée, Natalie, had dumped him and married one of his closest friends. AJ had been devastated, but recovered. A good lesson learned—immediate gratification was more important than loyalty to some people. “But there will be people around. My family, too.”
Emma eyed him warily. “Family?”
He nodded once. “Libby and I have a code word. If I text or say the word, she knows to take action.”
Emma removed her notepad from her bag. “What’s the code word?”
“Top secret.”
“If I don’t know what to listen for, I’m not going to be able to help you.”
He rubbed his chin. “We need our own word. Something obscure, but not too random.”
Emma tapped her pen against her notepad. “How about...lighthouse?”
AJ mulled over the suggestion. Ten letters would be a bear to text, but the word could be worked into a conversation without sounding like a non sequitur.
“That’ll work.” Satisfaction flowed through him. The word played perfectly into his plans. “To make sure we remember the code word, we’ll visit one now.”
“No need. I’ll remember.”
“A few hours spent sightseeing won’t make a difference.”
“What’s really going on?” She studied him. “You remind me of a kid trying to put off going to the doctor’s for a shot.”
His jaw tensed. “I’m not scared of needles.”
“You’re scared of something.”
Emma’s insight made him squirm. She had zero qualms pinpointing and commenting on what was going on in his head, trying to fix what was upsetting him. He was used to having people try to fix things for him, but not with nurturing concern, as if she really cared. AJ didn’t like it.
“I’m not scared of anything.” The words flowed quickly, one after the other without any breaks. Not like him. But then again, he was back in Haley’s Bay. That changed everything. “Okay, that’s not quite true. The threat of an EMP, electronic magnetic pulse, making every electrical device obsolete has given me nightmares.”
“You’re not scared about coming home?”
“Nope.” Damn. He sounded like a kid, a scared little kid trying to put on a good front, and Emma seemed to know that. “I lived here for eighteen years. I might be a little on edge, but that’s because I haven’t been here in a while.”
“Ten years is a long time.”
“I’ve been busy.” A stupid excuse, but she didn’t need to know the real reasons. “But I’m free now. Let’s take in a few sights on our way. This is my first vacation in over a year.”
Emma’s not-going-to-happen-on-my-watch shake of her head stopped him cold. “You’ll have a free block of time after your calls this afternoon,” she said. “Plenty of time to see the sights over the next five days.”
Her friendly tone, as though she was using extra patience for her recalcitrant charge, made him feel like an idiot for bringing this up again. He must be back in his hometown. He’d felt like the village idiot living here.
Emma leaned toward the limousine window. The shift of position brought a whiff of her citrus shampoo—grapefruit or maybe lemon. The fresh scent appealed to him like the nanny.
“Wow.” She pressed closer to the glass. “This place is beautiful.”
He followed her gaze to the sparkling expanse of water and the heart of the town hugging the shoreline. Pride welled. Foolish, irrepressible pride he buried in a no-nonsense response. “The town hugs the waterfront. Most of the shops and restaurants are on Bay Street near the harbor.”
“Is Haley’s Bay named after an original settler?”
“Yes.” AJ didn’t know if she was making conversation or wanted to know the answer. Given her occupation, he’d guess the latter. She seemed the type to pay attention and ask questions of white-haired docents leading museum tours. He wouldn’t mind taking her through a couple of the historic sites around here. “Haley was a trader who anchored in the bay during his voyages. That’s according to the Lewis and Clark expedition. The bay was renamed Baker Bay, after a British merchant, but the original town name stuck.”
“You know your history.”
Her praise made him sit taller. A stupid reaction, but returning to his hometown was a stupid move. He should have thrown a royal extravaganza for his grandmother on his turf, in Seattle. Rented the Space Needle. Staged a massive fireworks display. But she’d wanted the party here in the town where she’d been born and lived her entire life. “I learned Washington state history in school, but the old folks around here bring the past alive, especially the fishermen. They love sharing every legend about Haley’s Bay.”
“I’m usually the one telling stories. I’d love to hear some tales.”
The excitement in her voice made him want to offer to introduce her around. Talk about a stupid move. She would be more welcome here than him. But something about Emma made AJ want to help her. Maybe he was feeling sorry for her after the rough flight, but he didn’t like it. She worked for him, not the other way around.
“Make friends with the locals,” he suggested. “You’ll hear them all.”
“Must have been fun growing up here.”
“When I was a little kid.” He studied the buildings—stores and cafés he didn’t recognize—along the inland side of Bay Road. Maybe that would take his mind off the woman sitting next to him. A wrought iron wind vane of a sailboat faced west. On the sidewalk, two people walked hand in hand. An unleashed golden retriever trotted next to them. “Not so much when I became a teenager.”
“It’s a charming town.”
“If you like small and boring.”
“I do.” She stared across him. Her lips parted, spreading into a wide grin that made him want to smile. “Look at the boats.”
Sailboat masts teetered on the harbor. Flags fluttered in the breeze. Empty moorings meant most boats had headed out to sea for the day. “Fishing used to support this town. Now I hear the biggest catch is tourists. A couple of my brothers take them deep sea fishing.”
That must kill his dad, who believed the only way to make money was building boats and catching fish. He’d called tourists “barnacles” and a few other choice words he wouldn’t say in front of his wife or mother.
With her eager gaze, Emma looked like a tourist herself. All she needed was a camera, sunglasses and a guidebook. “I could see coming here for vacation.”
He’d taken days off work, but he couldn’t relax here. Still, talking about Haley’s Bay with Emma wasn’t so bad. Being so aware of her movements and expressions, however, was making him uncomfortable. He focused on the town’s geography. “Cape Disappointment is next door with campsites, yurts and hiking trails. There’s the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. Long Beach is a coastal resort community to the northwest and Astoria, Oregon, is south across the Columbia River. I guess if I hadn’t grown up here...”
“You’d come for fun.”
“I might.” AJ tried hard not to think of this place. “But I always thought of Haley’s Bay as the place I couldn’t wait to leave when I went to college.”
“Back east, right?”
Libby must have prepped Emma with his background info. He assumed only the basics. All he knew about Emma was that she’d been in the foster care system before moving in with Libby and her parents during high school. “MIT.”
“Boston must have been a big change with the crowds and skyscrapers.”
“My first week it took me three days to fall asleep because of the noise, but I loved living there. Compared to a city, this place is dead.”
“You might view your hometown differently now that you’re an adult.” Emma pointed to the Captain’s Café, a multistory restaurant complete with weathered front, crow’s nest, anchor and captain’s wheel. “Do they have good food?”
“I’ve never seen the place.” He searched his memory for what had been there before. The doughnut shop, no...that wasn’t right. “That used to be Stu’s Sandwich Shop, a hole-in-the-wall storefront. But no one could top their pastrami on rye.”
“I love a good Reuben.”
AJ imagined her biting into a big sandwich, a dab of Thousand Island on the corner of her mouth. He wouldn’t mind licking it off and tasting more than the dressing.
Whoa. Where had that come from? He didn’t lick, let alone kiss, employees.
And she was his employee. Smart. Observant with journalist-writing-a-travel-piece insights, opinions and questions. Qualities he searched for when hiring staff. The other things he looked for were initiative and loyalty. Always, after what he’d gone through in Haley’s Bay, loyalty.
She gestured to the passing scenery, giving him another whiff of her shampoo. “What other places are new?”
Ignoring how good she smelled, he took in the street, noting the differences from his memory to reality. “The Coffee Shack, Donut Heaven, Bert’s Hardware, the Bay Mercantile Store and the barbershop were here before, but the building facades are updated. The Candy Cave, the Buried Treasure and Raging Waters are new. They appear more for tourists than locals. But I’ll bet the new store owners have the same small-town mentality as everyone else.”
“That so-called mentality is part of the appeal.”
Her odd—almost disapproving?—expression jabbed at him. Libby wasn’t a yes-person, but if her opinion differed from his she wasn’t vocal like Emma. The nanny had no problem speaking up. He wasn’t used to people doing so and wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. “The mentality is difficult to take growing up.”
“You feel that way, but many people didn’t grow up in a small town. They want to experience what that’s like. That’s why tourists like visiting. Haley’s Bay has to be a popular destination or we’d see the effects of a downturned economy, empty businesses and for lease signs in the windows.”
Interesting. A nanny with a keen sense of business. She wasn’t a carbon copy of Libby, and that was surprisingly okay. He leaned toward Emma, wanting to know more about her. “What was your major in college?”
“I didn’t go to college.” Not an ounce of regret sounded in her voice. She raised her chin with a hint of pride and determination, two more traits that appealed to him. “I attended a thirty-month nanny certification program in Portland. But I loved my economics class in high school. I like to read and stay up on current events. Nannies are a child’s second teacher, after their parents. I aim to enhance a child’s natural interests.”