All I Need Is You (23 page)

This must be what it was like to have a husband. Someone who loved you and whom you trusted completely so you could feel safe leaving your baby in their care. Someone to carry part of the weight.
 

Finally, she pushed the door to the third bedroom open slowly. Eli stood next to the window, talking to the baby in a low voice, his deep baritone rumbling across her worn and weary nerves. Hope was cuddled up on his shoulder, contentedly snuggled against his wide chest.
 

As the rumble of his deep voice carried across the room, Kay’s heart melted observing them. Her gentle warrior. She didn’t blame her daughter one bit for her fascination with Eli. She knew from firsthand experience that it was pretty much impossible not to feel safe when being held in those strong arms. When he saw her in the doorway, he waved her away. Startled, she backed out of the room and eased the door closed.
 

It looked like he didn’t need her help.
 

In the living room, she collapsed on the couch. She massaged the tender balls of her feet before propping them up on the other end of the couch. A ragged sigh escaped her lips. She would just rest her eyes for a moment. Eli would probably be out soon. Hope had looked to be halfway to la-la land already.

ELI WATCHED THE gentle rise and fall of Hope’s back, waiting until her breathing was deep and even before he moved closer to the playpen. After spending most of the day going over strategy with Matt and Tank, he was exhausted and had been looking forward to a beer and bed. Kaylee had looked just as wiped out after a day entertaining the baby.
 

It was amazing how such a tiny person could get into so many things. It was hard to stay in the house as an adult, so he could imagine the forced seclusion was taking its toll on the baby as well. He resolved to find a safe way to get them out of the house. Even if he took them to headquarters with him for the day, that would be better than being in hiding all the time.
 

He looked down at the baby and then smiled triumphantly. She wasn’t asleep yet, but she was almost there. She was a gentle weight on his shoulder, her fingers curled against his neck. So peaceful. So trusting. He had a real knack for this baby stuff.
 

Then she opened her mouth in a wide yawn and let out a high-pitched screech guaranteed to raise the dead.
 

“Oh no. Don’t do that. Please don’t do that again.” He bounced her gently, looking around the room for something to distract her. Unsure what to do, he picked up the small notebook on the dresser. Every page contained lines of poetry in Kaylee’s careful handwriting.
 

“Maybe your mom’s poetry will calm you down. Let’s try reading some. Would you like that?” She seemed to enjoy it when he talked to her, so Eli opened the book to a random page and started reading.
 

Don’t stay so far away from me

It hurts when you stay

It hurts when you leave

Don’t stay so far away from me

You, and only you

Are all that I need.

Hope stopped whimpering and relaxed against his shoulder again. A few minutes later, she was asleep.
 

Eli set the notebook down, then moved closer to the playpen, slow and easy. He eased her down, afraid to move too fast and jostle her awake. Remembering Kay’s words about the blankets, he didn’t cover her, just let her curl on her side. He’d accomplished a lot of things in his life, but none felt as monumental as coaxing a cranky baby to sleep.
 

This was what it truly meant to be a man. To have the love and trust of the people who needed you. He’d spend the rest of his days being the man they needed him to be.

He left the room, turning the knob all the way so the latch wouldn’t catch as he shut the door behind him. His breath left his lungs in a satisfied rush when the door closed without a sound. Now that the baby was asleep, he could have Kay all to himself. Maybe he’d get a fire going and see if he could get her down on that rug with him again. A little quality time with his woman was exactly what he needed.
 

He turned the corner into the living room. “Are you warm enough, angel? I can start the fire—”

Kay lay asleep on the couch, snuggled up with one of the accent pillows under her head. Her feet were bare and the nightshirt she wore had ridden up to expose the temptation of her thighs.
 

He bent at the knees and gathered her gently in his arms. Even in sleep, she turned to him so trustingly. Even in sleep, she reached out for him.

“Eli? Where are we going?” She asked the question even as she wound her arms around his neck.
 

He kissed the top of her head. “To bed, angel.”

He carried her to the guest bedroom, placing her on top of the comforter so he could pull her nightshirt over her head. His own clothes followed and then he had her under the covers, tucked against him. The bed in this room was smaller than his and for the first time, Eli was glad. Nothing could feel as natural as having the right to undress her and tuck her against his side.
 

He didn’t want to let her go.

USUALLY KAY WAS a pretty patient person, but as one week passed and then another, she finally broke down and begged Eli to get her out of the house. She’d caught up on all the back episodes of her favorite television shows, and she’d written several new songs. It had been time very well spent, but it still felt like she was stuck in some sort of time capsule, frozen while everyone else lived their lives unaware.

Eli had decided taking them along when he went to his company’s headquarters wasn’t too risky. He’d been absent longer than usual and there was apparently a ton of paperwork waiting on his signature. His phone rang incessantly, and she could always tell when it was Carly.
 

It was the only time he left the room to take his phone calls.
 

Kay pushed the negative thoughts out of her mind, determined to enjoy her first outing in weeks. Alexander Security Incorporated was housed in a moderately sized building in central Fairfax County. Kay leaned closer to the window to take it all in. She felt a huge swell of pride for the company Eli had built from the ground up. Especially since she knew he viewed his work as atonement for the mistakes of his past.
 

“I’m really sorry about this. Human Resources only needs me to meet a new employee and sign some documents. It shouldn’t take long. I wanted to get you guys out of the house, but I’d hoped to find something more fun than this.”

“Trust me, I’ll take it. We’ve been in the house so long I’m starting to forget what the outside looks like.”
 

“I thought I was doing a pretty good job of keeping you busy,” Eli said, reaching a hand over to caress her knee.
 

Kay grabbed his hand before it could reach its intended destination and squeezed it, satisfied when he gave her a lascivious look. “As much as I’m enjoying your
distractions
, we have to come up for air sometime. Plus, I want to see where you work. You’ve spent so much time following me around at my job, so turnabout is only fair.”

He grinned and put his hands back on the wheel. They pulled into an underground parking garage and followed it around, going lower and lower until Eli pulled into a parking space marked with red lines.

“I guess there are some perks to being the boss, huh?”
 

Eli grinned and got out. This time she knew enough to wait until he rounded the car and opened her door for her.

“There’re a few benefits, yes.”

She lifted Hope carefully into her arms, deciding to leave the car seat behind. They rode the elevator up to the fifteenth floor where he held the door so she could precede him. Directly in front of them was a gleaming glass-and-chrome receptionist’s desk.
 

“Good afternoon, Mr. Alexander.” The receptionist seemed startled to see them.

“Afternoon, Marcy.” Eli nodded and then turned to the right.
 

Kay followed him, conscious of the older woman’s curious stare. They passed cubicles and small offices. Most of them were empty, but they passed quite a few people in the hallways who spoke to Eli or nodded.
 

“This is my office.”

He closed the door behind them and led her over to this desk. It was a massive piece of wood with two black leather chairs in front. Kay sat down and shucked off her coat.
 

“I need to go down to the HR department. They just hired someone new and for management-level employees, I like to introduce myself right away since they’ll be reporting directly to me.”

“Well, you can go do whatever you need to do. I don’t mind waiting. Actually, if there’s anything you need me to do, just let me know. I want to be useful. In case you didn’t know, I’m pretty good at keeping Alexander men on task. Just ask Nick.”

Eli chuckled, his deep baritone washing over her, rumbling through her and leaving a trail of goose bumps in its wake. “I believe you.” He gestured toward a stack of files on his desk. “If you’re determined to help, there is something you can do. I need these to be put in alphabetical order so they can be filed. Also, I need you to pull out the ones that have incident reports because I need to sign off on those.”

Kay looked down at Hope, who was regarding the new surroundings with interest. “I should have brought her car seat after all. I guess I’ll have to hold her on my lap.”

“She can come with me. What do you say, princess? You want to take a ride?” He held out his arms and Hope immediately leaned forward.
 

“How quickly she deserts me for a handsome face.” Kay winked at him.
 

Eli held Hope protectively against his shoulder. “She knows I’m a sucker for that smile and she can get away with anything.”

Kay’s heart flipped over when he looked down at Hope so affectionately. Hope had been up late again the prior night but amazingly, Eli didn’t look as though he’d stayed up rocking a cranky baby. He looked like he belonged in a fashion magazine. She’d never seen him in a suit before and the result was shockingly arousing. Eli looked up and caught her staring, so she covered it with a cough.
 

“So, you need me to look for incident reports and set those aside. Then I can file the rest. Anything else?”

“No, that’s it.”

Kay pushed up her sleeves. “I can do that. Don’t worry about me. Just go do… boss stuff.”

Eli watched her with amused eyes as she plopped down in his chair and opened the first file folder.
 

“Okay. I won’t be gone long.” He kissed her lightly on the cheek and then he was gone. She could hear him talking to Hope all the way down the hall.
 

She let out a breath before turning her attention to the mountain of folders. It shouldn’t be that difficult to scan through each file and see if there was anything Eli needed to sign. It was the type of work that wasn’t difficult, just tedious. She scanned through the first stack and then filed them. By the time she got to the next stack, she was actually enjoying herself. Some of these case files read almost like fiction.
 

“What is going on in here?”

Kay looked up from the file she was reading. Carly stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips.
 

“Eli asked me to help him get his desk in order.”

Carly marched over to the desk and snatched the pile of papers from her hand. “That’s my job. I’m his assistant. I keep his desk in perfect order, thank you.”

Kay snatched the file back. “I’m sure you do, but he’s the one who asked me to help him with this stuff. Maybe he thought you were too busy working on something else.”

“I’m never too busy for him. For
anything
he needs me to do.” Carly crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
 

Kay shook her head. “Really? You don’t think I already know that? I figured that out about ten seconds after we met.”

Carly’s eyes narrowed. Before she could respond, Kay held up a hand. “Whatever. I couldn’t care any less about your past with Eli. Based on your behavior, I’m going to take a wild guess that he was the one who broke it off? Which means he made his decision before I came along. So, like I said, if you have a problem take it up with him.”