Chapter 11 The Best News
THE BEST NEWS
Isla
“He made the tabloids again.” I put up my phone and showed Joey a picture of his dad. “For…get this—doing nothing.”
He kicked his legs in excitement, and the whole stroller shook a bit.
I took that as him showing interest in my story, so I decided to share some more.
According to the article, there were speculations going around as to why Declan Noble hadn’t been seen in public lately.
Of course, they knew he was in the States, but they still expected him to carry on with his social life, which he had in the past.
Mandy, the self-proclaimed expert on all things Declan Noble, had come up with her own theory.
She was convinced that the most eligible bachelor in London had finally met the one.
I barked out a laugh. Mandy wasn’t all wrong.
Declan had a new interest, for sure. Joey occupied every minute of his free time.
And that was the real reason why Declan had decided to stop going to the Crucible.
Something that made me strangely happy. Of course, I hadn’t developed feelings for my hot boss.
But the thought of him kissing another woman made my insides twist into a knot.
With a sigh, I touched my fingertips to my lips.
I let my mind play the same movie for me.
The one where Declan kissed me like I was the last woman on Earth.
Groaning, I dropped my head into my hands.
As it always did, desire swirled at the apex of my thighs.
I wanted more of that—his hands on me, his mouth…
I wanted him—even if he didn’t feel the same about me.
That much was painfully obvious. In the past three weeks, he had spent a great deal of time avoiding me.
Whenever Joey went down for the night, Declan would turn icy and distant.
Little by little, I’d figured out how to tamper down all the feelings bubbling in my chest and the incessant need to be someone important to him.
I stared at his perfectly chiseled nose and straight jaw.
The picture on my screen showed him at a coffee shop in Midtown.
He sat alone, doing nothing. He seemed so comfortable to be by himself.
I loved how confident and grounded he was.
That wasn’t something I’d learned about him while pouring over all the tabloid pages.
In the time I had spent playing his babysitter, I had come to know the real him.
He was so much more than the sexy playboy reporters wanted him to be.
“Why do I keep doing this to myself?” I asked Joey, who blinked slowly with sleepy eyes, flashing me a lazy smile.
My heart melted a little, then squeezed tight. The painful reminder of all the things I couldn’t have, like Declan, like a baby, a family.
“Do you mind if I join you?” a woman asked.
“What? Nothing.” I tossed my phone in the stroller next to Joey.
The sun shone in my eyes as soon as I lifted my gaze.
I squinted to see who wanted to join my pity party.
When Louisa’s face came into focus, my jaw dropped.
She wanted to sit with me? Why? I had seen her around the park twice before.
Both times, I had managed to get away unseen and find a spot hidden from the main path.
Today, I had been so distracted by Declan’s latest photo, I hadn’t noticed her come in.
“You look like the cat who drank the milk.” She chuckled, sat next to me, and wiggled the stroller closer to her.
“No, I wasn’t. I was just reading the news.” I adjusted Joey’s blanket. He had already fallen asleep for his after-lunch nap. “I’m sorry, can I help you?”
What I wanted to ask was, why are you talking to me?
Louisa had spent the entirety of our school years pretending I didn’t exist. Come to think of it, both our families spent a great deal of time pretending the other didn’t exist. Dad, in particular, never wanted to talk about what had happened with his first wife.
The effect trickled down to my sister and me.
We never asked questions. For example, why was Louisa only a few months older than me?
We were in the same grade growing up. It was all so obvious to us, so why not talk about it?
She blew out a breath, then adjusted her baby’s blanket. Like Joey, he was sound asleep, too. “I talked to Nicolas. He told me you were working at Windsor Financial.”
“Oh, that’s just temporary. I wasn’t stalking you or anything.”
“I know that. He explained.” She glanced down at her hands. “He said you wanted to get to know me.”
“Oh,” I said again because I had no idea what else to say.
Sure, I had fantasized about hanging out with my half-sister many times, but honestly, I never thought this would actually happen.
Maybe Dear Prudence, the advice column Louisa used to work for, was right. All I had to do was ask the universe.
“You wrote to Dear Prudence, didn’t you?” She shook her head. “You’re sister-sister.”
“Maybe.” No point in lying now. “I mean, yes, I am. I did write to her. I was actually surprised she responded. I lost count of how many letters I wrote.”
Did I write every one of those hoping Louisa would see them someday? Maybe.
“I wrote the response piece.” She smiled at me. “It reminded me of you. Our situation. As soon as Nicolas told me about your new job, I connected the dots.”
“What? I had no idea.”
“I can be a big chicken sometimes.”
“I saw you here before. I wanted to talk to you, but I chickened out.” I raised my hand. We could both be chickens sometimes.
“Same.” She pointed at herself, nodding. “I didn’t know you had a baby.”
“No, he’s not mine. I’m just um…watching him for a day.” I tried to lie to protect Declan’s privacy, but then remember Louisa had seen me at the park before with a baby. “For a few weeks.”
“Okay.” She shrugged. “You don’t want to tell me.”
“It’s not that. It’s not my place to say.”
“I knew it.” She scooted up on the park bench and turned to me. “Declan is up to something. No, wait. He’s in trouble. Is he in trouble? If he is, we can help.”
I met her gaze. A tiny bubble in my chest swirled back and forth, like a giddy butterfly. For the past several months, I had written many letters to Ida, hoping to get my half-sister’s attention. What was it Ida had said about sending my intention out into the world?
Set it and forget it.
She had been right.
Here I was in the middle of Manhattan sitting at a park with two sleeping babies while Louisa asked me to confide in her.
My wish had come true. Maybe my luck was turning around.
Maybe all my efforts hadn’t been for nothing.
Even if I had to start from square one on the boyfriend front.
At least I still had a job, well sort of, and my sister was willing to give us a shot.
“Okay.” I glanced up and silently apologized to Declan. “You can’t tell anyone. Especially not the UK tabloids.”
“What? Of course not. Poor guy. Spill.” She gestured for me to go on.
“Long story short, Joey—” I pointed toward the sleeping baby parked next to me, “—was dropped off at Declan’s door almost three weeks ago. There was no note, only a birth certificate. Apparently, Declan slept with a woman named Harper eighteen months ago and now they have a baby together.”
“Omigod.” She shifted her gaze toward Joey and reached out to arrange his blanket. “That’s terrible. Poor baby. Does he miss his mom?”
“He was fussy at first. But he’s fine now. Maybe I look like her. Or he’s used to having a nanny.”
“Wow. How can we help? Is he looking for Harper?” Her brows shot up in surprise. “Now I get it. That’s why he asked Nicolas for a private investigator. He’s looking for her.”
“He said he was. But it’s been a while. She could be anywhere by now.”
“I hope she’s okay.”
“Yeah, me too.” My phone beeped. Our stroll time was over.
If I didn’t get home in time for snack and a real nap, Joey was going to get really cranky.
I smiled thinking of the other cranky man in my life.
Wait, no, I had no other man. This wasn’t my baby, and most definitely, Declan wasn’t my man.
“Hey, I have to go before the baby wakes up.”
“Yeah, sure. It was nice to see you.” She beamed at me.
“Same here.” I stood and waved them good-bye.
The whole way home, I couldn’t stop smiling.
Louisa and I were friends. Okay, more like conspirators.
But that was a good start. She was interested in making a connection.
For the first time ever, she didn’t spend her time pretending I didn’t exist. I was still on cloud nine when I got back to Declan’s condo.
Before I put my key in, Declan swung the door open. God, he was hot. Shaking my head to clear all the dirty thoughts already invading my mind, I pushed the stroller inside. “Thank you. I didn’t know you’d be home so early.”
“Right. I have some news.” He closed the door behind him.
He’d just taken a shower and the smell of his body wash was everywhere. I inhaled deeply before I turned around to face him. “Good news, I hope. You found Harper.”
“Well, no. Better actually. I found a nanny. A more permeant one who is actually willing to fly back to the UK with me in a few months.” He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his gray joggers. “Good news, right?”
Damn that was a good look for him—causal pants and wet hair. Yeah, I went there. Before I could stop it, an image of him in the shower popped into my head. Stop it. I focused on his words instead and the implication of this new development. I had to go.
“So yeah, you’re fired.” He chuckled.
I glanced down at my hands, pursing my lips. “Wow.”
“Oh, no. I meant it as a joke. You know from before. Of course, you’re not fired. You can now go do the work you actually signed up for.” A sexy half-smile pulled at his lips. “Before I hijacked your time, that is.”
“I got that.” I nodded. “So, when does this new person start?”
“Monday. She can move in as soon as Monday.”
The way he slowed down as he stated the obvious made me wonder if maybe he was sad to see me go.
No, that couldn’t be. Since the beginning—since our hot kiss, really—Declan didn’t feel comfortable having me in his home.
A hot lump churned in my stomach when I considered that another woman would get to share this space with him and take care of his baby.
Jesus, what the hell was wrong with me? I didn’t want to be a nanny.
I wanted to be a programmer and manage high-profile projects for a billion-dollar company like Noble Consulting.
This was the best news. This was the best news. This was the best news.
“Say something.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you have a place to stay? I realize I didn’t even ask what you ended up doing with your Brooklyn flat.”
“I still have it,” I lied. I wasn’t his problem. And with the money he had paid me, I had more than enough to find a new apartment. Maybe not in the city, but closer than Bensonhurst.
“You don’t have to leave right away.” He stepped closer. “I’ll leave for the Hamptons in the morning with Joey so can you take your time. Frank will help with your luggage and arrange for a car to take you home.”
The last time we were this close was my first week here when we ran into each other out in the hallway. I had just finished washing up after putting Joey down for the night. I thought of how warm his body had been against mine and how hard his chest felt under my touch.
“Isla.” He whispered so low, I wasn’t sure he’d said my name.
Joey’s whimpering broke through the raw energy that sparked between us. Or did I imagine that? Not that it mattered. Declan had been very clear about his intentions with me. He had to focus his time and efforts on his new family.
“He gets fussy if he doesn’t nap in his crib.” I turned away from Declan and scooped up Joey in my arms.
“Let me do that.” He reached for his son but waited until I conceded.
He padded over to my room. In the back of my mind, a tiny voice told me to stay put and not follow him. But the tone of his voice when he said my name was still in my head. I walked behind him, letting his magnetism drag me toward him.
I stood in the middle of the room as my gaze shifted from my neatly made bed to Joey’s crib, and then, Declan’s wide back.
He leaned forward to clear a few binkies out of the way.
Yeah, I stayed there and let my gaze hover over every plane and valley on his muscled back.
He gripped the crib rail, and his triceps bulged up. After a few beats, he turned around.
The look in his face made me shuffle back. His eyes showed the same gleam they had the night we first kissed. He sauntered toward me with one brow slightly cocked. “This is going to be a fucking mess.”
“I don’t care.”
I wasn’t even sure what he had meant. All I knew was that he was about to kiss me again.
My body ached to close the space between us, but I didn’t.
I stood my ground because I wanted him to come to me.
He pushed me away before; I didn’t think I could handle another rejection from him.
Every day I had spent in his home, he had in one way, or another pushed me away.
“Isla.” He cradled my cheek and pressed his forehead to me. “Everywhere I go, it doesn’t matter how near or far you are, I can always catch your scent. Or at least, I imagine I do. You’re in my head. All of the goddamn time.”
I had no words. I didn’t care for words. I only wanted him. Getting up on my tippy-toes, I pressed my mouth to him. He groaned, and before I knew it, we were entangled in a hard kiss, making our way out into the hallway.