Caleb

I had more than enough time to think things over after our little fallout the night before, and instead of running after a raging female who could do some serious damage with that left-hand swing of hers, I left her to calm down.

In my defence I wasn’t trying to protect Joanne. In fact, she was the last thing on my mind, I was just trying to contain a bad situation by playing this whole journalist thing down to me being a sports star. But if I had to be honest with myself, it was more than likely Joanne’s doing and whatever her angle was for pulling such a stunt, I was not planning on letting it slide, but that was the least of my problems. I needed to reassure Rae that she belonged here and that Braden needed me.

“Has the baby sitter arrived yet?” I asked Samson as I entered the kitchen just after dawn.

“She’s on her way sir,” he said with a smile on his face.

“Good, when she gets here, just show her where everything is.”

“Of course.”

Although Samson was my butler, he was more like a father to me than my own dad had ever been and I knew that he had always liked Rae, he never made it a secret. I remember how he went out of his way to make sure he always offered Rae a ride when he picked me up from college just so that he could push us towards each other. The day I decided to leave, he was the one who told me I was making a mistake. My dad was caught up with his new girlfriend, while my mom spent days drinking herself into a stupor over his betrayal. Thinking back now, I should have listened to Samson when he told me ‘she’s the kind of girl who deserves more than one second chance’. I never quite understood what he meant by that at the time, but now it was slowly starting to make sense.

Fine, so she never tried to reach me when she found out she was pregnant, but that’s no reason to keep the noose around her neck. She was scared and alone, I was gone and she deserved a second chance as much as I did.

“Shall I take Miss Rae’s tea up to her room?” Samson asked, drawing me out of my train of thought.

“No, I’ll take it up; you tend to Maria when she arrives.”

On my way to Rae’s room I stopped at Braden’s room, he was talking to himself again and I couldn’t help but smile. He reminded me so much of myself; I had no doubt that he was going to grow up to be just fine. I could only hope that I would get to be part of it all. My heart ached just thinking of losing him.

I continued to Rae’s room and knocked lightly on the door and waited, when there was no answer I entered expecting to find her sleeping, but instead I heard her in the bathroom. Should I leave the tea and come back later or wait for her to come out of the bathroom? I wondered. The latter option was more than just tempting and images of her wrapped only in a towel flooded my mind. I was about to leave when the door opened and as if I had telepathic powers, she exited with nothing but a towel around her.

“Oh! I-I, what are you doing here?” she asked and hugged her arms around her.

I was rendered speechless for a moment as she stood before me. Her skin was flushed and her wet hair clung to her cheeks and shoulders. As much as I wanted to take her there and then I had to control myself.

“Peace offering,” I said clearing my throat. “I’ve brought you some tea.”

“Thank you,” she said and shifted her weight awkwardly; “You can just leave it on the dresser.”

Pull yourself together man, I reprimanded myself and walked to the door, “Dress comfortably and meet me downstairs,” I said and without waiting for her answer I left the room.

A short while later Rae came down the stairs dressed in skin tight jeans and knee high boots with a black vest that accentuated her curves. Naturally all my blood ran south and I had no choice but to force thoughts of pink bunnies and fluffy coyotes to ease the tension that rose up inside of me. If she had the slightest idea how she tempted me, she would have run away when she had the chance.

A pale young girl accompanied by Samson stepped out of the kitchen and shifted her glasses up her nose.

“Rae, this is Maria, she’s going to be babysitting Braden today,” I said and stepped aside.

“Hello Miss Callaway, I’m so pleased to meet you and I can assure you that Braden is in great hands,” Maria said reassuringly.

Rae’s jaw dropped as she looked at Maria, then at me, and back at Maria, “I’m sorry Maria, I think there was a slight misunderstanding, we won’t need your services.”

“Of course we do.” I placed my hand on Rae’s shoulder and forced a smile.

“No we don’t,” she bit out and shrugged away from me.

“Just work with me here, okay?” I turned and looked at Maria, “Can you give us a moment?

“Of course, I’ll go tend to Braden.”

“Why the hell would you make these decisions without consulting me?” Rae said the moment Maria was out of sight.

“I’ve arranged a baby sitter so that I can take you out for a bit, you need it,” I took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.

“She’s a complete stranger and I don’t need to go out, I just need to be with Braden.”

“She has good references, the agency reassured me she can be trusted and Samson is also here to keep an eye on everything.”

Rae turned out of my grasp and walked to the doorway then spun around and whispered under her breath, “How do you know she’s not an undercover journalist?”

I threw my head back and laughed shaking my head, “You watch far too many CSI episodes, she’s not a journalist, she is only sixteen and trying to save for college. I promise you she will not jeopardize her income. My managers’ wife runs an Au Pair company and she owed me a favour, Maria is one of the best on her payroll and she can be trusted.”

She scrunched her nose up and then bit her thumb, “I just don’t think it’s wise to leave him with a complete stranger, you know how he gets.”

I looked over her shoulder at Maria sitting with Braden on the floor. Braden was a little tentative and had distanced himself from Maria, but he was also not shying away from her completely. In fact, he had shoved some of his Legos over to her.

“Rae, he’s a little boy with a great imagination, he’ll be safe and sound here with Maria and Samson and I think the more he is exposed to other people the better it is for him.”

“What, so now you’re a specialist in the field of what he needs, while you weren’t around half of his life?” she bit out and the moment she did her hand flew to her mouth and I knew she did not mean to say what she said.

I clenched my jaw and pinched the bridge of my nose. Now was not the time to throw stones and instead of reacting to her allegations, I reached for the helmet on the table and held it out to her along with a leather jacket that conveniently popped up out of no-where. I could only guess it was one of the cheer leaders’ jackets that got abandoned after one of the many parties I’ve hosted at my house, but Rae didn’t have to know that.

“I’m not taking no for an answer,” I simply stated and then walked out the door.

Part of me expected the helmet to fly out the door and hit me against the back of my head, but it never did. Instead Rae stepped out of the house dressed in the leather jacket with the helmet in her hand.

“Caleb, I’m sorry,” she said as she shuffled closer, “that was uncalled for, it’s just that I have never left Braden on his own with a complete stranger, and I get nervous.”

I got that she was trying to protect him, but I also knew she was going about it the wrong way, “I know you are worried, I just think it’s time you give him a chance to spread his wings,” I reached up to trace a single finger along the angular line of her jaw, “When it comes to raising kids, I’m the last one to give advice, but I know myself and I promise you if I had a mother that cooped me up like a porcelain doll, I would also pretend I had another family.”

That made her laugh, “I’m not that bad.”

“Wanna bet?” I grinned and tugged her earlobe playfully and the way her eyes fluttered closed as she inclined her head into my touch nearly made me change my mind and take her back inside and to my bed instead, she was simply irresistible.