“The first one. And the third. But not the other three,” I said, setting down my spoon. We were sampling desserts. Since I’d coaxed Penny back to the table, I’d done my best to be as business-like as possible. Which mainly consisted having her take a bunch of notes, so this seemed like a legitimate work activity and not like a flimsy excuse to take her out to dinner.

Which, of course, it was.

But it had worked. She’d joined me here, and then I’d embarrassed the hell out of her. And pissed her off, too, with a few thoughtless words.

And I had been thoughtless. Walking in on her like that in my office that day had been a shock at first, but after that, it had seemed like a funny story. An amusing anecdote.

Hell, if Ryan had been in town, I probably would’ve told him about it. One of the worst moments of her life, and I would’ve laughed about it with my buddy. Yeah, haha, I completely humiliated a new employee. And better yet, she’s a single mother. Always wanted to embarrass one of them!

Sometimes I was a complete shit when it came to women. Okay, most of the time. If I had any concern for Penny’s well-being, any at all, I’d leave her alone. Didn’t my track record with letting women down speak for itself? I hadn’t even been able to find the only woman I’d been genuinely excited about last year after that ball. I should stay the hell away from my new employee.

Yet I didn’t.

I couldn’t stay away. There was something about her that drew me in. I’d tried to avoid working closely with her. Vera ran my office and half the company—she could keep Penny busy in a way that didn’t involve her working with me at all. But I didn’t want that.

Penny set down her pencil and looked longingly at the last dish on the little platter, a chocolate soufflé. “I can’t believe you didn’t pick that one.”

“They were all good, but the lemon and the red velvet cake were better.”

“If you say so. I like the chocolate.”

“Why don’t you finish it then?”

She shook her head regretfully. “I’m full.”

“Aren’t you eating for two?”

Her brow raised and she patted her stomach. “Are you saying there’s another baby in here that I’ve somehow overlooked?”

“No, but you’re still, you know, breastfeeding. I thought that required extra calories?”

She looked surprised for a moment. “I didn’t think you knew anything about that kind of thing.”

“Vera told me some stuff. When I asked her to fix up the suite.”

“Fix it up?”

“To make it as comfortable as possible for you.”

“Oh,” she said, staring off into space for a minute. “The heating pad. And the footstool, right?”

“And some blankets. And the stuff in the fridge.”

“That’s for me?” Her look of gratitude was another kick in the gut. What did it say about me that a woman was so surprised that I’d tried to do something nice?

“Yes.”

“I didn’t realize,” she said. “Thank you.”

I nodded, and then pushed the little dish of chocolate bliss over to her. “Eat up.”

After a few more seconds of internal battling, the results of the war were revealed by the smile on her face. “Why not?” She scooped a forkful of chocolate into her waiting mouth and then closed her eyes, savoring. Her obvious enjoyment—plus that flash of her little pink tongue—made me savor something, too. Her.

“How is it?”

“Delicious,” she said, her eyes still closed. “Except I wish I had some milk.”

Her eyes opened at that, and a faint blush graced her cheeks. “Regular milk,” she added. Involuntarily, I glanced down at her chest, where her breasts stretched the fabric of her blouse, making the top gape open a little.

Cursing myself, I looked away. Exactly how many times was I planning on embarrassing her? To cover my slip, I signaled a waiter, and a minute later, Penny had a tall glass of milk to go with her dessert.

We chatted as she ate, and I tried to maintain my side of the conversation. It was hard because she had a little smudge of chocolate on the corner of her mouth and I ached to lick it off. Once my mind went there, it was difficult to focus on anything else.

Penny asked about my family, so I told her that my dad was gone but my mom lived just outside of town. I asked about her family, but both her parents were gone. Before I could dwell too long on that sad fact, she brought up a topic I’d wanted to ask about but couldn’t figure out how to do so in a non-lecherous way.

“Have you ever been married?”

Bingo. Now I had all the excuse I needed to say, “No. How about you?”

“Yes.”

She took another scoop of the soufflé after responding that she’d been married once. She didn’t elaborate as she looked down at her plate. That gave me another chance to confirm that she wasn’t married now, or at least there wasn’t any ring on her finger. Not that I hadn’t glanced at that bare finger half dozen times since we’d met, just to make sure.

“What happened?” That was okay to ask, right?

“We got divorced.”

“But you’re, what, only twenty-five, right? You must have gotten married young.”

“We did. We dated all through college and got married right after. At first it was fine, but then things got difficult and Chad… changed. Eventually, we split up and got a divorce.

Chad. So that was the name of the asshole who’d left this gorgeous woman and her beautiful little baby alone. I’d seen the picture on Penny’s desk. I was no judge of children, but little Zoe looked like a sweetheart. Her face reminded me of Penny’s.

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

“Me too, but, well, that’s how it goes sometimes. I’ve moved on.”

What did that mean? Was she seeing someone else? But if she was, she must have a time machine. I knew she went to pick up her baby from the sitter’s right after work. And a single parent didn’t strike me as the kind of person who had a lot of free time to date.

“I guess I have a lot of baggage,” she said, and she laid her fork down on the table, a bite of chocolate bliss resting on the tines.

“Don’t talk like that,” I said sharply. “You have a lot to offer.” But in the back of my brain, part of me was considering what she said. Objectively speaking, she did have a lot of baggage. A baby. An ex-husband. All in all, not the kind of woman I usually got involved in.

So why couldn’t I stop thinking about her? She was beautiful, yes. But I met beautiful women all the time. Take Michelle, for instance. During our once-a-month lunches, she’d made it clear, many times over, that she’d like to be more than friends. Why didn’t I want someone like her? She was pretty, thin, sophisticated, superficial, vapid, materialistic… okay, maybe I’d answered my own question. Or maybe I wasn’t being fair to her. Part of me still blamed her for being unable to tell me where to find my Not-Sarah. Noah’s Ark had been Michelle’s costume contest entry. It still felt like she should have known who all the participants were—even the last minute substitutions.

Perhaps I was biased against her, but that didn’t change the fact that she was materialistic. Hardly a week went by without Vera bringing me a bill or request for cash from the young socialite. However, I’d made a promise, and so far, Michelle the only woman on earth I hadn’t let down. More often than not, I paid them.

“I have to take this.”

Startled, I looked up. Penny was holding up her phone, the mouthpiece covered. Great, now I was tuning out the lovely young woman I’d already humiliated and insulted tonight.

“It’s my sitter,” she said, and at my nod, she hurried into the hallway toward the restrooms.

While she was gone, I finished my wine and continued to brood about why I couldn’t get her out of my mind.

Then a flash of movement caught my eye. Penny was headed toward the front door. Jesus Christ. When’s the last time a woman tried to run out on me once, let alone twice?

Pushing back my chair so hard it almost fell over, I jumped to my feet, chasing after her. The Maître D’ met me near the entranceway. “Is everything all right, Mr. Hollister?”

“Yes,” I said, barely breaking stride. “Send the bill to my office, and someone will be in touch next week about the catering.”

“Of course. Have a good evening, sir.”

Outside, I squinted in the dark parking lot, trying to figure out where in the hell Penny had gone. When she appeared at my elbow, I almost jumped.

“I can’t find my car.”

“That’s because I drove you here.” Did she really not remember that? I’d been drinking tonight, not her. But then I caught a glimpse of her stricken face in the streetlight. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Hazel. She’s hurt. She called an ambulance, and I don’t know if she… I have to go get Zoe.”

“I’ll drive you.”

* * *

“Hazel? Hazel!”

Penny was out of the car before I’d even put it in park. We’d pulled up to a small house with an ambulance out front. The front door was open, and Penny disappeared through it.

Inside was a mass of confusion.

“Thank god,” an older woman on a stretcher said. She appeared to be in a lot of pain as she clutched Penny’s hand.

“Miss, you need to step away so we can wheel your friend out,” one of the paramedics said. “She refused to leave until you got here.”

“I couldn’t … leave Zoe,” Hazel said, her voice weak and hoarse. “I told them not to use the siren. Still sleeping.”

“Yes, she is,” Penny said, glancing over at a crib in the corner of the room. “You did good.”

“She’s my sweet girl.” The older woman’s face crumbled. “I’m so sorry. I slipped. Who’s going to watch that little baby now? If my hip’s broken, I won’t even be able to hold her after this… I’m so sorry. I know you can’t afford…” Her weak voice trailed off.

Penny’s face was grim, but she reassured her friend. “Don’t worry about it. Zoe and I will be fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”

“Ma’am, we’re going to take you to the hospital now.”

“I’m sorry,” the older woman said again, her eyes closing. But they flew open again as soon as the paramedics pushed the stretcher toward the door. She yelled in pain.

“Stop,” Penny cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. “You’re hurting her.”

“It’s a painful injury, miss.”

“Please, can you just… please be gentle.”

But as they moved the older woman again, she cried out. “Penny! Penny, please…” Her voice was woozy. They’d probably already given her something to help her relax, but it evidently wasn’t enough. “Don’t leave me.”

“I won’t,” Penny said, her head swiveling in all directions. “I need to get the diaper bag, and a bottle, and wake Zoe, and…”

“Miss, we need to leave now.” With that, they wheeled Hazel out the door, and though the resulting screams shook me to the core, somehow, the baby slept through it.

“Careful,” I growled as they wheeled her across the lawn. The very bumpy lawn. Would it have killed them to have taken the driveway? Penny was still at the door, her face ashen.

The paramedics were loading Hazel into the back of the ambulance. One of them looked back at us. “Miss, if you’re coming with us, we need to leave now.”

“I’m coming,” Penny said, dashing into the living room, calling over her shoulder. “Do you see the diaper bag? It’s dark green…”

“You need to go with her,” I said.

“I am,” Penny said, frantically. “Do you see the bag?”

“No, you need to go now. I’ll stay here with Zoe.”

At that, Penny stopped short, staring at me. “You?”

“Yes. Hazel needs you. I’ll stay with Zoe.”

“But…”

I glanced out the door. “They’re about to leave. Go with her. I’ll send a car when you’re ready to come back.”

“But—“

“We’ll be fine.”

Her tears renewed, and she nodded. “Thank you. I won’t be long. There’s a bottle in the fridge, and everything you need is over there in the corner. Call me if you have any questions—“

“Penny, I can handle a sleeping baby for a few hours.”

She nodded and didn’t say anything else, but she squeezed my upper bicep as she passed by me. The heat from her touch lingered as I watched her climb into the ambulance.

I had my phone out even before the ambulance pulled out. “Vera? I need you. Right away.” I quickly filled her in and gave her the address. I’d lied to Penny before. I could handle a sleeping baby about as well as I could defuse a nuclear bomb. But Vera would know what to do. “And bring your laptop.”

“To babysit?”

“To work. We have a lot to do.”