I drove to work carefully, aware of the tiny passenger in the car seat behind me. It had been a long weekend. Jana had come home early from the conference, but I’d still spent Saturday morning in the hospital with Hazel, bouncing Zoe on my knee. And then in the afternoon, I’d spent hours looking into daycare facilities, both short-term and long-term. The unifying themes had been: expensive and no openings.

All except the last place. The emergency daycare we’d just left. It had cost sixty dollars for the day, which was expensive, but that wasn’t the main problem. Of bigger concern were the screaming babies, the impatient staff, and the zombified-looking teen that had been assisting in the infant room. Thirty seconds into the tour and I knew I couldn’t leave Zoe there. But I also couldn’t take her to work.

Maybe I should’ve just called in sick. Blake would’ve understood. Vera, too. As soon as I’d gotten home from the hospital Friday night, Vera had hugged me. She’d always seemed kind, but rather aloof. Her hug made the tears flow. It also made me wish it had been Blake folding me into his arms. But he’d been perched on a stool by the crib, watching my baby as if he’d never seen one before. As if she was the most interesting thing in the world. Since my poor little girl didn’t have a father, it was heartwarming to see a man find her as fascinating as I did.

So, yeah, he probably wouldn’t mind if I took one day off. Even though new hires were technically supposed to wait until they’d been working three months to use any leave.

I pulled over and called Vera. After I thanked her again for Friday night, I told her what had happened and that I couldn’t come in.

“Oh no, you have to.”

Surprised, I frowned into the phone. “It’s just for one day.” But even as I said that, I knew it was likely a lie. What was I going to do with Zoe tomorrow? Or the rest of the week? Even if I found a daycare place I trusted, the fees would add up far too quickly. My credit cards would only cover it for so long. Could I possibly get a loan? I had no idea what I’d use as collateral.

“Just bring her here.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Yes, you c—” Vera’s voice cut out, even though I wasn’t driving. “… with you.”

“Okay,” I said, doubtfully. Not sure how much of an asset I was going to be with a fussy baby on my hip, but Hollister Holdings had been very good to me so far. I owed it to them to try.

* * *

It wasn’t until I’d picked up the diaper bag, nursing tote, my purse, a few other bags and the car seat with Zoe that I realized Blake was standing in front of the vast office building. Was he waiting for a limo to take him somewhere?

No, apparently he was waiting for me.

“Good morning, Penny. And Zoe.”

“Good morning. I’m really sorry about bringing her here, but I couldn’t find anywhere else to take her. I’ll do my best to keep her quiet, but if she starts crying, I might have to take her out in the courtyard, if that’s okay.”

“Penny.” His deep rumbly voice sounded so good saying my name, but I knew I was inconveniencing him.

“And if it gets too loud, could I maybe do some work from your suite while I look after her?”

“Penny,” he said again, taking everything except Zoe and my purse from me.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Don’t be,” he said. To my shock, he was smiling. As if unexpected babies were the least problematic thing he’d ever encountered. If he thought that, he clearly hadn’t spent much time with babies. My Zoe was the sweetest baby in the world, but she had a set of lungs on her. And she demanded attention. I couldn’t imagine anyone in the department getting much work done today.

“Come with me.”

He led me into the building, carrying my things. I followed, clutching the car seat my daughter was sleeping in, being careful not to rock her too much.

I followed Blake down one hallway then another, wondering where he was leading me. This place was laid out like a maze. Maybe I should have left breadcrumbs in case Blake suddenly ditched me.

He stopped abruptly, held a door open for me and gestured inside. I moved past him, feeling the heat from his body as I carefully maneuvered the car seat around Blake’s large form.

A voice greeted me as I stepped into a room that smelled faintly of fresh paint and sawdust. “Ah, our first customer. Our only customer at the moment, actually.” A young man about my age stood in front of me, wearing blue cotton pants and a matching shirt that reminded me of the scrubs that doctors wore. He walked over and took the car seat from me.

Blinking, I let this stranger take my baby as I looked around in shock. At the mats on the floors. The bookshelves and toys lining the walls. The tiny tables in front of me, and the cribs along the back wall.

Blake was grinning down at me as I looked at him in surprise. “There’s a childcare here? All this time, there’s been a nursery?”

“No,” he said, the smile on his face growing larger as I watched.

“I don’t understand.” Obviously, this was a daycare of some sort. The young man had expertly unstrapped Zoe and was holding her as he moved around, depositing her bottles in the fridge and setting her equipment on a table near the cribs.

“There’s a nursery here now,” Blake said, emphasizing the word. “There wasn’t one when you started working here.”

“But—” That didn’t make any sense. I’d only been here for three weeks. I gasped. “Do you mean… did you…” Suddenly, I felt weak. I wanted to sit at one of the tiny chairs around the table in front of me. “Don’t tell me you did all of this over the weekend.”

“Okay, I won’t tell you that. But I think the results speak for themselves.” The gleam in his eye would have tempted me at any other time, but right now, I was just too astounded.

“How did you do this?”

“With a lot of help,” Blake said as the young man came up beside us, bouncing Zoe in his arms.

“Don’t worry, Penny, the place is ready to go. I’ve checked everything myself. I’m Pat, by the way.” I shook the hand he held out.

Blake’s smile faltered for a minute as he stared at the young man. “You’re Pat? I thought you were the assistant.”

Pat grinned. “Pat’s short for Patrick, not Patricia. Did you think you’d hired a woman to be the lead caregiver?”

Blake’s bemused expression showed us both that was exactly what he’d thought, but he shook the hand that Pat offered.

“Appreciate the job, Mr. Hollister. And the bonus to start work right away. This little girl and I are going to have a fun day.”

Zoe babbled happily in Pat’s arms, and it was obvious he was good with babies. But my mind was still reeling from the sudden appearance of the nursery. “But… how can you make a daycare in one weekend?”

“With round the clock work,” Blake said. “It’s legit, Penny. And in a couple of hours, it’ll be officially licensed, as well.”

“How did you… why did you… this is amazing. Thank you.” I put as much sincerity into my voice as I could, but it would never be enough. This was the most incredible thing anyone had ever done for me. For us. Tears welled up behind my eyelids, and I took Zoe from Pat, walking around the little rooms and holding her, trying to keep from crying. Blake had already seen me do too much of that.

Seriously, this was incredible. It was a thousand times nicer than the emergency daycare center. It was hard to imagine that this place hadn’t even existed a mere seventy-two hours ago. I nuzzled my chin over the top of Zoe’s sparse hair, inhaling her sweet baby scent.

The amount of time and money this had taken must have been staggering. Money. I suddenly wondered how much this place cost. Pat had mentioned an assistant, so there were at least two full-time staff. Right now, Zoe was the only baby, but it was clear from all the cribs and mats that they were expecting more. How was I going to afford this?

When I got back to the front area, Blake and Pat were discussing some empty rooms next door. Apparently, Blake was already planning to expand this nursery. I wondered how many employees would make use of it. Most of them could probably pay a lot more than me.

Pat lifted Zoe from my arms and took her back to a crib while I spoke to my boss.

“Thank you,” I said again. “I—I don’t know what I would have done this week if you hadn’t made this.”

“That’s why I did it,” he said, his eyes intent on mine.

I took a deep breath. “I’m sure that you haven’t had time to figure this out yet, but do you have any idea… do you know what it’s going to cost?”

“Yes, I do.”

“How much?” I said, almost afraid to ask.

“It’s free.”

“Free? But… but… this place is lovely, and the cost to make it in one weekend must have been astronom—”

“Penny,” he said, putting his hands on my shoulders and interrupting me. He spoke very firmly. “It’s free for employees.”

His deep brown eyes bore into mine. It felt like he was looking deep inside me, willing me to accept this. At long last, I nodded. I tried to wrap my head around this, but no one had ever done anything like this for me in my entire life. “Well, at least let me pay you for—”

His strong hands squeezed my shoulders as he spoke over me. “The only thing I want from you right now is a smile.”

I stared up at him for a long moment. The man was insane to do all this and only demand that in return. If he’d been this bad at negotiating official Hollister Holdings business, this corporation would have gone under long ago.

The smile that spread across my face wasn’t from his request, but appeared there of its own accord. It was all he wanted, but it wasn’t enough. Not by a long shot, but there wasn’t much I could do. Except…

I place my hand lightly on his chest and rose up on my toes. Leaning forward I kissed his tan cheek just above the line of sexy stubble. “Thank you,” I whispered in his ear before stepping back.

His answering smile was as big as my own.