Cedar hit print. The sound of the ink-jet jetting ink was a victory tune. She was too tired to get up and dance, though. Her apartment was a mess. Piles of papers were scattered on the side tables and across the kitchen counter. Half-eaten bowls of cereal were stacked next to the couch, added to the pile when the solution to the problem she’d been pondering hit her out of the blue. Protein bar wrappers, a nasty habit she picked up from Teo, lay here and there, and the carpet was in dire need of vacuuming.

The massive amount of cleaning she faced was worth finishing the presentation. She let out a contented sigh just as her phone rang.

Hoping it was Teo so she could share the good news, she answered quickly. “Hello?” She hadn’t seen him in two days. While working on the presentation had been fulfilling and exhausting, she’d felt the loss of not holding Akoni or kissing Teo. She very much wanted to share this moment with them.

“Sunshine, is that you?” Noah Baker’s voice boomed through the phone. Noah’s family owned Camp Buckeye where Cedar had worked every summer of her high school years. She and Noah had worked together before Noah went off to the police academy. Two years ago, he’d taken a private security job and fallen in love with the woman he was hired to protect. That woman happened to be one of the wealthiest people in Texas. Cedar was networking the tar out of her connection to Camp Buckeye to get this phone call. She’d had to call Noah’s mom and explain everything to get an email address he might look at. Billionaires took their privacy seriously.

Noah wasn’t who she was expecting, but the good fortune of getting his call wasn’t lost on her. “Noah! How’s the weather?” If he could pull out the old camp nicknames, then she was free to tease him about his given name. Teasing was good. Teasing was relaxed and open and friendly. At least with Noah Baker it was.

Noah laughed easily. “If a flood was coming, I’d put my money on Texas to survive. They are too tough here to drown.”

“Don’t I know it.”

“Wait, are you in Texas, Sunshine?”

“I’ve been here a couple years. I just graduated with my MBA.”

“That’s awesome. Congratulations.”

“Thanks.” She gulped. Where exactly in a conversation should a person cross over from friendly catching up to asking for fifty thousand dollars?

Noah continued. “Harley and I read your email. We’re definitely interested in talking to you sometime about this doggie café.”

Cedar squeezed her eyes shut and worked hard to contain her squeal. “Great. When are you available?”

“Well, we’re headed out of town next week, so we can do Monday or in three weeks.”

Cedar pressed her hand to her stomach. Monday was the day she and Teo were supposed to take Akoni to the zoo. There were just three weeks left before Teo had to report in for preseason workouts, and then his life, and their time together, would revolve around the team’s schedule. She had no idea what that meant, having never dated an NFL player before, but got the distinct impression that the carefree days of off-season were about to disappear.

Nevertheless, she needed this meeting, and she couldn’t wait three weeks. Darrin may be out there schmoosing his way into a contract for his own doggie café as she sat there in her pajamas. In three weeks, Akoni would have a new nanny and she’d be out of a paycheck. She needed to ensure an influx of money before that happened. “I’ll take Monday.” She petted her laptop like it was a cat, grateful she’d spent the last two days buried in her work and could accept the earliest date available. It made her sound confident, prepared.

Teo would be upset. He’d been feeling neglected lately. Not that he’d said as much, but she could see it in his warm brown eyes. He was battling demons of another sort, but she was the one who raised them from where they slept. If she could just get this business up and running, then she would be able to make things right.

“Great. I’ll email you directions to Harley’s office.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting your bride. I can only imagine the woman you roped into marrying you.” She laughed.

“Ha! I can’t believe she agreed to it in the first place. There’s a whole story there. I’ll fill you in when you get here.”

They said their goodbyes and hung up the phone. Cedar pressed her warm hand to her clammy forehead. She’d known Noah for years, seen him play tag with children, ghosts in the graveyard with teens, and had even pranked him a few times; but asking him for money caused her limbs to quake. She was independent by nature. She started doing her own laundry at ten—not because her parents made her, but because she felt it was time she stepped up. They, of course, were all too happy to have one less responsibility.

She needed to continually remind herself of the fact that loans were part of a business. And just because she was borrowing from a friend, didn’t mean she was any less of a success than if she’d borrowed from a stranger.

The question of why she didn’t take Teo’s money popped up and made her sit down. Teo was different from Noah. She wasn’t dating Noah. Of course, she hadn’t been on a date with Teo in over a week, either. Still, she wanted to keep Teo separate from all this. Not that she was worried that things would end between them; on the contrary, they fit so easily together there was no reason for insecurities between them. The reason she didn’t want Teo’s money was that she wanted to show Darrin up, and she didn’t want Darrin thinking she had to date a man to get him to hand over funds. Heaven forbid she gave the impression she was sleeping with Teo or that they had a quid pro quo thing going on. Keeping Teo out of this was the only way to maintain her reputation.

Another big argument for doing this on her own was that she didn’t want to feel obligated to Teo—like she owed him for anything. She just wanted to be free to be with him without a loan muddying up the mix.

Suddenly wondering why she was sitting in her messy apartment when she could be sitting on Teo’s beach, she sprang into action. She fit what she could in the dishwasher and called Teo.

He answered on the second ring. “Hello, lovely lady.”

“Hey, stud.”

Teo laughed, a deep, throaty, intimate sound that sent a thrill all the way to her toes. “Stud? Can you call me that in front of the team at least once?”

“I’ll call you stud once a day if it will get me a kiss.” She was happy to be all bold and flirty since he couldn’t see the misshapen T-shirt and sweats she wore.

“Deal.”

There was so much happiness in his voice—so much, dare she say, love?—that it gave her pause before she broke the bad news. She had no desire to wipe those adorable dimples off his cheeks. “So, I have some great news and some gray clouds.”

“I don’t like the sound of gray clouds.”

“Let’s start with the great news, then.” She shut the dishwasher and selected the hot-wash cycle. Some of those bowls were crusty. She proceeded to tell him that she’d landed a meeting with a promising potential investor. He heartily congratulated her, which made her feel all the worse for adding, “The not-so-great news is that I have to take a rain check on the zoo—the only day they’re in town for the next three weeks is Monday.”

“That’s one big rain cloud.” Teo spoke low.

“I know. I’m so very sorry. I don’t mean to disappoint you and Akoni. I didn’t really have a choice.”

He sighed into the phone. “I don’t know when else I’ll have time to go. I’m booked with preseason interviews. The pictures of us at the restaurant a couple weeks ago came out, and everyone wants to know about the new woman in my life.”

“Really? I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that.” She picked up a clean washcloth and dug the disinfectant out from under the sink.

“I won’t give them your name. They’re mostly going to ask things about getting over Amy’s death and moving forward.”

Cedar scrubbed at the counter. “I still don’t like it.”

“There’s not much I can do about it.” He sighed again. “So is this your official notice? Do I need to hire a new nanny on my own?”

Cedar cursed under her breath. “I scheduled two interviews for Wednesday. I just forgot to tell you. I-I’m not sure what’s going to happen after the meeting. I can change the times if you need me to.”

“I’ll rearrange some things and make it work.” The finality in his tone was not right. Teo was warmth and sugar and hot kisses. This stoic man was part stranger. And she didn’t like that he had appeared in their lives.

Cedar would have done the interviews, but Teo wanted to be there. Of course he wanted to be there; he was Akoni’s father. And what was she? Right now she felt like a nanny on her way out the door, not like the girlfriend and partnering caregiver he’d treated her as before.

She felt like a huge jerk for dropping this on him. When she’d taken the job as his nanny, they hadn’t planned on her falling for him or Akoni. The whole thing snuck up on her and sucked her in without a conscious thought.

She should really take a minute and think about where she wanted to be in a year. Did she want to be trading off a kid with Teo? Was she ready to make a commitment to the two of them? There was no way to love one and not the other.

A husband and kids were on her list of life goals. They were one of the top priorities. Getting everything she wanted in life, the chance to build her own business and a hot guy and a darling little baby, was overwhelming. She wanted it all—she just wasn’t sure she wanted it all now. A family was a big commitment. They came with responsibilities.

She glanced down at her Friday the 13^th wardrobe. She was holding her life together by loose strings, how could she consider taking on more—even if they were the best parts of her life.

“Cedar?”

She could see Teo in her mind. He was probably running his square fingers along the edge of the countertop. She could even tell by the slight echo over the line that he was in the kitchen. She smiled to herself.

The fact that she knew him well enough to smile at the thought of him told her that her heart may not have waited for her head to decide anything.

“S’mores,” she blurted. “Let’s do s’mores after my meeting on Monday—to celebrate.”

There was only a short pause as Teo adjusted to the new conversational direction. “Sounds like a plan. We’ll be here and have a fire going.”

“I’ll bring the goodies.”

“It’s a date.”

She cradled the phone. “I can’t wait.”