Well, well, well. The man was full of surprises.
Cammie had never known Dane to be sentimental, but he avidly watched Paige as she lay in bed, a blue-swaddled baby in her arms. Evan, the proud father, held a pink bundle, gazing down with what could only be called total adoration.
For a moment, Cammie’s stomach tilted at the beautiful tableau. Not only for the Collinses and their new family, but at Dane’s enchantment as he took them in. The sight brought a tear to her eye. And it made her tremble with a vivid memory of that night, a moment when he’d put his hand on her breast, sleekly naked, infinitely sexy, and looked up at her as if she’d enchanted him.
She zipped her memories shut. This wasn’t the time or place.
Evan, or one of the Mavericks, must have pulled a few strings, because the whole clan overflowed the birthing suite, where usually only two or three visitors would be allowed. Thank goodness the room was huge. Painted a soothing powder blue, it could have housed three new mothers, but for now only Paige occupied it. Bean bags and easy chairs sat on the floor, and puffy clouds drifted across the blue ceiling.
Cammie and Dane remained on the periphery out in the hall, like twin Scrooges looking through the frost-laced panes of Bob Cratchit’s house on Christmas Eve and wanting to go in.
As if he felt the same thing, Dane curled his fingers around hers. “It’s unique and amazing, don’t you think?”
She had to agree. “Yes.” It was unique for them both.
Dane had never been around babies or children. Neither had she. This was a first. And it was awe-inspiring. But sharing this new experience, she relished the warmth of Dane’s hand around hers far too much.
Bob and Susan Spencer got first crack at the new family, with hugs, kisses, tears—most of them Bob’s. The man was a big softie.
As they stepped aside, Theresa moved in to tenderly kiss Evan’s cheek and her tiny granddaughter’s forehead, then bent to Paige and the baby in her arms.
It was so loving, Cammie felt like crying too.
Will took his turn at the bedside, smoothing a finger over the baby’s hairless head. Then he turned a stern face on Evan, reminding Cammie of Fernsby. If one looked up the definition of stern in the dictionary, it would show a picture of Fernsby.
“You’re on indefinite parental leave to be with your wife and babies,” Will said. “When you’re ready to come back, you let us know. But don’t make it too soon.”
Harper stepped to Will’s side, her words for Paige. “I’m not going to let you come back too fast.”
Ari, now at the bedside, Matt’s arm around her, gave Paige a few instructions that were obviously for Evan too. “We’re going to hold you guys to a pinkie swear that you’ll take three months, maybe even six, just to be parents.” She put a hand to her chest. “This bonding time is very important for the babies.” Both Evan and Paige listened earnestly to her, their expert in child development.
Evan nodded resolutely. “We will. But it’ll be hard not to be a part of this family.”
Sebastian snorted a laugh. “Just because you’re not working doesn’t mean you’re getting out of coming to the barbecues. And dinners. And whatever other events we feel like throwing. You just won’t be working yourself to the bone. You’ll be looking out for your family.”
Evan bowed his head in agreement.
Rosie stepped in to kiss each newborn on the forehead, then placed a loving kiss on Paige’s cheek. “Take this time,” she said. “They grow up so fast.” Then she looked at Evan. “The business will be here when you come back.”
Paige wiped away a tear. “You’re right. All of you. Thank you.”
The rest of the women, as if they were of one mind, gathered round Paige. Ari put out her pinkie finger. “Pinkie swear.” All of them hooked pinkies in a circle. “We want you to take care of yourself while you’re caring for your babies. Anything you need, we’re here for you.”
Paige rubbed away another tear. “Thank you. I love you all so much.”
Then Susan took over. “We’ll let you get some rest now. It’s been a long day.” She glanced across the bed to Evan, and even from the doorway, Cammie recognized her joy and love. “And a long day for you too.” She gave Evan a loving smile.
The Mavericks separated into couples then, and Cammie had a feeling the pregnant ladies would receive tender foot rubs tonight. It was so sweet—Gideon kissing the top of Rosie’s head, Matt with his hand on Ari’s burgeoning belly, Cal with a sweeping gaze of love over Lyssa’s features. Noah held his hand out to Ari, looking up at her with the love only a seven-year-old child could feel. Gideon hefted a sleepy Jorge into his arms and gathered Rosie’s hand in his. Charlie laid her head on Sebastian’s shoulder, Daniel nuzzled Tasha’s hair, and Will wrapped an arm around Harper.
Then Jeremy raised his voice above all the others. “Nobody told me the babies’ names.”
A chorus of laughter filled the room because none of them had thought to ask.
Evan kissed the baby wrapped in pink. “This is Savannah.”
Paige resettled the baby in her arms. “And this is Keegan.”
Cammie whispered into Dane’s ear, “Welcome, Maverick generation two-point-one.”
* * *
The silence in the car as they drove felt comfortable, especially as Cammie’s scent filled the air. For the first time since she’d come back—or maybe the second, third, or fourth time—Dane acknowledged how much he’d missed her.
Their working relationship had always been exceptional. She ran his life smoothly. Even more, her brilliant ideas fueled his work. They fueled him. Thus the need for the rules. And the reason that, even as he lay only steps away from her at any of the houses or flats or condos they shared, he never actually crawled into her bed.
And he wouldn’t now. But still, this five-month ordeal had gotten under his skin. Just as that tender scene in Paige’s birthing suite had been a topsy-turvy moment. In the past, he’d offhandedly thought babies were cute and children could be adorable. But witnessing the love lighting up that room, the joy of each and every man, the sweetness of the women, Dane felt his innards slip-sliding. Seeing the pride on Evan’s face as he’d looked at his newborns and the reverence with which he’d gazed at his wife, as if she was the first woman ever to have given birth, Dane’s priorities had turned into a mishmash. His heart had flipped over in his chest at the gooey, love-swept glances among all of them in that room, knowing in his gut they would return home tonight to reaffirm their love.
He wanted what these Mavericks had. He’d mused over it at the soccer game, and at the signing dinner, he’d gazed at Susan and Bob and the clan they’d brought together. He wanted his family to experience the same phenomenon.
Cammie touched his hand. “You’re so quiet.” Her soft laughter caressed him. “Did seeing the new babies scare you to death?”
Dane couldn’t laugh. He could only answer truthfully. Even if he held back the genuine depth of his feeling. “I have to admit I was a little jealous.”
Her touch vanished like a phantom into the night. “Jealous? But you haven’t had a serious relationship since I’ve known you.”
He shrugged. “Maybe I’ve just never found the right woman.”
He’d dated, but they’d been more like flings than relationships. No woman had erased the memory of that one night with Cammie. Was that what he was searching for? A woman who could make him forget how amazing that night had been? A woman who could surpass it?
“I like them as a family,” he tried to explain. “They’re a powerful force because they’ve created such a cohesive unit.”
“But so have you. With Ava and Troy and Clay and Gabby.”
He shook his head slowly, barreling down the highway toward Pebble Beach, toward the home he shared with her. He had only one answer to offer. “We don’t have anyone like Susan and Bob Spencer. We never had an example of how it should be between a couple who totally love each other. Who want to raise a family together.” Parents who didn’t leave and who didn’t feel their children’s love was a burden.
She sat silently for a long moment, as if she had to recall the scene in the hospital room—Susan, Bob, the love, the tears, the joy. “I get it. It’s like me and Uncle Lochlan. We were so close, and I loved him so much. But I still miss my parents. I miss my mom even more now that I’m grown up.”
Dane no longer missed his parents. But he missed what he’d never had—parents like Susan and Bob.
Then she added breathlessly, “That’s why you wanted this merger. It’s more than just the business ventures. Even more than the respect you have for them. It’s Susan and Bob and the family they’ve created.”
He couldn’t quite admit that to her. Not now. He was still too raw with the emotions that swamped him as he’d watched that special family in that joyous room with those beautiful and much-wanted new babies.
He told Cammie the first lie he ever had. “I’m really not sure. I need to think about it more.”
That part, at least, was true. He had to sit with these feelings.
And with the new feelings Cammie’s return had brought up in him.
* * *
The weekly family barbecue was held at Sebastian Montgomery’s Hayward Hills estate. Charlie Ballard’s fabulous metalwork was all over the property—burbling fountains, wind spinners, a magnificent blue crane standing in a pond, sculptures of woodland animals, mythical creatures, and ancient beasts, some large and in-your-face, some small and barely visible unless you looked carefully.
The family gathered around the terraced pool deck out back. It was amazing that these rich, powerful men still held weekly barbecues with their family. They were like normal people rather than billionaires who could have rented an entire country club and catered the whole affair. It was this side of the Mavericks that drew Dane, Cammie knew, even if he hadn’t fully admitted it.
Since the babies were only two weeks old, Paige and Evan had asked everyone to wash their hands. Once that was done, the bundles of joy were passed around like they were the most miraculous babies anyone had ever known.
This family barbecue was different, since all the Harringtons had been invited—family being the operative word. Sadly, only Ava and Gabby could make it this time, while Troy and Clay had jetted off to events they couldn’t miss.
Cammie smiled to herself, because they weren’t exactly jet-setters. The two were always working on new deals. Troy was giving the keynote at a conference for young athletes. As an influencer, he was often a guest speaker, not just because of the company he’d started, but for the Olympic gold medals he’d won diving. He never missed an opportunity to encourage fledgling athletes. Clay, of course, was off looking for new talent he could introduce to his exclusive video platform and for sponsors and patrons of the arts.
Flagstone terraces led down to a sparkling infinity pool, and the scent of barbecuing meat wafted in the air. Will and Sebastian manned the grill, the other Mavericks watching the proceedings and making snide comments about the quality of the cooks.
Dressed in shorts and deck shoes, Dane stood with them, drinking a beer, laughing, and getting in a few good-natured digs too.
His tanned, muscular legs drew Cammie’s glance despite herself.
Noah, Jeremy, and Jorge raced back and forth on the grass, playing with the dogs. Tasha and Daniel had rescued shepherd-mix puppies abandoned in the woods near Tahoe’s Fallen Leaf Lake. Tasha had kept one, the only female, whom she’d named Darla, while the two males, Flash and Duke, had gone to live with Noah and Jeremy, respectively. Though the dogs were about a year old now, they still hadn’t grown into their gangly paws, and they rolled around on the grass, play-fighting like three-month-old puppies. T. Rex, of course, had to be right in there, rolling with the big dogs. Since, of course, he believed he was a big dog.
Fernsby hadn’t joined the festivities today. He was supposedly working on another masterpiece for when he secured a spot on Britain’s Greatest Bakers, something that would wow the judges. Something that was sure to surpass anything Clyde’s butler, Digbert, could make. The baking rivalry between the two butlers was legendary, almost as legendary as the one between Fernsby and Gabby.
Sitting on a lounger, Cammie sipped a margarita and listened to the ladies’ conversations around her. Gabby, wearing a flowered tankini, stretched out in the sun, her eyes closed, drinking in the spring sunshine. Ava, who’d positioned herself so that only her legs below her one-piece were in the sun, kept up with the women’s running commentary, nursing her margarita.
Mid-April could be rainy in the Bay Area, but today, nature provided a lovely sunny day. Half the women wore swimsuits, the other half shorts, but Cammie, having dressed at Pebble Beach where it was cooler, had chosen light leggings. Though it wasn’t hot, merely warm, she sat in the shade now, watching as Savannah, Paige’s little pink bundle, was passed from arm to arm, receiving kisses and hugs while she slept peacefully.
Under a big umbrella on the opposite side of the pool, the two grandmothers, Susan and Theresa, cooed over a burrito-style blue bundle, sweet little Keegan. With arthritically gnarled fingers, Francine Ballard chucked the baby under the chin. She sat on her walker, decorated with pink and blue crêpe paper wrapped around its handles and down the bars leading to its wheels. The sight sent a pang through Cammie. She wished Uncle Lochlan could have known Francine. She was a beautiful soul, always smiling despite her infirmities.
She tuned in to the conversation around her as Paige said, “Bob and Susan are so involved. It’s been a blessing.” She patted Lyssa’s arm. “They’ve practically moved in with us.”
“But didn’t you hire a nanny?” Ari asked, her head tipped to the side, probably wondering how she would manage when her new baby arrived.
“We did.” Paige shrugged. “But Susan just seems to know everything.”
Lyssa added, “She truly does.”
Gazing across the flagstones at the men crowded around the barbecue, Bob Spencer included, Paige smiled. “Bob is adorable with the babies. He seems to find them endlessly fascinating, like they’re some mystical miracle he’s never seen before.” She shared a meaningful look with Lyssa. “You’d think he’d never had children of his own.”
The ladies laughed together, obviously knowing Bob much better than Cammie did.
Even as they all talked, Dane separated himself from the men and headed to the table where Susan, Theresa, and Francine fussed over the baby. He smiled, then chuckled as he caressed a soft baby cheek. The women seemed as spellbound by him as they were by the sleeping child. He made them laugh, he made them blush, and he charmed them. But that was Dane. He could charm anyone.
Then, in the most amazing gesture, he held out his hands to Susan, and she lifted the baby into his waiting arms.
Cammie marveled at the tenderness softening all the aristocratic planes of Dane’s face. Just as on that day at the hospital, his curiosity and attentiveness surprised her. As he held Keegan in his arms, rocking slightly side to side, she swore he was a natural. As if he could be a father. It was usually women who got the urge to have a child, but looking at Dane now, it seemed as if he might actually be thinking about fatherhood himself.
In that moment, the adorable baby in his arms, Dane looked up at her. And smiled.
Cammie’s heart kicked over in her chest. What had he said in the car? That with all his dating, he hadn’t found the right woman? Maybe he was ready to find that woman now. It seemed impossible, yet the evidence was right before her eyes. How good he looked cuddling the baby so tenderly. How manly. How utterly endearing. She couldn’t help smiling back at him.
Though she would have gone on watching forever, Gideon joined them, holding out his arms, and Dane handed over the child. Was that reluctance on his face? The way he looked at the baby boy almost with longing?
Or maybe she was imagining it, and Dane was just being polite.
Yet she couldn’t forget that image of tiny Keegan in Dane’s powerful arms.