to retrieve popped balloons from the cat. The man had promise, she'd grant him that, and she shivered a little at the niggling image of all that single-minded determination focused on her.
"Nah," she responded inelegantly, dismissing that stray thought. "If I'd planned chaos, Matty would be quietly coloring at the table, Constance would be reading in her room, and Alexa would be sound asleep. I gave up on planning long ago." Maya nodded at the pizza. "I do, however, know how to cook a nutritional meal. I started with something easy, but they'll never eat it now."
Axell had the grace to look embarrassed as he nodded for the children to carry the box into the kitchen. "There's never anything in the refrigerator, and I didn't think you were ready to attempt the grocery store." As the children raced into the other room, he bent over the infant cradle to check on Alexa. "Has she been sleeping through this racket? Constance used to shriek every time I shut a door."
He crouched beside the cradle still wearing his tailored raincoat, the one with the caped shoulders that made him look even broader than usual. His square face was pensive as he surrendered his large finger to little grasping ones. Even though that raincoat was a feared symbol of authority to her, Maya knew she was in serious danger of losing her lonely heart to this man. The poor devil instinctively took care of everyone around him, but he had no clue how to accept the same in return.
"It just depends on what they're used to." She shrugged off the topic. "I'm not as good as your chef, but I've got bean soup cooking in the kitchen. Have you eaten?" She tried to dismiss her reaction to him, but she knew it for what it was—the burning desire to have a man's love to fulfill her impossible dream of a family.
She would have to cure Axell of his absurd notion of marriage before she fell any deeper. She knew her nature too well. Without the bonds of love, at the first sign of trouble, she'd be out of here, just as she'd done with Stephen.
He stood and shrugged off his coat. "Bean soup sounds delicious. We actually had beans?" Axell offered his hand to help her from the deep cushions of the sofa.
His fingers were warm and slightly callused as they closed securely over hers. As much as she'd like to, she couldn't dismiss him as one of the effete rich. He was a working man, like all the other men she'd ever known. He just happened to be more successful at what he did.
"In the back of the cabinet. And there were frozen onions and carrots in the freezer. I had to use a ham slice for seasoning, but it looked like it had been in the freezer so long it wouldn't have had much use for anything else. I even found a package of cornmeal without weevils, which is a miracle since I suspect it's been in there since Noah invited them on his ark."
Axell grimaced. "Kitchen cabinets are not high on my priority list, and they're not on the cleaning service's list of chores. Make a grocery list and I'll run in later."
The phone rang before she could reply, and as Axell carried the infant seat into the kitchen, she grabbed the receiver.
"Is Axell there?" a breathless female voice asked from the other end of the line.
"Yes, may I ask who's calling?" Maya had a sneaking suspicion she knew, and throwing a naughty glance over her shoulder, she verified that Axell was caught up in handing out pizza and not paying attention to her. She could tear down walls as fast as he could build them.
"This is Katherine, at the restaurant. I need to speak with him, please."
"He's busy at the moment. Could I take a message?" The man deserved some time to eat his supper. Unless the restaurant was on fire, she couldn't see any reason for interrupting him. Of course, ticking off the mini-skirted model he called an assistant was a plus, too. She would have to watch these jealous impulses.
"We have a drunk and unruly at the bar already, and one of the kitchen staff didn't show up. We need him back here, ASAP."
Maya heard the irritation in the woman's voice, but she suspected it was as much at having to leave a message as over the problems arising at the bar. She checked to see if