suspected that was exactly how Axell looked at it.
That realization always had her backing off whenever the electric jolt shocked her. Axell's smile slipped away as she pulled free but did not react otherwise. She feared that going to bed with him would be like going to bed with their friendly neighborhood banker.
"Alexa and Matty both have doctor's appointments this afternoon, so supper will be late and probably out of the freezer," she warned. It was easier to play the role of teacher than to deal with her conflicting emotions.
"I have to go into Charlotte to talk with the lawyers, so I'll be running late too. Want me to eat at the bar?"
He didn't have to be so damned understanding. Maya brushed his cheek with a kiss and opened the office door. "Just let me know so I won't worry. See you later."
She breezed out as if she hadn't a care in the world—she shouldn't have a care in the world. For the first time in her life she had a substantial roof over her head, money in her pocket, and copious amounts of food on the table, and all she had to do in return was love a child she would have loved anyway, and eventually, go to bed with a powerful man she would have only admired from a distance under other circumstances. Why did she feel as if disaster would strike at any minute?
Probably because Cleo hadn't returned her letters, the state had inspectors crawling all over the school, Matty's social worker had it in for Axell, Selene wasn't having any luck pulling strings at DOT to have their access road repaired, and she had an automaton husband who would be expecting sex on demand in a few short weeks. At least Constance's grandmother had gone back to Texas—for the time being.
Besides, she'd never known a day in her life when disaster wasn't imminent. She'd learned to roll with the punches. She'd be getting soft if she didn't watch out.
She'd left Matty playing and Alexa sleeping in the new shop with Teresa while she ran next door to sign Axell's papers. She needed to pick up Constance at school and transport the kids to the Impossible Dream for afternoon classes. The BMW sedan would have more miles on it in a few weeks than Axell had put on it in a year.
She'd parked it in the alley beside the collapsed building so it wouldn't be in the way of the work crew at the new shop. Knowing it was easier to load up Alexa and Matty if she pulled the car around, she hurried down the street, resisting checking on Alexa and the progress of the cleaning people. Cleo wouldn't recognize her inventory when she returned. If she returned. Would Cleo just walk out of prison and disappear?
Trying not to think about that, Maya focused on a man in a ponytail standing in front of the falling down building, staring up at Cleo's old apartment windows. He seemed vaguely familiar, but from a block away, and in this blinding sunlight, she couldn't discern his features. Why on earth would anyone be studying a condemned building? Was this Cleo's erstwhile landlord? She'd thought the old building belonged to some real estate conglomeration.
Something about the way he held himself made her nervous. Preferring not to find out why, she didn't reach for her sunglasses but aimed for the alley. Before she could escape, however, the man turned in her direction, and the bottom dropped out of her stomach.
Stephen.
Fate had a really cruel sense of humor when it chose disasters for her.
Maybe she should learn Axell's narrow path of duty and responsibility and give up the emotional relationships that made her life hell. Maybe she could grow wings and fly.
"Maya!" Stephen hurried across the broken pavement and past the wilting yellow police tape to greet her. "Damn, you look gorgeous! This is the only address I have for you. Surely you're not living here?"
Before she could manage a sensible thought, he'd crushed her in an exuberant hug.
Why had she once thought Stephen sexy? Only a few inches taller than she, he lacked Axell's strength and breadth and probably couldn't lift her if he tried—not that he'd ever tried anything so romantic. He would probably have written a song about the tribulations of fatherhood while she labored giving birth to Alexa. He had a boyish smile and a lovely voice and no character whatsoever. She smacked his T-shirted chest with both