Katherine Garbera - One Kiss In… Miami

“See it?” Noelle parroted. Only it came out more like “feet?”

Dear heavens, if it wasn’t Dora the GPS keeping track of every inch of every mile, it was Jett. And Daisy was willing to bet her last tube of Old Holland Viridian Green oil paint that when Noelle was a few years older she’d be every bit as bad.

“We’re surrounded,” she muttered to Aggie, her housekeeper. “Better get used to it now. There’s worse and you’re about to meet him.”

“I can handle it,” came the calm, seasoned response.

Years ago Aggie had been an elementary school teacher. She’d taken early retirement in order to nurse her husband through a lengthy illness, only to discover their savings exhausted by the time he died. The realization that she had no choice but to return to work coincided with Noelle’s birth and Daisy’s decision that she needed help with cooking and general housekeeping chores, especially after she’d assumed guardianship of Jett. She’d hired Aggie on the spot. To their mutual delight, the four of them had cemented into a cozy little family, one Justice would have to accept—if he wanted them to remain in Colorado.

“Are you sure Mr. St. John won’t mind that you brought all of us along?” Aggie asked with a hint of nervousness.

Daisy started to say she didn’t give a hot damn whether Mr. St. John minded, but aware of a backseat full of big ears, she modified her reply. “The four of us are a family. That means we’re a package deal. Don’t worry. Justice will be cool with it.”

A tiny sigh of relief issued from behind her, making Daisy aware that Jett was also feeling apprehensive. She always appeared so self-assured, it came as a bit of a shock the few times she reverted to the nervous, suspicious girl she’d been when Daisy’s parents had first taken her in as a foster child.

“I can’t believe I’m about to meet the man behind Sinjin,” Jett said.

“Finfin?”

“That’s your daddy, Red.”

“Daddy.”

That word came out clear as a bell. For some reason it caused Daisy to flinch and Aggie shot her a sympathetic look. “I’m sure he’ll make a wonderful father.”

“There’s no question Noelle needs him.” Her own inadequacies threatened to overwhelm her. “Lord knows, I can’t meet all of her needs.”

“No parent can give their child everything they require. It’s not possible,” Aggie was quick to reassure. “If you’re very lucky, you can cover most of it between the two of you and hope that friends and family and teachers cover the rest. Just loving them goes a long way.”

But was Justice capable of love? Was it programmed into his software or had that particular upgrade been wiped from his hard drive? Only time would tell. At long last the car crested the final hill and they coasted down to the sprawling homestead. She parked near the steps leading to the main house and cut the engine.

“Okay, everyone grab something and let’s get inside.” Together they tromped up the steps. She gave the door a tentative shove, relieved when it opened to her touch. At least she wouldn’t have to threaten her way in like last time. That would have been a tad embarrassing. “See?” she said with a reassuring smile. “Let’s head for the kitchen and get something to drink while we wait for Justice.”

It didn’t take long. Within a minute he stepped into the kitchen, his tawny gaze sweeping the group. One look warned Daisy he hadn’t taken the unexpected guests well. He reminded her of the panther she’d immortalized in her storybooks, stalking into the room, looking sleek and predatory and incredibly dangerous. For a man so proud of his restraint and emotional detachment, he certainly gave a fine imitation of someone who’d gotten his tail in a twist.

For a long, almost painful moment, his gaze lingered on his daughter. Tears pricked Daisy’s eyes at the intense longing that ripped apart his expression. It tarnished his eyes and crept deep into the crevices bracketing his mouth. Then his lashes dipped downward, concealing his expression, and he deliberately turned away. She suspected he didn’t have a choice, not if he hoped to maintain even a modicum of self-control.

“You said a week,” he all but growled. “It’s been ten days, three hours and fourteen minutes.”

“Sorry about that. It took longer than I expected to get everyone organized. I did email you about the change in dates.” He swept the assembled group with a look that probably would have decimated everyone on the spot if Daisy hadn’t stepped between Justice and her family to intercept the full blast of it. “Problem?” she asked sweetly.

“A moment of your time?”

His voice had lowered to a threatening rumble, forcing Daisy to spare her family a reassuring smile. “If you’d wait here,” she requested, easing Noelle into Aggie’s arms. “There are drinks in the refrigerator, assuming you can figure out where it’s hidden.”

“I’m on it,” Jett announced brightly, her gaze practically eating Justice alive.

“Behave,” Daisy mouthed to the teen. Though why she bothered, she couldn’t say. She might as well tell a mouse to stay away from the cheese.

Not giving Daisy a chance to issue any further instructions, Justice snagged her arm and drew her from the room. They retraced the path to the front door and continued on in the opposite direction to a large office with a spectacular view of the Rockies. She didn’t think he used this room any more often than any of the others on this level. The same feeling of neglect hung over the few furnishings it contained. But at least the shutters were open.

The early afternoon burned across the mountains, coating them in every shade from deep royal blue to the dense purple of eggplant. Trees, bare and stark, slept beside stands of conifers, the green rich with the promise that life would one day return to the windswept landscape. In the distance snowcapped peaks shoved upward against a remote sky, the pale blue expanse winter-hard and slashed with high streaks of gray cirrus clouds. It made her itch to grab her sketchbook and pencils and have at it. But ever since she’d lost her creative spark, she’d been afraid to do even that much, afraid she’d be forced to concede, once and for all, that she’d lost all artistic ability.

Releasing a sigh, Daisy turned from the view and discovered Justice pacing the room in perfect imitation of a sleek jungle cat. Or, to be precise, an infuriated jungle cat ready to attack at the least provocation. He also held the odd spherical device he’d played with the night Noelle had been conceived, twisting and turning it into shape after shape.

“All right,” Justice announced, bringing her to earth with a thud. “Let’s hear it.”

“What do you want to hear?” she asked. As if she didn’t know.

He regarded her with burning, narrowed eyes. “You know damn well, Daisy. Who the hell are all those people?”

“One of ‘those people’ was your daughter,” Daisy retorted calmly. “And if you’d given me a moment to introduce the others, you’d know who the hell they are.”

Anger flared and the sleek sphere stuttered in Justice’s hands. “Damn it, woman!”

Did he just call her “woman”? She approached, her anger rising to meet his. “Now that I’m here, I think it’s time to discuss my conditions for staying.”

That stopped him dead in his tracks. “Conditions? You never mentioned conditions to me.”

“Well, now I am.” She didn’t give him time to debate the issue. “Condition One. If you want us here for longer than the next five minutes, you’re going to have to adjust your language. Noelle is unbelievably verbal and tries to repeat just about everything she hears. I won’t have her swearing before she even turns one.”