Must Like Kids by Jackie Braun Page A

late and that I didn’t call to let you know I was running behind schedule.”
    “Is every thing all right?”
    “Car trouble.” She laughed humorlessly and pushed the hair back from her damp forehead. “And phone trouble.”
    “A double whammy.”
    One side of her mouth lifted into a wry smile. “You don’t realize how much you rely on both until you have neither. I think I need a new battery in my phone. It’s not holding a charge. I realized it was dead when I tried to call you after my car overheated on the drive over.”
    He took in her appearance again. “How far did you have to walk?”
    “Walk? No, no, no. I ran.”
    “You’re wearing heels.”
    “I narrowly missed a broken ankle after one of them got caught in a sewer grate.” A rueful smile accompanied the admission.
    He pictured her rushing down busy sidewalks, politely pushing her way past ambling tourists and quick-paced professionals in her fashionable shoes and nearly smiled.
    “Where is your car now?”
    “Being towed to a garage.” She shook her head. The line between her eyes spoke as eloquently as her words when she said, “It’s my own fault. The temperature gauge has been blinking on and off for a week.”
    “You ignored it?” Julia seemed so on top of everything all the time that he found that hard to believe.
    Her tone had turned slightly defensive when she replied, “When that happened last winter, I took it in to a mechanic twice. It wound up being a gauge malfunction both times, so I thought...never mind.” She gathered her hair behind her neck before letting it loose again, and huffed out a sigh. “This isn’t your problem, but it will affect our meeting. Even though I’m late, I need to wrap up quickly so I can make it to school.”
    Lucky kids, he thought again. She wouldn’t disappoint them.
    “How do you propose to get there? Will you run again?” While her heels weren’t as impractical as some of the footwear he’d seen women don, they were a far cry from a pair of sneakers.
    “I’m thinking a cab this time,” she replied dryly.
    By cab or foot, how Julia got to her lunch-with-a-loved-one date wasn’t Alec’s problem. She was right about that. But he still found himself offering, “I can take you.”
    Even more than wanting to help her out, he didn’t want her kids to be left to wonder when or if their mother would show up. No kid should have to wonder that.
    “Oh, no. Really. It’s an imposition.” She shook her head and a few wilted locks of hair fell into her eyes. Had Alec been closer to her, he might have been tempted to brush them away.
    “I don’t mind. And...” Because his thoughts kept wanting to stray into personal territory, he added, “On the drive over we can discuss those talking points.”
    She made a humming sound before nodding. “Okay. That’s a good idea. Thank you.”
    “No problem.”
    “I mean it,” she stressed.
    The hair fell back into her eyes. This time, Alec went with his impulse, and, coming around his desk, reached out to brush it aside.
    “You’re a good mother, Julia.”
    “I try.”
    “And that’s exactly why you are. I’m happy to help.” His hand had lingered at the side of her face. He pulled it back now on a sigh and surprised them both by admitting, “We’d better start talking business or I’m going to want to kiss you again.”
    * * *
    Julia’s heart beat out in triple time after he said that. She was flustered and flattered and...conflicted. Julia the image consultant didn’t want Alec to kiss her again. Julia the woman very much did. Indeed, that Julia wanted Alec to do a lot more than kiss her. Like Sleeping Beauty, she’d been awakened from a long slumber. Part of her was eager to make up for lost time. The more practical part, however, knew caution was in order.
    “How about we start with what you should wear,” she managed to say in a voice that sounded only slightly strained.
    “Good idea.” Alec’s expression, however, didn’t