Daddy Daycare

"Ouch," Kit Wells said with a whimper, rubbing the back of her throbbing head. Never had she known such pain. Well...at least physical pain. The emotional pain of losing her best friend in a freak car accident--that was still as crushing as it had been yesterday when Marlene died in her arms. Focusing on the task at hand, which was fishing one of her best gold earrings out from under CEO Travis Callahan's desk, she snatched the errant piece of jewelry, then backed up, only to slam the top of her head when she rose too early. She was still on the floor when the office's door creaked open. Between the stars flashing before her eyes and the ball-and-claw feet of navy leather wing chairs she spied a pair of obviously expensive black, highly polished wingtip shoes. Wearing those were long, long legs encased in creased black dress pants. As her gaze traveled up, she saw a matching black jacket, starched white shirt and red-striped power tie. After a quick gulp, Kit summoned the courage to finish her visual sweep. Precision-cut short dark hair, chiseled features and eyes the shade of fresh-ground coffee made it official--the man was gorgeous. Even better than thirteen years earlier, when he'd last visited her hometown of IdaBelle Falls. "Um, hi," she said with a faint smile. "Remember me? I'm Kit. The girl you, um...well,you know,under your grandmother's backyard mulberry tree." Though she felt like conking herself on her already swimming head for blurting that bit of inane history--despite that to date, his kisses, among other things, were still some of her best in memory--Kit yanked down the hem of her brown prairie-style skirt, then tried scrambling to her feet. In fact, Travis's kisses had been so dreamy, his technique had even topped that of Brad Foley, the B-movie actor who'd finished the job of demolishing what had been left of Kit's heart after Travis left town. But that was a long story best forgotten. As of late, she'd settled into a nice, safe engagement with local hardware store owner Levi Petty. What Levi lacked in animal magnetism and flash, he more than made up for in good old-fashioned family values and stability. "Need help?" She looked up to see Travis's proffered hand, which she took, only to regret it. No way were her sparks for him as intense as when she'd been a gangly teen and he'd been equally handsome. Both of which were entirely inappropriate observations considering the task she'd flown all the way from IdaBelle Falls to downtown Chicago to do. "Um, please," she said, releasing him the instant she was back on her sturdy sandals. Never had she wished she was more the polished sophisticate like all the other women she'd seen in the building, but since she was only going to be here long enough to tell Travis her news, then be out on an afternoon flight, it really hadn't made sense to blow much-needed cash on some swanky outfit she'd wear only once. She really shouldn't have spent the money to come here. But when her friend Alex, who was on the IdaBelle Falls police force, said they'd intended to tell Travis the news over the phone, out of love for his sister Kit had begged Mitch to let her break the news herself. "Thanks," she said, brushing at her behind, then adjusting her fitted brown-and-gold shirt before moving up to secure her disastrous head full of curly dark hair, which had sprung free of its clip. "You're welcome. And yes, I remember you and the mulberry tree. My sister speaks of you often--at least when she's not barraging me with amazing baby feats performed by my adorable niece." The smile he flashed would've been perfect, only it didn't quite reach his eyes. And as far as Kit knew, through Marlene, Travis hadn't cracked a genuine smile since he'd taken this CEO gig. At the mention of Travis's sister--Kit's longtime best friend--bone-deep sorrow reclaimed her. Yes, telling Travis in person about Marlene's death was the right thing to doAltom, Laura Marie is the author of 'Daddy Daycare', published 2006 under ISBN 9780373751365 and ISBN 0373751362.