Everly let her arms fall to her sides, prepared to offer her hand if he pulled some manners out of his ass. He’d kept her waiting and now approached with obvious attitude. Bad attitude.
He was filthy, covered in mud, paint, and sweat from the training exercise. He was also in full gear with an M4 over his shoulder and a Glock hugging his thigh.
She couldn’t deny it. The guy was ridiculously hot all worn out from running around the jungle chasing fake insurgents. That didn’t mean it was okay to be a dick to a guest, even if the guest was a prospective employee, but his scowl told Everly he hadn’t gotten that memo. She was in for some rough interaction.
Knowing that up front, Everly purposely relaxed. Purposely smiled. Purposely let all offensive hostility melt away and braced internally for whatever he threw at her.
When he was still fifty feet away, a little voice squealed, “Daaaaaaad-dyyyyyy!”
A tiny human who could only be Mirabella ran out of the house, straight toward her father, the skirt of her sundress flying out behind her.
This ought to be good.
Everly crossed her arms and watched as Hix stopped on a dime and focused all his attention on his daughter. The girl ran straight at him with no sign of slowing down, then threw herself at him with utter carelessness and unwavering confidence.
Everly drew a sharp breath and found herself stepping forward. But Hix’s M4 hit the ground a second before he caught the girl. He faked a dramatic effort to hold all forty pounds of her. Stumbling backward, he teetered on the edge of the pool before he fell in—just laid flat out on the water, fully clothed and geared up. He and Bella disappeared beneath the surface and a surprised half laugh popped from Everly’s mouth.
She moved to the pool’s edge with the intention of helping them out, but when they surfaced, both Mirabella and her father were laughing.
“Oh my God,” Everly said, hand over her heart. “Are you okay?”
Hix didn’t look at her. He seemed utterly mesmerized by his daughter’s baby-toothed grin, her flashing melted-chocolate eyes and glowing pink cheeks.
It was clear this was a routine for the pair.
“We’re fine, aren’t we, Bella?” He tossed her in the air, and she giggled until she plunged below the surface again. He grabbed her and tossed her again. More giggles, more smiles. The absolute joy on their faces, a true one-eighty for Hix, made Everly look at him differently. She was glad she hadn’t decided on an approach strategy with him, because he’d just demonstrated a very different man than she’d been expecting.
“’Gain,” Bella begged. “’Gain, Daddy.”
“One more time, then Daddy has to work.” Another round of giggles and splashes later, Hix collected Bella and lifted her to the pool deck. Then he planted his hands on the edge and hoisted himself—and all his gear—from the pool.
If she’d thought he was hot ten minutes ago, sweaty gear and all, he was now mouthwatering, wet from head to toe, black T-shirt clinging to an extremely well-muscled torso, dark hair slicked off his handsome face.
Everly had spent her entire adulthood around sexy, muscular, driven alpha men. During that time, only a dozen had intrigued her. Only three had infatuated her. And even that had worn off quickly. She considered herself immune to muscle, confidence, and swagger. But this…this softer side of the alpha dog she’d expected was surprisingly charming. Disarming, even.
“Mirabella,” a woman called from the kitchen, where she stood holding a towel. “Time for lunch.”
Hix didn’t introduce Bella to Everly, just gave Bella a tap on the butt with “Go on, monkey.”
The dripping, intoxicatingly carefree Bella hopped and skipped across the pool deck on her toes, where the older woman wrapped her in a big towel and hugged her close as she rubbed Bella dry.
Hix bent to pick up his gear, straightened, and finally met Everly’s gaze head-on. The intensity of his stare created sparks beneath her ribs. The joy he’d had for his daughter was gone. He’d switched back into sullen alpha mode.
He didn’t welcome Everly, didn’t introduce himself, didn’t apologize for keeping her waiting. He didn’t even offer her a smile.
“I’m going to clean up. If you can stay, we’ll talk when I’m done. If not…” He shrugged, as if to say, Your loss.
His dismissal rankled. Everly didn’t answer immediately. She met the challenge in his gaze and kept her voice level and light when she said, “Not exactly the warm Costa Rican welcome I’m used to, but I’ll wait.” When he angled toward the house, she added, “For a little while longer.”
Austin showered and changed into jeans with his mind fighting to focus on all he’d gleaned from the training exercise and the woman here to interview for the job as Mirabella’s nanny.
He was pulling on a white oxford when Decker knocked on the open bedroom door. “Austin?”
“Come on in.”
Decker offered him a few sheets of paper. “Her résumé and references.”
“Shit, you mean she’s not gone?”