The CEO's Surprise Family by Teresa Carpenter

dining room held a table big enough to seat eight. Bar stools lined up against a kitchen island though the kitchen was out of sight.
    An in-wall aquarium behind the bar in the living room held the fish he’d told Jazi about.
    â€œThis way,” Jethro said. “We’ll get her settled then I’ll give you a tour.”
    He’d offered to carry Jazi, but she was too precious for Lexi to give her up just yet.
    He led the way down a hall and opened a door on the right. “This will be you.” Moving on a few feet, he opened a door on the left. “And this is Jasmine.” He scowled at the low, short child’s bed. “There’s been a mistake. This should be a crib. I’ll call down and get housekeeping to send someone up to fix it.”
    â€œNo.” Lexi placed Jazi on the bed and covered her with a blanket conveniently draped over the foot of the bed. “I told them to set up the bed. Diana recently told me Jazi has taken to climbing out of her crib. At least this way if she gets up in the night, she won’t have a four-foot drop.”
    Jethro ran a hand over the back of his neck. “No, we wouldn’t want that.”
    Lexi fussed over Jazi for another couple of minutes, taking off her shoes and tucking Rainbow, her new pet fish, under the blanket with her.
    She looked up at Jethro. “Thank you for this,” she said. “Thank you so much for giving her back to me.”
    He went still before slowly nodding. “We need to make it through the next three months first.”
    â€œI haven’t forgotten.” Undeterred she kissed Jazi’s soft cheek. “But that’s just a matter of time. Soon it’ll be the two of us and we can start our life together.” She exited the room and pulled the door mostly closed, leaving only an inch open so she could hear Jazi if she woke up.
    When she glanced up at Jethro, his eyes were shuttered. He nodded toward double doors at the end of the hall. “That’s me.”
    â€œOh. You’re close.”
    He made no comment to that. Didn’t really need to. Still, she found it a little unnerving to know he was only a few feet down the hall.
    From the desk in her room and the shelves and books, she figured the space must have been his office. “I’m putting you out.”
    â€œIt’s only for a few months.” He shrugged her statement away. “I do most my work downstairs. It’s no big deal.”
    He struck her as a creature of habit, so she rather thought it was more of a deal than he made out, but this arrangement was his idea so she was all right with that. She’d do her best to keep Jazi’s sticky little fingers out the books but if he suffered a few casualties, it was on him.
    He showed her the bathrooms, she and Jazi each had their own, the kitchen—a cook’s dream—and the media room. Like the living room, the furnishings were sleek and modern throughout but built for comfort. It was all a tad too minimalist for her tastes but it fit the game the themed hotel was based on so she got it. And the sheer luxury of it made up for a deficit of style.
    The apartment exceeded the size of hers by double the square footage yet still seemed small with Jethro standing next to her. The idea of sharing this space with him for the next three months unnerved her on so many levels.
    In the kitchen she opened the refrigerator and a couple of cupboards. They were empty except for ground coffee beans and stale crackers.
    â€œI eat out a lot or order my meals from room service.” He explained. “I don’t expect you to cook, but I understand you’ll need to have food on hand. Make up a list and I’ll have groceries delivered.”
    â€œThat’s okay. I prefer to do my own shopping.” Yep, she was already looking for an excuse to escape for a few hours. “I like to cook.”
    He lifted a dark brow at her claim, but didn’t