I've read some really great reviews & I wanna thank you all for that. Most of you asked me to update soon, so here it is, chapter 7! Don't forget to review! Love you guys! lol

Yen - wow! Another new reader! Hope to hear from you more! Keep R&R!

Chapter Seven

Mimi parked on her reserved spot just outside the real-estate office & eyed Ella in her rearview mirror. The baby's eyelids were heavy & her head was drooping to one side of the padded car seat. "You must have had Matt up before the crack of dawn," Mimi said, "since you're almost asleep again now. I bet he liked that."

No matter how he felt about it, Mimi was certainly thankful he'd been there. How could she have slept so soundly that she hadn't even heard the twins wake up? It wasn't as if they were subtle about it…the moment their eyes popped open they started to babble, and the longer it took to get someone's attention the louder & higher-pitched the little voices became. She figured out after the second day that ell Ella wanted first thing in the morning was a dry diaper. Nikko, on the other hand, didn't care much about personal hygiene…he was simply afraid that something exciting might be going on outside his field of vision, so he was determined to get out where he could see it.

All for which meant that the pair of them were impossible to tune out. Yet Mimi had managed to disconnect her responsibility button completely last night. It frightened her to think what could have happened if Matt wasn't there.

There was a tap on the car window beside her. Mimi jumped & turned to see Izzy standing on the pavement, briefcase in hand, obviously…like her…on his way in to work.

She opened the door. "Good morning."

"Is it? I hadn't noticed. Is your headache better?"

From the tone of his voice, it was apparent that Izzy didn't believe she ever had a headache at all. Mimi didn't blame him. She made a mental note to talk to Yolei; if the young woman was going to start manufacturing excuses, they might as well be believable ones.

"I feel great. Look, I'm sorry about Mr. Harrison. I have no idea how he got this fixation on me. I've only talked to him once & that was on the phone."

"Well, next time you ask me to take over one of your clients, make sure it's somebody who actually wants to buy a house."

"What does that mean? He's moving here from New York City…of course he wants to buy a house."

"Then why didn't he want to talk to me?"

Maybe he didn't like your attitude? "Perhaps he just has really bad judgment, Izzy, waiting for me when he could have had your full attention."

"Or perhaps he's just a tourist."

(A tourist – real-estate slang for someone whose hobby was looking at houses, soaking up the agent's time but not seriously interested in buying.)

"Would you give me a hand with my briefcase?"

"Why?" He sounded suspicious.

"Because I will have my hands full." She opened the back door & leaned in to unfasten Ella's safety harness. The baby grumbled something that sounded like "Kick" & tucked her head into Mimi's neck.

Izzy looked horrified. "What that?"

Mimi considered it playing almost straight…"It's an immature specimen of female homo sapiens. I picked it up at the pet shop." But she knew that wasn't really what Izzy was asking. She sighed, "It's a long story."

"Well, if you think I'm babysitting while you tour around Odaiba city with Willis Harrison…"

"It never would have occurred to me to ask," Mimi said truthfully. In fact, I wouldn't dream of leaving a child in your care.

"Well, as long as we have that straight…" With a briefcase in each hand, he led the way to the door. Mimi balanced the baby on her hip, slung Ella's diaper bag over her shoulder, & followed. Izzy was standing beside the door, obviously waiting for her to open it. "I have my hands full," he quoted, sounding almost saintly.

Mimi bit her tongue to keep from pointing out the relative weight of their burdens & pulled the door open. It's going to be a great day, she told herself. But the words echoed hollowly in her head.


In the warehouse district not far from downtown, Matt noted the dark-blue car parked outside the two-story building which housed both his business office & his loft apartment, and swore. He hoped he could get upstairs to shower & shave before his secretary got to work, but the lights were already on in the office. And there was zero chance that Nora wouldn't have noticed when she came in that the SUV wasn't in its usual overnight parking spot.

He lifted Nikko out of the back seat, clamping the wiry little body under one arm because the kid insisted on squirming loose if held upright. His muscles protested every move. Sora could use a new couch as well as a dishwasher, he mused…one that was long enough for a guy to actually stretch out on.

Of course, last night it wouldn't have made much difference. With the sent of Mimi's perfume & the warmth of her body heat lingering on the cushions, he'd have been uncomfortable even if the couch had been the size of a basketball court. So much for the idea of sending her off to sleep would clear his head. All he accomplished was to free himself to think, once he didn't have to be on guard to argue with her.

He grabbed the duffle bag which Mimi had packed with everything she insisted he would need all day, & swore under his breath. What did she put in there, anyway? Bricks?

He pushed open the plate-glass door of his office with his shoulder & backed through. His secretary eyed him over her half-rimmed gold glasses. Then she lifted her pencil off the column of numbers she was adding, stuck it to the unswept gray hair above her right ear, & rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

Matt watched her for a moment, contemplating. It seemed to him that every woman past certain age dreamed of being a grandmother…and if she didn't have her own family to spoil, she'd coo over whichever babies happened to come along. Surely this particular woman was no exception to the rule. And Nikko couldn't be in safer hands than Nora's.

He decided it was worth a try. "Look what I brought you, Nora," he said cheerfully.

Her voice was dry. "I hope that means you have a box of chocolates tucked in the duffle bag."

"Nope, something a lot sweeter than that." He set the bag down & juggled Nikko into an upright position. "Hey, buddy, say hi to Nora."

"That's what I was afraid you meant. Where did the baby come form?"

"Nora, dear," Matt chided. "I never thought I'd have to explain the facts of life to y. He's not mine; I've just borrowed him for a while. I'd be willing to share."

"In other words, you're stuck with him & you're looking for a way out. This isn't my job description, you know."

"You can write yourself a glowing recommendation for your personnel life."

"Or I could just give my notice & retire. Oh, all right, give him here…as long as you don't mind if the month's invoices go out late." She pushed her chair back & came toward them, arms outstretched.

"You're a savior, Nora," Matt said. He started to hand the baby over, but Nikko had other ideas. He clung like an octopus, his sharp little fingernails digging ridges in Matt's neck. When Matt tried to detach him, the planted his tiny shoes firmly on Matt's belt & pushed himself upright. Tears rolled down his cheeks.

Nora retreated, sitting down on the edge of her desk. "The young man seems to prefer you," she said pleasantly. "I don't know why, when you carry him around like a football."

Matt shot a disgusted look at her. "Hey, it's not our fault that females just don't understand how men think, right, Nikko?"

"I suppose there's no accounting for tastes," Nora mused.

Matt wasn't listening. "All right, buddy, we're in this together. Hey…ouch! Chill out, champ, or I'll put you in the duffle bag & zip it. You win, okay?"

Nikko stiffened & buried his face on Matt's shoulder. "And take your tongue out of your cheek, Nora." Matt started toward the stairs.

Nora held out a message slip. "Before you go, the foreman called from the Motomiya site this morning."

Matt glanced at the page & groaned. "What in the hell does she mean, she wants to move a window?"

"She said she couldn't live with that particular view," Nora said pleasantly.

"I hope he told her it was too late to change it."

"No, he thought that breaking the news was your job, as the boss."

"This was supposed to be a small project. Remodel her closets, she said. Put in a few shelves. At this rate, we'll still be tied up there five ears from now." He started for his office again.

"Maybe she just likes having a bunch of well-muscled men running in & out," Nora mused.

"The same way you do?"

"Absolutely, why do you think I keep coming to work despite you, anyway?"

Matt closed the office door behind him. He set Nikko on the floor, ignoring the baby's protest, dropped into his chair & dialed in Jun Motomiya's number.

A sultry voice answered with a trill.

"Miss Motomiya," he said.

"Matt, how nice of you to call back, but why must I keep asking you to call me Jun?"

Because the last thing I want to do is encourage you. "My foreman tells me there's some disagreement about a window."

"Well, yes. I walked in this morning to review the job & it suddenly hit me…that window overlooks my neighbor's back yard. From the inside of his pool, he could look straight into m new dressing room."

Hang a curtain over it. "Well, that's a big problem, Ms. Motomiya, because the wall around it is concrete."

"I know, & that's what made it so obvious."

"If you told me this a couple of weeks ago when we were still putting up the blocks, we might have been able to o something. Now…"

"But I didn't recognize the problem till this morning," she said sweetly. "You can fix it, though…right? I'm certain you can fix anything."

"I'm afraid I…" Something was nagging at the back of Matt's mind, distracting him. Suddenly he realized what it was. Nikko had gone quiet…too quiet.

He wheeled his chair around to see a small bump on the floor, draped in blueprints which had once been neatly rolled on the bottom shelf of the bookcase behind his desk. He made a grab for the roll & heard the sickening rip of paper…most of the drawings slid neatly off Nikko's head, but what Matt hadn't been able to see was that one corner was clamped between the baby's brand-new pearly white front teeth. The kid was chewing up the corner part of one blueprint.

The baby gave him a wet grin & pit out the scraps. "Peek," he said clearly. "Boo."

Matt swore.

"Excuse me?" Jun's voice was frosty. "I am not accustomed to hearing that sort of language from someone I'm doing business with.'

"Sorry," Matt said. "It wasn't you, it was…"

Nikko deprived his toy, crawled across the carpet, & pulled himself up using Matt's knee as a brace. He reached up to the desktop for the blueprint he'd been chewing & his flailing little hand hit the disconnect button on the phone. Suddenly Matt was talking to a dial tone.

"That does it, pal," Matt said. "Don't even ask, because there will be no summer internships around here for you." He punched in the number again & got only a busy signal. Dammit.

He swept the baby & headed for the stairs. No time for a shower, but he could at least put on a fresh shirt & grab his razor so he could shave as he drove. "Nora, call Ms. Motomiya…& keep calling till you get through. Tell her I'm on my way over."

"You're headed the wrong direction," Nora pointed out.

She could say that again, Matt thought. He had a feeling that moving Jun Motomiya's window would be only the beginning of the apology he'd have to make.


At precisely ten o'clock, Mimi closed the multiple-listings book, took a long drink of her now-cold coffee, & surveyed the list of addresses she assembled…houses which might possibly suit Willis Harrison. There were twenty-three of them. It would take a week to show them all, so obviously she was going to have to cull the list somehow.

Voices approached her cubicle…Yolei's high-pitched near-giggle & a deeper, slightly nasal tone that Mimi remembered from talking to Willis Harrison on the phone. That was a good sign, she thought. He'd obviously arrived on the dot.

Mimi stood up to greet him & felt her jaw drop as he came around the corner. He was a little older than she expected, & he didn't at all look like her idea of a hard-driving top executive, but more like a movie star…thin, languid, graceful, world-weary, with smooth shiny blonde hair, & emerald eyes. She tried not to stare as she shook hands.

He didn't immediately let go of her hand. "Yes," he said. "You match your voice."

And you don't, Mimi thought a bit wildly. But perhaps that was why he was in the auto industry instead of motion pictures…because they'd have to get someone to dub all his lines…

"I'm very pleased to meet you," she said, "and sorry about getting a delayed start because of my absence yesterday. I have a fairly large number of possibilities so I'd like to begin by getting a better idea of which features you consider absolutely necessary, so I can cut down the list. There's no sense in going to look at something if it obviously won't fit your needs."

"If you think I'd like it, Ms. Tachikawa…may I call you Mimi?...then I'll be happy to look it over. After all, I plan to live in this house for years. A few extra days to choose the correct one hardly seems unreasonable."

He was right, of course…though his timing could certainly have been a lot better. And she couldn't help but wonder if Izzy had been right when he called Willis Harrison a tourist.

"On the phone," she said firmly, "you mentioned needing a home office, of course, & a formal dining room for dinner parties, and at least three bedrooms."

He nodded.

"Is there a particular architectural style which you like? Or for that matter, one you hate?"

He shrugged. "Nothing that I can think of."

"Perhaps if you were to tell me about the kind of houses where you've lived before, & what you liked about them…"

"I've always lived in apartments, townhouses, & condos."

"Never in a house?" Mimi tried no to sigh. "You've never actually owned a property?"

"That's why I want one, you see."

Mimi gave up. "Then let's start by driving past some of the possibilities."

She pushed her chair back & reluctantly looked down at the blanket spread behind her desk. Ella had been asleep for half an hour…not long enough, in Mimi's experience, to take the edge off a cranky baby. But maybe she'd be lucky & the baby would sleep through being picked up & put in the car…

And maybe, she told herself, some famous producer will come out from nowhere, & Willis Harrison will move to Hollywood instead of Japan and I won't have to find him a house after all.

But Mimi wasn't going to put any money on either bet.


AN: Do you guys know where I got the name Willis Harrison from? I'll give you a clue, both of them are great actors & have been on many action movies. wink lol

Chapter 8 will be posted soon! Don't forget to review.