Page 49 of Daddy's Unexpected Gift

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “They do. Ms. Stanholt wants any nanny to have a background check run through you guys.”

That didn’t make any sense. Why do redundant work? I think I kept Sterling talking just so I could hear his voice. The weekend seemed so far away. It was going to be days before I got a chance to see him. And it was going to be in a park, so I wouldn’t get to touch him or kiss him.

“I miss you,” I blurted out.

“That’s what I keep telling you, Cecelia. I miss you too. It’s not the same here without you ordering me around.”

I laughed. “You make it sound like I’m the one in charge.”

“You are, aren’t you? In charge of knowing how to take care of Georgie, in charge of pointing out all the things I don’t know.”

God, his words were so sexy. “I’m not in charge of anything, least of all you.”

“I like it when you tell me what to do.”

I felt a blush heat my cheeks. “Sterling, are you flirting with me?”

“Most definitely. You could come over now, you know. We could have dinner, you could play with the baby, help me put her to bed.”

That’s how he seduced me the first time. “That’s how we got into trouble last time.” I giggled.

“I wouldn’t call that trouble. And if that’s trouble, it’s worth it. You’re worth it.” His voice was a rumble that made my toes curl.

25

STERLING

Georgie crawled over the picnic blanket I had spread over the grass. I lounged as she crawled back and forth and then used me to stand up. She tried to walk but ended up landing on her butt after a few steps. Wayne had prepared a basket and a cooler bag with our picnic lunch.

We had food, we had sunshine, and now we needed Cecelia.

“This place is hard to find,” Cecelia said as she took long, exaggerated steps to get to us.

She was carrying the bag I had given her and dropped it on the edge of the blanket and sank to her knees. She glanced at the bag. “Maybe I should have brought a different bag. I shouldn’t put that in the dirt.”

“It’s just a tote bag. It's fine,” I said.

“It’s an expensive tote bag, Sterling. And I love it. Thank you. I’m not used to carrying around things that cost so much money.”

“But you are using it,” I pointed out.

“I didn’t want to be rude. You bought me a thoughtful gift. I wanted you to know it is appreciated and useful. Are you going to walk?” Her attention shifted as Georgie began taking wobbly, tentative steps in Cecelia’s direction.

They both giggled, and Cecelia cheered as Georgie reached her.

“This is a nice place. How did you find it?” Cecelia asked. “I had a hard time, and I had a map. This isn’t the kind of park you stumble upon.”

“I asked around. I wanted something not on the beaten path. This way, your coworkers won’t accidentally stumble upon us. Ready for lunch?” I began opening the basket and removing various items, wrapped sandwiches, sliced cheeses, crackers, and fruit already cut into bite-sized pieces.

“Wow, you thought of everything,” Cecelia said as she snapped the lid off a glass container. She pulled out a small piece of pink fruit and handed it to Georgie. “We don’t have to cut anything down to her size. Oh, except maybe the pickles,” she said after opening another container. “Does Georgie even like pickles?”

“Loves them. I discovered she likes food, and not just chicken nuggets and rice. I’ve been trying her on different things. She seems to love pickles, and I read about giving her a full pickle. She just sort of mauls it. With only the two teeth, she can’t really get a good bite, but keep an eye on her if you give her one anyway.”

I continued to pull out and loosely arrange the food. Georgie was in grabby hands mode, so it worked out best to not open everything unless we were serving it onto our plates.

“I can’t believe you packed real plates,” Cecelia said.

“What do you mean?”

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