Page 5 of Off Limits (Alpha Billionaire)

I looked from her to Mr. Anderson. I was out of my depth here, but she was being outright rude. “Who exactly are you to be yelling at me right now?”

Clara’s entire face pinched up and her eyes went a bit crazy.

“Take Max. I’ll be out in a moment,” Mr. Anderson said as he handed me his son and nodded for me to step back out in the hallway.

“You can’t let her speak to me like that. She is completely unacceptable.” There were more words, but they were cut off when the door closed.

Great. I had just gotten hired and was probably about to get fired in record time.

3

DYLAN

Max settled into his new routine with the nanny. Or rather, she settled into his routine. She was a reasonably flexible woman. It was refreshing. The last few nannies always had some complaint about how the household was run or the expectations I had of them, that they'd agreed to when they took the job. Not Jessica. She seemed perfectly fine with everything, and she smiled a lot.

Even first thing in the morning. I don’t know how she did it, but she always had herself and Max ready to go for the day by the time I showed up in the morning.

The nursery was directly across the hall from my bedroom suite. I knocked before opening the door. Every morning, Max acted like it was a surprise to see me.

“Hey, buddy,” I said, catching his attention.

He and Jessica were sitting on the floor with building blocks. Some sing-song kids’ music was playing. Max looked up, his eyes widened, and a smile split his face. Immediately dropping the blocks, he darted over to me with a “Daddy!”

I scooped him up, and he giggled. “Are you ready for breakfast?”

“Oh, is it breakfast already?” Jessica asked as she pushed to her feet. “Max and I have a very busy morning planned, lots of blocks, and?—”

“You don’t have to give me a report,” I interrupt. “I trust you. Besides, I can see the pile of books next to you. Books and blocks, sounds like you have your time planned out.”

“We do. I’ll let you two enjoy your breakfast.” She turned toward her room.

“Why don’t you join us? There is always a spread and too much food,” I said.

She gave me a soft smile, and I swear a faint hint of pink flushed her cheeks.

“I, uh… Thank you, that would be lovely.” She stammered her first few words before accepting.

“Great, come on.” I hefted Max up a bit more and buzzed the top of his head with a kiss before putting him down and taking his hand.

Jessica followed us out of the room.

“You know, I never see you eating. When do you eat?”

“You never see your maids or cook eat either. That’s kind of part of the job,” she said.

“But Clara always has her meals and snacks around Mother.”

“Clara isn’t exactly staff the same way. She’s also sort of a paid companion and eats meals with your mother.”

“Fair point. So, when do you eat?”

Her laugh was more like a nervous giggle. “I typically eat when you have Max. Only you don’t see me because I’m not in the dining room.”

“But you’re always waiting for us in the nursery.”

“Not always. A lot of times, I come and pick Max up. So, I eat my breakfast or dinner in the kitchen, and then I come and pick Max up so you can get back to work. It’s all very coordinated behind the scenes,” she said.

“How very Disney of you.”

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