Page 9 of Off Limits (Alpha Billionaire)

“I thought both of you had fallen asleep,” I admitted. I know I had been close to falling asleep myself. “You need me to take him?”

“No, I like holding him. It’s a bit easier when he’s not squirming around.”

“He does squirm,” I agreed. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course, Jessica.” She lifted her brows in anticipation.

“I don’t mean to step on toes, but is Clara always so negative? I feel like she finds fault with everything about Max, and frankly, that’s starting to really annoy me. I can handle the criticism she directs toward me. I don’t like it, but I know that her opinion of me has no bearing on me. But Max is four. The critical words of adults when we are kids become the negative inner voices we have to deal with as we grow up.” I hoped I was getting my point across tactfully.

“He’s four. I doubt he’ll remember,” she said.

I shook my head. “I remember the bad stuff my grandmother said about and to me more than I remember my grandmother’skisses and hugs. I know those happened. I have pictures. But I don’t have the memories. I remember her complaining about my hair”—I reached back and grabbed my ponytail. My hair was fluffy and borderline frizzy because I hadn’t taken the time to finger train my curls or to straighten my hair in the morning—“and tried to teach me how to brush it because she didn’t know what to do with my fluff. I was maybe five when we lost her. So, trust me, Max will remember her critical words.”

“It’s just how she is. It’s tough love,” Mrs. Anderson explained.

I nodded. My point wasn’t being made. I pulled in a deep breath and tried again. “Clara doesn’t use nice words when she is talking to Max. I’m trying to teach Max that people use nice words when talking to people. Do you think you could mention that?”

Mrs. Anderson shook her head. From the expression on her face, it looked like I might have caused her too much stress. I’d try talking to Mr. Anderson about it.

“Never mind that I even brought it up,” I said. I leaned forward and scooped Max up. “I’ll take this guy back to his room for a nap. Your son said he would stop by for a visit when he got home from his morning tee time. This way, you can have a bit of a rest before then.”

“Thank you, dear. I do like how you are looking out for Max,” she said. “A nap sounds like a good idea.”

With Max collapsed against my shoulder, I carried him across the house to his room. It would have been infinitely easier if I could have tucked him in on the small couch in Mrs. Anderson’s rooms, but Clara had put an end to that.

Fortunately, once Max fell asleep, he tended to stay out for at least an hour. I made sure he had his dog toy and took his shoes off after I got him in his bed. I lifted the side rail and clipped the baby monitor to my belt.

I didn’t know when he fell asleep, so I wasn’t certain how much time I had. I hit the bathroom and then crossed the entire house to the kitchen. I wanted a snack. I pushed through the double swing doors and paused. Mr. Anderson leaned against the counter, laughing at something and popping open a beer.

“Oh, good, Jessica. How is Max?” he asked.

I opened my mouth to answer but stopped when I saw who he was with. I closed my mouth and swallowed down the lump in my throat. Ryan.

“Max is asleep. Your mother is resting too.”

“That’s great. I’ll check on her later.”

I turned and left as fast as I could. I completely forgot about being hungry.

5

DYLAN

Jessica looked pale. My initial concern was something happened to Max or my mother, but she assured me everyone was resting. I didn’t really think about it when she left.

“Who was that?” Ryan asked as he nodded in the direction of the door.

“Oh, her? That’s the nanny.”

“Nanny? I was going to congratulate you on your taste in women if that was your girl. Nanny? Is she single?”

Something tightened in my chest. I did not like this guy who was here to talk about a potential business collaboration looking at my nanny that way. Huh, ‘my nanny’. She was Max’s nanny. What was I thinking?

“I don’t meddle in my employees’ personal lives,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, but she watches your kid.”

“She passed all the necessary background checks, if that’s what you're concerned with.” I pointed back toward the door. “I’mgoing to go check just to make sure nothing is wrong, in case she didn’t want to speak out of turn with you around. Please, enjoy your beer. There’s a deck just out those doors. I’ll join you shortly.”

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