Page 27 of Off Limits (Alpha Billionaire)

“Dylan, you should move the car in case someone comes around the corner,” I nervously pointed out.

I didn’t like the way he narrowed his eyes at me, and I really was not comfortable just sitting in the middle of the road. Especially not the one we were on. It was one of the longer roads in the community. It had lots of fun curves, and teenagers loved to drive too fast along it. Hell, I liked to drive too fast along it. The way the car was stopped, skewed across the center line, we were an accident waiting to happen.

“Do not presume to tell me what to do,” he growled through clenched teeth.

“Sorry, sorry.” I sat back in my seat and closed my eyes. “I just… I, ah…” I began rambling. Words fell out of my mouth in a nonstop torrent. “I wanted to make sure you knew that I knew Ryan. And that he plays games with the people he works with. And I wanted to make sure you heard it from me. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything about it earlier. I was—I am—afraid of him.”My insides twisted into knots, and my heart felt like it was trying to pound out of my chest.

“I’m afraid of him, and when he threatened me the other night about telling you and he would make sure I’d lose my job, I didn’t say anything. But I am saying something now. Ryan has messed with my jobs in the past. It's why I’m a nanny. I didn’t ever want to work with someone like him again.”

Dylan cut his glare to me but didn’t say anything.

I breathed a sigh of relief when the car started moving again. Dylan took the curves of the road too fast. I recognized that he was driving out his aggression. I did the same thing. This time, I kept my eyes closed and prayed the entire time that we didn’t encounter someone else stopped in the middle of the road having an argument.

I didn’t open my eyes until we were back and Dylan stopped the car and slammed the door on his way out. I watched him storm back into the house. I didn’t know what had upset him so much. Was it that I had confessed to a relationship with another man at all? Or because it was Ryan? Or, more likely, that I hadn’t trusted Dylan to tell him about Ryan from the moment he was in his house.

It didn’t really matter what the cause was. He was angry.

I got Max out of his car seat. He was limp and asleep like the very first time I met him. I stroked his head and spoke in low tones. “I really did like being your nanny. I never should have caught feelings for your daddy. Don’t be too sad when I’m gone. And be a good boy for your nanna.”

He was asleep and didn’t hear me, but I hoped my words would make their way into his memory. Not that I expected him toremember me for very long. I knew I wouldn’t ever forget him or his father.

Dylan hadn’t understood why I didn’t want him telling people about us. I huffed out a half laugh. I didn’t want him telling people when I had expected something like this to happen. I just hadn’t expected it so soon.

13

DYLAN

Iknew it wasn’t fair of me, but I didn’t really care. Jessica had lied. She knew Ryan. She should have told me sooner. I left her to take care of Max, to do her job. I needed space to think. Why was it bothering me so much? Why did I care? Was I angry because she’d had an affair with him before I ever knew who she was? Or was it because they both had lied to me about knowing each other?

Wrapped up in my own thoughts, I was caught up short when I saw Mother. “What are you doing?” I asked.

She was out of her room and leaning heavily on her cane. With each slow step, I winced, taking on her pain.

“I’m taking a walk,” she said. Her voice sounded a bit shaky but extremely determined. “I thought that would be obvious.”

“Where is Clara?” I demanded.

I heard her indignant huff before I saw her. “Do you honestly think I would let her out and about without being nearby?”

I chuckled bitterly. “My mother does what she wants.”

“You are most right there, Mr. Anderson,” Clara said. I even caught a rare glimpse of a grin on her sour face.

Mother waved me over. “Come here, Dylan, give me your arm. Clara, you can go have a rest. Dylan will keep me from falling and see me back to my rooms.”

“Mrs.—”

“Let me have some privacy with my son,” Mother cut her off.

I stepped in close and held out my elbow. Mom looped her hand through and gripped tightly. She leaned a bit heavily on me. All things considered, she was frail and there wasn’t that much mass to her. We walked slowly, Mother concentrating on foot placement. Her weight tugged on my arm every few steps. It took several minutes to walk just a few yards.

“Do your doctors know you are doing this?”

“Who do you think told me to get up and walk? My endocrinologist and the cardiologist both want me to get a thousand steps a day.”

“A thousand?” That didn’t seem like very much to me, but for her it was probably quite a bit. “How do you track your thousand steps?”

She held up her wrist, showing me her smart watch. I nodded. That made sense.

---