Page 9 of Taming the Boss

Annoyed with my train of thought, I grabbed my phone and quickly called my lawyer. Before the call even connected, I hit end on the call and scowled out the window across the well-tended hills of the acreage beyond my new home.

There were miles and miles for Owen to explore, once he had someone to show him the way.

Like you?

No, not me. I didn’t know my way around the property yet, for one. I could take my time hiring some of the staff, as my day-to-day needs were few, but the one thing I could not wait on was hiring a nanny.

I definitely needed assistance in that area.

What did I know about child-rearing? Precisely nothing. And I had no one to guide me, especially since Sydney hadn’t even moved here yet. She knew nothing about kids either, but she was a woman, so surely that imparted some kind of native knowledge a boneheaded male like myself could not claim.

I braced my forehead on my fist as my temples throbbed.

Sydney, I need you, dammit.

Oh, she was coming—she’d promised she would, once I’d informed her of my plans—but she had her own affairs to sort out so she’d been a bit delayed.

In the meantime, I needed to hire someone with skills with children. Even rudimentary skills would put them ahead of me.

I contacted my admin, Caro, conveniently stationed in her office down the hall, and asked her to get my local real estate agent on the line. Just this morning, Caro had given me a chatty postcard from Owen’s mom, Melissa, just wanting to “check in” and “see how things were going.”

As if we were friends. Or even friendly.

Clearly, I was too out of sorts to speak to my lawyer, Preston Shaw, right now. Once I’d been told of Owen’s existence, I’d immediately looked for someone local to handle things. Pres, located in nearby Kensington Square, came highly rated, so I’d informed him about the situation and set about moving to the Cove.

I need you to draft papers to my former lover, saying that Owen is mine and I’m not giving him back in two months as if he’s some sort of temporary offspring. If she didn’t want me to have him permanently, she should never have told me of his existence. No way in hell will I settle for being a part-time father.

I might not have any clue how to be one, but I’d just fucking have to learn, wouldn’t I?

Not that I’d had Pres actually send the papers to Melissa yet, mainly because I didn’t have a new permanent address for her yet.

But I’d grown up with a mom who cared more about her brand and her business than her children. Damn straight I would not consign my own offspring to such a fate.

Absolutely not.

I already hated he’d not even known I existed for the first three years of his life. No wonder the boy barely spoke. He was in the care of a damn stranger, aka me, since his beloved mommy was currently playing Maggie in Hicksville, USA’s version of “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

I was surprised she wasn’t playing the ideal mother in some other play. Since some of the women I knew tended to be great at performing roles, not actually being them.

Not two minutes later, Caro’s businesslike tone gave way to the purr of Laken Losty, my local real estate agent. “Jude, it’s so nice to hear from you again. What can I help you with?”

I just bet it was. My money and I were welcome guests anywhere I chose to appear.

“I need a nanny. Immediately. Where can I find one?”

“Oh. Hmm. A nanny,” she repeated, as if she’d forgotten somehow that I had a child. I’d only reminded her half a dozen times so far.

Granted, Owen wasn’t like many children. He was quiet and respectful, rarely seen and even more rarely heard from.

Not unlike my own childhood, in fact.

But his solemn silence wasn’t a good thing. His eyes were full of pain.

Somehow I needed to alleviate that. I needed to find someone who was a natural caretaker. Surely someone like that had to exist, right?

“Have you tried perusing the Cove Facebook group? Each neighborhood has their own. Yours is Lakeview Road area, I believe?—”

“No,” I snapped. “In my position, I can’t hire just anyone off the street. I need someone who has been vetted and possesses a solid reputation and first class references.”

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