Page 52 of Taming the Boss

Which, of course, he did. And yet again, she hadn’t said yes.

Chapter 12

Yet again he’d stirred me up and confused the hell out of me and left me hanging. Though, wow, Reagan was turning out to be closer to the truth than I’d ever expected when it came to him and his job.

If I took his nanny job or slept with him, I was his? What the hell?

He was only 12 years older than me, but holy hell, how did they have relationships out in Seattle? Or even ordinary hookups? Had I somehow stumbled into some Fifty Shade of Grey setup?

“Do you want some goldfish crackers?” I asked Owen as he started crying again, knuckling his eyes. “You have to be hungry?”

“Yeah.”

I offered him the mini bag of crackers from the large multipack I’d purchased that Jude had yet to unpack. Owen shook his head, clearly not interested.

So, I popped the bag open and dug in myself, tossing a few in my mouth.

I had no clue where Jude was now, because he’d conveniently not followed us into the kitchen.

He’d sent Caro off to fulfill his pan errand, but wasn’t that kind of thing my job now as the nanny? Or was I going to be paid to provide sexual services? And what, exactly?

He’d only offered to go down on me. Which seemed like an odd opening if I was going to be his sex slave. And did it count if I was coming on to him?

I rubbed my temple and ate more crackers. I was on the verge of a damn headache.

“Are you sure you don’t want some?” I asked Owen while he watched me eat crackers.

“Okay. Just one.”

“They’re tiny. You gotta want more than one. Here, have a few. You can have more if you like them.” I poured a small pile of goldfish crackers into his outstretched hand.

He watched me and then he did the same as I had, tossing them into his mouth. A couple slipped out and fell on his lap, but he picked them up and tried the toss again, this time catching and chewing and swallowing them all. Then he clasped his hands and waited.

“More?”

He nodded and held out his hand again as I poured out the rest of the package. I returned to the box and opened another small pouch. I opened it and dumped some in my mouth then I realized he was again waiting patiently for a cracker refill.

“Here, let me give you your own since I keep eating them all.” I opened another pouch and handed it over, smiling to myself as he continued the tossing routine I’d started. A few times, some dropped onto his lap, and then a couple on the floor, but each time, he stopped and either ate them if they fell on his lap or he carried them to the automatic trash can in the corner if they fell on the floor.

Smart kid. How could he only be three?

That was what I was going to ask Jude next—exactly when was Owen’s birthday. Not any more about this sex stuff. Maybe if I didn’t focus on that part, he’d just…let it go.

Not that I didn’t want to mess around with him, but I didn’t want it to be a condition of employment. Because that was fucking weird.

And honestly, I was decent at sex, but I hadn’t had enough of it to get paid for it or anything. Not that I’d ever aspired to be paid for it.

I just wanted a normal hookup. Was that old-fashioned now?

Who could I ask? Reagan had been with a couple guys just as I had, but she’d been single for a while now. And after her concern about the sex trade, if I mentioned anything questionable, she’d probably tell her dad that I’d gotten myself into a shady situation by answering a strange ad.

I sincerely hoped she wasn’t right.

Owen was such a cute kid. A sweet one. He had no one to turn to but me. And Jude didn’t seem to be dangerous. Unless this was just the first indication of worse things to come.

How the hell was I supposed to know? It really sucked that I wasn’t sure who I could safely ask.

Maybe just ask Jude himself?

---