Page 40 of Accidental Vegas Vows

“Did you know he can do multiplication?” I asked, keeping my voice down as I leaned against the edge of Damien’s desk. Noah sat on the leather sofa on the other side of the office, a tablet in front of his face as he tapped aimlessly at the screen.

Damien’s brows knit as he looked down at me. “Is that normal?”

“No clue. I wasn’t expecting it, though. I told him you were forty-five and after a few seconds, he said that was nine times more than him.” I looked across the office at Noah, studying him. Part of me wondered if Damien even needed to worry about him adjusting — but I figured the breakdown would come at some point, along with the inevitable questions of why his life was changing so drastically.

“Add that to the list of things I need to google,” Damien chuckled. “Listen, I know I’ve said it a million times already, but?—”

“You don’t need to thank me again.”

“I know. But I’m going to. So, thank you,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to make it through that without your help.”

“It’s fine,” I insisted, pushing off the desk. “Anytime.”

“That’s, uh…” He swallowed, his eyes shifting nervously from his son to me. “That’s something I wanted to speak to you about, actually.”

“What?”

“Anytime.”

A sound played from Noah’s tablet and an excited yes! stole our attention for half of a second.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said, turning back to him.

He sucked his teeth, the gears in his head visibly turning. “Is there any chance you’d be able to help me out with this until I can figure out what I’m doing in terms of childcare?”

I narrowed my gaze at him. “I mean… I can help where I can, but I do have a job, Damien.”

“I’ll clear it with your manager,” he offered. “I’ll pay you double your salary for every second you’re at work or helping with him. More than that, if you want.”

That was… excessive. A lot. More than I’d expected when I’d agreed to watch him for a couple of hours. It wasn’t like I had kids of my own or was exceptionally good with them — it didn’t make sense. “Why me?”

He chewed his lip as he watched me. “I don’t have that many people in my life, Liv. My sister works more than the average person, but she can help out occasionally. Ethan can too, but he’s not exactly the most reliable person in the world, and he’s working day and night on the annulment and the four lawsuits the business is having to file. And my parents live in Hawaii,” he sighed. The more he spoke, the more that stress from this morning filtered back in. “It wouldn’t be for long. Just until I can find a good school for him.”

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to help, truly, but this felt messy, felt like I was stepping back into a situation I didn’t belong in again, a situation he’d made it clear already that he didn’t want me involved with. “But you wanted me out of the picture.”

He winced. Genuinely, physically winced. “I know. And I know it’s not fair of me to ask this of you after that.”

I took a deep breath. I wasn’t exactly against the idea, but more time around him wasn’t ideal for either of us, not after what seemed to keep happening when we were around each other. “What kind of help are you expecting?”

“Watching him during the day when I can’t,” he said. “I can get you set up to work remotely. We can tag team it when we both need to be here. I sometimes work in the evenings, as well, so I’ll need some help there, too.”

Jesus. “Damien, as much as I want to help, my apartment isn’t exactly set up to have a kid in it, even if he’s well-behaved. It’s cramped and I wouldn’t be able to focus if I was working from home?—”

“Watch him at my place,” he said. His eyes met mine, and there was a vulnerability to them, a plea that was hard to back down from. “You can work there, too. I can set it all up there so you wouldn’t need to haul your stuff back and forth.”

“That’s—”

“I know you don’t have a car,” he added, and a burst of shame bubbled up in my chest. I didn’t technically need one here, not with public transport, but it felt like a dig even if he didn’t mean it as one. “I’ll have my driver pick you up and take you home. I’ll make sure someone’s on standby if there’s an emergency. I can hire whatever you need.”

“But not a nanny?”

His mouth formed a hard line. “I’d rather not hire someone hastily to watch him. Background checks and all that.”

I took a deep breath, in through my nose, out through my mouth like he had been doing this morning.

“Please, Liv. Please.”

“That’s a lot of back and forth?—”

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